BajaNomad - Baja Ha Ha boat sunk by whales

Baja Ha Ha boat sunk by whales

BMG - 10-29-2009 at 09:24 AM

The J/World Sailing School and Charter boat was apparently struck repeatedly by whales while sailing south with the Baja Ha Ha and sunk within minutes. All crew are safe. Here is the J/World blog.

Cyanide41 - 10-29-2009 at 09:31 AM

crazy! Whale attacks!

rpleger - 10-29-2009 at 09:32 AM

Sweet revenge...

shari - 10-29-2009 at 10:45 AM

i sure would be interested to hear what kind of whales these were...unprovoked attacks are exceedinly rare...maybe they hit a baby? but ya never know...I"ve seen whales that had been hit by other boats take their anger out on the closest vessel even though they were innocent.
I'm glad everyone is OK and the USCG was on the ball.

David K - 10-29-2009 at 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
i sure would be interested to hear what kind of whales these were...unprovoked attacks are exceedinly rare...maybe they hit a baby? but ya never know...I"ve seen whales that had been hit by other boats take their anger out on the closest vessel even though they were innocent.
I'm glad everyone is OK and the USCG was on the ball.

The news (TV) this morning said the sailboat moved into a pod of grey whales (or maybe the whale pod moved into the sail boat) and the rudder was cracked (off?) by one, water began pouring in and in 7 minutes the boat was gone... all got into the life raft safely... only injury was to the teacher's hand.

Grey whales were once known as 'Devilfish' because of the revenge they took upon the whalers... So, they must have the ability to break boats?

mtgoat666 - 10-29-2009 at 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

hmmm, grey whales usually don't travel in pods, and sort of a bit too early for greys.
perhaps they should have called the grey whales "freedom fighters" and called the whalers "devilfishermen."
rudders on small boats are fragile, and just about any whale can break a rudder even if whale is just "playing around" or scratching his back

BMG - 10-29-2009 at 03:10 PM

May have been blue whales. The Latitude 38 website has an update on the incident.

LaTijereta - 10-29-2009 at 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Grey whales were once known as 'Devilfish' because of the revenge they took upon the whalers... So, they must have the ability to break boats?

They need to go further south and engage the Japanese Whalers down in Antarctica in th Southern oceans..

Dolphins and Whales.jpg - 36kB

Bajahowodd - 10-29-2009 at 04:16 PM

I'm definitely with BMG and goat on this one. There's no evidence of grey whales being in that area at this time of the year.

mtgoat666 - 10-29-2009 at 04:26 PM

lat 38 says the boat "sailed into" a pod of wahles and the whales "attacked." i say the opposite, any sane whale would think themselves under attack if a boat sailed into their pod and crashed into one or more whales, and the whales were rightly defending themselves from the interloper who presented a threat.

Twas a monstrous White Whale perhaps?

Pompano - 10-29-2009 at 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rpleger
Sweet revenge...

.
Whales have a long memory, and may decided to have the last Ha Ha. Think whaling days. It was not that long ago in these Baja waters.

Perhaps fiction..pehaps not. There once was a whaler from Nantucket..or was it New Bedford?...

Captain Ahab , "I'll follow him around the Horn, and around the Norway maelstrom, and around perdition's flames before I give him up."
.

.
"From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale."
.
.
Actual whale event offshore Mulege:

While out fishing one morning, we had a whale come straight at the bow, then dove under my boat, staying in clear sight under the water, and surface about 50 yards astern. It began to feed on a giant ball of baitfish I had just passed through. The whale made 2 passes through the swirling baitball and pretty much inhaled all of it in it's open maw.

Two Dogs and I swear we had nothing stronger than coffee that morning...so help us Ahab. :yes:

.

[Edited on 10-29-2009 by Pompano]

David K - 10-29-2009 at 04:35 PM

Just shows you to be skeptical of TV news... :light:

I don't expect the grey's to be passing here until later next month... But, you know what 'they' say about Global Warming... Perhaps the arctic will not get too cold, and the whales won't come to Baja to get warm!? :wow:

Skipjack Joe - 10-29-2009 at 04:55 PM

Who is Ahab?

Why Ahab is Ahab.

ahab.jpg - 40kB

Skipjack Joe - 10-29-2009 at 04:59 PM

......

ahab2.jpg - 45kB

Skipjack Joe - 10-29-2009 at 05:16 PM

Last one, I promise...

moby.jpg - 41kB

BMG - 10-29-2009 at 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

So, they must have the ability to break boats?

Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to live on earth. They can exceed more than 100' in length and weigh up to 200 tons. A J/120 sailboat is 40' long and displaces about 7 tons.

No contest.

As to what a pod of whales are 'thinking' about a sailboat in their midst, who can say? There was a blue that was apparently killed by a ship recently in the Ensenada/San Diego area recently and another just north of the Bay Area. Maybe they are getting pi**ed off.

DENNIS - 10-29-2009 at 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BMG
Maybe they are getting pi**ed off.

Oh man...you don't want to do that. Look at those teeth in the picture up there. :lol:

vandenberg - 10-29-2009 at 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
Oh man...you don't want to do that. Look at those teeth in the picture up there. :lol:

That's a blue white cross. :biggrin:

BMG - 10-29-2009 at 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Look at those teeth in the picture up there. :lol:

Hollywood strikes again.

805gregg - 10-29-2009 at 06:16 PM

I can just hear the helmsman, oh look! there are some whales, lets get closer.

DENNIS - 10-29-2009 at 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg

That's a blue white cross. :biggrin:

Looks more like a tyrannosaurus rex.

ncampion - 10-29-2009 at 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
lat 38 says the boat "sailed into" a pod of wahles and the whales "attacked." i say the opposite, any sane whale would think themselves under attack if a boat sailed into their pod and crashed into one or more whales, and the whales were rightly defending themselves from the interloper who presented a threat.

A sailboat prestenting a threat????? Blue whale, gray whale, whatever color, aparently they are clearly much more important than a mere human.

shari - 10-29-2009 at 08:35 PM

hmmm...it IS possible for gray whales to be around...not usual though and also as mentioned above, they do not hang in pods but sometimes there can be a few whales swimming together that might look like a pod. Also if you hit one while it's asleep, it can get mad and slap the boat or ram it...and easily break a rudder. Maybe they hit one and it slapped the rudder.
I would LOVE to know what type of whales they were...but I highly doubt it was an unprovoked attack....unless....it was.

My guess would be sperm whales...

Dave - 10-30-2009 at 12:02 AM

Although it really wouldn't matter what size or species. In a contest between whale and plastic sailboat the whale usually wins. Especially a tender racing boat like the one sunk.

Cypress - 10-30-2009 at 05:32 AM

The whale bumped the rudder, the rudder fell off and left a hole. The boat sank. Would that actually qualify as an "attack"? :?:

shari - 10-30-2009 at 07:31 AM

this has always been one of my "cons" of whale petting. All human habituated animals end up either getting killed or killing someone inadvertantly. If whales grow up being mushy, kissy face, rubby dub with pangas, which might be OK in a controlled, protected, lagoon situation...but in the real ocean they just may want a hug from passing sailboats too...or perhaps try to get a kiss from some Macah whalers.

Many whales fall in love with the pangeros as they see them every day and hang with them. While before they were afraid of boats and avoided them, today they are seeking them out for a massage.

With the increase in "friendly" behavior has also come a marked increase in agressive behavior now that whales have lost their fear of boats....yin yang.

I know whales with attitude that seek out boats just to freak people out...scares the crap out of you man....when a 30' whale lifts your panga out of the water...takes you in her flippers and swims around fast, upside down with you...one of those nearly crap your pants moments. We actually had to beach the panga several times to avoid this agressive bully whale...she caused a few injuries one season.

Many many many times, they aproach the pangeros first from the stern of the boat cause they know thecaptains and trust them ...mother whales will actually lift their calf and rub it on the skeg of the motor to teach the baby that this part is dangerous and can cut you. I can see how a gray whale nudging the rudder could dislodge it easily...
not an attack in that case.

[Edited on 10-30-2009 by shari]

Iflyfish - 10-30-2009 at 08:28 AM

Who is Ahab?

Why Ahab is Ahab.

Where is he from?

Baha I think.

Can't wait to hear more Shari whale stories, fascinating life with whales.

Iflyfish

BajaBruno - 10-30-2009 at 04:35 PM

Another good reason to pilot a power boat. Any boat that max's out at 8 knots is too slow to escape a sea turtle.

comitan - 10-30-2009 at 04:58 PM

A J120 Max's out at 16-18 knots possibly more.

BajaBruno - 10-31-2009 at 04:03 PM

A J120 will do 16-18 k for a few seconds at a time while surfing down a wave, but the hull speed is barely 7 k.

