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American Spirit II - Day 37; The Trophy Size Blue Marlin That Got Away!; How I Log; Sunday, February 9, 2014



The story you about to hear is a true fish story. Not to be confused with the 'fibber' fish stories that all fishermen make up. You know what I mean. The imaginary largest fish in the world that got away story. One of the differences between my fish story and others is that I had a witness. Joel Heyne. Joel was sound asleep at the time (he got off watch at 3:00 AM), but my yelling at the top of my lungs woke him up, which is a feat in itself. And though I have friends who would gladly alibi for me, Joel is not one to cross that line for a fish. Joel, did you see that whale that I hooked?

So, back to the story. At 8:35 AM this morning I hooked a GIANT Blue Marlin. At first I thought I had a nice size Dolphin (Mahi Mahi, not Flipper). I said 'trophy size' in the subject line because Joel Heyne, who is prone to NEVER exaggerate, called it that. I've never (in person) seen a marlin 'dance' on its tail across the water, flipping its head back and forth in trying to throw the lure. And this was occurring 30 yards behind the boat. The line was spinning out, and my fingers were getting blistered trying to stop the line from running. That being said, we're only using 40 pound line because we don't want to land a large fish like this. The blue marlin was 7 - 8 feet long, including its bill; and weighed... I have no idea. 100 plus pounds? Finally, the leader line broke and the fish left. My only regret was that we didn't get any stills or video of the dancing fish. He walked on the water three times before escaping, maybe 3 - 4 seconds per dance. Now that's footwork! The tragedy is that in breaking my leader line, our A Number 1 Lure is gone. OMG! When we get to Galapagos, I'm going to have to buy a lot of the right type of lures. Hopefully, boats like Nexus will not have cleaned out the chandeliers first.

Since I keep getting questions about how I do my log and how long does it takes me to do a daily log, what I first do is write notes throughout the day in a small 5" x 7" notebook. Then when I type the log on the computer it's a lot quicker. I usually do my SSB work at midnight when under sail, as I have the 9:00 PM to midnight watch. The part of the log process that takes the most time is transmitting and receiving messages via the SSB radio. That could take 20 to 40 minutes. First, I have to find a frequency that 'might' work; then when I transmit, I never know if it will be accepted or not. More times than not, my attempt is 'disconnected.' Usually, I have to try 3 - 7 different frequencies before I find one that 'works.' My laptop has a 'propagation' software package in it, which tells me what frequencies I should use. It differs every day by location and time of day. Plus, many times the frequency is already being used, so I have to move on to a different frequency. I've been using frequencies out of Panama, Trinidad, Corpus Christie and Daytona. As I move around the world, those will change. There are only about 20 'stations' that we can use for Sail mail as we circumnavigate. And each station has about 10 - 15 frequencies that may work on a given day. It's all very confusing.

When the boat is tilted, which is usually the case when under sail, you just type tilted. We have a bungie cord strapped across the laptop attaching it to a desk top so that it doesn't fly off the navigation table. The World Cruising Club says that a typical boat in a circumnavigation goes thru 2 - 4 laptops during their trip over 15 months. If you've never seen a laptop fly or swim, you're missing one of life's terrible tragedies.

We're motor sailing today because we're in the Doldrums; and we're 1/3 of the way to the Galapagos. Instead of Friday, I think our ETA to the Galapagos will be Thursday. (That will give us an extra day to do laundry and for me to get a haircut before Janet arrives on Saturday). There is only 3 knots of wind now. Its normal for this part of the Rally to use the motor a lot. I believe all the boats in the Rally, except one or two, are under power now. The best thing about motoring is that you can charge your batteries 100%, which may not be possible under sail unless you have a hydro generator like we do. That's a story for another day.

It's 11:21 AM Sunday now, and I'm going to end this log now and send it now because when I received my emails last night, there were some that were listed but not received. My SSB transmission was 'disconnected' before I was finished. So today will be a short log day.

Brian Fox

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