Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

Kia Ora
You are currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and that there are some features you can't use or read.

We are an active community of worldwide senior members participating in chat, politics, travel, health, blogging, graphics, computer issues & help, book club, literature & poetry, finance discussions, recipe exchange and much more. Also, as a member you will be able to access member only sections, many features, send personal messages, make new friends, etc.

Registration is simple, fast and completely free. Why not register today and become a part of the group. Registration button at the very top left of the page.

Thank you for stopping by.

Join our community!

In case of difficulty, email worldwideseniors.org@gmail.com.
If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Yachtie sunk by humpback whale
Topic Started: Jan 10 2007, 09:57 AM (51 Views)
Kahu
Member Avatar

Yachtie sunk by humpback whale
NZPA | Wednesday, 10 January 2007

A New Plymouth yachtie is appealing for someone to lend him a boat to race in after he collided with a humpback whale in his new $38,000 yacht yesterday.

Lindsay Wright spent five hours on his sinking 31-foot trimaran before being airlifted to safety just before 6pm.

Mr Wright was sailing from Auckland after spending six months refitting his new yacht in preparation for the New Plymouth Mooloolaba Solo Yacht Race in April.

He had about 160 miles to go and was resting below deck when he heard a dramatic cracking noise.

"I thought the mast or the rigging had gone, so I jumped out of bed and straight into knee-deep water," he told the Taranaki Daily News.

Once on the deck, he spotted a bull humpback whale longer than the boat, lying at a right angle.

Mr Wright said the whale lay there for around a minute before swimming under the bow and stern and pausing about five metres from the boat.

Five other whales joined the first one about 10 minutes after the collision.

"You could hear them all talking or clicking.

"Quite often you can hear it if you're below decks under water, but to hear it on deck is quite unusual."

After the whales had moved off about 50 metres, still talking, Mr Wright scanned his boat for the damage.

He found a metre square hole in the port bow of the middle hull, and the forefoot at the bottom of the stem at the bow had been knocked out.

"He (the whale) was maybe sleeping on the surface and I hit him and he sort of woke up with a start and did a bit of a flick and knocked a big hole in the hull," he said.

Mr Wright issued a mayday call, but it was five hours in rough seas before help arrived.

The Northland rescue helicopter picked him up and had him on dry land by 6pm yesterday.

Mr Wright had expected to get his new yacht into New Plymouth this morning but when he left it last night the waves were rolling over it.

The 52-year-old, who has been sailing most of his life, is devastated but still has hopes of winning the solo race.

"I need someone to loan me a boat for the race," he said.

Mr Wright was instrumental in re-establishing the oldest solo race in the Southern Hemisphere in recent years.

To enter the race, contestants need to complete a 500-mile solo voyage to prove they are capable of completing it.

Mr Wright's trip from Auckland would have granted him entrance to the race.

This was not the first time he had sailed the West Coast and he and his wife had spent several years travelling various parts of the world in a boat.

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Deleted User
Deleted User

I hope the whale is OK.
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Deleted User
Deleted User

:kitti: :kitti:

Hi Kahu and jezzie:

As I was reading this article..............I too found myself hoping that the whale is OK. :wub:

Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kahu
Member Avatar

jezzie
Jan 10 2007, 10:29 PM
I hope the whale is OK.

There turned out to be five of them, in later reports. The yachtie was solo, and after being hit by, or hitting the whale, remembers being eyed by the whale closeup. He said the whale, surfaced and dived underneath him to join a pod of another four whales close by. He was dead scared that the diving whale would demolish the damaged boat. So as luck would have it he stuck around on the wreckage until dawn in 5m swells, when he was rescued.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Pets & Wildlife · Next Topic »
Add Reply