Last night, the whole AutoSim team met with representatives from the other companies taking part in SHE, a European esprit project, to set sail on the Caroline Mathilde for an evening of seafood and fishing. For Martin and Bjornar, the evening's trip marked a break from what I understand was a very successful day of presentations. There are three other companies involved in SHE's development: Matra, a French systems and information company; Ikerlan, a diverse, Spanish research and development group; and Oktal, a French company that designs databases and software for simulators.

Here are Bjornar, Tor Magne, Kjell and Anette below deck just before we enjoyed a succulent seafood dinner. We sampled several types of fish, fresh shrimp, and even whale. Once again, we were able to re-enact our favourite scenes from the movie ''Eat Willy.''

By the time we had finished dinner, the Caroline Mathilde had sailed south of Tromsø and into fishing territory. Martin, a Tromsøværing - and from all reports an expert fisherman - was quick to grab a line and try his luck in the fjord.

It wasn't long before all of us followed Martin's example and tried our luck.

This French gentleman from Matra was the first to land un poisson. The particular type of hideous-looking bottom-dwelling Catfish that he caught has a jaw strong enough to take your finger off in one chomp. They come equipped with reflexes that keep them biting at anything that enters their mouths for some time after they've gone to fish heaven.

While folk from both AutoSim and Matra looked on, Martin admired the fish he would soon eviscerate and turn into today's lunch at the conference.

Anette was one of several of us who landed a little gaffer. I managed to re-live my Lofoten experience and land two fish at the same time! Unlike the Lofoten catch, however, the two I landed last night were even smaller than Anette's.

Tor Magne in particular seemed curious about what my catch might mean. You see, according to Tor Magne (and every Norwegian I've spoken with since), there's a special kind of luck you need in order to land the big ones here in Norway. The Norwegians call it haill, pronounced ''hai-ull'' or more or less ''hull.'' I'm blushing even trying to explain this. You earn yourself haill by making sweet love, and then not washing before you go fishing.

That being said, I didn't deserve to land a thing (Hi, Mom!), but I had this fantastic idea that I thought might improve our luck. We have two shiny, happy couples with us at AutoSim: newlyweds John Markus and Karen (who you may remember from the nøkken incident a few weeks back), and the newly engaged couple Kjell and Anette. Surely, between the four of them, there must be some haill floating around!

So the four of them proceeded to the bow of the boat and tossed the line in together. I stood back with the digital camera to watch, wait, and hope.

And the camera doesn't lie! Take a look at this puppy... we'll be eating fish for days! Congratulations and best wishes to all four of them.