The crew of yacht Sunboy entered the A.R.C 2009 fishing comp in a big way today. About 14.30pm UTC just as Deb was down below organising a nice hot lunch, the reel of the fishing rod started to scream away. Fortunately the crew was in relax mode today and the yacht was sailing along nicely under headsail alone and autopilot when adrenaline levels shot through the roof. After nearly burning a pair of leather gloves trying to stem the peeling away of the braid line and with what seemed like only metres left on the reel, the tide started to turn. Luke quickly took control of the helm while the headsail was furled and the boat brought back under some control in the 3 - 4 metre swell. With cries of 'thats a fine time to catch a fish you *@*^&&*T, lunch has ended up all over the galley' The decision had to be made; have lunch or haul in whatever was pulling my shoulder blades apart.
With the boat sliding down the sides of the swell it was complete mayhem in the cockpit. We had managed to bag a couple of nice dorado but this was different, it was the biggest and hardest tug of war we had ever had. The boat was turning circles with the wind and swell and everyone was trying to lend a hand. After about 20 minutes the identity of the fish was established when it came flying out of the water head shaking from side to side, trying to toss the lure - MARLIN, holy $@!$.
It took us just over half an hour to get it to the back of the boat and to let everyone get a chance to look at this magnificent animal. Whilst we know that some find the marlin very tasty, there was no way we were going to take this animal from the ocean, apart from the fact that it was so bloody heavy we couldnt lift it into the boat if we had wanted to anyway. The best we could do was take some photos and we cut the line and let it go. The fish swam in circles for a brief moment and then dived below, appearing none too worse for wear after giving all of us the most excitement we have had on the trip so far. So while we cant give an exact weight or measurement, we think it should make an interesting addition to the fishing comp list.
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