This Article is From Jul 23, 2010

Yacht skipper recalls the whale collision incident

Cape Town, South Africa: A South African couple have had the fright of their lives when a Southern Right Whale jumped onto the deck of their boat.

Sailing instructor, Ralph Mothes and his partner Paloma Werner were sailing the yacht "Intrepid" last Sunday, off the coast of Cape Town when they spotted the whale breaching out of the water at some distance away.

At the time Mothes told Werner, he didn't think the whale would swim directly into them, and they continued sailing on their intended course.

Suddenly though, the whale breached right next to the Intrepid "and before you knew it, the next thing there it was," recounted Mothes, an experienced yachtsman who runs his own sailing school.

According to local media reports, the whale left pieces of skin and blubber on the Intrepid's deck, which will be analysed by scientists to see if they have any other records of the animal.

Mothes and Werner saw the whale swimming around minutes after the collision, and suspect it was uninjured by the encounter.

Some other media reports say that Mothes' boat may have harassed the whale, a charge he categorically denies.

"We were definitely not harassing the whale. We are used to whales, we give them a lot of respect," Mothes said.

Although the Intrepid's mast was snapped in two by the whale, the boat likely escaped any further damage because it has a steel hull.

On dry land, whale conservation expert Noel Ashton described the incident as "incredibly rare," noting that Southern Right Whales often breach several times in a row along a line in the ocean.

"I believe this was an accident" said Ashton, "I don't think it was on purpose that it landed on a boat."

Southern Right Whales are also noted for their poor eyesight which may have been a contributing factor in the collision.

The seas around Cape Town are teeming with whales and great white sharks during the winter months, which fall in the middle of the year.

Whale and shark sightseeing trips run throughout the year from Cape Town's Waterfront district, attracting thousands of tourists.

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