Sailboat hits whale in Artemis Transat! WHALE PROOF BOAT?

I bet the whales found a natural source of booze and are getting drunk.

This would explain everything.

 

Hello Guillermo,

You beat me to it, but I was going to say that Green Peace is going to be all over this one soon. The first argument will be that they are mammals and need to come up for air so what was the boat doing there and why didn't their fishfinder see the whale?

J

 

Don't click this unless you have a good sense of humor.
http://www.bluelive.eu/whale.jpg

 

Charlie,
Here something on marine mammals and acoustic impacts:
http://www.mmc.gov/sound/committee/pdf/soundFACAreport.pdf

About your radical proposal for the new breed of cruising boats, I admire your courage to bring it here. Aren't you afraid to be prosecuted by the vociferating hordes? How do you dare?

Cheers.

 

Basking Sharks and Whales (and Sunfish) (and containers)

...just saw this posting related to the subject...so now we have to worry about a lot of other collisions other than the huge rise in containers floating out there

Sharks And Whales
Excerpts from Elaine Bunting's blog:

Talk about tales of the unexpected. Vincent Riou, who was rescued from his Open 60 PRB yesterday in the North Atlantic after the keel was badly damaged, says he collided with a basking shark and cut it in two.

"I saw two portions emerge at the back of the boat," Riou commented, with forensic accuracy.

I find myself craving more information. Did he cut in half crossways or lengthwise? What did the 'portions' look like?

These boats are so fast they are increasingly sneaking up unawares on whales and sharks - there have been four collisions and at least 10 other whale sightings on the Artemis Transat.

But that's not quite as amazing as the leading edge of a canting keel chopping a 40ft shark in half. You can't class these incidents as normal marine collisions any more; this is roadkill.

A comment from Ginny Jones about the Transat:

'The thought that an Open 60's keel cut a basking shark in half is truly tragic. They are the world's most gentle sharks -- you see them all along the west coast of Ireland and up in the Outer and Inner Hebrides, and the Scottish west coast. They are lazy, slow moving, and they just, well, they just bask on the surface. They are also endangered to a certain extent because they are so slow and lazy thus at risk from shipping. They are really interesting to see at sea, and pose little threat to anyone.

'I really, really hope that it wasn't a basking shark (and I'd be surprised if one was 40 feet) although I wouldn't want it to be a whale or any other marine creature either.'

Well, I agree with that. Hitting any marine mammal is not something any sailor wants to do either, and I don't mean for practical reasons, though that, too. But what to do?

www.ybw.com/yw/blog/elaine_bunting.html

 

Ban speed out of the seas.....? Should we allow our frantic and speedy way of life remain only within the shore limits, keeping oceans as the last reduct of an slow pace? Where the hell are we going so fast? What on earth are we doing so early the other side of an ocean?

Cheers.

 

5/8" plate steel hull is wale proof.

 

Got a big chuckle out of that, especially in conjunction with your avatar and your quote

 

2 whales and 1 shark hit in the Artemis Transat - Loick Peyron winner speaks

There were 2 whales and 1 shark hit in the Artemis Transat!

http://yachtpals.com/loick-peyron

Interview at yachtpals with Loick Peyron (winner) where he talks about the UFO's (unidentified floating objects), and the poor whales.

Glad they are wondering about it too.

 

Basking Sunfish

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1 tonne (2,200 lbs). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head without a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally.

More than 40 species of parasites may reside on the skin and internally, motivating the fish to seek relief in a number of ways. In temperate regions, drifting kelp fields harbor cleaner wrasses and other fish which remove parasites from the skin of visiting sunfish. In the tropics, the mola will solicit cleaner help from reef fishes.

By basking on its side at the surface, the sunfish also allows seabirds to feed on parasites from their skin.

 

Hey, ted655, another target....!

 

"The U.S. government enacted a new regulation last week that is expected to
reduce the number of ships colliding with whales - one of the deadliest
threats to the U.S.'s dwindling right whale population. The new regulation
calls for ships greater than 65 feet in length to reduce their speed to 10
knots within 20 nautical miles of key ports along the U.S. East coast."

Attached there's a photo taken a month ago from a 15m long whale hit by a containership in Galician waters. The ship came all the way into Marin's harbour, in the Pontevedra Ría, with the whale trapped in its bulbous bow. Crew didn't noticed.

Cheers.

 

racing with engine on??

It seems quite easy to see that vessel that hit that whale had it's engine in drive. I didn't know that using one's engine in a regatta or ocean race was allowed.

Also...the result is one of the drawbacks of having a design that is based upon the ultimate in monohull speed versus having a design that is expressly for seaworthiness and seakindliness. I think I'll stick with my much slower but more seaworthy and rugged 1963 Allied Seawind ketch. The next best thing to steel or aluminum.

 

Seen bunches of the ocean sunfishes here on the east coast of US. Curious creatures.. they will swim right up to a tender and roll over to gaze up at you with those large eyes.

My boat is so slow any marine creature hit is likely to be misinterpreted as just getting a bit frisky.

 

What are we poor stink pot drivers doing?
They can hear us, and they do! I know. But even I did manage to hit one of them in clear weather, clear water, a thousand miles away from any noise disturbing both of us 44°S/18°W, but he had decided to die under my props.
I had the great opportunity to dive with them in the sea of cortez, baja california, and they have presented me to their children (or vice versa?), they did even know where I could not hold to their fluke because of barnacles, mussels (razor sharp), they moved their massive bodies to get me at a convenient position to dive with them, and they did know when I had to go back to surface to breathe! ???? But I tell you! They did show me their children! They meant exactly that. And for all my life I will never forget their warm hospitality.........
When they go ashore or die under your ship, they suicide. Thats it, they choose theire only way to tell us WHY.