Doug: Your enviable post raises a question I have had for a long time. Is anyone aware of mishaps involving kayakers who have gotten too near whales? I can't remember reading of such incidents, and I am wondering if that is because they (almost) never occur. (Sorry if this topic has already been discussed already.) Tom Joyce ------------------------------------------ The information contained in this e-mail message may be privileged, confidential, and protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, any further disclosure or use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you think that you have received this e-mail message in error, please delete it and notify the sender. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Tom said (snip): >Is anyone aware of mishaps involving kayakers who have gotten too near whales?< I've got a National Geographic picture of a yellow kayak and paddler being lifted up somewhere in what appears to be northern latitudes waters. The paddler is performing an ultra low brace manoeuvre to stay upright. I imagine this isn't typical. Though, encounters where there are problems reported are probably this type of incident (where the whale surfaces unintentionally under a kayak). I'm sure others on the list may have input. Here's a news story from Nootka Island where Luna has been causing a stir. The conservation officers are now starting to hand out fines for touching the small Orca. The maximum fine is $1000,000.00 CND, though this first fine was only $100.00. Reports indicate some of the local may have been swimming with the whale or even giving it beer. This could certainly be an accident waiting to happen: http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=919e565e-f417-440e-b729-ef08ad0e217f On my resent whale encounter, our small group of 3 paddlers chased the whales along southward, then northward along the western side of San Juan Island. We tried to keep the minimum 100 to 400 yards distance. One group of guided paddlers in big doubles stayed their ground as the whale approached. The paddlers were 50 yards from shore while the whales surfaced then dove right under the viscerally jubilant group of rafted paddlers in their doubles. One of our group did get a bit close for a minute or two, and a conservation volunteer approached one of our party members trailing behind, with some suggested reading - namely a whale-watching safety brochure. I tried to stay ahead of the whales at a fast clip, but did so between the whales (off the pod's front starboard side) and the shoreline. Apparently this is not the recommended procedure, as paddlers and boaters should be seaward of the creatures. I was repentant. I was also impressed at how far back the motorized whale watching armada kept away, along with vessels of serendipitous involvement such as the Clipper hydrofoil. Back at San Juan County Park, we started practicing our best foreign accents, before other paddlers who had observed from a farther distance returned. We figured they might chide us, and perhaps feigning a language barrier might have mitigated a tongue lashing. No one said anything however. Many say these creatures have no soul. Only man possesses a spirit. Somehow, this was challenged that day as I observed J-pod, it's big male with his giant corkscrew-like fin rising black and powerful as it split the darkly seas. Two new calves joined the procession. Life moved forward. I returned to work, revived, at peace, in vibe once again with All that Is, with All that is Sacred. And with my brochure. Doug Lloyd Victoria BC *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> > Some say that we must always avoid close contact with wild > creatures...implying that any "social contact" we have with them just > hastens their demise. How close is too close, and what constitutes "wild"? I haven't noticed any shortage of squirrels, birds, and a hundred other things that are all over and around my house and yard on a daily basis. Kind of wish it worked that way with the moles in my yard, though - AND THE MOSQUITOES!!!! Oh, except then a bunch of birds and bats would die, and that would lead to this, and that would lead to the other thing.... one big chain, isn't it. Besides, it's folks like Melissa who feel an attachment to those whales who will go the furthest and hardest mile to protect them and be their advocate. There is a fine line though.... wish I knew exactly where it was. Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Sea Kayaker had several stories about Grey Whale attacks on kayakers back in the mid-eighties. I wrote one of them. I thought I had put it on Paddlewise already and let them reprint it in the archives. I just took a look but I couldn't find it. it was one of the few old safety articles not reprinted in "Deep Trouble". It was also the one I had the most fun writing. Very long post follows: THE GRAY WHALE: FRIENDLY GIANT OR DEVIL-FISH? Last autumn friends and I were paddling back from Cape Flattery (the Northwest tip of Washington) to Makah Bay. One of us noticed a plume spray into the air well over a mile ahead. We watched it reoccur a few times and saw that it didn't stay in the same place. Oh boy, a whale! The heart shaped plume from two nostrils rather than one marked it as a baleen rather than a toothed whale. Because it was traveling close to shore we guessed it was most likely a gray whale. We judged the whales course and maneuvered to be in front of it so we might have a chance for a good picture. Fifty yards away it broke the surface just enough for us to see its barnacled head and broad gray back. Before we had time to snap a picture it was gone. The whale appeared to be moving at a fast paddling speed. Hoping for a picture the next time the whale surfaced I turned and raced off in the direction it was going. The whale stayed down for a long time and when it finally surfaced it was far off to one side. All I have to show for my effort is a blurred picture of a distant spout taken from the hip. Strangely, I wasn't nervous about being directly in front of 30 tons of whale. I figured whales could tell what was in front of them and didn't want to bump themselves. They have sonar, Right? Besides whales are friendly. Aren't they? In the last issue of Sea Kayaker I reviewed the close calls as well as the fatal incidents that befell sea kayakers in the last several years. All involved cold water as the major danger except the one involving a gray whale in a Baja lagoon. I considered that one to be a fluke accident. As Art Hohl told the story, in the first issue of Sea Kayaker, it appears his kayak may have been a toy for a playful six ton calf. I dismissed it as not being very relevant to the issue of kayak safety. I mean, if you're going to get close enough to pet the friendly gray whales they might accidentally hurt you just by moving too quickly even if they are trying to be careful. Right? The following letter from Bill Almand started to crumble my Pollyanna ideas about whales. Although, on first hearing about Bill's letter, when John Dowd suggested I write this article around it, I suspected that it could be a hoax. That possibility would allow me to maintain my faith in the friendliness of whales. No such luck! The letter from Bill Almand: ^ÓIt was Sunday, January 27, 1985, at approximately 11 45 am, I had been out off Point Pinos in Monterey Bay for most of the morning looking for gray whales. I had seen four or five and had a good paddle getting the feel of the Icefloe. Since this is my first time whale watching. I felt good to have come within 20 ft. from one. I called it a day and started to paddle in to the bay. I felt good. the boat handled well and my muscles were warm and relaxed, so I started getting into a good steady paddle rhythm. All of a sudden, I was bumped as if a boat had hit me from behind, but there were no boats near me. It pushed me forward, picking up my speed from three to four knots to eight to ten. I stuck my paddle in the stern rudder position on my left side because my bow was being turned right by the push. Surprised, I Jerked my head around to my right, just in time to see a huge spotted back and tail slide under the water only inches off my right stern. I let out an excited yell feeling very happy and thrilled about being nudged by a whale. I started to paddle again, thinking that I couldn^Òt ask for a more exciting day and that my wife and kids and friends will hardly believe this. About three or four more strokes and BLAM! I was hit very hard, like a car had just rammed me from the left side. I remember a feeling of limbo for a second (later, witnesses said I was in the air),and then a jar, and I was looking at a giant back sliding up out of the water and my boat starting to twist sideways and lean to the left I was still in my cockpit, but both the kayak and I were slipping and slowly being turned over because we were on the whales back right on top, and completely out of the water! There is no way I^Òm going to be able to keep this thing upright this time,^Ô I remember thinking. The bow had turned 90 degrees now so that the boat was pointed lengthwise down the whales back. I tried to brace anyway, using its back, but by now I was sliding off its side. I tried to roll but the weight of me, and my kayak on top, and the whale beneath, was too much for the paddle and it snapped in half. I twisted my torso and suddenly there I was, my chest and the left side of my face sliding on the whales back. It felt like soft, slippery rubber. With my hands spread out wide, I tried to get some kind of stability. I was still in the cockpit~ with the kayak on top of me now. I remember looking at my right hand and seeing the barnacles being knocked off the whale as it slid under me forwards, and I slid off it sideways ^× kayak and all. Then came the water. When I went into it I was upside down, still in the cockpit, but without a paddle. As I hit, it felt as if I was going to pass out, as if someone had hit me a good shot in the head. I told myself. ^ÓDon^Òt go out, don^Òt go out^Ô, and then, like a streak of lightning, came the thought, ^ÓTHE TAIL^Ô! I could feel the immense presence next to me and the rush of water it created as it moved. I wondered then if this was it for me but at the same time knew I had to push away from it and try to get as far as I possibly could before the tail came. I felt a heavy force pushing me deeper. I started to roll out of my cockpit thinking I had to get away from the boat. As I put my feet on the seat and shoved with my legs, I pushed off the side of the whale with my hands. It was still like a washing machine ^× bubbles, and no orientation at all ^× then I felt myself slowly floating up. When my head broke surface, it was as if I had just failed to complete a roll. No whale in sight, the water calm and glassy around me. Then I got real scared: where was the whale, where was it going to come from and what the hell could I do against it? The kayak was floating about 15 ft away but it seemed like 100. I swam for it thinking the whale was going to slam into me again as soon as I reached it. Trying to control my mind from panic, I reached inside the cockpit behind the seat and pulled out my flare gun case. Trying not to think of the whale, I got the flare gun, put in a shell and snapped it shut. I cocked the hammer as I raised my arm and pulled the trigger. The trail of smoke and red star looked beautiful to me but I knew I wasn^Òt safe, and the fear of the whale was still very much with me. Then I saw the white hull of a small motorboat coming in towards me. I raised my arm and yelled for help. They came in and motioned me over, but I was afraid to leave the kayak and swim the small distance thinking the whale would slam me again. ^ÓHelp me!^Ô I yelled again and the operator came on into the calm spot. I climbed aboard but held on to the toggle on the bow ^× I couldn^Òt leave the kayak there. Then I saw the whale^Òs tail slap the water behind me and it went under again to come up on the other side, slapping its tail again and again. The water was calm around us and I didn^Òt like it. ^ÓGet the hell out of here^Ô I said, ^ÓI don^Òt like the feeling I have^Ô. The boat took off with me hanging on to the front toggle of the kayak. But after a short distance its wake flooded the cockpit washing out my flare gun. We stopped to empty my kayak and slid it onto his boat. We waited awhile until we saw no sign of the whale, then went back in and picked up the left half of the broken paddle and the flare gun case. I never saw the right half again. The kayak was cracked very badly in front of the cockpit and there were stress fractures on the bottom of the hull. After the incident, Bob Swanson, owner of the kayak, was very nice in saying, ^ÓFortunes of war,^Ô when I told him of the damage! As I researched this article looking for explanations for these incidents it became obvious that I had been pretty naive in my estimation of the dangers due to whales. Knowing a little bit about the behavior of killer whales and over generalizing that knowledge to encompass whales that are about as distantly related as two whales can be was only one of my errors. According to some authorities Baleen whales don't even use echo-location. I had assumed all whales used sonar. Killer whales have gone from being fearsome man-eaters in the publics mind to friendly and intelligent beings that do tricks on command and even let people ride on their backs. Although we couldn't convince a sea lion of it, the modern impression of killer whales as no threat to man appears to be well justified. The only documented case of a wound due to the bite by a killer whale was to the leg of a surfer among a herd of sea lions. Since sea lions are a common meal for killer whales this was probably a case of mistaken identity rapidly spat out after one bite. As we changed our perceptions of killer whales following the capture of Namu, in 1965, all whales have probably appeared to be more friendly to us. We lost our fear. Some boaters have even come alongside and petting gray whales. Now some gray whales approach boats and seem to encourage being petted. This phenomena began with a single cow in one of the Baja lagoons but the behavior has spread to many other gray whales. Boaters and whale watchers have recently been reporting similar approaches in many areas along the gray whale's coastal migration path. It was labeled the "friendly whale syndrome" by one researcher I called. Could this be how Bill Almands adventure began? Was this why the calf was approaching Art Hohl? Or was it escaping shallow water or returning to its mother's side? As I heard about the gray whale incident in Baja from more and more second and third hand sources I began to wonder if there weren't more than one such incident. The stories often seemed so different. Some said it was to a double kayak others said only one person was involved. (It was Art Hohl by himself in a double kayak.) Some said it was a mother protecting her calf and others said it was just a calf. The confusion was explained when I talked to the victim himself and to Bruce Freeman who watched the whole incident from a nearby kayak. Art saw only the calf and is convinced that all the damage was caused by the calf. Bruce on the other hand says he watched the calf come right next to Art's kayak when a large snout came up vertically and tipped Art over. The large whale (presumably the mother) then turned and hit the kayak with its flukes. Bruce says that then both mother and baby began tail lobbing