As I sat here typing this a flying fish just came flying over the side and landed in the cockpit. We helped him along back over the side. By the way, I want to officially change my estimate that I made earlier in this trip of the distance a flying fish is able to fly. I believe the larger ones can fly for over 100 ft. They are quite amazing to watch. They almost always take off into the wind and typically fly just a few feet above the waves until eventually torpedoing into the side of a wave with hardly a splash. We've seen hundreds, probably thousands of these displays.
I believe there are at least two types that we've seen, a smaller one about 4 inches long with "gossamer" wings that resemble the structure of a dragonfly - soft and very thin. And then a much larger type about 12-16 inches long with a bony structure to its much more substantial wings. This is the type that hit me while I was in the cockpit at night earlier in the trip. It made a loud racket as it could beat its wings at a pace that reminded me of a hummingbird's rate. Quite impressive.
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