Whale Lands on Sailboat – Real or Hoax?

Whale Crashes into Sailboat

Whale watching sailors off the South African coast may have gotten more than they bargained for, or did they?  Various media outlets are reporting that a whale breached the surface of the ocean crashing into the sailboat of a couple near Cape Town.  Paloma Werner and her sailing partner say they were watching the huge whale from a distance on Sunday when it slid closer to their 35 foot sailboat then, CRASH!

Werner said she expected the whale to swim under the boat, but the whale had other plans. She claims the whale crashed into the boat, snapping the mast in two, but neither Werner nor Mothes were hurt.

“I just saw this huge whale come out of the water and crash against the mast of our yacht,” Werner said, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corp. report. “He ducked behind the steering wheel and we saw the whale go back into the water and the mast and the rigging all came flying towards us. It was quite a scary experience.”

Southern right whales have small eyes and poor sight and rely on hearing to avoid danger, but it seems pretty unlikely that one wouldn’t notice a yacht.  Werner told the press that this odd whale behavior happened because her boat’s engine was off, so the whale probably couldn’t hear them and took the leap not knowing they were there. Sounds kind of fishy to us – pun intended.

Whale Damaged Sailboat?

The woman said the whale didn’t appear to be hurt in the accident, but the couple’s boat wasn’t so lucky, she estimates it will cost $13,000, to repair.

The sailing academy which is gaining publicity from the whale photo says a passenger on a nearby boat took the unbelievable photo of the event, just prior to the whale smashing into the boat.  They say the other photos of the boat damage below prove their story.

Sailboats damage from whale?

Yacht damage from whale?

We wonder if this is all just a big publicity stunt.

What do you think, does the whale crashing into the boat photo look real, or is it just a good Photoshop job?  Leave your comments below.

Report by Emily of Sailboats and Sailing the World

Real photos of whales with sailboats can be found here, along with tips for sailing near whales: Whales and Sailboats

READ MORE SAILING NEWS

2010 Voiles de Saint-Barth

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth by Christophe Jouany

After an evening party to welcome everyone with music and a friendly atmosphere, the twenty-three crews taking part started racing at the Voiles de Saint Barth, the latest international regatta in the Caribbean. As was promised by François Tolède and Luc Poupon, all the ingredients that are so appreciated by yachtsmen, came together for the start of this first edition, which will serve as a standard of excellence for the future.

The tone is set
19 knots of wind from the east-north-east, flat calm seas on the leeward side of the island and brilliant sunshine of course, with two courses set up by someone, who knows the waters around here very well, the race director, Luc Poupon. He is determined to share with crews that have come from around the world the subtle beauties of this island and its many surrounding isles.  These will serve as natural course marks that the racing crews will discover, along with the thousand and one mysteries of the paradise creeks and coves. Classic and Racing Cruising yachts took to the leeward coast late in the morning, while the Super Yachts and the Racing class battled it out on the windward side with a heavy swell in the strong warm trade wind. At the height of the regatta, these boats all came together thanks to the magic of the courses between Boulanger Island and Forked Island for a final sprint with the wind on the beam to head for the famous Sugar Loaf and the finishing line.

29 miles of sailing windward of the islands in a powerful trade wind was also what faced the big boats in the event, while the Classic Yachts and small cruisers were in the sheltered waters off the island for 25 miles of racing close to the shoreline, where tactics were important. Luc Poupon’s scheme to offer the racers a vast range of points of sail and sea conditions became reality as they weaved their way around the rocks. In a strong trade wind, those on the heaviest boats carrying the most sail really enjoyed themselves, sometimes teetering on the crests of the steep waves. It was no surprise that at the end of two long tacks reaching, heading to Roubes Rocks on the southern shores of the island, the easily identifiable rigs of the large American sloop, Rambler, and the magnificently powerful ketch Sojana appeared together. A few seconds earlier it was the elegant Joel White designed boats in the W 76 class, Wild Horses and White Wings, which passed Coco Island, and undertook a magnificent duel off the white beaches of Grande Saline. There were fabulous sights to be seen throughout the day around the idyllic locations of St. Barts, with Maxis and Cruisers reaching towards Lorient Point, while Classic and Racing Cruising boats sailed upwind towards Grande Pointe.

The first edition of the Voiles de Saint Barth began in style. The week will continue with the frenzied rhythm of friendly parties ashore and bitter duels at sea, with the benediction of the trade winds, which are being particularly cooperative.

World Match Racing Tour Sailing in Marseille

Match Racing Tour

Day Two of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) in Marseille has produced a range of results that has highlighted not only match racing experience but also local knowledge as top running variables that can make or break a professional sailing series. After a slow start to the morning with racing postponed, the sailors were let out onto the race course as the wind clocked in from the North West at 4 to 8 knots for the remainder of the day. Racing again in the Bay of Marseille was moved very close in-shore with excellent spectator appeal to the ‘Rade Sud’.

