[C38] Whale of a story

[Joseph Launie]

Steve,
     Trudie was a real sailor.I should have pointed out she said, "the 
whale is hitting the boat" in the same quiet tone of voice she would 
have said, "I need a little more traveler" .  Joe Launie/ Macavity

On 5/17/2011 1:30 PM, Steve Smolinske wrote:
> Now that's amazing!! My wife would never have gotten back on the boat.
>
> Steve Smolinske
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On May 17, 2011, at 12:58 PM, "Joseph Launie" <jlaunie at cox.net 
> <mailto:jlaunie at cox.net>> wrote:
>
>> Steve,
>>     Several years ago we were racing from Marina del Rey around Santa 
>> Barbara Island in our Islander 33 which had a full keel and no bottom 
>> paint. A whale surfaced just to weather so close to the cockpit its 
>> spray landed in the boat. It dove and my late wife Trudie who was on 
>> the tiller said, "the whale is hitting the boat." I replied, "so the 
>> whale is hitting the boat, what do you want me to do about it?" I 
>> decided we wanted a happy whale so I was not going to frighten it by 
>> starting the engine. The whale set up a pattern, surface just to 
>> weather, blow and cause the cockpit crew to gag, then disappear, rub 
>> its back on our keel, and surface to leeward.  The whale was around 
>> 40 feet long. The crew conversed in hushed voices. We did not want to 
>> frighten the whale who seemed quite happy with its back scratcher. 
>> Trudie maintained course and speed on the helm. Periodically Trudie 
>> flipped her wrist at the whale and softly said, "shoo." The wind was 
>> light, the boat and the whale continued our course toward Santa 
>> Barbara Island at about 3 knots. Finally, after over two hours of 
>> back scratching, the whale disappeared.  I guess Southern California 
>> whales are more mellow than those up north. Joe Launie/Macavity
>>
>> On 5/15/2011 10:56 PM, Steve Smolinske wrote:
>>> Don't know how many of you heard the news this last weekend from the 
>>> Oregon Offshore.  L'Orca a Beneteau 35 got demasted by a breaching 
>>> whale!  It breached about a foot from the bow on starboard went up 
>>> the mast to the first spreader and took out the rig, lifelines, 
>>> toerail and lots of cracks on the deck.  Miraculously no one was 
>>> injured!  They were next to us at the start and having problems 
>>> controlling their spinnaker in the 20 knots of breeze. So we changed 
>>> course to give them room as they had already rounded up a number of 
>>> times.  As we settled in I heard a call from another competitor to 
>>> the race committee and looked over my shoulder to where they were 
>>> and saw their head sail down and thought what a bunch of 
>>> wimps withdrawing already, then looked behind me to see they were 
>>> headed to about four other boats and what looked liked a power 
>>> boat.   Then it dawned on me that was a sailboat without a mast,   
>>> As I had my hands full with the boat I had the crew check it out 
>>> and they confirmed the power boat was indeed a sailboat.   We hailed 
>>> the boat that had taken the lead in coordinating the rescue and the 
>>> coast guard and offered helped, they had it under control and told 
>>> us to stay in the race.  We heard the next day that it was a whale 
>>> attack.  Now Gerry is a friend and competitor so I can say although 
>>> this is a whale of a story, it surely was no fluke and we are all 
>>> thankfull that no one was injured or krilled and how ironic that a 
>>> boat named L'Orca would get demasted by a whale and it all happened 
>>> off of Cape Disappointment.
>>> BTW Larry a big Thank you!!  Shannon is AWESOME!! Glad to have her 
>>> on board for Transpac!
>>> Steve
>>> #312 Peregrine
>>> Seattle
>>>
>>>
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