Video surfaces of sailboat struck by breaching whale

CBS Evening News with Katie Couric shared the above video on Thursday, offering proof that a southern right whale did, indeed, jump out of the water on Sunday and crash onto the sailboat of a couple sailing off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa.

There has been some speculation that perhaps the image posted Wednesday on Outposts as well as on numerous other websites had been Photoshopped.

"It is definitely legitimate," Paloma Werner, who had been out sailing with her boyfriend and business partner, Ralph Mothes of the Cape Town Sailing Academy, told Matt Lauer Thursday on NBC's Today Show. "We were on the boat and we saw the whale coming out, and we saw it. It's legitimate -- it hasn't been Photoshopped."

The couple have been speaking publicly about their ordeal.

"I never for a minute thought this thing would hit the boat," Mothes added when speaking with Lauer. "Blow me down, suddenly I saw this huge monster shape come up out of the water on my port side and yeah, that's it. I mean, it just happened in an instant. It was quite frightening."

Officials from the local Department of Environmental Affairs have launched an investigation into the incident after several people came forward to say the boaters had broken the law by approaching the whale and that the 33-foot, 40-ton mammal was provoked into the attack.

-- Kelly Burgess
twitter.com/latimesoutposts

Video: CBS Evening News, Photo: EPA

Related:

Sailboat struck by breaching whale -- is it real or is it Photoshop?

Sailboat struck by breaching whale

Comments

[San Francisco Sailing School]

Incredible images/footage! Yes, whales have been know to become aggressive towards boats... in fact, we had a 12 meter boat sunk by whales off the coast of Mexico in October of 2009. An emergency beacon (EPIRB) was instrumental in the safe rescue of the crew. We also had a liferaft aboard, which I would argue is just as important as the beacon. I would never recommend venturing offshore without these two items! And a hearty thank you to all the Coast Guard members who come to the aid of sailors in distress.

A boat was recently sunk by whales in Australia, and back a couple of years ago another off Hawaii (when it accidentally got between a mother and her calf). Whale incidents (whether boats colliding with whales or the inverse) seem to be on the increase, so we all need to maintain an increased lookout for our friends aquatic!

By the way, there is a great firsthand account of our incident written by the skipper on our blog... very compelling read with great lessons learned.

[Eric Z]

sexual harassment. lol.

so stupid.

those people didn't do anything to that 'stupid' animal.

always blame the white guy. Probably racism.

[Tee]

Amazing footage!

It looks pretty clear to me that the whale approached them.

[David Sargent]

"Officials from the local Department of Environmental Affairs have launched an investigation into the incident after several people came forward to say the boaters had broken the law by approaching the whale and that the 33-foot, 40-ton mammal was provoked into the attack."

that's very interesting! I read in very many articles that the boaters were doing nothing more than just idly watching the whale get nearer and nearer, and that the whale must not have heard them because their motor was off, and due to the whales bad eyesight they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. I wonder if past reports were misinformed...