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American Spirit II - Day 215; Another Humpback Whale Encounter, 25-30 Knots of Wind & We Pick Up an Overnight Visitor; Friday, August 8, 2014



What I failed to mention yesterday was that the Humpback Whale that I saw 20 feet behind the boat had a light grey or white underside. The large tail I saw was black on top but light grey or white on the bottom. That became apparent today with another whale encounter. At 2:17 PM while on 'whale watch' I saw a juvenile Humpback Whale just forward of our port beam headed in the direction we'd come from, about 100 feet from the boat. (Jeanine says the whale was 30-40 feet away). As I was looking at the whale I called out to Jeanine, who was in the cockpit with me, and for Joel, who was napping down below. The whale, easily identifiable with its black hump, then turned over on its back, exposing its white underside. Both its black and white pectoral fins (top black and bottom white) were sticking up in the air like giant fins, moving back and forth. Like it was waving at us. It then rolled onto its stomach again, blew once and swam away, continuing on a coarse away from us. We didn't see its mother, which had to be nearby. I was surprised to see any whales today, as I was yesterday, due to the wavy 5-7 foot seas with tons of white caps. By 'whale watch' I mean that I don't read in the day time in these water but spend 100% of my time looking forward 45 degrees to the port or starboard, hoping to see a Humpback Whale. If you're not looking, you'll miss a lot. And since we're in the area of highest whale concentration on our trip, now is the time to look.

Since we're going to be in 'Humpback Whale Land' for a while, some information about this whale species follows. The male humpback whale grows to 16 meters (53 feet) and the female grows to 17 meters (56 feet). (Its a rare species where the female is larger than the male). This whale species is endangered, which is not unusual amongst many different types of whales; and roams the Southern and Pacific Oceans. The Humpback Whales come into Australian waters every year to calve from late July to early November. According to one tourist magazine I read, there are 3,000 in Australian waters during the height of their annual migration. This same magazine stated that it is illegal to get closer than 300 meters to a whale, unless it chooses to get closer to you.

A tour book continues: "Whales are curious creatures and many will roll up to the whale watching boats with one eye clear of the water, making those on board wonder who's actually watching whom." The book further states that "Humpbacks are showy aqua-acrobats; you'll see them waving their pectoral fins, tail slapping, breaching or simply 'blowing'." The book I've quoted is Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef published by Lonely Planet.

Another item I neglected to mention about Hamilton Island concerned the golf carts that you could rent there, for $87.00 per day. They had lights and break lights; turn signal indicators; seat belts; and license plates. Wow. Hopefully that sort of 'regulation' isn't coming to American any time soon.

On to the daily log...

At 5:00 AM the stars disappeared and a thick, lower layer of clouds rolled in.

I relieved Jeanine at 5:50 AM after getting 4 hours of continuous sleep. Not bad on a noisy and rolling boat.

The ship Jeppesen Maersh passed by to port going the same direction as us. The wind was 15 knots and our boat speed 5.7 knots.

As the sun rose I could see a mountain (Mt. Cleveland 557 meters high) on land visible at 12 miles off the port beam.

At 6:40 AM the I observed the ship Melia on the AIS heading towards us, 12 miles away. It'll pass port to port. I put an 'AIS Vector' on the ship, which sends out a dotted line from the ship so I can see where they're pointed towards. It's easy that way to see if you're on a collision course.

One of the most surprising things about Australia are the mountainous islands and coast line of the country. I had no idea that it was so mountainous. A typical island is 100% mountain. Right down to the shore. And heavily wooded.

At 7:18 AM the ship Melia passed me port abeam at 1.8 miles.

By 8:00 AM the wind had built to 20 knots, which back home in Florida is when the US Coast Guard issues a 'small craft advisory' warning. Our speed was 5.8 knots, with one reef still in the main and no jib out. Remember, we're cruising, not racing. There were rain showers to starboard; and low, overcast clouds. A lousy looking day.

The Australian Coast Guard on channel 16 broadcast the times that they would be giving weather broadcasts on channel 22, not 22A as in the US. Since our VHF radio was set to receive US weather and not International, Joel got the ICOM 604 radio book out and re-programmed the radio so we could get these broadcasts. There really wasn't a need before now because most other countries we've visited either didn't give weather broadcast via the VHF radio or did so in a language we wouldn't understand.

Breakfast was at 9:15 AM and consisted of scrambled eggs, an orange apiece and raisin bread with butter, jelly and peanut butter. With coffee and tea, of course.

At 9:30 AM we had 4 ships around us - 3 coming at us and one from behind. Busiest amount of shipping we've had since the Panama Canal.

