Whale watching anyone?

The first night of a passage is always difficult, and so we were all looking forward to the second night, and maybe getting some sleep, maybe not encountering lots of big ships. We had a good day, saw flying fish, sailing jellyfish (Man of War), and a wonderful dolphin show.

It always happens on my watch. At 0030, we were sailing quietly at about 6 knots while I struggled to stay awake. I heard the unmistakable blowing sound of a whale RIGHT BY MY HEAD, then I was showered by whale snot. A split second of awe, followed by a crashing sound, and then true panic set in.

How bad was the damage? Were there more of them? Could we expect to be jolted right out of the water??? Then a long beeping, and I knew the autopilot had locked up. Which meant that we had steering problems. After a hectic hour checking to be sure there was no other damage and trying to get the boat back on course, any course, we concluded that while we could turn to the right just fine, we couldn't turn to the left at all. Looking over the transom, in the ultra clear water of the sargasso sea, we could see that the rudder was bent. So, OK, we just wouldn't go left.

We decided that we would turn to Beaufort, which was only 200 m, and was surrounded by lots of other potential ports, both north and south. Bermuda was 415 miles away and very, very tiny, so it would be easy to miss as we turned donuts across the Atlantic. We settled in for the night heading south as the wind was coming from the west (the direction we wanted to go) and we couldn't hold the boat any closer to the wind with a one-way rudder. This morning, we checked out the propeller and shaft, and all appeared fine, so we started the engine, which improved our pointing ability dramatically. Through a combination of sail trim (using the main only to produce weather helm while on port tack and genoa only to produce lee helm while on starboard tack) and subtle moves of the wheel we have been able to wiggle our way back into the gulf stream. Somehow in the mayhem last night we broke one of the deck hatches and have been attempting to control that leak and all the wind, waves and spray of the gulf stream aren't helping. But we have plenty of fuel, water and food!

Actually, we expect to be approaching Beaufort by about 1600 Wednesday, where we will need to call for a tow. Maneuvering around big ships in a narrow channel with only starboard rudder sounds foolish. We consider ourselves pretty lucky, and blessed to have made it through this close encounter with a whale with only minimal damage. We will get towed to a boatyard, and once again, have the boat hauled to check the hull for damage and to replace the rudder. And yes, we just happen to have a spare (the old rudder that we have been using a yard ornament for over a year--our neighbors love us!). While we aren't willing to go offshore with this rudder,
we're not too worried about using it on the ICW or around the sounds. What, you ask, will you do with the rest of your vacation? We've been discussing this. Abby wants to fly to Bermuda. Leah wants to go to Cuba. Bob wants to go to Ocracoke, And I want to go to Maine or Key
West and charter a boat for a week. Am I crazy or what???