JesseMartin.Net
30th March 1999
I 'M AT 26 deg. south (about 1200km off the coast of Brazil) and it is already boiling. All of my clothes are folded away and I have to wipe myself down with a wet facewasher and stand in the breeze to cool off.
I know I've been hanging out to add some marine life to the menu, but my encounter this week was a bit more than I bargained for.
I was lying in my bunk listening to the BBC World Service when all of a sudden there was a loud thud which threw the tiller pilot off its attachment.
I quickly jumped up and re-attached the steering when I looked behind and saw what had caused the thud.
I had collided with a large whale which was swimming after me about 10 metres away.
The poor thing must have gotten quite a shock when sunbaking at the surface, but to tell the truth I wasn't really concerned about him.
Reports of yachts that had sunk when whales continually barged at them for no apparent reason mixed with my thoughts that at least this whale had an excuse for being mad.
I was relieved when he let me continue. He went back to his partner and I to my bunk, thankful that there was no damage, considering I was travelling at top speed.
Grade 5-6 at Foster Primary School asked me what date I expect to get back and how my family is coping with all this.
My family are coping well (as long as I don't have any whale stories or knockdowns to report).
It probably would have been harder for them at the start, but now that I've covered a fair distance, they know there is not a great deal to worry about.
I plan to get home at the end of August on my 18th birthday and hopefully before the snow season finishes.
Prep R from Warrigal Primary School was also wondering what type of birds I see.
I don't know what most of them are called, but there is a big variety.
The albatrosses I saw at the Horn were the biggest I have seen so far, and it looked as if their wingspan was as wide as the boat (more than three metres).
At other times I have been followed by flocks of about 500 smaller birds for two days.
They were landing behind the boat and eating things out of the water that must have come from the weed under the boat.
I have also got a pet on board. His name is Barny.
In fact, it is a family of goosenecked barnacles growing at the bottom of the windvane paddle.
They've been with me for over a month and I'm encouraging them to grow so one day I can celebrate with barnacles kilpatrick.
The sun is quite low and the temperature outside is becoming more pleasant.
I'm just about to make a chocolate milk (have gone off coffee because it was giving me a headache) and sit out in the cockpit with a setting sun while I do some reading.
Before I go I would like to wish my grandma a happy birthday for yesterday when she turned 73. Congratulations Gran.