The Copelands Aboard ‘Freeranger’ Find Sei Whales While Sailing to the Ha-Ha
Boat shows are always a great place to connect with sailors, and it was no different at the recent Sausalito Boat Show. We were happy to meet the Copelands, who were making their way south from British Columbia for the start of the Baja Ha-Ha. After sailing down the coast, they found they were in need of a prop shaft replacement before moving on, so spent some time in Sausalito.
We had just written about the family in one of our Baja Ha-Ha profile stories, but were glad to hear a little more about their sail south. One of the amazing things they told us was about the incredible number of whales. They explained, “At first we’d shout out for all to come on deck to see a whale spouting, but after a while, it seemed as common as seeing a deer in your yard.”
They all enjoyed the frequent sightings, though one became worrisome when a very large member of a pod of sei whales broke off and came directly at them at speed. Luckily, it dove a reasonable distance away and visibly swam directly below their Beneteau 50 Freeranger. We’re most familiar with gray whales and humpbacks off our coast, but learned that sei whales are baleen whales and the third-largest whale behind blue and fin whales. They can grow up to 64 feet long and weigh up to 28 tons. They’re also among the fastest, able to swim up to 31 mph. Not something you want hitting the keel of your 50-ft boat!
As noted in our profile, Duncan is the son of Andy and Liza Copeland (authors of numerous cruising books), who appear on our West Coast Circumnavigators list after having circled the globe with their three sons aboard their Beneteau 38 Bagheera from 1985 to 1991. Both Duncan and his wife Larissa have strong ties to the ocean and have set off on this voyage with their kids to do more than just sail. They have a combined 40 years in environmental justice, marine resource management and conservation communications, so they’ll be voyaging while looking to support the “ocean we need for the future we want.” They plan to do this with citizen science through their organization Freerangeocean.org.
We look forward to seeing them again in San Diego at the Baja Ha-Ha kick-off party on November 3.
