Colliding with whale

It's been a week since we departed from St.Helena. We have nearly covered a thousand nautical miles, sailing ninety percent of way. A few sail changes here and there, mostly cruising with the gennaker on a run. We had one small inclement weather system passing close by, and had to drop the gennaker in a hurry one morning as the wind shifted and started building and raining. Started a motor, manned the lines and dropped the gennaker. The whole procedure took less than two minutes, and soon we were sailing on the opposite tack with our genoa and the wind at a hundred and forty degrees from behind us, gusting up to twenty four knots. The system blew over a few hours later, and the gennaker could go up again, and dry nicely in the sun and the wind. Excellent sailing conditions and the Maverick 440 a wonderful experience to sail. Smooth, flowing lines, no sharp corners or edges, beautifully designed functional features, and excellent use of space. Very gentle boat to sail and to l
ive on.
And strong, very strong.

Just after lunch today we were still at the table and talking about not catching any fish, and the lack of seabirds or dolphins. I related how I was once on watch many moons ago, and after two weeks of not seeing any life, I was wondering if there is any life out here. The next moment a massive whale surfaced right next to me and blew a huge plume of water in which a rainbow formed due to the angle of the sun. The whale checked me out for a while and moved on. I was moved beyond words. 🌈🐳🌞

Jane mentioned that she would like to see a whale. We were cruising beautifully at seven knots when we struck something about eight hundred and fifty nautical miles from the coast of Brazil. For a moment, we were slowed down radically and altered course about thirty degrees to starboard. Fortunately the sail pulled us straight again and back on course. In a flash my mind eliminated possibilities. Reef? Not out here. Container? Not a busy shipping area and no big storms. Log? Not close to any river mouth. Whale? I ran outside and spotted a pod of whales, about a dozen I would guess. Most of them have gathered around the whale we hit, and I could see a flesh wound on top just behind the whale's dorsal fin. Two whales followed us for a few minutes surfing down the long swell as they often do. We checked the bows, the bilges, the rigging, the rudders inside the engine rooms, all good. With my gopro I took some underwater footage, and the keels, rudders, props and sail drives were
also
all good. We are extremely lucky not to have suffered any damage, and I hope the whale will also be OK. 🐋I have sailed over 270,000nm, and it's the first time I collided with a whale. The Maverick is obviously a strong boat, and we are grateful to be in great shape.

Have a whale of a day

Paul





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