Tue 19th May
Global Yacht Racing's EH01
Global Yacht Racing - sponsors: Caspian Services
Tue 19 May 2009 10:43
A little excitement yesterday afternoon.
Two whales (not sure what kind) both larger than the yacht, came to check us out. They were a bit sneeky really. I was sort of aware that something was nearby because there were patches of flat water appearing quite close to us but nothing was breaking the surface. Then Tom announced 'a whale, right in front of us!'. We didn't see it again for a while and I was getting disappointed.Then it broke the surface on our starboard side at about 100 metres away, swimming on a parallel course and then dived again. This it repeated a few times and then it suddenly appeared right under our bow. Tom turned the boat to avoid it, it was that close. We thought we were going to hit it. A few minutes later it appeared again at 20 meters off our starboard bow, this time with its friend...2 whales now. They both decided to cut right in front of us...this was making us all nervous. I got everyone to put lifejackets on, just in case. The final time a whale swam across us it touched the keel. I think it had satisfied itself that we were not another whale and we didn't see them again.
I've never had whales come this close before, not counting the time I ran over a basking shark near Penzance and I'm not sure I want them to again.
Justin