Text Author: Florian Wilken

Food on board of a sailing vessel is one of the more important factors especially when planning for an ocean crossing as there are no means of getting fresh food out on the ocean with the exception of fish. As we thought about and later bought all the necessary provisions for our North Atlantic Crossing, we surely did not rely on catching any fish. However, we had bought some basic fishing equipment in order to try to supplement our dialy diet with some fresh fish meat.

As soon as we had left the Gibraltar Strait we started preparing our fishing lines and lures. Starting out with 50 m of line trawling behind the boat, we soon realized that this was not enough. Encouraged by different books that talked about ocean fishing, we increased the length to about 100 m. Every day in the morning we would bring out at least two lines, sometimes three. We have passed now 16 days without even getting a hook on a fish or loosing a lure. What a disappointment ! Helge and I, however, still believe in our 'abilities as ocean fishermen' and keep on trawling our lines.

Then, suddenly at 10:30 hours, Helge, checking the port line, shouts: 'Flo, there is a lot of drag on this line.' While running into the cockpit and aft to the port transom, I grab the working gloves and start pulling the line in. Indeed, the drag on the line is far from normal. Soon, the whole crew is gathered in the cockpit, staring out behind the boat, hoping to get a glimpse of our first fish. And there it is, clearly visible with its yellow and blue colors. A big one, too. Helge takes care of the line so that it does not get entangled in the cockpit, while JF and the others prepare the necessary tools to 'take care' of the fish once it is pulled into the cockpit.

The line is strong enough to pull the fish out of the water onto the transom where Andreas is sitting ready to secure the fish. The whole crew shares this moment together as we pull the fish into the cockpit. Since we do not have a fish book to identify the fish properly, we have to take our best guess. We agree that it could be a 'Dolphin Fish', telling by the colors and the shape of its body and especially its head which is humped. Our first fish measures 38 inches in length and maybe 10 pounds in weight.

Later today we catch one more of the same kind. Again, Helge is at the line feeling the tension and quickly pulls in the fish. Now we have enough fresh meat for about 2 days, and everybody is already looking forward to tonight's dinner.