A party of pals had a near escape when a big whale toppled their 44-foot yacht upside down in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. When the incident occurred, Rick Rodriguez, a Florida resident, and three friends were on a three-week sailing excursion from the Galápagos Islands to French Polynesia. The accident struck on March 13, barely 13 days after Rodriguez & Co. set sail. The buddies were getting ready to eat pizza for lunch around 1:30 p.m. when they heard a loud boom. The boat was tipped to its side before the crew could react. The whale and the ship had collided.
There have been 1,200 documented instances of whales and boats colliding since a global database was started in 2007
“The second pizza had just come out of the oven, and I was dipping a slice into some ranch dressing. The back half of the boat lifted violently upward and to starboard,” Rodriguez said to the Washington Post during an interview. The alarm went off five seconds after the crash, warning that the boat was filling with water. The crew, who had some boating expertise, sprang into action and rapidly grabbed food, fresh water, emergency equipment, and other supplies. They had enough food and water to last at least three weeks in the worst-case scenario. Following that, they released a lifeboat beside a dinghy and dove into the water. Rodriguez used a VHF radio to make a mayday call before taking refuge in the lifeboat. Rodriguez claims that the boat sank fully in 15 minutes.
The crew was adrift for 10 hours before being rescued by a civilian ship and brought onto the deck. When asked about the collision, Rodriguez stated that the entire group remained cool throughout the event. “There was never a sense that we were in danger,” Rodriguez explained. “Everything was under control as much as a boat sinking could be.” There have been 1,200 documented instances of whales and boats colliding since a global database was started in 2007.
