Splashing Surprises 43:52.0N 16:48.4W 728 miles to go
Ellatrout3
Mon 11 Aug 2014 13:38
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Position at noon Monday 11th 2014
While the sun continued to shine Sunday afternoon the wind
became light. In a smooth sea we could have continued to sail but the sea
was still very disturbed and slopped us about so much we could not keep the wind
in the sails and had to take them down. Then followed a crew committee meeting
to dis cuss the fuel situation.
We set off with 75 litres of fuel; we estimated we had
used 8 litres charging batteries so far and had used a further 12 litres in our
dash south leaving about 55 litres. We knew there was wind to the north of
us so should we sit rolling about in the sea and wait for the wind, there
was little to the west of us, or use more fuel to gain northing ? It was
1315 hours and we decided to motor for 5 hours using another 9
litres.
We were glad we did, even though progress in the lumpy was
slow, because 2 hours later, Sarah who was helming at the time saw waves
splashing as if on rocks up ahead. This was not possible when the
depth here is 4500 metres. It was a large whale
crossing our path and came close briefly before continuing on it's way. It
was a bit longer than than ET (she's 29 feet), not as big as the finn whales
we've seen and browny grey in colour. Any suggestions as to what it might
have been?
Just as our 5 hours was running out the wind filled in
from the NW. The ever changing wind had us up most of the night
progressing from the NW to the SE we have this morning. It was a beautiful
night with a full moon so we didn't mind getting up, the sea was much calmer and
we careened sedately along on the moonlit surface; very pleasent!
Unfortunately with the SEastly came the rain, but we are making good progress
hoping to do btter than the last 24 hours 96 miles
Love Patch,Sarah and
Poppa/Dad/Roger
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