The water is dirty for 40Nm (76Km) and so we travel out that distance before we even start fishing which is in around 800m of water.
Day 1 the sea was like a trout pond with temps up to 29.7deg.C and we went as deep as 2000m which is about 130Km off shore.
There was no Bills caught but a few YFT and Hoo came out
Day 2 was a blow out with rough conditions and my boat was too small to stay out there and we came back with a heavy NE on our side and got a hiding of note, every wave went over us and we fell into 100's of holes I am so sore I feel like I was ridden over by a tractor as we had to endure this for a solid 2 hrs whilst running back.
I did not stay for the end of the day and went home but I heard confirmed landings of 3 Blues that came out early before 7am and I heard that there was possibly a 4th.
There are 17 boats entered this year, most the boats are large sport fishers and some Citations, so this makes use tiny in comparison, I was very frustrated today as I felt totally under-gunned in today's conditions and did not stand a chance today and got smacked hard by Neptune for trying. Got me thinking about a bigger boat.
I also had the pleasure of meeting and having a chat with Cpt. Ali from Kenya
My fuel bill went way over budget for this comp using some 34 cans (750litres) of fuel during the comp and travelling over 800km for the 3 days.
On day 3 it started out choppy but the sea got better as the day went on.
We rode for over 3 hrs looking for clean water and ended up at Neptune's Cave in the 3000m hole just of the 2000m depth contour some 180km out and south of Durban. Here we ran along the thermocline. We had to stop early as we had just enough fuel to make a run back using almost 12 cans on this trip.
In the end we blanked with only 1 strike on day 1.
My little boat has earned her stripes with the distance we travelled and even in the squall we felt safe just getting wet and falling into some holes and holding on for dear life.
Over the 3 days with 17 boats only 5 Marlin were caught from 4 boats and Ocean Explorer won catching 2, El Dorado came 2nd catching the last Marlin of all the other boats, and Reactor in 3rd Place
