1400 and were out past Jeffries Ledge out of sight of land some 30 nm from Portsmouth. Bright and sunny with a consistent 30 knot breeze just ahead of the beam. Sledding to Nova Scotia at 7+ knots with 180 nm between here and Cape Sable.
We started the day right with breakfast at the Golden Egg. Seeing Attorney Bob Shaines there all suited up for a business meeting reminded me why I don’t work at a big firm anymore. Thank you, Bob.
By 0930 we were off D14 and at the WBTS fuel dock to top off. $4.79 is now our benchmark for the price per gallon and the strength of the once almighty dollar. From 2KR the sails were up and we were on a beam reach in 18 to 20 knots doing 7+ knots to Canada. As the wind increased, so did the mounting swells; letting us sled downhill at 8 to 9 knots all day. But as the wind slew to the dreaded East (luckily only SSE), we were forced to head up and reef down.
Most incredibly, at 1230 Tess sitting on the cockpit coaming, called out a possible whale. At her second “sighting” I rose from the helm to retrieve the camera and prepare for any actual sighting. One step away from the companionway, I looked up and we all screamed “WHALE!”. Literally 20 feet dead ahead was a 40 to 50 foot whale whose topsides from head to tail were above the water. We were lined up to T-Bone her right in the mid-section.
My frantic scramble back to the helm to turn hard 90ยบ, was likely futile as we all anticipated the crash. Luckily, the leviathan moved away on her own and was gone. It took us all 20 minutes to recover our wits. Truly an amazing sight and an incredible near miss.
The bulk of the day saw Tim napping to recover from his 0400 arrival home from Oregon; and Tess and George looking for their sea legs. ENDURANCE soldiers on. Sails came down at 2230 when the wind went to the West. A fairly pleasant motor through the night with only two fishing boats sighted. A great sailing start to the adventure.
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3 comments:
Fantastic! So glad everything is going smoothly. How exciting to see a whale so close!
I was wondering if you left in those not so nice conditions on the 3rd. But it sounds like you had a great ride. Thanks for not hitting the whale. And I hope you got some shots off....
I am getting plenty of fog pictures for this Maine trip.
We have been fogged in for 2 days now and I bet we still have less cloths on than you. :-)
Just finished reading your log through 7/12. Our 33rd anniversary featured this couple enjoying steamers and drinks on the deck of a bar on the Maine coast - a somewhat less harrowing encounter than whales and fog from the deck of the Endurance. Glad your trip is exceeding expectations. Blessings as you continue your journey.
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