We’ve just had to put a couple of gybes in to get around a whale exclusion zone! This was a shame as we were pretty happy with our position and had some great conditions for fast sailing. It’s probably a good thing though as we’re pretty sure our little 40ft yacht would come off pretty badly in a collision with a Right whale. It has to be pointed out though that this view was not shared by Sam who was woken up twice in his off watch to change sides, but he has vowed to improve his ‘sleeping bag hop’ technique!
Earlier, we heard a big ‘thud’ as we were sailing along at around 11 knots. Nothing obvious was wrong, but Tom S who was helming at the time complained that the steering felt a little odd. Sam spotted something trailing off one of the rudders, and proceeded to try and get hold of it with the boat hook. After a few attempts, he managed to do so and when Luke reached over the back to grab the offending object it turned out to be a 1.5m length of 2”x4” timber. That would definitely have compromised performance of the mighty Concise.