Be careful out there!

[Sea Dreaming]

Boat overturned by blue whale off California coast - BBC News

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25740444

[a64pilot]

I guess the sight seers got what they paid for?

[zeehag]

2014. it happened 2 times that year a lady i know was capt on this particular one. oopsy.

[parrotsailor]

The article states that the whale got too close to the boat. I submit the boat got too close to the whale

[JPA Cate]

Sea Dreaming,

Whales are hazards that you'll never see, at night. You may not be able to avoid them. A humpback with a baby alongside drifted over and was sort of pinching us between a coral reef and herself--not touching. If she hadn't given us more room, we would have had to turn towards her (she's softer than the coral reef). No problem occurred, but they're out there, and it's their natural habitat--we're only visitors.

Ann

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Sea Dreaming,

Whales are hazards that you'll never see, at night. You may not be able to avoid them. A humpback with a baby alongside drifted over and was sort of pinching us between a coral reef and herself--not touching. If she hadn't given us more room, we would have had to turn towards her (she's softer than the coral reef). No problem occurred, but they're out there, and it's their natural habitat--we're only visitors.

Ann

We were heading south into Moreton Bay near the North end of Moreton Island and saw a dark shadow in the water and assumed it was sea grass. Something didn't look quite right so at about 70m we turned away. Soon as we turned the shadow suddenly came to life and moved the opposite direction, it was a mother and calf which I think were sleeping or suckling in the shallow water. We were moving quite quickly too.

I find it hard to believe a whale would sink a boat just from running in to it unless when it reacted it caused the damage.

[JPA Cate]

Quite right, Dave. We've had them a tad too close for comfort a number of times, but occasionally they do great damage. I don't know why, it's just that boats sometimes get in the way of marine giants. Maybe some of them have had bad experiences, maybe some are clumsy, maybe there's too many humpbacks out there right now....I haven't a clue why there are whale/yacht interactions, other than running up on them while they're sleeping at night.

Ann

[zeehag]

more recently than this article was sea boa, a newish sturdily built cruising sloop which ran into a sleeping whale in soc one night, i believe 2016 as he was headed north for summer--- there is no more sea boa. whale sunk it.
these guys are hard to see.
do be careful i have heard nothing about this years crop of whales-- no one has been sunk or scared as yet--perhaps because more care is being given in birthing and migration areas.

[parrotsailor]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

, maybe there's too many humpbacks out there right now..
Ann

Maybe we should let them be after a few hundred years of industrial slaughter.You think?

The article was about a whale watching boat.The captain was at fault for not leaving a safe distance. Bad seamanship prompted by ticket sales for close encounters.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Quite right, Dave. We've had them a tad too close for comfort a number of times, but occasionally they do great damage. I don't know why, it's just that boats sometimes get in the way of marine giants. Maybe some of them have had bad experiences, maybe some are clumsy, maybe there's too many humpbacks out there right now....I haven't a clue why there are whale/yacht interactions, other than running up on them while they're sleeping at night.

Ann

Hi Anne

I don't know what these two would have done if we didn't change direction. I suspect they would have moved out of the way but who knows. I think they might thrash around if they get hit (that's what I'd do :-))and this might be what does the damage.

Your right about there being a lot of them, there were times when there seemed to always be some in sight.

I read somewhere that sonar scares them away, I've got forward facing sonar and it was switched on that day and other times it doesn't seem to make any difference if I switch it on.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Honestly, in some areas they're just unavoidable, & not really worth worrying about. Such as when I race full time in SoCal, along with doing deliveries & teaching. It's not uncommon to see one a week. Usually only noticing them because they'd blow. And almost without exception they'd be within a boat length or so of us.
Our SOP: Helmsman just asks the lookout who'd spotted it to ensure that we aren't on a collision course. And aside from that we keep on racing/sailing. Such occurences were/are non-events. Especially since if the whale wants to do you harm, it'll have litttle trouble doing so. But it's so, so rare, that it's not even worth thining about. I know that I genuinely never have. And I've been around dozens, & dozens of them.

