Aleria's Adventures

I previously wrote about being a speaker at the IS Cruising Conference. As a participant, I was fortunate to hear talks on other subjects, most notably the recent interactions between Orcas and sailing vessels off the Iberian coast. I've written about that before, as I am fascinated by the behavior. Fortunately, we didn't have any encounters ourselves on our return from Galicia in 2019.  Mónica González, Marine Biologist with CEMMA - Coordinadora para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos, gave a talk at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven on the 11th of March 2023. She presented a great deal of information now available on the Orcas that have been interacting with sailboats in the past few years.  CEMMA and Orca Iberica have identified 15 orcas, of the resident population of 35 remaining animals, that are taking part in the interactions. Monohull sailboats were involved in 80% of reported incidents. It appears that the interactions, particularly with spade and double-spade r

Orcinus orca  While working the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) pandemic response in the Atlantic, we had multiple reports of whales being struck by boats crossing from the Caribbean to Europe. One report, however,  was instead about whales attacking a boat. The yacht was transitting from Portugal to La Linea when orcas repeatedly rammed the vessel and spun it around 180 degrees. Every time they tried to resume course, they were rammed again, almost like the whales wanted them to leave. After the boat remained motionless for a period, the whales finally swam away. Although the sailors noted some damage to their steering, they were able to safely enter the port. Since then, numerous reports have appeared from the Straits of Gibraltar to the NW corner of Spain. Others weren't so lucky. Scientists can’t explain why killer whales are interacting with sailboats off the coast of Galicia and Portugal. Researchers say it is very unusual for orcas to show aggressive behaviour and ram into boats.

We've been wanting to go to boot (pronounced bowt) for years now, but somehow never made it until this year. We'd heard it was the biggest boat show in the world. That it covered so many acres that it would take ten years to see it all. That Düsseldorf was an inland industrial city without much to offer. In the past, boot clashed with the London Boat Show, not that we ever attended. But that's now gone forever and everyone that used to go to London came to Düsseldorf instead this year.  Finally, we got there, too. Yes, there were a lot of people, especially on Saturday. So I'm going to write about our first experience - generally all pleasant - to help first-time goers find their way around. It really pays to have some of the inside story. First, let me debunk some of the rumours. Yes, it is vast. Yes, it might take a year to see EVERYTHING. But first of all, it's not a boat show.  Boot is a watersports show. It covers sailboats, powerboats, windsurfing,