Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner are experienced sailors. They’re both members of the Cape Town Sailing Academy and routinely take their yacht out to sea to take in the sights, get a little fresh air, and if they’re lucky, see a whale or two. Unfortunately for the two of them, a whale got a little too close for comfort and damaged their yacht. Actually, the 40-ton whale jumped onto their yacht, completely destroying everything save the ship’s steel hull (which is the only thing that saved their lives.
“We’d spotted it about 100 metres away and thought that was the end of it. Then suddenly it was right up beside us, recounted Paloma, 50. “I assumed it would go underneath the boat but instead it sprang out of the sea. We were very lucky to get through it, as the sheer weight of the thing was huge. There were bits of skin and blubber left behind, and the mast was wrecked. It brought down the rigging too. Thank goodness the hull was made of steel and not fibreglass or we could have been ruined.”
The couple were able to take their wrecked yacht back to shore at Table Bay. The 33-foot vessel is probably a total loss, but really… how often do you get to tell the insurance company your boat is wrecked because a lob-tailing whale tried to clear it in a single, massive jump and live to tell the tale? They’ll be winning free drinks off this story (and their pictures!) for years. As for the whale, it was injured but generally unharmed by its attempted Fail Whale impression.
Tags: whales, whale smashes yacht, 40-ton whale lands on yacht, Table Bay, South Africa, Ralph Mothes, Paloma Werner, Hermanus, Cape Town Sailing Academy, lob-tailing, unusual accidents, whale smashes boat