Yacht Wrecked By 40-Ton Whale July 22, 2010 by lukesheppard

Last week a Yacht was wrecked off the South African coast after a 40-ton whale jumped from the waters and smashed down on top of a sailing instructors boat. Sailing instructors Paloma Werner and Ralth Mothers were watching the Whale moving in the waters, admiring it, when it set a course for their vessel, the 32ft Intrepid. Mr Mothes has been quoted “I thought, surely it can’t be on a collision course with us” However it soon became apparent it was, then unexpectedly the young whale jumped out of the water landing on the boats deck all 35ft and 40-tons of it, smashing the Intrepids mast and damaging the engine cover. Once landed the Whale thrashed around on the deck causing damage to the vessel, after a few minutes it rolled itself off the boat back into the water. Fortunately the Intrepid  has a steel hull, experts say that if it had been a fibre glass hull the whale would have smashed right through the hull sinking the boat. As it stands the whale has done an estimated £10,000 worth of  damage to the boat. Fortunately no one was hurt during the incident.