'Like a missile,' whale shatters Swiftsure boat off Oregon

[greenturtle]

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Lik...052/story.html

Jerry Barnes's sailboat may be wrecked, but at least he has a good tale to tell after a whale "shot up just like a missile" and slammed into his boat off the coast of Astoria, Oregon.

He and his sailboat, L'Orca, were supposed to be in this weekend's Swiftsure International Yacht Race in the waters off Victoria.

But because of the whale encounter on May 12, while competing in the Oregon Offshore race and heading to Victoria, L'Orca is too damaged to compete.

The whale - which the sailboat crew said was likely a humpback - breached within a metre of the boat. When it flipped around to land on its back, its head struck the middle of the vessel, hitting the toerail - the aluminum rail that goes around the boat.

The rig came crashing down.

The mast broke in three spots.

Barnes called mayday, the international radio distress signal.

And his son yelled "holy and some other words," Barnes said.

Yet none of the eight passengers was injured. "It's amazing no one was hurt," said Barnes, a resident of Portland, Oregon.

The whale struck near where four crew members were working. It swam away after the collision and the crew said it did not appear to be seriously hurt. They later found bits of blubber on their boat.

Four other racing crews stopped to help L'Orca's passengers. When the U.S. Coast Guard arrived, the other boats continued the race. Barnes had to pull out of the Oregon Offshore, a race in which he and his son had placed fifth last year.

Barnes has sailed the vessel to Canada a few times, and would have raced in Swiftsure for a second time this year.

Instead, he'll be aboard a friend's 70-foot boat, the Rage.

After the whale strike, Barnes's crew removed the fallen rigging and were able to take the boat almost all the way back to shore. The coast guard towed it the rest of the way.

"I don't like to be towed by anybody," said Barnes.

"You're just better off under your own power. But in the end, they were great and I appreciate [that] they were there."

Barnes was also impressed with how L'Orca handled the collision.

After the whale landed diagonally on the toerail, the sail was halfway in the water but L'Orca bounced right back up. "I was so proud of her," said Barnes, the vessel's second owner.

He purchased the 19-year-old boat in 2002, 10 years after it was built.

"I liked her lines, I liked inside and she was accommodating. It was a nice boat," said Barnes.

"You know, you put so much heart and soul into these boats. I had done a lot to upgrade it and make it ocean-worthy. And she proved that."

This year marks the 68th anniversary of Swiftsure, one of the Pacific Northwest's biggest yacht races.

A total of 155 boats are registered to compete in the May 28-30 event

[The Publisher]

Glad everyone is ok, I hope the whale was not inured either