Articles
Death-grip Sunday
- Category: Brooms Head
- Published on Sunday, 19 September 2010 19:58
- Written by Josh
- Hits: 1392
After a bumpy ride on Saturday it was a relief to see predictions of lower wind and swell for Sunday. Predictions were for almost 2 metres in swell - which was about right - so we'd have to be on our toes regardless. Launching about 20 minutes ahead of Alby I navigated the surf and steered clear of the bombie range, heading into the north east. It wasn't long before I'd hooked up to a solid fish, once again on a large blade style lure. A fine specimen it turned out to be, around 50cm in length and making a damned good account of itself throughout the fight. Sadly this turned out to be the only keeper for the day and one of only 2 hooked, the other belonging to Alby (undersize).
We did travel a fair distance in search of fish though and we had tougher than predicted winds to contend with much of the time. The water wasn't quite as high or even unpredictable as the day before, yet backed with an easterly and then southerly wind it was certainly choppier. It made for less than favourable sailing conditions, although we were able to make use of the sails for most of the time. Some sweeping tacks were required to make progress on return, pushing out to the south in order to come back in on a reach.
I spent most of that reach with a firm deathgrip on the mainsheet, ready to uncleat at the first sign of trouble. With wind and water pushing in hard from the side I had to be wary of crest and gust combinations, particularly mindful of the windward facing tramp. Landing involved some thoughtful manuevering into the breaker zone as we came into land.