Boat sinks after being hit by whale in Baja Haha

[Hwyl]

There's a thread in sailing anarchy. It was a J120 belonging to J world.

I've been less than complimentary about the USCG on here before, I wanted to C+P this outstanding post from Sailing Anarchy



War Dog,

Thanks for calling me out. Yes, I was working as the Command Duty Officer in the USCG District Eleven Command Center yesterday. We received an unlocated EPIRB alert shortly after 10 AM and immediately started trying to track down the boat. Once the satellite system pinpointed the position 200NM South of San Diego about thirty minutes after the initial alert came in, we immediately spooled up to launch a helicopter from Sector San Diego and a C-130 from SACTO for top cover because of how far South/offshore J/World was. We also worked closely with the Mexican Navy which launched a patrol boat to back us up in case something went wrong with the helo rescue.

I'd like to stress that when everything went wrong on J/World, the crew did everything right. Not only did they have a registered, current EPIRB (with working emergency contact information) and a suitable life raft but when they were forced into the raft they took a hand-held VHF and flares. This took the "Search" out of Search and Rescue because when the helicopter arrived onscene they were able to vector it in almost immediately. I can't stress enough just how important these pieces are to ensuring successful rescues. The aircrews from San Diego and SACTO deserve the credit for taking the risk to save 5 lives.

This is one of those days which reminds me why I love what I do. As War Dog noted this case hits close to home because I am good friends with Wayne and know several of the people on the boat as well as spent a season and change racing on the boat. It was certainly hard to remain focused on the task at hand when its your friends in trouble. Luckily we had a great team of professionals running the case from our folks at CAMSPAC Point Reyes (long range communications with helo/C-130), Sector/Air Station SD, Air Station Sacramento, the D11 Search and Rescue Duty Officer (who had the point on coordinating the rescue) and the rest of our D11 Command Center team.

LT Kevin Sullivan,
USCG D11 Command Center

[TimH]

A whale or a sub.

[Hwyl]

Definitely a whale, the boat sank in 7 minutes.

It's weird that you get whale strikes in the Pacific but not the Atlantic

[TimH]

Are there still whales in the Atlantic? I thought they killed them all.

[Bob (oh, THAT Bob)]

J-boats are on the light side for speed, would this have been different with a heavier hull like on a Valiant or Caliber (1" solid glass below the waterline), or not? (Like a car with better crashworthiness against a wall (better), or against a train (little difference)?) What about one of the stouter wood boat designs?

[Captain Blight]

I don't think a whale would do much damage to a hull built with 5 layers of 1/8" VGDF sheathed with 8-ounce on each side. Shipping container definitely would if you had any sort of way on. But a whale, all rounded corners and covered in blubber? I don't know, but it just seems like the hull wouldn't sustain a lot of damage. Might depend on how the whalestrike occurrs.

[Bob Cleek]

Likely a submerged cargo container. There's a lot of container traffic in an out of Ensenada and Long Beach, probably more than any place else in the world. They usually lurk with a corner pointing up and can be impossible to see. That'd open up a hull like that no problem at all.

Off the net:

Containers occasionally fall from the ships that carry them, usually during storms; it is estimated that over 10,000 containers are lost at sea each year. For instance, on November 30, 2006, a container washed ashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina USA, along with thousands of bags of its cargo of Doritos Chips. Containers lost at sea do not necessarily sink, but seldom float very high out of the water, making them a shipping hazard that is difficult to detect. Freight from lost containers has provided oceanographers with unexpected opportunities to track global ocean currents, notably a cargo of Friendly Floatees.

In 2007 the International Chamber of Shipping and the World Shipping Council began work on a code of practice for container storage, including crew training on parametric rolling, safer stacking and marking of containers and security for above-deck cargo in heavy swell.



Now, think about it... If somebody rigged a vessel with suitable hoisting ability and some sort of detection system, maybe a remote controlled drone, and started picking those things up, there may be a gold mine out there!

[Lew Barrett]

I have no opinion on what sunk this boat.

However, having spent a fair bit of time in the company of many large whales, I have no doubt that a blow by one of them could easily sink my heavily built (relative to the J boat's) vessel with impunity. The whales are solid, weigh more and move much faster than my boat which is hollow and not built to withstand a ramming. Think about that while you ponder this event.

To be clear, I prefer the idea that it was sunk by a container.

[TimH]

I have kayaked with grey whales. There was an incident where another kayaker got in front of the whale as the whale was coming up to surface.
The whale saw the kayak and stopped, turned 90 degrees and then surfaced.
For a few seconds I thought a collision was inevitable, but the whale was perfectly aware.
I have a hard time picturing a whale ramming a boat by accident. Or on purpose.

[Nanoose]

Sometimes boats are not rammed by whales, but rather, the boat hits the whale.

