Boat sinks after collision with whale near Guaymas

[autumnbreeze27]

My wife showed me a post off of Facebook/Women Who Sail, where somebody reported:

"Have your ditch bag ready, with passports, spare glasses, medication, etc., even for just one overnight passage! Just heard SV Sea Boa struck a whale crossing the Sea of Cortez to Guaymas. The boat went down quickly. He was picked up in his life raft by the Mexican Navy.

I don't have all the details yet, but it appears he got into his life raft, set off his EPIRB and called his son who notified the Cdn Coast Guard who contacted the Mexican Navy who picked him up quickly. He was not too far out of Guaymas.

He is a friend of ours and several friends have emailed us with bits of information."

Anybody have any more info? Type of boat? I found this pic of a SV Sea Boa but I don't know if this is the same boat, and I don't recognize the make/model either. Since the boat went down quickly I'd speculate the keel come off and left a big hole? We're heading across the sea shortly and are hoping for a safe passage.

[zeehag]

OH NOOOOOOOOO

omy they were intact when i just saw em. wow..
always be ready and keep closest watch..
wow
crap aint no words. i do hope they had whale insurance.

[barnakiel]

Odd. Looks like a big heavy boat. Not something that gets sunk by a whale. ?

b.

[Hartleyg]

Looks like a Yorktown with an added-on hard dodger. I'm about 90% sure I saw that boat in La Paz about 3-4 weeks ago.

Hartley

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Odd. Looks like a big heavy boat. Not something that gets sunk by a whale. ?

b.

the sea boa i watched pull out of here from G dock to head north is a hunter or bene, 38-40 ft, sugar scoop transom, either of which would go down very fast when hit by whale...was couplafew weeks ago--as i recall, they were headed to fornatur yard in guaymas.

the pic above is not the same sea boa as sailed here, and that is a morgan out island, second ugliest to yorktown , the ugliest cruising boat ever laid up. (per the designer/builder of yorktown yachts, hank mckune).
yorktown have clipper bows.
morgan dont.

i htink i saw a canadian flag on stern of sea boa, but not really swearably certain.

[Banshe]

G'day,

If you head out to sea in an unsafe weakened boat and it sinks, then you're a bloody idiot.

If you head out to sea in an unsafe weakened boat and you hit a whale and sink, then you are a hero!

James

[zeehag]

hay he is a nice guy. it is sad he got hit by or hit the whale.
poor whale, poor guy i fergit his name--i remember boat names, not human ones.
jason (autumnbreeze) is damned lucky i remember his real name because i forgot his boat name again...

[zeehag]

by the way.
this is whale migration season and baby birthing season. (calving season)
keep your eyes open and do not sail between baby and momma, as they will hit ye for that.

[JPA Cate]

Kinda hard to avoid on an overnighter, unless they let you know they're around.

Anyone on here know if whales can hear our engine? or our wake?

Too bad the vessel was sunk, but good on surviving.

Ann

[boatman61]

I followed the migration down the W coast of OZ.. had no problems.. if I was closing on a pod I'd veer of to pass clear of them.. just to not be rude.. and not to appear a threat.
However those overtaking would pass fairly close out of curiosity.. 20metres or so and carry on by..
I was no threat just a fellow voyager.. amazing to see.

[zeehag]

they can hear us when we motor. i think they can when we sail, but my boat is different--it seemed as if they saw and heard me when i was making my way south.
but my boat is a full keel with many noises. sea boa was a sleek clean bottom fin keeled fast sailing boat. may be more silent when coming thru water, and i dont know how noisy the soc inherently is, so i dont know what they hear there.
unless he went between momma and new baby, he shoulda been good to go without loss of boat.
it is not easy to see if you are between mom and calf, so this can happen. he is not the first.

i love watching them, and they do come close.

[SaltyMonkey]

hey hey was it a red bottom? Whaleys don't liek red bottumsz

[a64pilot]

Seems the only color they can see is red? I wonder if that is true for all whale species ?
http://mlcalliance.org/2011/11/22/what-do-whales-see/


Sent from my iPad Pro using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[SaltyMonkey]

Turkeys during mating season will attack red. So, isn't a whale just an obergrown turkey?

this is why you should wear light blue around turkeys and whales. Turkeys like blue.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Kinda hard to avoid on an overnighter, unless they let you know they're around.

Anyone on here know if whales can hear our engine? or our wake?

Too bad the vessel was sunk, but good on surviving.

Ann

They can hear us.. but when your the biggest thing around and if your on a mission get outa the way.
One Transat on a day of light winds and flatish sea one around 25+ft came tanking toward me from over the horizon.. 45* off the bow.. passed maybe 50metres of the bow and just kept going.. dunno where he was headed but it must have been important.. also had two surf big sea's with me in the Biscay.. they knew well where I was.. there's another hangs out every summer between Baiona and Porto that will come visit and dive under and around you.. they're pretty sociable.