Environmental Issues

Collisions with whales and dolphins are becoming an increasing concern for offshore cruisers, as I outlined in a previous post. But up until recently there has been no serious attempt made to quantify the level of actual collision events, or to plot their geographical distribution. Obviously, having some idea of where and when collisions might take place would be really useful information for any crew intending to sail through areas where whales are prevalent, especially as the consequences of a collision with a whale can have dire consequences for both yacht and whale.

The liveaboard life appeals on many levels, but in common with many cruising couples that we have encountered, we have found that it can feel a little purposeless at times. This is partly due to us still shaking off many years of frenetic career work, but we’ve found we’re far from alone in this regard.

So as a means of keeping us busy and engaged after too many years spent aboard research yachts, we have kept up the habit of constantly scanning the horizon for signs of wildlife, with the undoubted benefit that we see far more spectacular creatures as a result.

John and I have a longstanding interest in collecting books on historical and present-day exploration of the high latitudes, or “death and destruction on the ice” as we call it. But it looks like climate change could put an end to this genre more quickly than we thought: This summer, for the first time in recorded history, a sailor has completed a transit of the NW Passage in 12 days solo non-stop and two boats have completed the NW and NE Passages in one season.

Many yachtsmen who have visited the Rias of Galicia have remarked that they resemble the sea lochs of Scotland (but without the rain or the midges!). And they do, although they are far busier than Scotland, not just in terms of population and boat traffic, but also because of one of the cornerstones of the local economy – fishing, and, most specifically, fish farming.

I have, with a few short breaks, lived either on, or within a stone’s throw, of salt water all my life. My earliest childhood memories are of commuting by boat from a small island where we lived to a larger island called Bermuda.

I have spent the majority of the last twenty years voyaging on the ocean. Or in fact one ocean: the North Atlantic. An ocean that I feel a special and deep connection to, even though it has contrived to scare me witless on several occasions and make me both uncomfortable and/or seasick on countless others.

I feel a deep and visceral horror about the oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, together with dread about the long term effects on the ocean I love and the animals that live in it.

Another race, another whale collision, yet again ending in the loss of a boat and injury to a whale. Thankfully no loss of life, although one day that may not be the case. What is happening out on the oceans? Pirates everywhere, climate change driven hurricanes, and now homicidal whales?