There She Blows!

Today was a gorgeous day with plenty of sunshine and cooperative winds. We flew the spinnaker all day on a beam reach averaging 7.5 to 8 knots. The high pressure system now lies beneath us and is blowing us straight towards Spain.

The Grand Banks are an amazing ecosystem of bountiful variety. At first we thought that the sea birds were following our boat, mistaking us for a fishing vessel discarding unsuitable catch. Instead, they we were actually stalking schools of dolphins and other fish hoping to get scraps of their fallen prey.

We sailed today through a huge feeding frenzy with hundreds of dolphins (as far as the eye could see) leaping through the water. At the same time, we saw two fountains erupt from the sea a few miles away. We eagerly watched as the spouts came toward us, surfacing every few minutes. Two whales breached less than a hundred yards from our stern, blew magnificent sprays, and rolled over onto their backs. Every now and then we would see them surface in the distance as they continued their journey north.

We are about to sail across the south-eastern edge of the Grand Banks on a course that will take us north of the Azores. The wind over the next few days is forecasted to blow at 10 to 15 knots from astern. We hope to bang out 200-mile days if these conditions persist.