805gregg - 11-1-2009 at 07:50 AM

The skipper a, woman, said they sailed into a pod of whales and they felt a bump then another. The whales were attacking the rudder. They abandoned ship and it sank in about 5 minutes. They had set off their epirb and the Coast Guard Helo picked them up in less than 4 hours.

shari - 11-1-2009 at 08:21 AM

from the Latitude 38 article, it doesnt sound like they were gray whales...something bigggger!! it says blue whales were spotted too...hmmm...even rarer.

DENNIS - 11-1-2009 at 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
from the Latitude 38 article, it doesnt sound like they were gray whales...something bigggger!! it says blue whales were spotted too...hmmm...even rarer.

Yep...Cartel submarines. They're becoming a nuisance.

Ahab - 11-2-2009 at 01:02 PM

Doesn't take much to break a rudder, much less the area around it. My boats all had break-aways and we carried a spare in open water.

motoged - 11-2-2009 at 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pompano

Whales have a long memory<snip... There once was a whaler from Nantucket..

[Edited on 10-29-2009 by Pompano]

There once was a whaler from Nantuckett
Who sailed a race in an old sail bucket.
He sailed into a pod
And with nary a nod,
An old whale said
"We"ll ram him...and say........" :lol:

shari - 11-2-2009 at 07:06 PM

most excellent poetry paisano.

Bajamick - 11-2-2009 at 08:59 PM

I totally agree with Shari, I would like to know what species these so called whales were. I know only of one other attack on a boat by whales, and that was Orca's hitting a yacht in the Pacific, sinking it, but leaving the family in the water untouched.

I had dived with Blue Whales, Fin Backed and other species here just off Mulege and San Bruno, and NEVER have I felt threatened in the water or indeed on the boat. My nine and thirteen year old daughers, Thea and Emma, were in the water this summer with as many as 12 to 15 finbacks, and never did I feel there was a problem. Believe me, I was in the water with them, enjoying the priviledge these animals give us. M

mtgoat666 - 11-3-2009 at 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajamick
I totally agree with Shari, I would like to know what species these so called whales were. I know only of one other attack on a boat by whales, and that was Orca's hitting a yacht in the Pacific, sinking it, but leaving the family in the water untouched.

I had dived with Blue Whales, Fin Backed and other species here just off Mulege and San Bruno, and NEVER have I felt threatened in the water or indeed on the boat. My nine and thirteen year old daughers, Thea and Emma, were in the water this summer with as many as 12 to 15 finbacks, and never did I feel there was a problem. Believe me, I was in the water with them, enjoying the priviledge these animals give us. M

well, whales are big, wild animals; and while they may tolerate human presence/interest 99.9% of the time,... the other 0.1% of the time humans may be present at the wrong place/wrong time.
if you try to interact with a whale when he/she is in a cranky/bad mood, you might get a beat down.

Forget everything you've read or heard.

BMG - 11-9-2009 at 06:29 PM

Latitude 38 has been able to get more of the facts regarding the sinking.

Latitude 38

shari - 11-9-2009 at 06:45 PM

Hate to say I told ya so...but...told ya whales rarel...y if ever attack unprovoked. So coming off a big swell, they hit a humpback, it bled and reacted by swacking the rudder with it's tail while trying to dive out of the way...simple as that.
Yesterday there was a nice pod of about 6-7 humbacks out front of our house...feeding for an hour...beautiful. They have been around for a couple weeks now.

BMG - 11-9-2009 at 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
Hate to say I told ya so...but...told ya whales rarel...y if ever attack unprovoked. So coming off a big swell, they hit a humpback, it bled and reacted by swacking the rudder with it's tail while trying to dive out of the way...simple as that.
Yesterday there was a nice pod of about 6-7 humbacks out front of our house...feeding for an hour...beautiful. They have been around for a couple weeks now.

I'm glad to hear that it wasn't an attack by whales. I hope the injured whale is recovering, and maybe feeding out in the front 'yard'.

roadhog - 11-28-2009 at 03:06 PM

you're in good hands with the gray whale ?

shari - 11-28-2009 at 07:33 PM

doesnt matter what kind of whale...if she's cranky...it's smack down time....I once knew a whale who literally chased the pangas around...sometimes we had to actually beach the panga somewhere and wait for her to get bored and go find another boat to harass...then sneak away...she was one wicked whale.