Whale Smashes Boat
Posted on 26 July 2010 by LynThomas in Society
A yachter, Paloma Werner, 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, before landing in the middle of their 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.
Werner saw the whale swimming around minutes after the collision. “Luckily, we weren’t taking on water so we started the engine and headed for shore. I saw the whale reappear further away.
The couple had been watching the whale for over an hour. It may have simply not have known the sailboat, which had its motor off, was there. The seas around Cape Town are teeming with whales and great white sharks at this time of the year.
Whales colliding with boats is not an uncommon occurrence.
Recently a 61-year-old woman from Bremerton, Washington, was injured when a whale surfaced next to a whale-watching boat. The woman was on a whale-watching expedition aboard the Hokulani, operated by the Center for Whale Studies, when a male humpback whale surfaced next to the starboard side about 1:25 p.m.
Its pectoral fin reportedly slammed into the boat, causing the woman to fall, police said. The boat’s railing on the starboard side was smashed and thin pieces of tissue, believed to be from the whale, were found on the boat’s hull. The woman was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center with minor injuries, police said.
In 2007 Lindsay Wright was sailing his brand-new 10-metre (30-ft) trimaran, Loose Goose, about 80 nautical miles off the west coast of the North Island, of New Zealand, when he was hit by a whale.
Wright said he had been sleeping when he was awoken by a loud noise and rushed up on deck to find himself staring at a whale’s head about a foot away.
He said the whale, a large male in a pod of about six humpbacks, had hit his yacht with its tail, opening a large hole in one of the boat’s three hulls.
“When I first saw him I thought he had come back for the coup de grace,” Wright said, then later felt it was just one of those unfortunate accidents.
Wright activated a distress beacon as his yacht took on water and lost electrical power. He was winched to safety aboard a rescue helicopter about five hours later.
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