Thar She Blows!!

Carolyn was having a Southern Living party Sunday afternoon, and after I had mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedge and swept, the sun was out and the sea beckoned so I called Dennis to see if he wanted to sail. He thought that sounded like a good idea as he didn't want to have to do too much yard work anyway.

I met him at the harbor a little after 2, and he had already gotten the boat ready for launch. A few kayaks by the bridge required us to do a 360 before we were able to get the mainsail up, but soon I was skippering down the channel as Dennis hauled in bumpers and stowed them.

We set an almost due south course and the wind was fairly strong with swells that were fairly small. About two miles offshore, I noticed a small wisp of water or was it a breach from a porpoise? I alerted Dennis who grabbed the helm while I grabbed my camera as we witnessed a whale's back arch out of the water about 100 yards ahead of us!! It was quick and we watched intently to see if we could see him breach further north, but to no avail and I wasn't able to get a picture. It's hard chasing after a whale in a sailboat.

The wind continued to pick up and our GPS had us cruising at over 7 knots at some times while our knot meter on the boat was showing 4.5 or so. But our leeward rail was almost in the water sometimes and the lower part of the jib was splashed with water. As we turned back towards the harbor, we spotted a pod of porpoises to our south apparently chasing bait fish and churning the water as they swam south away from us.

We had been hoping to see a whale aboard the Journey, and now we finally have. It would have been fun to see a few more or for a little longer, but that's what sails are for.