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bill352 · 24-12-2008, 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by theonecalledtom

Not that this keeps me awake at night but there are several reports of attacks by pilot whales, including the sinking of a couple in the mid pacific a few years ago (they survived after a long time in a life raft - there's a book about it....)

You may be thinking of the Baileys. I don't have the book ("Staying Alive") in front of me, but IIRC they were definitely attacked and sunk by a whale or whales in 1973. They were rescued after 117 days adrift.

Not to stray from the thread, but "adrift" may be the wrong word. Like many survivors, they took a lot of positive actions to improve their chances.

svjobeth · 24-12-2008, 08:26

That was the Baileys' story. One of their children, who was also in the liferaft, wrote and published his own account of the events about 4-5 years ago. The name of his book escapes me at the moment -

sabray · 24-12-2008, 09:11

As the list of stories grows. We could add Ahab and Geppetto. I don't blame the whale in Ahabs case. Geppetto was attacked as I recall without enticement. Bad whale.

It does seem though that we should be able to provide for ourselves without whaling. or diminishing fish and game stocks to levels that challenge the survival of a species. We make common sense complicated.

Good on you Moby Dick just leave me and Geppetto alone.

MarkJ · 24-12-2008, 14:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by svjobeth

Amazingly enough, I've not ever seen a whale while underway. ...We're approaching the Right Whale migration season in the north Atlantic, so maybe this year will be my year.

It is a wonderful experience

They are remarkable critters and you will love sailing with them. The ones we have loved best are not the biggest, but a large pod of Pilot whales that surfed the following swell and only pulled out, or under the boat within meters of our swim platform! They interacted with us. The larger whales haven't done that yet with us.

Brent Swain · 24-12-2008, 14:43

Green peace is a personal empire building organisation. When was the last time they criticised anything the US did , since Amchitka?
Picture a whale diving a quarter mile deep or more ,for months at a time and surfacing each time , with nothing there. They can thus be lulled into thinking there is little chance of anything being there, as there has rarely if ever been in the past.I hear they often have a little nap on the way down and on the way back up. Then ,once in a blue moon, there is a yacht there. They can't be expected to always assume that . Thus many collisions may well be just a napping whale returning to what he has always found to be a deserted surface. **** happens!
Brent

hatteras · 24-12-2008, 16:34

Advisors - Financial and Management - Sea Shepherd

highseas · 29-01-2009, 18:37

The book you are thinking of is William Butlers "66 Days Adrift".They were repeatedly rammed by Pilot whales.

maxingout · 29-01-2009, 18:55

I sailed among whales many times during our circumnavigation. The Queensland coast had hundreds of whales - every day was a whale watching experience.

We also saw large pods of pilot whales crossing the Atlantic. We never encountered any experiences where there was agressive behavior as long as we were not near baby whales.

One time in the Med, we came up to a baby whale with the mom close at hand, and we followed them for some time. Off in the distance, we saw the male whale make a beeline straight for Exit Only. He came up beside our port hull and blew lots of bubbles. Next, he surfaced between the two hulls and made many squeaking noises, and blew lots of bubbles. After he had made his point, he swam off. I suspect he was warning us to not harm mother and baby whale. You can view a video of this encounter by clicking on the following link.

http://www.maxingout.com/Whales.wmv

The recent report of a whale damaging a catamaran and the abandonment of the catamaran after the incident points up a danger that I never considered in the past. The whale swam up under the catamaran, and for some reason skewered himself on the saildrive, and in the process pushed the saildrive and rudder into the engine room. I never thought about a whale getting skewered by the sharp end of a saildrive, but apparently it can and does happen (at least once). Makes me glad I don't have a saildrive harpoon pointing down under my catamaran.

theonecalledtom · 29-01-2009, 18:57

Saw four or five Gray Whales at the weekend, was more concerned by the armada of whale watching boats and general bystanders than the whales.

Captn_Black · 29-01-2009, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maren

The only question you asked was if you were naïve. My guess though is you probably didn’t intend us to answer that.

It seems you were asking if whales would attack humans as retribution for humans hunting them. That’s possible; there are times when it looks so, however, it’s also likely to be a form of Anthropomorhism.

My thoughts too, they have big brains and live a long time, who's to say a bit of revenge isn't beneath them....?

Roy M · 30-01-2009, 08:12

My friends hit a whale, in broad daylight, crossing from Cabo to the mainland of Mexico last year. It caused a fair bit of damage to the boat, and who knows what to the other party. Details can be found at Stravaig's Travels. It reassures me that I have forward looking sonar to give me, at the least, a few moments of advance warning. Kind of like underwater radar.

nautical62 · 31-01-2009, 18:37

"I was talking this over with my friends Bill and Simmone Butler the other day, and frankly we just don't see any harm in a having less whales around.

Sincerely - Captain Pollard, S/V Essex."