The two-hour return trip from the weigh-in on Sunday was spent cutting up the four marlin. It was a lot of work that took six of us most of the trip to accomplish. It took awhile to unbend my body from the hunched over position when I finally cut the last chunk of fish off the spine. From there I had to pick hunks of fish from my leg hair, shorts, and head hair (there were three pieces about the size of a fingernail that I pulled out). Blood was everywhere and has taken two-three showers to get off my skin.
[it's hard enough cleaning 900+ pounds of marlin on a moving boat after two full days of fishing, but try doing it in the dark (there were no outside boat lights)]
Once we got back to Zamami we had to transfer all the marlin out of the coolers on the boat and into land coolers, which means it had to be moved individually (because we can't pick up a 500lb. cooler). Then the boat had to be thoroughly washed down/cleaned. Then the fish (now on land) had to be iced, which means it had to be moved again. Then we finally got around to dinner at 10pm and I didn't get to bed until close to 1am.
We attended the party last night, where I learned at the last minute that we actually didn't know for sure we'd won. So they counted down from 40 to number one and when number two was called (they had ~350kg, we had ~426kg) we were certain, and elated. I had to give the 'winning team's speech' because the captain said if I didn't then he wouldn't invite me to go out anymore. The haul of prizes we won was pretty epic. We're having a Zamami-based party tonight so I'll get some pictures of the prizes and post them tomorrow. This is the second time we've won this tournament in the last four years.
[Two guys are missing and the girl in the lower left didn't participate - she's the captain's daughter]
3 comments:
Dave you look pretty hammered in the picture, but it was worth it wasn't it! A little Sake would take the kinks out of your back for sure.
I was definitely beat, and that was only 8pm.. I think we all took breaks at one point - just staring off into space for 5-10 minutes - and no hard feelings at all because we understood just how tired each guy was. It couldn't have been done without everybody's chipping in, though. I can't say our cuts were as clean as usual, but our waste was still pretty minimal.
I think I had a drink or two when we went to dinner and it did help. It was strange at dinner - we all just ordered regular meals like usual and we all had a lot of trouble finishing them. I don't know what to attribute it to other than being too tired to even eat.
But you're right, it was worth it. It's nice to get a little fame after all the work/training we put in every year. I am finally understanding this year that a lot more goes on than just trolling and waiting for a fish to hit. We have truly put together a good, efficient team. Hopefully we'll get the next two to 100 this year..
Dave,
Next time, your shirtless photos please.
I can't see your sexy chest hair.
G.M.
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