[Astrid]

Where I am, the area Hecate Strait between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii is like a whale freeway. We have orcas and humpback, grey and minke whales which come through here between May and October going either heading into their arctic grounds from the south or returning to waters off Mexico. Our resident Orca pods even tend to winter up here rather than going farther south, staying in the area of the Dixon Entrance between Haida Gwai and the Alaskan panhandle. At least one resident pod has been spotted in the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike transient pods migrating in from other areas cruising back to them seasonally hunting seals as they go, the resident pods largely hunt fish. Halibut concentrate in numbers between November and March in their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Alaska, while the Pacific salmon migrate into coastal areas from Alaska on south in preparation for their annual journey up rivers to their spawning grounds in the fall. Various species of sharks also migrate through these waters and appear to be part of the resident orcas' buffet menu. At certain times of the year it is hard not be out on the water without sighting whales and orca.

As to collisions with whales, or being collided with by a whale, whale watching tour boats cause most small vessel incidents with whales since they tend to stray to close according to various studies, while vessels painted red or having red painted undersides seem to attack baleen whales which see red as a dark mass and might be mistaking it for a concentration of krill or copepods which are often a reddish colour. On the other hand, blue and green are invisible to whales and therefore won't arouse their interest.

[Astrid]

". . . vessels painted red or having red painted undersides seem to attack baleen whales which see red as a dark mass and might be mistaking it for a concentration of krill or copepods which are often a reddish colour." should read as

". . . vessels painted red or having red painted undersides seem to attract baleen whales which see red as a dark mass and might be mistaking it for a concentration of krill or copepods which are often a reddish colour."

[Solandri]

Originally Posted by parrotsailor

The article states that the whale got too close to the boat. I submit the boat got too close to the whale

In the U.S., it's illegal to approach within 100 yards of certain specials of whales (some species have an even bigger buffer). The general rule of thumb used by almost all whale watching boats is not to motor closer than 100 yards of any marine mammal. Maneuvering closer can be considered harassment, with some hefty fines. So once they reach that threshold, they shut the engines off.

At that point, if the whale decides to come closer, it's the whale's decision. You can motor away if you want, but the law doesn't prohibit you from simply drifting as whales approach. So it was almost certainly the whale which decided to get close to the boat.

They're very common this time of year off California. I've seen them so often on random fishing trips that I've never bothered going on a whale watching trip. Many are curious and willingly come close to get a better look (~100 years of no whaling will do that).

The no-approach rule is kind of a double-edged sword. Without the engines/motor running, they're less likely to notice the boat, so can accidentally surface or breach onto one. They're not perfect - they make mistakes just like people do, occasionally even hitting each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyDspzxSrw

https://youtu.be/gqmjiNQ9_so?t=1m25s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz6ax4rRrvI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOTGnizcP7g

[Snowpetrel]

Hit one once at about 15 knots in a plywood ULDB surfing downwind mid Tasman. Very lucky we didn't lose the keel or rudder. One hell of a bang and the boat stopped pretty quick. It was a juvenile sperm whale, or so we believe. Lots of blood behind the boat, didnt hang round to say sorry! We went straight through a pod, and they are known to get agressive.

A similar yacht was sunk mid tasman after hitting a whale, it was a hard chine ULDB plywood yacht called Matuku many years earlier.

Another nasty incident happened near Lord Howe is when a pod of whales, I think sperm whales attacked a small fibreglass yacht over many hours. Bending the propshaft, fracturing internal joinery and bulkheads and terrorising the crew.

I had a young minke (or similar but still about 25 foot long) charge me at high speed on a 28 foot steel boat one calm early morning on a trip to Tonga. At the last minute the whale veered away missing the rudder by inches. Scared the ##$@ out of me. The whale had been circling for about half an hour, I am not sure what its intentions were, prehaps it was lonely or maybe territorial?

I like whales, but at sea I think they are a MUCH bigger risk than the unlikely claims about floating containers.