Yesterday morning we were far enough offshore to be able to put out a fishing line to "test the waters" for a small fish. Mathys was on the 06:00 to 09:00 watch and was eager to try his luck. Well, I was still in the cockpit when a small long-fin tuna took the lure and I showed Mathys how to land the fish. It was really a baby tuna so the line was put out again and I retired to my cabin for a bit of a rest. Half an hour later there was an urgent call from Mathys as there was another fish on the line.

Mathys was struggling to pull in the line (we use a hand line) so I threw in my "fish landing skills" and brought in a really big long-fin (photograph above). He did the rest of the dirty work and later in the morning there was no room left in the freezer or refrigerator for anything else. Needless to say, the line was not put out again and we did have a great dinner of tuna and slaw last night. Today it will be tuna mayo for lunch but I think a nice curry, not tuna, is in order for dinner - let's see.

Yesterday we motored all day as the sea was flat calm with no wind. Last night a slight breeze picked up out of the south and, looking at the weather for the next few days, the wind should slowly pick up into the evening today and we should be able to cut the engines and do some proper sailing.

For those who are unaware, I have my trusty small HF radio transceiver on board and get weather from the South African Maritime Mobile Net each day. This is a network run by radio amateurs and I give them my position, course and weather each day whilst they relay the weather forecast on to us. I also use the radio to send and receive email and download weather files for the region we are in, as well as posting this blog entry with its photograph. It is a free service available to licensed radio amateurs around the world.

The boat we are delivering is a new Leopard 444 for the Sunsail Charter fleet in Turkey. It is only the third hull of this design and, for those of you who think traditionally, this is not what you would call "traditional lines" at all. However, it has a large aft cockpit, the saloon and a small forward cockpit. Very "un-traditional" if I can use that term. I am going to get Dave to do a short write-up on the boat for the next blog entry, as he actually owns his own older 38 foot Leopard catamaran.

So, for now, as we all munch on our tuna rolls and dream of some nice lamb cutlets, cheers for now from Josh, "Tuna" Mathys, Dave and myself, John.