Mexican Bale Fish
"I went up to Dana Point from San Diego to help a friend who doesn’t know how to sail bring the boat he bought in Dana Point down to San Diego," reports Kurt Roll of the Southwestern YC. "When we were about two miles off the coast of Del Mar, I spotted a package floating about 50 yards off our beam. Curious, we went over and hauled it aboard. I cut through 10 layers of super tight plastic wrapping to see what it was, and discovered it was high grade pot! A Mexican bale fish. The package weighed about 25 lbs.
"I took some photos of the bale, recorded our position and called the Coast Guard. I was eventually put in touch with the Border Patrol / Customs, who intercepted us off Pacific Beach and asked some questions. ‘If you’d found a bale full of money, we wouldn’t be here,’ one of them joked. The owner of the boat and I both smiled and said, ‘Yep.’
"I posted the photo on Facebook, and the next thing I knew I was interviewed by Channel 8 news and became the lead story just before the Oscar show. It was my five minutes of fame.
"As for Dietmar Petutschnig of the Las Vegas-based Lagoon 440 Carinthia, who did the ’08 Ha-Ha, and with whom I’ve done a lot of sailing in the South Pacific, he’s in Newport sitting for his captain’s license test tomorrow. This year’s cruising plan is to sail from New Zealand to Sydney, then up the Great Barrier Reef in time for the Sail Indonesia Rally.
"Happy sailing to all!"
We have two questions for our readers:
- How much is a bale of Mexican pot worth these days?
- What would you have done?
a) Called the Coasties
b) Kept it and tried to market it
c) Smoked it all yourself
Email your answer to Richard.