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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

    Iron Heart Meet Ups & Travel
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    • GilesG
      Giles
      IHUK Crew
      @jordanscollected
      Joined:

      @jordanscollected said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

      @Giles Great catch Szymon! Does your fishing trip support locals like trips past, or is this just sport fishing?

      Have you gotten to/had to fish off shore too or has the weather allowed you to use the boat?

      Not in the same way as Morocco, but Omanis don't really work, at least not in menial jobs (which includes hospitality, guiding etc etc), but we are helping give lots of people from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Tunisia etc paiod employment.

      Not fished from the shore yet, out on the boat. The wind gets up as the week progresses, so may get some shore time in.

      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • GilesG
        Giles
        IHUK Crew
        Joined:

        Today. Too many Mahi Mahi and Bonito to count (I had a 12 pound Bonito), and a few Queenies, all on light tackle. Mahi Mahi for dinner.

        Raised 12 GT's on one drift, but they were coming up short, so made contact with none 🙂

        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

        last edited by jordanscollectedJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
        • jordanscollectedJ
          jordanscollected
          啓蒙家
          @Giles
          Joined:

          @Giles do you guys drift socks to slow down or is it better to just roll with the waves?

          world tours:
          888 Fat guy chocolate WT
          Mad Red x2
          Wabidashery

          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • GilesG
            Giles
            IHUK Crew
            Joined:

            We just roll with it, when you are playing a GT, you often have to back the boat up to bulldoze a large fish out of a reef, and more often than not a a large fish will drag you 360 around the boat, a rope hanging out of the back would be a recipe for a lost fish.

            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

            last edited by Giles 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • GilesG
              Giles
              IHUK Crew
              Joined:

              So, it has been tough fishing. The GT’s (primary target species), were just not playing ball. We had a few hits between us (probably about 30), but the fish were very nervous and coming up short, the only one of us to land a few was Szymon.

              We had amazing sport on light tackle and caught lots and lots of lots of different species.

              Have booked for next year, a month earlier when the weather will be more settled.

              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

              last edited by Tago MagoT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • Tago MagoT
                Tago Mago
                Mod Squad
                @Giles
                Joined:

                @Giles Did you get to see any of Oman or was that not part of the plan?

                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • GilesG
                  Giles
                  IHUK Crew
                  Joined:

                  Saw a lot of Halanyat, it’s a brutal place. Hot, arid and barren. Lots of civil engineering going on, it’s mainly government and military as they try and get on top of people, gun and drug smuggling, Yemen and Somalia being the active in all 3.

                  Most peoples idea of a desert island will not be this 😂

                  IMG_3371.jpeg

                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                  last edited by Giles 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • GilesG
                    Giles
                    IHUK Crew
                    Joined:

                    We have a 4 hour drive to Salalah tomorrow, but the scenery will be mostly, hot arid and brutal 😀

                    "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                    last edited by Tago MagoT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • Tago MagoT
                      Tago Mago
                      Mod Squad
                      @Giles
                      Joined:

                      @Giles you make it sound so appealing

                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • GilesG
                        Giles
                        IHUK Crew
                        Joined:

                        I like it like this 😀

                        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • GilesG
                          Giles
                          IHUK Crew
                          Joined:

                          came back to mainland Oman yesterday. 10km from home, we saw birds working the water, so we diverted to take a look. The sea was a mass of sardines and busting fish, we pulled a load out, then finished the journey....

                          Mahi Mahi for dinner.

                          f6b20f1a-36af-420d-bd48-b05ed59eaecf.JPG

                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 12
                          • GilesG
                            Giles
                            IHUK Crew
                            Joined:

                            I thought I may be able to get away without antifouling UKIYO, just dive her a couple of times a year and get the growth of with an abrasive sponge.

                            WRONG

                            The weed growth is ridiculous.

                            So I pulled her out today and started the ultra-shit job of wet and drying the hull, then applying primer and antfoul.

                            I managed one coat of primer today before my body said - fuck that.

                            As I said to @goosehd earlier, funny that today, I suddenly had no friends 🙂

                            IMG_3505.JPG

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                            I also got the "2 MESSY" logo off, so I can apply the UKIYO one.

                            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                            last edited by Giles 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 6
                            • MattM
                              Matt
                              見習いボス
                              Joined:

                              I would have helped you. She looks great.

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • GilesG
                                Giles
                                IHUK Crew
                                Joined:

                                Up at Sparrow's and got a 2nd coat of primer on early doors. Then managed do 2 coats of antifoul, weather was complicit. Will lift her off the blocks tomorrow morning and touch up the bits that I could not get to (where the blocks and jacks are holding her upright), then back into the water in time to catch a flight to Hamburg (for Bremen) on Thursday.

                                I am very pleased, but ache like crap from groveling around in gravel for 2 days 🙂

                                IMG_3520.JPG

                                And the 2Messy decal has been removed, will try and get UKIYO decal applied before she gets put back in the water.

                                "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 6
                                • GilesG
                                  Giles
                                  IHUK Crew
                                  Joined:

                                  I may have mentioned. UKIYO has a rubbish manual windscreen wiper. To drive, I need one hand on the steering wheel and one on the throttle, that leaves me with nothing spare to dick around with a wiper blade. And of course, the more spray on the windscreen, the worse the conditions, the more I need 2 hands to drive the boat...

                                  So I'm fitting an electric wiper. I've never fitted one before and there are a lot of unknowns and variables. So, I rigged up a ply windscreen and did a test install in the garden, I had a 12volt lawnmower battery lying around, so that provided me with the DC. I'm glad I did, there were a number of issues to resolve, which would have been another level of pain, doing it on the boat.

                                  Not least of which is that I installed the motor upside down, took me ages, and a lot of cursing (of the Dutch), to work out why the blade was parking on the left when it should have been parking on the right 🙂

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                                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                  last edited by Giles 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 8
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