Passage South to Ouvea, New Caledonia

We had an early 4 am departure set to time ourselves for a daytime entry to the next set of islands (quick 220 mile trip but still an overnighter). With the forecasted weather we anticipated around 6.5 knots. We are in a fleet of 31 boats heading to a incredible islands that have been closed to all cruisers this year. The swine flu has made many, including our friends on Bebe, leave port even under unfavorable conditions. This is the advantage of traveling with the ICA rally this year. We left on time and motored the first hour in washing machine conditions. Then, it felt as though someone flipped on a switch and we had 20+ knots of wind and sailed at 8 to 9.5 knots for the duration. Instead of arriving tomorrow evening we will be in early morning and might even have to slow down. This passage will be on our top of favorites. We hooked a huge fat barracuda and threw him back. Then, our line started to scream out....We hooked a monster marlin. Paul was crying since it was on our "old faithful" lure and when Paul saw it jump out of the water he knew there was no way we would get it in while doing 9+ knots full sail. I quickly turned the boat downwind and got tons of slack in the line (something you would never want to do if you planned on keeping it) and after a beautiful jump the marlin spit the hook out. It was exciting but also a relief. Can you believe we didn't land one fish today??? There is always tomorrow. All is well on Free Spirit and looking forward to an incredible star gazing night. 19.17S 167.23E.

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