Jeff's Date With Swifty

The day before there was a buyer coming in to have a look at Swifty. Chen listed the boat in eBay with a "Buy-it-now" and that buyer hit it before inspection. We thought he's definitely going to buy it but this bloody asshole russian (we speculated he's russian because of the accent) came and fiddle around with the motor. We did a demo of flushing for him and he simply rev'ed it indiscriminately! In the end after mucking it around, he offered Chen $200 less than the listed price. Chen almost accepted it but I told him don't give in. I felt it was a good choice as he was saying shits about the motor having to service it. After he left, we felt he really fucked up the motor and it gave some stuttering moments. Being paranoid, Chen said we need to take it out for a spin to confirm it's alright. Of course I agreed and we made sure our other team member who's contributed to this boat funding had a date with it before selling off.

As Chen had to work at 12, we arranged to leave around 4am. In the end, we're always never on target. Reached tunks park around 5+ which the 1st light was just about to brighten up. Jeff learnt a little on launching too which is good if Chen has to train deckies when I leave.. *sob *sob.. Off we go with a little trolling down inside middle harbour for another ZERO! Another bloody drama occurred when I lost my scissors! Bloody hell, why I must always lose something while on swifty??!!

It was quite choppy on the way out of Balmoral. That was how my stupidity of placing my scissors on the dashboard caused the scissors to slid off when swifty cops a chop. Took a little longer to reach the cake than usual because of this rough ride. As it was a weekend, the cake already had a few boats there. But we still managed to anchor at our favourite spot. As Chen had bought me a new ET combo from BigW, I was eager to try it out. The rod is a 5'6" shimano similar to my lost one. The reel is a little crappy though but I was surprised how well the drag performed! I loaded the new reel with a previous owned 6lb fireline and it was magnificent detecting bites on such light line. I wonder what'll happen if a kingfish took off with it, yikes, I wouldn't wanna imagine. Had a ball catching fish on the new rod and reel but was somehow irritated at only getting SLIMEYS!!! They are still everywhere! Only managed 4 breams that day and kept 3 for a feed. The breams were there but I just couldn't find a way to get past the slimeys. Jeff had a ball too with the slimeys, it was his first time fighting this crazy fish which likes to swim in circles and getting tangled with anchor rope. I must admit I wasn't feeling sportingly that day which might have slightly offended my team-mates on what would be rated as actually a good trip with wonderful sea conditions. Sorry guys! Bloody slimeys in anchor rope doesn't help keep me cool!

After getting quite sick of slimeys and no biggies on Chen's bottom rig, we pulled the pin slightly earlier and left to get Chen to work on time. He was really feeling knackered even for just a 3 hours session. Boating in the wee hours sure gets into your mind. But that's his passion, his hardcore enthusiasm sure beats the dullness we face in everyday life. True blue team stmike spirit, hooyah! He did however got his personal best flathead at 61cm on cubing which was a surprised catch considering the bait didn't even had a chance to hit the bottom! Congrats bro!



Back at stmike, me and Jeff was tasked to clean up the boat while Chen left for work. We give a quick wash up and left the catches till the night for cleaning. Asked Maurice out for a maccas lunch before heading back for a quick knockout. We cleaned the fishes late at night till after 12! Took a video and a pic as well.

Luckily the motor was alright, it achieved the morning's objective and during flushing it didn't have the stuttering effects anymore. Chen's pretty firm with the offer in his next listing I'm sure. Will be really sad to see Swifty go.

Ronald