Log #27 - Dead Sei whale - February 19, 2003

I had no plans to go sailing but the forecast was for 50 degrees, sunny and winds 5-10 miles per hour.  This was the best forecast I'd seen in awhile and I decided that I had to take advantage of it.  So, I let work know that I was taking the day off and off I went.  My original intent was to just refresh my sailing skills and sail around the area near my slip.  However, after about an hour of this the wind and tide was favorable for a sail up the Elizabeth River.  I decided to sail over to the Norfolk Yacht club which I had not seen close up yet.  The sail over was very nice, required several but not too many tacks.  I learned a few things about sailing close hauled.  I was surprised that I seemed to be able to point a little higher if I did not sheet the jib too tightly.  By easing the jib a little it seemed that the main was balanced better and the boat pointed higher.  This was counter to everything I have read or heard - but I tried it several times and I'm positive that it was true on this day.  Anyway, it has gotten me interested in paying attention to how the boat "balances" with sail trim.

When I got to the Norfolk Yacht club there was a lot of construction.  It looked like they were doing dredging and installing new piers - so it wasn't that attractive.  I'll take another look later.  However, across from the Yacht club there was an inlet with several sailboats at anchor which was very nice. After sailing about half way back against the tide I decided that I needed to motor because it was getting late and I needed to get home and get cleaned up because I was going to see ODU play Drexel in basketball (unfortunately ODU lost in a good close back and forth game).  After docking I was able to be on the road home in about 15 minutes.  Boy, having a slip is really going to be nice!  I don't miss raising and lowering the mast or getting the boat on and off the trailer at all!  This was a very enjoyable day and I'm glad I took advantage of it.

By the way, the next day in the newspaper I saw that a Sei whale was found dead floating just off Craney Island at about 10:30 AM.  That's exactly when I was off Craney Island but I didn't notice any unusual activity.  The paper sail the whale was practically cut in half and was probably hit be a freighter in the ocean and dragged into the Elizabeth by the freighter.  The "Sei" whale was towed to Little Creek amphibious base for an examination.  Here is a picture of the whale.

The sei whale, being necropsied by the
Virginia Marine Science Museum's stranding team
Thursday at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious
Base beach. Photo by Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot.