Whale attacks Bayliner

Delaneysdad · Post by **Delaneysdad** » February 3, 2006 7:53 pm

From yesterday, check out this audio link.

http://www.ktyd.com/cc-common/mlib/1037 ... 901803.mp3

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:18 p.m. February 2, 2006

SANTA BARBARA – A gray whale smashed into a 27-foot boat on an evening cruise, damaging the vessel and injuring one person, the boat's owner said.
The Bayliner was cruising off Leadbetter Beach shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday when the whale came up from under its right bow, belly-flopped onto the boat and crushed its cabin, said boat owner Jerry Gormley.

It pushed the boat down kind of sideways, then it came down on top,” said Gormley, 55, who had taken his friends Bob and Vicki Thornburgh onto the water to watch the sunset.

The whale emerged from the water again and ran it's tail along the boat's flank, knocking over Bob Thornburgh, 50, and tearing down the vessel's railing, Gormley said.

The whale approached the boat a third time, settled beside it, and stared at Gormley, he said.

“You can look into most animals' eyes and see nothing,” said Gormley, who estimated the whale was 30 feet long. “But not this one.”

Gormley said his steering equipment and radar apparatus were destroyed, so he radioed for help. Larry Nufer, the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol officer who responded, said he found a badly damaged vessel.

“The cabin top had broken totally off, and was floating away to the side,” said Nufer. “There was whale skin and blubber embedded in the sides.”

Bob Thornburgh was treated for cracked ribs at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, said his wife, Vicki, 45. She said it seemed like the whale had consciously collided with the boat.

“It wasn't like the whale didn't know we were there,” she said.

However, Wayne Perryman, a researcher with the National Marine Fisheries Service in San Diego, said that was unlikely.

He said the boaters probably encountered a gray whale, which are common off California this time of year, and rarely show aggressive behavior. The whale may have picked a spot to breach where the boat coincidentally happened to be, he said.

Gray whales are also known to approach boaters out of curiosity, which researchers call “friendly behavior,” Perryman said.

“So when you're a great big animal, sometimes being 'friendly' can be damaging to something a lot smaller,” he said.

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » February 3, 2006 8:02 pm

I would have peed my pants..

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » February 3, 2006 8:13 pm

Ya know, if you're too stupid to know about the behavior of local wildlife I really don't think you have any business taking a boat out in the ocean. Hmmm, you're sitting right in the middle of the migratory path of the Gray whale, I really don't think it is *attacking* you. It's doing what whales do.

Wayne...LOL

When the Orcas would bump our kayaks while we were night paddling it pretty much was a pee your pants moment too.

Quiet and Shy · Post by **Quiet and Shy** » February 3, 2006 9:21 pm

Remind anyone else of the Christopher Moore book Fluke?

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » February 3, 2006 10:08 pm

Quiet and Shy wrote:Remind anyone else of the Christopher Moore book Fluke?

Dont' get me started...I still laugh uncontrollably at that one "scene" out in the boat...

Prthd119 · Post by **Prthd119** » February 3, 2006 10:13 pm

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:
Quiet and Shy wrote:Remind anyone else of the Christopher Moore book Fluke?
Dont' get me started...I still laugh uncontrollably at that one "scene" out in the boat...

Mentioning it did it for me....

Laughing my a$$ off here...

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » February 3, 2006 10:16 pm

goo....

Prthd119 · Post by **Prthd119** » February 3, 2006 10:44 pm

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:goo....

Stop it...

peeing my pants here...

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » February 3, 2006 10:50 pm

Whaley Boys...

Prthd119 · Post by **Prthd119** » February 3, 2006 10:52 pm

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:Whaley Boys...

Ok..you're killing me here...

I might need to read that again.....it cracked me up the whole way through it!

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » February 3, 2006 10:55 pm

Hot pastrami with swiss on rye...

prrthd1987 · Post by **prrthd1987** » February 3, 2006 10:58 pm

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:Wayne...LOL When the Orcas would bump our kayaks while we were night paddling it pretty much was a pee your pants moment too.

That would be soooo cool! I love Orcas! (but I'm a wildlife nut lol)

Brown Eyed Girl · Post by **Brown Eyed Girl** » February 3, 2006 11:09 pm

prrthd1987 wrote:
Brown Eyed Girl wrote:Wayne...LOL When the Orcas would bump our kayaks while we were night paddling it pretty much was a pee your pants moment too.
That would be soooo cool! I love Orcas! (but I'm a wildlife nut lol)

It was waaaay cool. You couldn't see them...but you could hear them exhale...then all of a sudden...THUNK

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » February 3, 2006 11:50 pm

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:
prrthd1987 wrote:
Brown Eyed Girl wrote:Wayne...LOL When the Orcas would bump our kayaks while we were night paddling it pretty much was a pee your pants moment too.
That would be soooo cool! I love Orcas! (but I'm a wildlife nut lol)
It was waaaay cool. You couldn't see them...but you could hear them exhale...then all of a sudden...THUNK

followed by a warm, wet feeling down the legs...

mings · Post by **mings** » February 4, 2006 11:41 am

THis reminds me of Moby Dick. (By the way, don't read that book. It's toooooooo long and painful, but I digress.)

citcat · Post by **citcat** » February 4, 2006 12:00 pm

hmmmmmmmmmm....you know, come to think of it, a Bayliner does look suspiciously like a female gray whale......he was prolly putting his best moves out there and was VERY disappointed when he realized it was a fiberglass fake whale with a middle-aged man looking at him. Pizzed off whale there.

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » February 4, 2006 12:40 pm

citcat wrote:hmmmmmmmmmm....you know, come to think of it, a Bayliner does look suspiciously like a female gray whale......he was prolly putting his best moves out there and was VERY disappointed when he realized it was a fiberglass fake whale with a middle-aged man looking at him. Pizzed off whale there.

dude looked like a lady..

mings · Post by **mings** » February 4, 2006 6:48 pm

plankton goggles.

OceanCityGirl · Post by **OceanCityGirl** » February 4, 2006 7:25 pm

plankton goggles

hahahaha

mings · Post by **mings** » February 4, 2006 7:26 pm

OceanCityGirl wrote:
plankton goggles
hahahaha

trust me. they're a b****