Whale and wind...


Right after Christmas Dan and I saw what we thought were Orcas, not being whaleoligist but knowing the difference between a porpoise and a whale we knew that the pod in very close to shore were not the usual whales found here nor were they porpoise/dolphins.

Yesterday brought lighter wind and partial cloudy conditions. I first went out on my 4.7 and smaller board, the combination worked barely. I was able to plane but it was hard to point. Here pointing is everything. If you can't point you'll end up down wind doing the walk of shame. I am a shameless type so I pinch, piss and moan until I get back to my launch. I'll be damned if I come in at strange beach and walk back to Kathy's. So I rig up to my 5.2 and the big board. Able to point, able sail through the holes, able surf the swells. The swells yesterday were big outside and in, we had breaking waves up the beach at Costa Brava cove, 2 to 3 foot breaks with nice smooth water in-between waves. These are the kind of conditions we get here when it blows hard for more than 48 hours, very nice. Rick and Jan showed up to sail off of Kathy's, they used to sail here all the time. Then they went to North Beach after building a winter place close by. After yesterday I expect to see them here more often, their end of the day opinion was over and over how much better the swells are here. Good fun sailing with them, they like playing chicken with the beach.

Whales, this morning a pod of whales came into the bay early and stayed until midmorning. I first spotted one way far out around 7ish, as the morning progressed they came in closer and closer. The pattern was three or four blows then out of sight for 10 minutes or so, then again 3 or 4 blows and gone. Each time they came in closer and closer. Didn't see any dramatic breeches, only the blow and the outline of their back with a little splash of their tails. Occasionally the tail would break the surface. Kinda like watching submarine races only more exciting. This isn't the first time we have spotted whales, but it is the longest a pod has stayed in the bay this season. Right after Christmas Dan and I saw what we thought were Orcas, not being whaleoligist but knowing the difference between a porpoise and a whale we knew that the pod in very close to shore were not the usual whales found here nor were they porpoise/dolphins. They were too big to be porpoise/dolphins and too small to be the breed of whale we see in this area. So if it is big, black and close to shore what were they? Short fin Pilot Whales? I am going with the pilot whale, the ones we saw did not have the characteristic tall fin on its back and the head were more blunt. Very cool seeing them less than a hundred feet away. Whales

Looks like it will be another windy day, light winds but windy nonetheless.

Posted: Fri - January 7, 2005 at 09:55 AM          

©