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN and TORVAR Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team are still both on top of the WMRT leader board after today with 11 flights now completed overall. Ainslie has more wins than any other helm so far this week with a current score of 5-1. At a glance it could be said that international match racers with a raft of consistent accolades are steam rolling Match Race France, but the less glamorous placing currently being experienced by the likes of Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing and Francesco Bruni (ITA) Team Azzurra tells a different story.

Betrand Pace (FRA)  Match Race France Day Two Round Robin © Subzero images

Bruni who won the Congressional Cup only 12 days ago related, “it is tough out there, today has really reminded me about spending time training at particular sailing venues prior to events”, a luxury afforded by Olympic dinghy sailors who train months in advance at a set destination for their annual World Championships. “I think more time on the water with your coach really getting to grips with the region’s quirks is a definite advantage”. This is not an option for the WMRT competitors who only have a small window of 2 hours to train on the race course area at each of the 10 venues before racing starts the subsequent day.

This leads us into the scenario of ‘local knowledge’ being a serious variable to win races at this venue. Local knowledge is a phenomenon respected the world over by the sailing fraternity. The indigenous racers revel in understanding that they have decades of tales fed in at an early age on which way to go up the all important first beat or if the rain clouds suddenly disperse and the islands appear, as happened today, then the trend is for the wind to always swing to a particular angle.

Francesco Bruni (ITA) calls for a penaltly during his match © Subzero images

However, the Bay of Marseille has no clear answers, even French national sailors have been experiencing the woes of highly testing conditions. Pacé, a previous ISAF Match Racing World Champion who has returned to the WMRT action, after a 5 year absence, is not shining in these Mediterranean style winds. Perris our newest match racing star from yesterday has also unfortunately awoken from his ‘dream’ with no victorious matches today.

There is no clear winner today between racing experience or local knowledge; it will remain a question as to which has the greater influence until the penultimate race on Sunday. Perhaps Marseille with its legendary world famous tale of ‘a man in an iron mask’ will remain shrouded in its charming cloak of mystery both on and off the water.

Please find the final set of results from Day 2 Round Robin below:

World Match Racing Tour Marseille Day 2: Current Round Robin Standings

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 5-1
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia 5-3
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 4-0
Sébastien Col (FRA) ALL4ONE 4-2
Philippe Presti (FRA) French Match Racing Team 4-3
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) 4-5
Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch 3-2
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 3-3
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Racing 3-5
Gian Luca Perris (MON) 2-5
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 2-6
Bertrand Pacé (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team 1-5

2010 World Match Racing Tour Card Holders
Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Team Azzurra
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team
Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Sail Bahrain

Read More: http://www.matchracefrance.com/

READ MORE SAILING NEWS

Sailing News

New York to Barcelona Transatlantic Record

Well, March was an interesting month with sailing events around the world, and even a new world sailing record hitting the books. Sailing in Miami, match racing in New Zealand, Around the World boats coming into San Francisco, Plastiki sails out onto the Pacific, and more. There were even some new sailboats and mega yachts launched, including a huge solar powered boat! April is already heating up too, with regattas and sailing record attempts planned on all the coasts.

Youngest Person to Sail Around Cape Horn Solo: Abby Sunderland, one of the two 16 year old girls currently sailing non-stop around the world, achieved a mighty milestone recently. The teenager rounded the infamous Cape Horn, becoming the youngest person ever to sail around the famous landmark alone. Read More: Abby Sunderland

16 Year Old Girl Sailing Around the World: Jessica Watson, the other 16 year old girl sailing around the world non-stop for a sailing record is also doing well, and seem to be counting the miles until she reaches home in Australia. Jessica has now sailed past the 19,000 nautical mile mark of her solo circumnavigation, today is day 170 of her voyage. She said she was happy for Abby the day after her rival went around Cape Horn: “It was great to hear that Abby Sunderland rounded Cape Horn yesterday. I’m really thrilled for her. It brings back lots of memories of when I was down there. Go Abby!” Read More about: Jessica Watson

Sailing in Miami: The annual Miami Grand Prix sailing regatta was marked a success by those who sailed in it again this year.  The competition was tough, but Gold Digger II took the win in IRC. Flash Gordon took it for the Farr 40s, and Teasing Machine beat all the other Melges 32s. Read more: Miami Grand Prix

Sailing in Florida

Louis Vuitton: Emirates Team New Zealand beat the Mascalzone Latino Audi sailing team in the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland finals. Next up in America’s Cup sailing is the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena in Sardinia on 22 May 2010. Read More: Louis Vuitton Series

Virgin Islands Regatta – Virgin Islands – Sailboats from around the world gathered in the clear blue Caribbean waters off St. Thomas this past weekend, sailing at the 37th annual International Rolex Regatta. Nearly 70 teams competed this year, sailing all types of boats from little beach cats all the way up to the Frers 80 yacht Kialoa V, which was the largest sailboat in the fleet. Read More: Sailing St.Thomas