[peter osberg]

greys were called devilfish by oldtimers, due to their occasional agressive behavior, and rogue males, either greys or killer whales are worriesome (to me) at close quarters.

[Candyfloss]

Mate of mine said he hit a whale once. Whale woke up, shook itself, swam off. No damage to either. That's the strong, sharp end of a yacht into the soft side of a blue.
If the whale hit the yacht, that's a whole different ball game. But why would they do that? When we arrived at Port of Refuge, Vava'u, Tonga, the blue that had been accompanying us all the day peeled off & swam back out to sea. We were a 30ft sailboat & our biggest worry had been that it might try to make love to us!
I'd bet on a container.

[Hwyl]

I didn't post a link to the thread. O=I actually wanted to highlight the Coast Guard officers nice words.

It's more than a bit worrying that people are posting to this thread with oddball theories, when the 5 people who were rescued said they saw the whale. A whale destroyed the whaleship Essex, possibly the epitome of a heavily built wooden boat

[Candyfloss]

A whale destroyed the whaleship Essex, possibly the epitome of a heavily built wooden boat http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/images/buttons/quote.gif (http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2370955)

Sorry, mate, but I'm with the whale on this one.

[Lew Barrett]

Sometimes boats are not rammed by whales, but rather, the boat hits the whale.

Indeed, especially as they sleep on the surface.




I didn't post a link to the thread. O=I actually wanted to highlight the Coast Guard officers nice words.

It's more than a bit worrying that people are posting to this thread with oddball theories, when the 5 people who were rescued said they saw the whale. A whale destroyed the whaleship Essex, possibly the epitome of a heavily built wooden boat

I completely understood the first point Gareth, that the purpose was complimentary in respect to the CG, and agree with your second, that a whale of size would have no trouble taking down a boat.

[Gary Bergman]

We've dodged many a whale in the North Atlantic. Actually more than when we sailed the Pacific...Several types, but they all scare the beejesus outta you, especially in the dark when they blow stuff all over you..

[Thad]

From sailingscuttlebutt:
the crew of J/World, the J/120 skippered by former Punta Mita Yacht & Surf
Club commodore Eugenie Russell, experienced one of the highlights of the
cruising life: They spotted a whale. Then they saw another. They quickly
realized that they'd sailed into a pod of whales - big whales. That's when
they felt a bang, then another and another. At least one whale was attacking
J/World's rudder!

According to Wayne Zittel, owner of the boat and the J/World Sailing School,
Eugenie and her four crew checked under the floorboards and found green water
coming in. He reports that they pumped for a few minutes before realizing it
was futile - the boat was a goner, and they would be too if they didn't get
the hell out of dodge. The crew threw a couple sea bags and the boat's ditch
bag into the cockpit, set off the EPIRB, and then scrambled to launch the
liferaft. "The boat sank so fast that they barely had time to get in the raft,
much less grab the bags," Zittel said. "Initially, Eugenie thought it had gone
down in seven minutes, but when I talked to her this morning, she thinks it
might have been closer to five."

What they did manage to grab were two handheld VHFs, which are quite possibly
what saved them so quickly. Less than four hours after activating the EPIRB, a
Coast Guard helo was passing over the area. "It looked like the helo might
miss the raft," Zittel reported, "so they just called them on the VHF." Within
minutes, Coast Guard personnel were lifting all five crewmembers aboard, and
whisking them off to San Diego. The only injury was reported to have been
Eugenie's bruised hand. Zittel and the rescued J/World crew had nothing but
praise for the Coast Guard. -- Latitude 38, read on:
http://tinyurl.com/yg8d8pt

[Candyfloss]

Is this a mating ground for whales? If there is sex to be had, even whales can get aggressive. Maybe he mistook the yacht for a rival.
The USCG & the crew of the yacht both behaved impeccably. I'm glad no one was hurt.

[Simon R]

Is this a mating ground for whales? If there is sex to be had, even whales can get aggressive. Maybe he mistook the yacht for a rival.

Just been watching some David Attenborough on TV, humpback whales mating. The female hits the water with her fins and the drumming attracts all the males from miles around. Having got their attention, she then runs off and is chased by a pack of testosterone fuelled males who bellow at each other. The (rather brave) photographer had to use a snorkel because the bubbles from an aqualung irritates the whales. Great stuff.

[sailboy3]

They quickly
realized that they'd sailed into a pod of whales - big whales. That's when
they felt a bang, then another and another. At least one whale was attacking
J/World's rudder!

GIANT MUTANT WHALES ATTACK RUDDER OF SAILBOAT AND SINK IT!!!
Even if it was a whale(s) that sank the boat, it sounds like they were exaggerating a little bit.
Milo

[BETTY-B]

The 1888 Herreshoff schooner behind the auto parts store in PT was sunk by a whale too. (http://www.48north.com/feb2000/merlin1.htm)

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d10/Bridgedeck/MERLIN/waterline008.jpg