Well, what a long time coming. Finally after 10 months of sailing and 10,000 miles we have seen our first whale and what a fine specimen she was. Actually that isn�'t quite true we didn�'t really see him or her that clearly, we just motored right into her!

Yes, believe it or not at 04:15 UT on the 25th July 2010, Elmarleen motor sailing from the Azores to Southampton (via Iceland) hit a whale. Initially we had no idea what was happening.

Moments before we had just heard something drop out of the rigging and thought it looked like we had broken the top full length batten car. So we dropped then main and I made a repair. The main was back up and we had both just gone back down below. Tam was getting into her bunk and I was standing up in the galley. Suddenly there was an almighty shudder and wobble. The boat felt like she rode up on top of something and then heeled and slide sideways. I darted on deck thinking the worst, I thought we might have hit a fishing trawler or a lost container. I slowed the engine. It was very dark and we couldn�'t see anything. Tam checked under the floor boards looking for any signs of a leak and then it happened again. A couple more shudders and we heeled but less far this time.

There was no boat to be seen. For a brief second I thought we might have lost the rig, perhaps that was a clevis pin that had fallen on to the deck. No it was still standing. Then we saw it, just along side Elmarleens port side, close enough to touch. I have no idea what sort of whale it was but it was at least the length of the boat. It soon dived and we haven�'t seen it since.

I guess the whale was asleep. Do they sleep? It was in our path and we must have hit it on the port side. It was quite a bump and very similar to running aground (I recall Trellis Bay BVI�'s) except the boat didn�'t pivot round and it wasn�'t a sudden stop. Afterwards we spent a good few minutes going over the hull internally making sure we weren�'t taking on any water.

If we had hit the whale while we were working on the main sail either of us could easily have been flung into the water. I have often wondered what would happen if Elmarleen hit a whale and I always just presumed she would be holed. Hopefully the whale might have taken some of the weed and barnacles off the hull�.wishful thinking.

Anyway, about an hour later Tam and I were back in our bunks. Funny though, Tam dreamt about having the Meakins over for dinner and our boat engine blowing up, while I had a dream about Tam swimming over to Spruce and being attacked by two great white sharks.

Finally we have picked up some wind. We are currently 460 miles north of the Azores and sailing at 6.2 knots under spinnaker. Fingers crossed we might be able steer a little east in an hour or two.

Will, Tam and Elmarleen