Clipper Race Sailing San Francisco

Clipper Around the World Race:  Under the shadow of darkness the dragon of Qingdao sailed under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay, marking the end of the marathon North Pacific leg of the race from the team’s home port in China. The Chinese entry crossed the Race 7 Noonday Rock finish line near the North Farallone Islands to claim their second podium position of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. Most of the other Clipper Race yachts have also crossed the San Francisco finish line and are enjoying time in port. Read More: Clipper Race

Sailing Big Boats at St. Barts: Some spectacular yachts were seen racing around the island, participating in a little event known as the St Barths Bucket Regatta. John Williams and his crew on the J-Class Ranger took the overall win at the St. Barths Bucket Regatta, while the Perini Navi yachts Andromeda la Dea and P2 had to settle for second and third respectively. Read More: Yachts Racing in St Barths

Plastiki

Plastiki Sets Sail: After years of development and promises about David de Rothschild’s plastic bottle boat, the Plastiki set sail this month across the Pacific Ocean. De Rothschild hopes the ship’s expedition will bring attention to the global waste problem. “We’re needlessly losing millions of seabirds and hundreds of thousands of marine mammals from ingesting plastic every year, I decided to take this ‘out of sight, out of mind’ problem and build a boat out of the very items that we were seeing ending up in our natural environment.” Read More: Plastiki

Solar Powered Boat: Another “green” boat, Planet Solar, the largest solar powered boat ever built has been unveiled, and will soon be ready to take on the world. At 101 feet long, with 50 feet of beam, this boat is indeed massive enough to be called a mega-yacht, making it the world’s first eco-mega-power-yacht. Read more: Planet Solar

Sailing

Groupama 3 New World Sailing Record: The trimaran Groupama 3 became the fastest boat to circumnavigate the Earth non-stop, ever* in March. Franck Cammas and crew sailed around the world faster than any other, and earned one of the most important and coveted awards in sailing, the Jules Verne Trophy. Read More: The Fastest Boat Around – Groupama 3

New York-Barcelona Transoceanic Sailing Record: The New York-Barcelona Transoceanic Sailing Record begins between April 5th and the 12th from Ambrose Light in New York and will finish in the Barcelona port between April 20th and the 30th. The two competing teams are comprised of Alex Pella, Pepe Ribes and the American Stan Schreyer with Estrella Damm, and Pachi Rivero, Antonio Piris and Peter Becker with W Hotels. The New York Yacht Club, which is collaborating with the project, has picked Edward Cesare as a reserve skipper for both teams. — Read More: NY-BYC

World Match Racing Tour: Looking forward, April 6th sees the start of the World Match Racing Tour culminating in crowning the ISAF Match Racing World Champion at the end of  10 international events. This year’s Tour starts on Tuesday in Marseille with ‘Match Race France’ running from April 6-11, at Yacht Club Pointe Rouge.  This is the second time Marseille has hosted the WMRT, the area is blessed with excellent match racing courses and is a much-loved destination for the global stars of the sailing world. Read More: World Match Racing Tour

Read More: Sailing News

33rd America’s Cup Race Cancelled

33rd Americas Cup

Valencia, Spain — The opening race of the 33rd America’s Cup Deed of Gift match between Alinghi and BMW Oracle off the east coast of Spain was canceled on Wednesday due to rough seas. This is frustrating America’s Cup fans as this happened just two days after race one of this best of three showdown was postponed for the first time due to weak winds. This is causing some sailing fans to ask why these million dollar America’s Cup boats are so fragile, as every sailor knows even a cheap beach cat could have raced in conditions found in Valencia today.

America’s Cup race director Harold Bennett said the waves of more than two metres in the race area some 25 miles off the port of Valencia would be unsafe for the giant multihulls fielded by US team Oracle and defending Swiss champion Alinghi.  “These are different boats than what we are normally used to. With conditions like today, I am not sure they would have done terribly well,” he said.

Guess they don’t build America’s Cup boats like they use to!

The race – 20 nautical miles upwind and 20 back – is now set to be held on Friday, the next scheduled racing day, in accordance with the rules of the 159-year-old event, sailing’s oldest and most prestigious trophy.

The America’s Cup has traditionally been run in monohulls but this year for the first time both sides will sail multihulls that can sail at three times the speed of the wind. Alinghi’s giant catamaran, the Alinghi 5, and Oracle’s equally large trimaran, the USA, are the biggest, fastest and most expensive entries in the event’s history.

As opposed to Monday when both teams agreed with Bennett’s decision to cancel the race, this time around Alinghi backed the move while Oracle, whose boat is thought to have an edge in strong winds, opposed it. “We were more than happy with those conditions, those waves,” said Oracle’s Australian helmsman James Spithill, adding his side had already sailed under similar conditions in San Diego.

Bennett’s decision to cancel Wednesday’s race revived the debate over the impartiality of the Societe Nautique de Geneve, which Alinghi represents, and which is charged with organizing the 33rd America’s Cup. Bennett defended his impartiality, saying he was employed by the International Sailing Federation to oversee the competition.

Read More Sailing News