'Lucky to be alive'

2010-07-20 15:34

Cape Town – Two Capetonians believe they are lucky to be alive after a breaching whale landed on their yacht in Table Bay at the weekend.

"Thank God we had a steel yacht. If it had been fibreglass we would've been history," Paloma Werner said on Tuesday.

"We are lucky to be alive."

Werner said she and her partner Ralph Mothes, both instructors at the Cape Town Sailing Academy, had gone sailing in their 10m yacht on Sunday.

They had been sailing with the engine off between Robben Island and Blouberg when they spotted the whale.

"We had been watching the whale flip its tail for about half an hour," Werner said.

Young Southern Right Whale

"Just as we were about to go back to shore the whale breached 100m away from us, then 10m away and the next thing it was on our boat."

The whale was a young Southern Right between 11m and 14m long, she said.

"We thought we were going to sink but the engine came on and we were okay."

The couple had spoken to a whale expert who said it was probably a mistake by the mammal due to poor visibility in the water.

Werner said the whale was not hurt. There was blubber and a piece of skin left on the boat but it was "probably just a scratch".

The mast of the boat and the doghouse, or engine cover, were damaged and would cost about R120 000 to repair.

- SAPA