Whale 1, sailboat 0

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localboy

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What are the odds?

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A yachter in South Africa says her trip off the country's picturesque southwestern coast was wrecked by an unexpected whack from a whale.

Paloma Werner said Wednesday the whale breached just feet (meters) from their boat in Cape Town's waters on Sunday. It whacked the yacht, snapping the mast in two. A local newspaper showed a photo, captured by a passenger on a nearby boat, of a massive black whale towering over the yacht. Werner says neither she nor her companion were hurt, and she saw the whale swimming around minutes after the collision. She says she feels lucky that the mast took the brunt of the blow.

The seas around Cape Town are teeming with whales and great white sharks during the winter months, which fall in the middle of the year.
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http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-odd/20100721/AF.South.Africa.Whale/
 
Marine activist Nan Rice said it was likely that it breached because it was harassed. "I keep on warning people not to go within 300m of them. Whales are not gentle giants but are very territorial and will charge if they feel endangered," Rice said.
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This statement makes me suspicious. There may in fact be more to the story, but I take anything said by an "activist" with a large degree of skepticism. They have an agenda and will do/say nearly anthing to support it.

I've swum with humpbacks in Hawai'i and seen them breech numerous times for no apparent reason and w/ no one/nothing near them. The one time I swam with them, it was a mother w/ her offspring. She maneuvered between us and her "baby" but she was hardly "territorial" and certainly did not "charge" us. She and her pup moved with ease & grace and moved slowly off when she wanted to; there was no way I could keep pace, even with fins.
 
Shades of Sherrod. Who can you believe?

If you can believe the article, the only quoted witness is a whale-watching entrepreneur (more reliable than an activist?) whose account is commented on by a government official (less reliable than an activist?) and an activist.

Man, I'm sticking with Ishmael's account. :lol:
 
localboy":gnc6zdbn said:
What are the odds?

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A yachter in South Africa says her trip off the country's picturesque southwestern coast was wrecked by an unexpected whack from a whale.

Paloma Werner said Wednesday the whale breached just feet (meters) from their boat in Cape Town's waters on Sunday. It whacked the yacht, snapping the mast in two. A local newspaper showed a photo, captured by a passenger on a nearby boat, of a massive black whale towering over the yacht. Werner says neither she nor her companion were hurt, and she saw the whale swimming around minutes after the collision. She says she feels lucky that the mast took the brunt of the blow.

The seas around Cape Town are teeming with whales and great white sharks during the winter months, which fall in the middle of the year.
Click to expand...
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-odd/20100721/AF.South.Africa.Whale/
Click to expand...

They (the odds) may be better than you think depending on where you are. I have had numberous close encounters with a whales in the far reaches of Ressurrection Bay (Seward, Alaska). And this time of year, a whale of one kind or another seems to be everywhere the salmon are. In fact, just last trip a humpback came right up (5ft) to the port side of the boat while we were fishing for cohos. It was unerving as we had been fishing there for some time and there were no whales around at all. Where it came from I have no idea. A couple of years ago I was bathed (seriously) with whale snot and goo from another humpback that came up for air right next to the boat (rubbing it in fact) and had to be tested for TB (my wife insisted as she found out they carry it). While they seem pretty predicatble, they scare the heck out of me and I avoid them like crazy. Not that avoiding them seems to work for me....they seem to like C-Dory boats......

Here is a picture from another forum of a whale harrassing a boat in Seward. I didn't take it, but there is nothing worse than whales when one is anchored up.....By the way I have no idea if the link will actually work.....

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/att ... 1279565825
 
I've been up close and personal with whales in Maui, the PNW, and Mexico. I've never harassed and never felt threatened. BUT, they are HUGE... and I wouldn't want to be in their near proximity during a breach. It makes for an interesting story from either perspective. I wasn't implying anything with my post, just pointing out another perspective.

Pretty amazing to be snorkeling or diving and hear the whale songs while underwater. :note :note :thup

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
See even the whales love our C-Dory's! I think it is like anything else in life put 6 people in the same room let them watch the same event and you will have 6 different versions.
 
We know from observation that whales do get agitated when harassed. Last year traveling from Glacier Bay to Juneau we rounded the corner into Saginaw Channel, a very narrow passage north of Stephens Passage, to find several humbback whales also traveling through the other way. There were several other boats in the area including two whale watching boats. We stopped where we were to observe while the whale watching boats pursued them relentlessly. One in particular kept right on the whales. The whales got more and more agitated, slapping the water with their tails and fins. Then they did start jumping out of the water very close to the boat that was most aggressive. When we saw this, we moved on as we did not want to take a chance they would take it out on anyone in the area. It was truly alarming and disappointing to see the whale watching boat treat them in this manner.
 
...slapping the water with their tails and fins. Then they did start jumping out of the water very close to the boat...
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See now maybe they weren't agitated at all. Maybe they were trying to communicate with the fellow air breathers and say "HI!" and wave. Just saying... :wink:
 
Well, they are definitely curious about us as we are about them. In the Johnstone Straight in British Columbia, a pod of Orcas traveled by. Again, we shut off our engines and just drifted while we obsevered them, but we were a little closer to shore than I think they liked. They, too slapped the water with their tail and fins and they were spying at us by coming directly up out of the water to see what we were doing. On our travels we have had several close encounters and we have learned when they are just there and when they are agitated. It can be very scary in a boat our size to have them surface right next to us. We love every opportunity to watch them in the wild, but we don't harrass them.
 
Only one close encounter with a whale, and it defintiely sought me out.

Paddling an out of the way cove in the Deer Group, Barkley Sound, we spied a humpback whale, feeding on the bottom. We skirted the outer edge of the cove and left the whale to its cove. Returning on our way back to camp an hour plus later, we edged into the cove, hugging the rocky shoreline to avoid spooking the whale, with the whale nowhere in sight. About a quarter of the way along the shoreline, it came up between me and the rocks, maybe a boat length away, rolling on the sirface and eyeing me, slipping below the water as ait exited the cove.

That was definitely a change-your-underwear morning!
 
The female crew member of the boat in question was interviewed on "The Bob River's Show" (a Seattle morning radio show) this morning.

She said the whale breached twice prior to landing on them. One time at about 600 meters and again at about 200 meters distance. She stated they were traveling away from the whale at a 90 degree angle and under sail. She said they were not interacting/harassing the whale and were out pleasure sailing; NOT whale watching. It's a steel hull. Per her damage to mast, halyard, stanchions but all repairable and no one was injured.
 
I share this with you, from Carol Mueller's book, Name That Boat!: A Nautical Trivia Challenge.

"Did you know that Moby Dick was actually based on a documented sperm whale that hunted and destroyed ships? The real whale was named Mocha Dick after his territory near the Mocha Islands off the coast of Chile. Between 1810 and 1859, he is credited with attacking over 100 ships and killing 30 men. He was identified by his "white as wool" coloring and the 8-foot scar across his massive head."

:shock: :shock: :shock:
 
There's a great still photo from much closer here from the NY Post:

20100720_zaf_y60_002094741--300x300.jpg


Joe. :shock:
 
You can see from the video that the boat tried to intersect the whale along it's path! I've seen others try this before along the west coast of BC with some close calls. Some boaters don't think, these ones are lucky they were not hurt, hopefully we can say the same for the whale. :shock:
 
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