Greetings from Down Under - Godzone in New Zealand.

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The life style is emphasized more on family. Bought some shares in a couple of boats. Do not have to worry about maintaining the boats. The corporate body does it. Great - go out fishing & come back late in the day - someone else cleans the boat.

ACCOUNT OF THE FISHING TRIP

Yesterday 19/10/02 took a group of friends out fishing @ Islington Bay ( about 12 knots from Auckland Harbour.  Conditions were rough - wind 15 knots, swell about 0.5 m - cloudy clearing by noon.  All of us left in great expectations.  

I thought should sea conditions get too rough I could elect to fish in the safe confines of the inner harbour.  but - the crew voted to go out into the big sea.  So off we went to Islington Bay (about 12 knots away ) The boat slammed into many waves ; finally we reached our fishing spot.  No worse for wear.

Dropped anchor - then mishap - we drifted close to another boat "the Heritage" & nearly got the other's anchor warp ( or rope in land lubber's term) entangled in our motor. Panicked & "Fxxx" plus other "expletives". Vinod panicked & donned her life jacket & handed out the remaining life jackets.  As if the boat was going to sink - it was only an entaglement NOT SINKING YET. Whew - finally we managed to disentangle the anchor warp from our motor -  thanks to Titus's actions.

  Then found that our anchor was then firmly entangled with the other boat's anchor. Many attempts to free our anchor from the other boat's anchor. Plan of attack - to reverse the boat at various angles.  Forwards , backwards , reel in the anchor warp using the winch , alas to no avail. Gave up .  Might as well carry on fishing since we are firmly "anchored" . 

Hardly any bites. Logan was the only one who caught a fish. The gang decided to pull anchor.  Rang base for assistance & was advised to cut the warp & secure a yellow buoy & try to haul in the anchor manually. Then a friend of the owner of Heritage boat came to help. He then rang the owner left a message of our predicament. The intention was for the owner to haul up his anchor ; hopefully ours along with it - which he did the next day when he rang to inform me. The boating fraternity helps out each other more so I think because of the dangers of the sea. No charge - picking it up & delivering the anchor back to base.

We then headed back to calmer inner harbour.  It was bam, bamming against the waves all the way back.  We then went under the Auck harbour bridge & moored near the Sugar Refinery.  It was not as calm as I thought & the wind began to chill. Fished the rest of the day - not a single bloody bite.

Then headed back to base. Had to fill up the tank. Costs $79 ( half tank). Found it hard to berth ( or park ) the boat alongside the Caltex petrol pump as it was blowing quite hard. Berthing a boat is the hardest part of boating competency as a boat does not respond immediately when the steering wheel is turned; even the low speed forward & reverse takes a good 2-3 sec to response.  Problem is usually my over correcting & not being able to plan the maneuvers ahead. After filling we then try to leave but some one forgot to untie a berthing rope to the bow - luckily a coastguard nearby spotted the error.  A lesson to learn as skipper, it pays to check yourself. I did holler when I started the engine " all the ropes untied" but the crew were too busy.

An experience for the gang of friends. End of the day, we caught 2 fish - one very large fish called "Heritage"  worth $800,000 boat & a small fish. 

The gang, are they game enough to go out again? It was a pity for the first timers like George, Vinod & Ben, they did not experience a fine day, with calm waters & brilliant sunshine - otherwise, I think, they would have caught the sea -salt bug then.

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Last modified: Monday November 11, 2002.