Whale, sailboat collide in Monterey Bay
May 1, 2002

A humpback whale is swimming around Monterey Bay with a mighty big bump on his head. The whale collided with a 36-foot sailboat while trying to surface off of Lovers Point on April 20. No one was injured, but it left the boat owner with a maintenance headache.

Alan Arvin of Pacific Grove inspected his vessel Tuesday as it was hauled out of the water. One blade of the propeller was bent and deep scratch marks on the bottom marked where the animal hit the year-old vessel. Arvin said he had no warning that there was a whale in his path when he went sailing with four friends on a Saturday afternoon. The weather was calm, the skies were clear and the there were no finned creatures in sight. The group was heading back to the Peninsula a few miles off of Lovers Point when they felt a sudden jolt. The boat stopped dead and suddenly lunged forward a couple of times.

The passengers looked over the side and saw a humpback still entangled with the vessel. The whale eventually freed itself, breathed a few times, sounded and swam off, Alvin said.Alvin, who sails about three times a week, said he's never heard of a whale trying to surface and hitting a sailboat. He guessed the whale was using the boat as a scratching post or was very confused and was trying to mate. Alvin is a volunteer docent with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and he said he's always conscious of the environment when he goes out in the water. But some circumstances you just can't control, he said.

"We do have an impact even when we don't mean to," he said.

This time of year is prime time to view whales in Monterey Bay. Humpbacks are out in Central Coast waters from May to October looking for food before heading back to their homes in southern Mexico.

Capt. Heidi Tiura of Sanctuary Cruises said hundreds of humpback are frolicking in the area right now. The humpbacks are the friendliest and most curious of the great whales.

A few years ago a humpback jumped into a whale-watching boat and broke a passenger's leg, Tiura said. But that kind of contact is extremely rare, she said, and Tiura has never heard of another whale trying to surface and colliding with a boat.

Sailers should be extra cautious while they're whale watching, Tiura said. The worst thing to do is to try to anticipate where a whale is heading and then kill a boat's engines _ that just increases the chances of a whale hitting a boat. The best thing to do is to try and make noise, as Humpbacks will usually steer clear of a boat with an engine running, she said.

Kaitilin Gaffney of The Ocean Conservancy said the message for whale watchers is to try and keep a safe distance from the animals.

She said it's rare to hear of collisions in the Monterey area. And there are occasions when there's nothing a sailor can do to prevent an animal from hitting a vessel.

"All you can do is hold on and hope for the best," Gaffney said.