Cetaceanology
Fleck
Wed 18 Jun 2014 15:43
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Wednesday, 18th June, 2014
Position 35:20.5N 56:29W
My 'rolling' headline dried up, so we will just
deal with the whale issue, and move on today's news. The crew on Heidi found
themselves some pilot whales yesterday, and on reflection I'm sure
that 'my' whales were the same. Anyway, it seems nicer to be surrounded by
pilot whales than killer whales! Unfotunately Heidi's pilots didn't seem to know
the right direction to take, and landed the mother ship in a wind hole. Still
the skipper must be running out of excuses for landing in windholes, so the
chance to blame the pilot whales will have been welcome! I do hope that they are
out of it and back sailing again ASAP.
Out here to the south and increasingly the west of
the racing fleet Fleck enjoys clear horizons in every direction. The predicted
very light winds are pushing us very gently forwards (75 miles yesterday) and I
have not had to resort to the engine yet. The issue, as I have explained before
is to find a point of sailing, and a sailplan which doesn't bang and crash
around too much, especially at night when I like to sleep a bit. Murphy's law
states that the quietest course is usually at 90 degrees to the desired course
towards the Azores, so it is compromise, compromise! Another 36 hours of
light winds, and then a depression moves through: wet, cold and windy.
And that's not just the headlines, but really all
of the news from out here, so I'll press the send button, and keep my fingers
crossed for the weather forecast which comes back on the same
transmission.
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