Len wrote in
:

A close encounter with a whale when underway would be impressive too
I'm sure. I guess it has to do with (re-)connecting with nature.


I was alone on the midwatch of S/V "Claire's Navie", an Endeavour 35 about
100 miles off the Georgia coast, on a pitch black night with the moon set.
Somewhere around 3AM "something surfaced", making an awful rushing noise
out there in the pitch dark off my starboard beam. I swear I heard it also
"breathe" through its blowhole. The rushing stopped as quickly as it
started and the sounds of the 4-5' quartering seas returned to normal. I
couldn't tell if the "something" made any of the waves that hit the hull or
not in the pitch dark. It must have been your whale. I didn't hear any
screws turning.

I had no trouble remaining awake way past my watch relief, who got hit
DIRECTLY in his stomach from port by a huge flying fish that stunk up the
cockpit something awful before we could heave it overboard. He woke right
up for the rest of his watch, too!....(c;

It's much more fun thinking about these panic attacks than laying back
there, slightly drunk, in a quiet cove I think...

--
Larry