Originally published at: Giant whale sinks 44 foot boat, sailors rescued | Boing Boing
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I read the account in (I think) the WaPo this morning. The whale was reportedly bleeding, so I hope it was ok after this incident. Also, the sailors appeared to all be very well prepared for emergencies, with both a dinghy and a lifeboat, with all kinds of radios and other emergency gear. They got picked up by a seagoing catamaran then ate sushi on board their rescuers’ boat.
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My root cause analysis has determined the precipitating event.
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“My God, Mr. Chase, what is the matter?”
“We have been stove by a whale.”
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Happened to read the captain’s story this morning on a forum for owners of Kelly Peterson design yachts (of which I am one, and he until recently was). The collision happened on March 13 and they spent the night bobbing in the liferaft and dinghy before being picked up by a catamaran. Being prepared and calm under pressure saved their lives.
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I don’t want to trivialise what the sailors and indeed the whale went through, but at least the incident has prevented people from eating pizza dipped in ranch dressing.
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Ask a Mortician did a video on this, too…
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“G̶i̶a̶n̶t̶ Regular sized whale sinks 44-foot boat, sailors rescued”
There. FIFY
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Having spent a few minutes in a life raft in a dead calm cove as part of a safety demonstration, I don’t want to ever have to do it for real. I didn’t know what claustrophobia was until that experience. I’ve read accounts of them tumbling down waves, although I think they’ve improved since then.
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Pizza and sushi on the same day? Not the worst day ever.
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You say that, but the sushi probably had ranch on it too.
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What a blowhole.
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Scary. Very impressive response and rescue, though. They were really out in the middle when this happened. Here’s a more detailed article from Latitude 38.
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pizza in ranch is The Way. it is known.
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I don’t believe for one minute that a whale was involved. I have sailed among orca in Puget Sound, reputed to be the most aggressive whales. They don’t suddenly attack in calm seas and for no reason. The size of this boat would require massive force to cause the damage they describe (Did I mention I’m retired USCG?)
This is bilge water.
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The comments in the article @mzed posted above seem to be fairly certain that the boat hit a whale sleeping on the surface, not the other way round. As for orcas, well Puget Sound clearly isn’t the waters around Iberia where orcas have attacked sailboats over the last few years.
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welcome aboard, comrade.
an orca, no matter how aggressive, would not be able to damage a 44ft sailboat making way at 6 knots (as the captain reports in the article). the bryde’s whale is so much larger, the vessel could be fatally damaged by striking it. bryde’s whales can be 50 feet long compared to a 20ft orca.
i believe the captain and the injured whale.
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Is it really so unbelievable that a careless breaching whale could have landed on the boat by accident? That’s been known to happen from time to time.
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