A whale caused a lot of damage to a small sailboat yesterday, but the people on board were able to get back safely to shore.
Whale jumps on boat
A whale caused a lot of damage to a small sailboat yesterday, but the people on board were able to get back safely to shore.
thiNK TWice 
Incredible image!
Not sure if this was an accident, but whales have been know to occasionally become aggressive towards boats… in fact, we had a 12 meter boat sunk by whales off the coast of Mexico in October of 2009. An emergency beacon (EPIRB) and liferaft were instrumental in the safe rescue of the crew. I would never recommend venturing offshore without these two items! And a hearty thank you to all the Coast Guard members who come to the aid of sailors in distress!
A boat was recently sunk by whales in Australia, and back a couple of years ago another off Hawaii (when it accidentally got between a mother and her calf). Whale incidents (whether boats colliding with whales or the inverse) seem to be on the increase, so we all need to maintain an increased lookout for our friends aquatic!
By the way, there is a great firsthand account of our incident written by the skipper on our blog… very compelling read with great lessons learned… go back to Nov of 2009:
J World Sailing Blog
Wayne Zittel
San Francisco Sailing School
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Great story, thanks Wayne.
And very worthwhile information, especially about the beacon and liferaft, essential!
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It always amazes me why whalemeat should get singled out by the protestors, it’s not that big of a deal compared with the thousands of real environmental crises which receive a fraction of the attention.
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I saw the tape on TV!
Lucky there were no Japanese inside or someone would have come with a “natural revenge”!
Talking of which, I saw whalemeat sashimi at Shizutetsu Store!
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