Rescue in the Pacific Whale Sinks Ship!

[LakeSuperior]

The captain and crew seemed poised and well prepared for emergencies in the face of a whale strike sinking their yacht in the Pacific.

https://wapo.st/42ssczR

[Don C L]

This does not sound like a ramming by a whale. Sounds like they hit the whale, the keel got pushed back and up aft, damaging the hull near the prop shaft. The whale clearly got the worst part of this. On the other hand, this looks like a Peterson 44 though so another possibility is the whale surfaced under the skeg/prop shaft though that’s pretty hard to imagine. Actually, looking through it again it looks like it must have been hit by the whale at the skeg, that’s my guess.

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by Don C L

This does not sound like a ramming by a whale. Sounds like they hit the whale, the keel got pushed back damaging the hull near the prop shaft. The whale clearly got the worst part of this.

Just to be clear, you could stand on both sides of this. That is, my words could mean that the yacht struck the whale and that is what I meant.

However, the article is ambiguous in that it is not clear exactly what happened. I tend to agree with you.

[jordanbigel]

Is it just my perception, or does it seem reports of "whale strikes" (boats striking whales) are more numerous than reports of "container strikes" (boats striking semi-submerged containers)?

I'm not sure yet why this might be important or useful, at this point its just a casual observation. Is this perception born out by the facts?

[Jim Cate]

^^^^
Well, there are a hell of a lot more whales swimming around than errant containers. Here in Oz there are thousands of Humpbacks migrating annually up the east coast and back... but mostly managing to avoid the yotties who are also migrating!

We've been quite close to them at times, but always at their initiation, not ours!

Jim

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by jordanbigel

Is it just my perception, or does it seem reports of "whale strikes" (boats striking whales) are more numerous than reports of "container strikes" (boats striking semi-submerged containers)?

I'm not sure yet why this might be important or useful, at this point its just a casual observation. Is this perception born out by the facts?

It seems to me that whales are a lot softer than containers. I would expect the container would be more likely to sink a grp boat, by opening it like a can opener, and with loss of life (no one to report it).

I suppose it is possible that people feel outraged at being "attacked" by a whale, even if the whale didn't mean to "attack" it. The whale may be just "playing" with the rudder for fun. Different places, though, the European orcas, and different whales, near Guam.

It's hard to know if there is a real or only a perceived difference.

Ann

[WCammiCarrot]

To me the big takeaway here is to always have your means of emergency communication fully charged at all times and have a good well charged battery bank in your grab bag and be calm and plan well for emergencies.


They failed on the charging one.

[psk125]

Accounts on other sites have quotes from skipper in which he says it was a Sperm whale. When he swam down to inspect damage he found extensive holes and cracks around the skeg/prop shaft, and determined there was no way to block them with fothering (and not enough time) to keep the boat afloat. Raindancer was a Kelley-Peterson 44: https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/kelly-peterson-44

[Ryban]

This event was also discussed here when it was first posted: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ue-273910.html

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by psk125

Accounts on other sites have quotes from skipper in which he says it was a Sperm whale. When he swam down to inspect damage he found extensive holes and cracks around the skeg/prop shaft, and determined there was no way to block them with fothering (and not enough time) to keep the boat afloat. Raindancer was a Kelley-Peterson 44: https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/kelly-peterson-44

Interesting. Big difference between a Bryde's whale and a Sperm whale, not usually easily confused. Now I will change my guess to being intentionally struck by whale.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by jordanbigel

Is it just my perception, or does it seem reports of "whale strikes" (boats striking whales) are more numerous than reports of "container strikes" (boats striking semi-submerged containers)?

I'm not sure yet why this might be important or useful, at this point its just a casual observation. Is this perception born out by the facts?

Years ago, and it might be a decade or two at this point, there was a study to self report collisions between whales and boats. The numbers after a decade or so of reports were about 10 strikes a year with one or two boats sinking. The "study" was well before the recent Orca issues off Portugal and England.

I think the numbers were much higher than in the "study" indicated, since one had to know that one could self report a collision, and of course, survive to make a report, if you did know to report. Just reading here and there, I will see references to boat and whale collisions in in a variety of sources, so I think it happens more than I would have expected.

I may have read of one or two boats hitting floating containers and I have read of at least 2-3 reports of people hitting large floating logs in the Pacific near Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand, not to mention numerous reports of collisions with dead heads off North America in the Pacific. Some of the reports of containers could have been logs, or marine life of some kind, because I don't think the crew actually saw the container after the collision.

Later,
Dan

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

The captain and crew seemed poised and well prepared for emergencies in the face of a whale strike sinking their yacht in the Pacific.

https://wapo.st/42ssczR

Agree 100% This was essentially the same comment I wrote in the nice New York Times article on the event. I hope to be that prepared and composed if the
you-know-what hits the fan and my boat sinks. That captain and crew have my admiration.

[desodave]

Yes - the captain and crew seemed very well prepared. I think the whale hits/attacks boat story has way more media interest than boat hits container story, and that is why they get much more attention. Whales have returned in big numbers to our regular cruising ground in the northern part of the Salish Sea ... we have orcas, grey and humpbacks (especially) in big numbers. You must look out for them ... the humpbacks are not particularly conscious of boats, don't move in the straight lines as the orcas do and are a particular danger. "See a blow, go slow" is the local mantra. We have resident humpies that return every spring/summer to Sutil Channel and constant movement of orcas through the area.

[girdasso]

The report indicates that the yacht hit the whale with its keel. Whale hits are not that uncommon on the east coast of Australia. Hundreds of humpback whales migrate up and down the coast each year. I hit a big whale in Bass Streat during a Hobart race. It was a glancing hit and no damage to the boat. The whale shat itself and came up behind us to see what hit it. A friend in a smaller boat hit a whale and barely made it to safety with serious leak and baling. I have never heard of a humpback whale attacking a boat in this area.

[boatman61]

Some whales are just intent on getting somewhere.. I had one tanking across my path on the surface, passed about 50metres ahead of the bow and just kept going till it faded into the distance.. pretty sure it would have hit me if I'd been a fraction of a knot faster..
Not sure it even registered my existence..