The breeze died a little yesterday afternoon and we were left rolling around in lumpy seas doing 4-5knots. Julieta and I chatting away in the cockpit I decided to go down and make a toasted sandwich. With the wind behind us like this the mainsail sometimes bangs around, making a cracking noise and sending a shudder through the boat. Just as I got down the steps a noise like this only with a lot more momentum and almost a crunching noise I thought maybe we had a problem with a piece of the rigging?? Julie then yells out we have hit something..... A whale! I race outside and it is just passing down the starboard side of the stern. Sunflower got pushed aside and it was definitely a whale. There was a lot of blood, the poor fella didn't look too good at all. As bad as I felt for it the fear for the boat was much worse. Only a few days ago we were speaking with a Frenchman on a 55 foot Amel, a quality, very expensive boat. He was heading down the coast of Argentina when he also hit one but also put a big hole in the stern but luckily he had watertight doors so he made his way into Buenos Aries for repairs. Anyway with all this going through my brain quickly checking bilges but we were fine(I think so anyway). The chances of this happening are super slim but luckily we have a super strong boat that seemed to just shrug it off!
Anyway the breeze has just picked up a little now and we are still on track to make Port Louise tomorrow morning.
What are the chances - poor old whale!! That's got to be (another) sign to buy a lotto ticket, one for lucky Sj Sunflower!
ReplyDeleteWow..lucky no damage. Glad to hear you're engaged! Only found out once you left Rodrigues! Congrats to you both. Blue Heeler.
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