Boat sinks after collision with whale near Guaymas

[Tayana42]

Unfortunately many gray whales are run down by freighters every year. These are large steal ships with engines running, depth sounded pinging and plenty of other noises. Still the whales don't get out of the way. I'm doubting that our small motors and depth sounders are keeping the whales away from us.


S/V B'Shert

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by nortonscove

Oodles of whales where we sail. Never hit one but the old guys I know always say time keep your engine running when they are around. Almost hit one in the early morning past July while leaving Fleur-de-lys harbour. It appeared to be sleeping.

As a side note for the flimsy argument PBO this month has an article about boats losing keels. It is a very rare occurrence to begin with but the highest percentage happens to steel or aluminum vessels due to failing welds. So much for the flimsy fibreglass theory.

What is PBO? Please post a link, I wanna read that article.

[markpierce]

One wonders what the outcome would be in a steel-hulled boat.

[Lizzy Belle]

Originally Posted by markpierce

One wonders what the outcome would be in a steel-hulled boat.

Before one knows what happened, one can wonder about so much

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by markpierce

One wonders what the outcome would be in a steel-hulled boat.

A whale with a big headache?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by markpierce

One wonders what the outcome would be in a steel-hulled boat.

Friends of ours in a steel Roberts 38 hit a sleeping (?) whale between the Galapagos and the Marquesas. Rode up over it until the keel hit, then either the whale sank or they just slipped off. No damage at all, the whale sounded after a grumpy-sounding blow, and they sailed on.

So, perhaps Zee's "no one survives" declaration is a bit exaggerated... but still, not a good practice!

Jim

[Simonsays]

Originally Posted by hpeer

What is PBO? Please post a link, I wanna read that article.

practical boat owner
Boat maintenance advice, sailing and motor boats, practical advice | PBO

[triciarob]

Rob and I were badly frightened by a whale in the Gulf of Aden in 2008. It circled us then rushed toward our port beam on the surface. At about 10m away it sounded and swam under the boat then resurfaced to starboard and swam away. Scared the **** out of us.

More recently (last year) we were sailing from Hong Kong to the Philippines it was a lovely, quiet, peaceful night, I was on watch with the cat (Mouse) in her harness (she always pretends she can't walk or sit up in her harness) when I heard blowing to port, then to starboard. Both very close, Mouse leapt up and rushed to s/board of cockpit staring over the coaming, with her tail rigid in the air (what a faker). I decided to stay on course, then I heard blowing ahead also very close. So took down sails and just lay ahull and waited for the whales to pass. It was wonderful and a bit scarey as it was dark (midnight - 0300 watch).

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by markpierce

One wonders what the outcome would be in a steel-hulled boat.

Nothing would have happened because the steel boat would have been on the hard getting sand blasted and painted for the tenth time...

[nortonscove]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Unfortunately many gray whales are run down by freighters every year. These are large steal ships with engines running, depth sounded pinging and plenty of other noises. Still the whales don't get out of the way. I'm doubting that our small motors and depth sounders are keeping the whales away from us.


S/V B'Shert

Many of those ships do 20 knots or more and gray whales are exceptionally slow. My boat has never done 20 knots unless she's on a flatbed.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Friends of ours in a steel Roberts 38 hit a sleeping (?) whale between the Galapagos and the Marquesas. Rode up over it until the keel hit, then either the whale sank or they just slipped off. No damage at all, the whale sounded after a grumpy-sounding blow, and they sailed on.

So, perhaps Zee's "no one survives" declaration is a bit exaggerated... but still, not a good practice!

Jim

aluminum and steel hulls might not be dead.... the fg and ferro go down like.....
oops

[OldBawley]

We saw a group of three whales between Italy and Sicily. Made a big loop around them.


In front of Dalaman airport ( Turkey ) I spotted a sleeping whale. Saw water sprouting, thought it ware dolphins. Sailing nearer, I could see a big grey lump in the water, then I realised it was a whale.


Must have woken it, it dived and we never saw it back. See pic.



Have seen a huge shark formed fish swimming along with our boat. It had a “Hammer” head.
Swam just two yards from us for quit some time. Guess it was 5 to 6 meters long.


So even the Med is not completely dead.

[SV THIRD DAY]

We hit a whale in 2010 flying down the outside of Baja doing 7-8kts wing on wing....felt like we hit a reef. Boat shuttered, rigging and mast shook and the whale rolled out to starboard as we stood there in amazement watching a big black cloud of ablative bottom paint appear in our wake. Being a sailing tank has it's advantages...no damage except a clean spot on the hull, well that and some stained shorts!

[PamlicoTraveler]

I was in ARC Europe in 2012 and we left Norfolk VA with 4 other boats, one being a Hanse 37' called Outer Limits. The owner from the Netherlands was a great guy and we got to know and hang out with him and his crew. We arrived in Bermuda and spent a few days there before leaving for the next leg to the Azores.

We were emailing each other with positions regularly... and about 2 days out from Bermuda, in the middle of the night, I checked my email to find that they had abandoned their boat after hitting a whale, just before sunset. They felt the boat come to a stop, and went up to see blood, and the whale in the water. One of the crew-members was a marine biologist.

There were port and starboard breeches in the hull, right at the waterline as I understand it. They tried stuffing the holes and getting a tarp around the outside of the boat. They called Bermuda radio with their predicament and a freighter was redirected to assist them. At that time, after dark, with the pumps unable to handle the flow, they gave up and boarded the freighter and headed for a 10 day passage to Italy.

It was an eye opener for me - very sad for our friend Joost, the owner of the boat, but of course it was a blessing that everyone was rescued.

When these things it's human nature to try to determine how they did something different than what we would have done in the same circumstance - this is just a way to conquer our own fears. There really is no way to "look out for whales." You might see one occasionally, I have seen their spray from time to time, but if one is sleeping and you sail over it, you were just very unlucky. It doesn't often happen. In reality, they did what they could and when the freighter arrived the decision had to be made - risk my life or give up the boat.

Whales are a risk, along with many others that exist in the ocean. I have to take comfort that the odds of me hitting one are small. Not non-existent, but small. If I did hit one, maybe I could keep the boat afloat, but there are no guarantees. It's like lightning - you might get struck, but you hope not.

http://www.wavetrain.net/news-a-view...holed-by-whale

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Simonsays

practical boat owner
Boat maintenance advice, sailing and motor boats, practical advice | PBO

I you mean the article on "how to check keel bolts" it does not even mention steel or aluminum boats. I presume ther was an article by a different name? I searched but could not find.

When a boat loses a keel at sea the first reaction is often to blame the keel bolts, but the evidence does not support this; and other failures are actually more common. In 2008, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) set up a working party on keel losses, and they found 72 cases since 1984 of boats losing their keels. There were defined causes in 44.5% of cases, but only three were attributed to keel bolt failure. Other causes included welded fin failures (11), grounding collision (8), internal structure (8) and canting keel system (2).
Read more at http://www.pbo.co.uk/expert-advice/h...7Zvz1AKXzDS.99