Close encounter with a whale
Silver Bear
Ray Lawry
Fri 21 May 2010 16:57
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37:20.6730N 51:45.8620W
Duncan was at the helm shortly after 7am today
when he had the fright of his life, well one he is prepared to own up to; a
sperm whale much longer than the boat emerged from the water close on our port
(left) side wallowing on it's back and discharging some form of liquid, possibly
blood from it's undercarriage. The boat gybed, but more due to the helm
jumping 6 feet in the air rather than contact with the beast, and we still do
not know what caused the spectacle. It might have collided with us but nobody
heard or felt a bang, it could have been exercising it's normal bodily
functions (Phil-do whales turn upside down to do so?), it might of been having a
baby, or possibly been under attack from somewhere else. We simpy do not know
what caused this but it got us all out of our bunks pretty quickly. It swam off
after the incident and has not been seen since.
Other than this bit of excitement life has settled
into a regular routine. The winds have been good this last day or so and we
managed 167 nm in the last 24 hour period along the rhumb line (that's in
the direction we want to go Gina). We ticked off the first benchmark today
passing the 1000 mile to go target and hope to hit the half way mark tomorrow.
Morale is still high but the best meals have been used
up.
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