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A Tale of a Whale

[Do not try this at home]

Today I’m proud to say that I know Ralph Mothes.  I had many a memorable sailing outing on Matthys Lourens’ yacht, Mafuta, with Ralph also joining the crowd.  I’m  glad also to note that I do not have to use the word “know” in the past tense, as Ralph is still around.

It’s not any man that can boast an encounter with a whale and live to tell the tale.

On Sunday, July 18^thRalph and Paloma Werner were on an outing with Ralph’s yacht Intrepid in Table Bay harbour.    Intrepid is a 10m yacht with a steel hull that Ralph uses, apart from sailing it for his own pleasure,  for training at Cape Town Sailing Academy.

Apparently Ralph spotted the whale from a distance away where a motor boat was circling the whale.  The whale then made it into Intrepid’s direction, breaching once.  Intrepid was in its way, but could not move due to lack of wind and the fact that it’s engine was not running.

The whale disappeared under the water, and then breached again right in front of Intrepid.  A picture had been taken, apparently by a gentleman from Botswana who is reportedly only known as James, and who was on another boat at that time (obviously).  This picture is causing a bit of a debate in the media on its authenticity or not.

The whale landed on the deck (actually on the roof), dismantling the mast and causing some R150000 worth in damages.  [Contact Ralph if you have a spare mast]. 

Ralph reckons that they would have gone down if this was a glass fibre boat.  A whale of a tale, huh?   But now I wonder:   can you imagine the story the whale had to tell when he got home?

PGJ

For more detail, see the links below. 

http://www.dieburger.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Walvis-spring-op-seiljag-in-Tafelbaai-20100719

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=vn20100720120322301C168813