At 10:10 AM I called the Marlin Marina in Cairns on the satellite phone and reserved a slip for us for 3 nights. I had gotten the marina phone number from one of our Navionics navigation apps. They were insistent on mentioning that I bring my 'insurance papers' with me when I check in. That was the reason I upped my GL insurance from $1M to $5M. I had been advised that some marinas will demand that you have $5M in insurance and will want to see a copy of that insurance.

At 11:35 AM I turned on the SSB radio and sent and received logs and emails; again from Darawank NSW, Australia 855 nautical miles away at a bearing of 160 degrees true. It took 3 minutes to send the emails, which is good; but much longer to receive, which is not good. Not sure why receive takes longer than send.

Our position at noon was 18 degrees, 47 minutes South; 147 degrees, 5 minutes East. Wind 17-25 knots; and our boat speed was 6.5 to 8.5 knots. Still 100% overcast.

Lunch at 1:50 PM was prepared by Jeanine and consisted of 1/2 of a Tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread each; plus pringles.

At 2:17 PM we saw the juvenile Humpback Whale. See above.

At 2:21 PM we surfed down a wave at 10.3 knots. I changed the mainsail from 1/2 reef to 1 full reef. Better to put a reef in before you need it rather than after you need it. The wind was now gusting to 29 knots and continuing to build.

At 4:54 PM the Australian Coast Guard issued a weather advisory: "Strong Wind Warning." No kidding. They forecast winds of 20-25 knots with gusts up to 30 knots due to a strong high pressure ridge. As usual, this forecast turned out to be wrong. The winds were going to get much stronger than 20-25 knots. Try 25-30 knots, with a lot of 29's.

At 4:50 PM we jibed from port to starboard, and put a little jib out to help keep the boat from rounding up. We shortened the mainsail from one reef to two reefs when we did this. Joel also turned up the sensitivity on the auto pilot from 5 to 8 to help mitigate the boat from rounding up. It worked. We still occasionally rounded up when a big wave came by, but much less so.

Dinner at 5:50 PM was freeze dried Soy Chicken Curry, non-chilled pear halves (the chef forgot to put them in the refrigerator the day before) and bread.

I napped from 6:15 PM to 8:30 PM; and relieved Joel at 8:50 PM. The wind was averaging 25-28 knots, and our boat speed was 7.4 knots. The waves were still 5 to 7 feet, but steep and with a short period - meaning they occurred more frequently than in the open ocean where the space between waves is much longer.

We were sailing amongst reefs and islands...everywhere. That made the sail a little more arduous than normal. Plus we had lots of ship traffic.

At 9:15 PM a 'slapper' got me in the cockpit. A slapper is a wave that hits the side of the boat in such a way that it makes a loud 'slapping sound' and throws water over the cockpit and slaps you with the water. You don't get hugely wet, just enough to let you know that there are risks in sitting in the aft end of the cockpit away from the protection of the dodger. I saw the 'slapper' coming but didn't move quick enough to avoid it.

A friend of mine from Tampa, Chuck Levin, asked me to add more about what emotions I feel when I'm sailing. Well, tonight the emotions are...Yuck! My idea of sailing is not 25-30 knots of wind, in low 100% overcast skies, and in a reef and island enclosed area with lots of ship traffic coming at you. And with the wind from behind us it's a 'sloppy' sail. Too much work. Seriously, if sailing around the world was always like this I wouldn't be in favor of it. My perfect wind speed is 15-20 knots. And sunny. At least it didn't rain on us tonight. And the moon is out tonight, lighting up the seas. And I even saw one star. Wow!

At 9:50 PM a giant tern or boobie circled the boat once, landed on the forward, starboard deck; then took off again, circled the boat again and finally landed on the top of the dodger with a thud. Landed into the wind, I might add, like an airplane would land on a runway. With the moon shining, I could see his shadow outline 2 feet above me. It was 16 inches long, and had a beak about 3 inches long. Its wingspan was 4 or 5 feet. Its color as best as I could tell as it circled, was dark and light in color. A BIG bird. It positioned himself with his head and body facing the wind, and then commenced pruning itself. Somewhere along the way it decided that it was time to go to the bathroom. I could see evidence of that behind it. No problem. Any port in a storm. In all my years of sailing I've had birds land on life lines, the deck, a spreader, claw into a sail, and even fly below (a small finch). But this is the first time I've seen a bird land and rest on a dodger or bimini top. Very cool.

At 10:07 PM the ship Teresa Micronesia, 394 feet long, passed me port to port at 2.4 miles. At 11:18 PM the ship Trader, 705 feet long, passed port to port at 2.2 miles. Yes, we're in a shipping lane.

Joel relieved me at midnight.

Brian Fox

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