Albacore Tuna — GEORGE GOSS

Amid the bustling heat of Auckland’s Viaduct quarter, I walked excitedly towards the towering masts of luxury catamarans and millionaire’s yachts which of course gave direction to the harbour’s edge. From afar I stalked the ‘black paint and round-windows’ described by my new skipper, and sure enough the rusted Kingfisher floated stoically, while gently nudging the concrete pilings of the wharf. This was to be my first week spent on a fishing boat, after a forgettable stint on the other end of New Zealand where I spent most of the day redecorating the deck of a cod-potting vessel with my breakfast.

Once aboard the old-timer (built in the 1960s), I began my shift by accidentally dropping a stack of corrugated metal sheeting on the first-mate’s head. “Fuckin’ idiot” I muttered to myself scathingly, after apologising a hundred times.

After loading the boat up with ice, and picking up enough beers to last us the next couple days, we left for Cape Reinga ready to make some bucks.

Unfortunately, the GPS stopped working somewhere around Mangawhai and so we had to wait for spare parts for two days. We needed more beers.

First night on the boat in Whangarei harbour

Caught the wrong bloody fish (kingfisher)

Other-worldly settings on a boat help you to forget daily worries

Eventually we got back out to open waters after an agonising wait for a part to be delivered, but over the entire course of a week, we caught barely over a tonne of Tuna. This meant that we didn’t even make enough to cover the trip costs (food, fuel and ice), so none of us made any money.