Whale Hookup.

[Ryan.S]

Hey guys. Spent the night out on the water on monday night. Had some whales tell us to get lost about 4am. They were alot friendlier after sunrise.

Had a couple playing around the boat and got some footage on my mobile. Sorry its not much but the whale cleaned up 2 lines so i had to grab them! He brushed them off in couple seconds but. It was and Awsome sight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFEYPzCGsKQ

[the gecko]

That was close. Lucky he didnt get the anchor rope.....

cheers
Andrew

[black_sheep]

They love Nuclear Chooks:o ;D

[iricangi]

Stuff that scary

[Pete62]

Hey Ryan, that's a real close encounter. We had a very similar experience off Coffs on Saturday, 3 whales under the boat one getting tangled in the anchor line and pulling the boat round 45 degrees, only got one photo as they passed as i was to busy looking around for the life jackets, will post tomorrow. Cheers, Pete.

[Ryan.S]

Hey guys, yeah sure was close, lucky i was drifting so no anchor,
Pete that would be scary, at least a 50lb braid would snap, unlike an anchor rope!

[Jungle Jim]

Unreal mate great footage considering the circumstances...


Jim

[Pete62]

Yeh Ryan, was sketchy there for a bit. They seem to becoming more confortable and or inquisitive around smaller boats, they are just so F**ing big when they are close.

[castlemaine]

Used to fish off Byron Bay (before the Greenies got to it) years ago and one time a baby whale decided to take a look at us. WOW did I say baby, it was giagnomous. What amazed me was that it never tangled into our lines or anchor rope. Stayed around for about for a couple minutes then off it went. Pretty scary when you realise your boat is only a fraction of the size of the 'baby' whale.
Good footage Ryan.
Cheers8-)

[d-man]

Yeah, Its all well and good for EPA to say stay 100 metres away from them but I've had a pod turn 90 degrees and come right at the boat. 5m boat - 15 m whale?? Sorry Mr Garrett, but I fired up and made a hasty retreat.

[The-easyrider]

A couple of weeks ago we were out at shallow tempest and a whale about a 100 meters or so south of of us and heading pretty much straight toward us luanched its self completly out of the water :o then we waited very nervy for a few mins hopeing that a whale wasn't going to land on us , it surfaced about 20 m to the side but that got me thinking about having one tangle on the anchor rope , so now I have a deck safety knife fixed in the anchor well

[Roo]

yeah the 100m zone is a bit tricky to enforce when the buggers come to you. i had them come and check me out off Tweed last year. Spooky but awesome sight. something I'll never forget is the sheer size of a whale when it rolls side on and checks out the underside of your boat....the ocean goes an eerie greenish white...sounder goes black!. or later when one sidles up beside the boat and eyeballs you.....glad I don't look like krill.

[sharkymark2]

Hey Ryan does that whale count as your PB :D;D

[dazza]

hi all,
the whales make me pretty wary when travelling, especially at night, unfortunatley i hit one a few years ago, no big drama, it was sort of like hitting a sandbank, unfortunatley the whale might have had a headache for a day or 2
i rember a couple of federal elections ago, the local labour candidate was spruiking how he wanted to get green zones up the east coast as whale migratory paths, he didn't get elected thank god, but i have always wondered when we will see this rolled out from labour, probably when they need a warm fuzzy or to buy preferences from their green mates.
as we interact more with them these types of things will happen more often, and before long if it isn't already it will be on the greenies radar, when the govt does its survey it will ask (if it bothers) the general joe blow in the street "do you want migratory whales protected so boats don't run over them? i recon almost 100% would say yes and i agree, it is just how they go about it that i will have issues with.
off the soap box now
had a few go under the boat, always spins me out how the navigate themselves around
cheers
dazza

[grey_inflatable]

Hi all same thing hapened to a mate and i 3ks off cape moreton.
we were in my ex surf rescue boat and my mates line was around the prop and i was leaning out of the back undoing it, when i saw a massive white thing {i thought owe now a massive shark} . it was a stomack of a whale that swam so close to the boat i put the prop down because i thought it was about to touch us we saw the massive eye as it looked at us as it cruised passed whe went strait in

[Legend82]

i thought i was going 2 die 2day, bloody whale surfaced about a foot from the front of the boat, its head seemed as big as us, screaming at my mate 2 start the engine and rev it 2 let it know where there, thought it was going 2 tangle in the anchor rope, eventually went, then turned around and it was staring at us like 10m away and started heading 4 us, then disappeared fortunately, bloody scariest thing ever
makes you realize how small you really are in a 4.5m boat
no photos as i was shaking like no 2moro and concentrating on not getting killed

[reidy]

Mate of mine Shane and his son were tail struck by a female Southern right in the Tamar River (Tassie) a couple of years back.The females calf got between his 12 foot tinnie and her,she wanted the boat gone so she tail struck.Lifted the dinghy clean out of the water,scared young Jack that much he didnt step foot in Shanes boat for months.
The 12 foot savage is now named 'Whale struck"
Cheers
Reidy

[bhorton@ausmotorsear]

HI guys

a similiar thing happened to us last week when a whale ambered by but got hooked on a pilie that we had drifting out the back. Needless to say the whale was not happy and started to get quite erratic. Cut the line really quick and he wandered off. Definately my biggest hookup.. Shame i didnt tag it, would have been a world record on 10kg line!

ben