Chapter 2

As soon as we were headed south, the sails went up, the diesels shut down and JW sent lures out over the stern. The reels were PENN as were the 7 foot rods. Mom ... bless her heart ... had stocked the Basilisk with four rod combos and good line. JW had light fingered a pair for Sailbait. We had learned to appreciate fish early in life ... but it can get a little old.

Due to the weather it was two and a half days to make Bluff. There was a five hour calm ... well ... as calm as the southern ocean gets. Regardless of the wind the swells never stop. The sea has a no break, no block run. There is nothing in the way ... all the way from where we are now. The sea running from the stern to the sea coming over the bow. It’s a continuous circle around the roaring forties. The swell never stops.

JW baited up a couple of hooks with a quarter slice of rind-on bacon and weighted the line with a couple of half ounce weights. No sooner had the line gone slack than Wham! Bam! Thank you Ma’am! Two 27 inch eight pound blue cod ... and we still had the bacon. Fresh fish from the bottom, six hundred feet below the keel. Ice cold. Two fed us three days. Even blue cod can get old.

Bluff.

Bluff is at the end of a peninsula that forms the western side of Bluff Harbour and Awarua Bay, with the port located in the relatively narrow entrance channel. The bluff is Bluff Hill (870 ft)), which provides some shelter from the prevailing westerly winds. Famous for the tastiness of its oysters and damn near nothing else, Bluff is home to Urwin & Co, purveyors of wild caught fish and the aforementioned oysters. Urwin fish are shipped to Australia and most of New Zealand.

First things first ... fuel. McKeown’s on the island. Fill tanks and five 40l jerrycans.

Fuel for us. Nearly a thousand spent at Four Square. They delivered. I’m expecting 21 days ... anything less is a bonus.

I asked the driver, “Fuel for our belly’s?”

“What do you want?”

“Fish and chips,” I said. “I don’t have the knack with the batter.”

“Fowler’s,” he said. “Best fish and chips this side ‘o Grady’s in Dublin.”

“Dublin?”

“The olde sod ... Eire ... Ireland.”

“Good?”

“God’s Truth.”

“We’ll feed ya if ya take us.”

“Deal,” he said. “I need to stop at the store and let them know.”

He did.

It was wonderful. I got the recipe. Blue Cod. It’s not minced fish pressed in a diamond shape. It’s filets ... whole flanks of fish. Fresh as can be had.

Heat lard in a deep fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).