Whale lands on yacht

[Guest]

Check the home page

[wheels 543]

Now that's a money shot.

Where and when???

We had a Female give birth to her Calf down here and the pair were traveling North. I wonder if it's her and the boat got too close to the Calf.

[wheels 543]

OK, read front page first Wheels. Cape Town huh.

What a photo though

[Guest]

Good name for the boat too

[John B 106]

I bet he wishes he had his Physical Grafitti wound up loud now.

[Guest]

Whhhaat?? the skipper is looking calmly straight ahead with a massive whale half way up his mast!!!, and where are the 'just after' shots - rather than the one single shot, with a broken mast and different sky and horizon. It is all over the news but surely it is obviously a fake, lifelines and the rest would not be left standing after that!!

[wheels 543]

Probably a slow digital camera. You know the ones, 10 seceonds of focusing in and out till it gets the shot sorted, click, what an infuriating 10secs for it to load the data and then go back through the focus procedure again ready for the next shot and in the mean time the scene has changed into next week. Then couple that to an amature camera person.

As for guy looking straight ahead, that again was just poor timing on behalf of camera operator. But then, timing would have been difficult, because you would have had a split second in timing between guy looking straight ahead, guy turning head, guy unloading brown smelly stuff all over deck. Even a pro camera person would have had difficulty with timing that shot.

[John B 106]

You need to look at a large picture and you'll see that the graphic on the sail is The Saint.

Of course all comes clear then.. the whale thought it was a volvo and bashed it.

[Guest]

I just can beleive it, calm day, 1 sail up, a few knots boat speed at best - i.e. silent - you would look to the left if a little fish splashed out of the water, but a MASSIVE whale exploding out of the water still doesnt distract the skipper??? he would have flinched off to the right and at least be looking left/up. And if he had already looked left, I doubt he would have resumed his position at the helm. It has to be a fake, nobody can concentrate that hard on a telltale.

[Guest]

plus there is not enough water in the air for something that size exploding out of the water. just little drips. Has to be fake - mind you the story sold worldwide will probably pay for a new mast (however it happened) so not a silly idea.

[Guest]

fake...sun is reflecting on left side of whale, so should be no shadow on sails on port side...or vv

[wheels 543]

It's for real and actually the Skipper is looking at the Whale. Right at it in actualy fact. You have to be able to blow the picture up and still maintain the clarity (which we did this afternoon over on base) and you can see the guys face far better and that he actually is looking.

Whales and Dolphins can come clear of the water and not take much water with them. It is something to do with their skin. It's also why they, especially Dolphins, can go so fast under water.

[Guest]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10748488