It was about time! Guys have been catching albacore here in Northern California since July and I've been tied to the dock! You know, wife, kids, in-laws, work! All of the usual excuses that keep you off the water. Well, my brother wanted to go so I made some phone calls, rounded up a last minute crew and had everyone ready to hit the road at 3AM. When we arrived, the parking lot at the launch ramp was empty. Not a good sign. We launched the boat and fired up all of the electronics, including the FLIR infrared night vision camera. Running 20 to 25 knots with infrared night vision, we were able to make the 45 mile run before daylight. We ended up the day with 15 albacore for the 5 of us. I was fine all day with 7 hours of sleep the night before. Too bad I can't say the same for my crew. I guess the 3AM departure time threw people off. I ended up with as much sleep as my four crew members combined. My brother and nephew arrived at home home late the night before, had a few too many drinks and only got 2 hours of sleep each. My neighbor was finishing up paperwork to close an important business deal and also got 2 hours of sleep. And finally my 20 year old deckhand stayed up to watch TV and got no sleep at all. The worst part was that my nephew was hung over, in addition to being sleep deprived and puked on the cushions in the cabin. Most of the boat is clean this evening. Tomorrow morning I clean the cushions!
Sleep is critical.
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