The wind is still blowing hard, but Shipmate Robin and myself decided we were seasoned sailors and made the decision to go Sailfish fishing with Captain Tony on board Cool Water.

We quickly caught a rake of Threadfins and small Blue Runners on our Sabiki rigs and headed out to Weston. A quick look at the Permit patch but no one was home. The neat thing about Weston is that the 180 ft mark is only 500 yards off the reef, so with no more ado we set up with our freelined, bridled Threadfins drifting 20 and 30 yards behind the boat.

Fishing with the bail open and just holding the braid you can feel when the bait gets frightened, and frightened they do. I felt the hit, let the line run free for the mandatory count of 5, closed the bail, pointed the rod and wound. If you have never caught a sail fishing this way, let me tell you it is an awesome sight to see it tail walk all over the ocean.

Hooked Sailfish seem to spend more time in the air than underwater. It certainly makes for visually exciting sport.

Robin had never caught a Sail so I gave him my rod and started with the camera. The following sequence is just a few of the fantastic pictures I shot.

The hooked Sailfish has taken 200 yards of line in a couple of seconds

Its an unforgettable angling experience to be attached to a leaping Sailfish

The Sailfish lit up, the colours are vivid and I shot these close ups as it raced around the boat. It is not easy to take a good picture of a Sailfish because most times when they jump they have the sail folded down.

The camera doesn't do justice to the amazing colours that the Sailfish displays during the fight

A close up of the amazing beak on the Sailfish

I gave my camera to Captain Tony, on went the glove, as we needed a picture of Robin's first Sail release. I have released loads of Sailfish and normally do not bring them on board. However this was Robin's first. I grabbed it around the bill and with an almighty effort pulled it straight into the boat for a quick photograph. It turned out to be a thick-bodied fish as you can see.

Robin's first Sailfish...what a tremendous fish.

The action did not stop here, a little later we had three rods out and had a triple hook up on Sails. It was pandemonium as three Sails tail walked almost in unison across the waves.

Robin was on one rod, I was on the other, Tony was trying to bring the kite in, and the third rod was in the rod holder bent double. The end result was that Robin and I both landed our Sails after some under and over maneuvering of the rods and a few trips round the boat. High fives followed after we released our fish.

Dolphin and Bonitos followed, but now they seem boring after the Sailfish.

Our other shipmates Keith and Lemon Geoff went Tarpon fishing with Captain Jack. It was hard work, however they did hook three monsters among the sailboats and played dodge the anchor ropes.

Tarpon are very clever and always willing to take advantage of hazards such as anchored sailing boats

Unfortunately the anchor ropes won which is extremely frustrating especially on a tough day such as this.

Tomorrow is day 12, we are pacing ourselves but it is extremely tiring. I am with Keith tomorrow and we have another cunning plan, watch this space.