| This was the year of the big blow with some awful winds
out of the northwest. But the fishing was supposed to be best up at the
Channel Islands. We beat our way up there in the nasty seas and in the AM
we lucked out and hooked one off Anacapa.
Al Epstein did the honors for
the release. That afternoon the winds got worse and we managed to get into
Smuggler's cove faced with winds reported to be up to 60, gusting to 90.
With Al keeping the boat in gear in order to stay in place, Geoff, Harry
and I pulled all the anchor line out, piled it up on deck, dropped the
hook and fed the line out as fast as possible. With all that scope and the
wind the hook dug in and we were set. As soon as we were anchored the boat
hardly moved. Others weren't as lucky with the "HAVEN" and "SASSY SISSY"
getting some damage, but Bob Flamer's boat got it good. The anchor line
snapped the bow pulpit off so that it was hanging like a broken nose and
his foredeck mounted inflatable went flying up over the bimini and out to
sea. They had to pull up the anchor, retrieve the dinghy and limp back to
the Channel Islands Harbor. By midnight, the wind was gone. The next day
we returned to Anacapa and got bit again. This time Harry was the angler
(both fish on sable fish clones) and we released that one. With the two
releases we beat out - by time - the "LEGEND" with Gary Graham releasing a
fish on 12 pound. There were very few fish caught in the tournament, but
ours was good enough for
1st Place. |