the surface nearby before rapidly swimming off down the channel at the surface. A motor skiff with a film crew from the BBC and some whale researchers were also watching the same whales, they said the whales had been making quite a commotion before Art came into the picture . Art felt he was not between the mother and calf. However, I would guess that a large moving object right above or right next to her calf could easily be taken by the mother as a threat to it. Put yourself in the mother whale's position. Why take a chance, a poke with the snout and a few lobs of the tail will chase it away whatever it is. Bruce says that even before the incident there had been some speculation that whale calves may be attracted to yellow kayaks. The day before Art's encounter another yellow kayak on the tour was brushed lightly by a baby gray whale. Art Hohl and Bill Almand were both using yellow over white kayaks. I have been unable to determine if any whales or dolphins are known to have color vision. However, since most mammals do not have full color vision and keen eyesight is not an essential sense for whales I would wager that they don't have color vision. Even if they don't have color vision, it is still possible that the way they see the color yellow has some significance for them. Whatever the reasons, this dangerous behavior on the part of gray whales is not limited to kayaks, yellow boats, or even this century. Less than one month after Art Hohl's experience (Jan. 1983) a skiff with ten people aboard was in Scammon's Lagoon watching a baby gray whale that was leaping into the air nearby when it was hit from beneath and thrown into the air by a large whale. When the skiff came back down on the water the whale swatted it with its tail flukes. Four people were injured and one other 60-year-old man who had been onboard died the same evening of a heart attack. One of the injured died a week later in the hospital of head injuries he suffered during the attack. The gray whale gained a fearsome reputation among whalers in the midst of the last century. They called it, among other things, "devil-fish" because it was one of the few whale species that would deliberately attack its tormenters. Another name was "hard-head^Ô for its habit of coming up under whaleboats and rooting them over with its snout, ^Óin the same manner that hogs upset their empty trough,^Ô as Captain Scammon described it. Scammon was a naturalist and a whaler, and the first captain to discover the whale-birthing lagoon that now bears his name. Concerning whaling in the lagoons he wrote: ^Óin the case of the wounding of a calf the parent animal in her frenzy will chase the boats and overturn them with her head or dash them to pieces with her ponderous flukes." Scammon labeled gray whales as the most dangerous of all whales to pursue. On first entering Scammon's Lagoon the whalers were overwhelmed by the sight of whales so numerous that they would be hard put to cross the water in a whaleboat at the remote extremities of the lagoon without coming into contact with one. The first day of whaling Scammon's Lagoon resulted in the taking of two large cows without difficulty. The next day the whaleboats were launched at dawn. Soon one boat was smashed by the flukes of one whale it was pursuing but had not yet harpooned. Many aboard were injured seriously. A second whaleboat engaged in rescuing the injured men was also clobbered by another passing whale. Both boats were complete wrecks. For several days no whaling was attempted as half the crew was injured and most of the rest were demoralized by fright. Several days later another attempt was made to reap this bonanza, but when the crew in a whaleboat came near a whale to be harpooned most of them jumped out of the boat for fear of the flukes. Unfortunately, for the whales, human ingenuity succeeded in changing the method of whaling in the lagoons to a far safer system using bomb-lances fired from the shallows where the whale couldn't reach them. They used this in the lagoons instead of the usual harpoon and line method. They had to wait a day or two for the dead whales to float to the surface with this method but it proved far safer. Within a few years of the discovery of Scammon's lagoon the California Gray whales were nearly extinct. It seams clear that gray whales will fight back if they feel they or their young are threatened. Furthermore, they have no good reason not to act as though a threat to the young is present on the slightest evidence or provocation. Bruce Freeman's advice for whale watching in the lagoons is to watch from shore or if kayaking, to stay in shallow water when gray whales are near. He says the best viewing is often to be had looking down from a small hill: it is easier to see into the water from a high angle. Why was Bill Almand's kayak attacked? It could be that a calf was involved, but a gray whale in Monterey Bay, in January, would not likely have a newborn along. Since gestation in gray whales takes thirteen months, gray whales would be more likely to be mating than giving birth in those particular waters. Mating? Could Bill^Òs kayak have been mistaken for a lady whale? Surely grays are smarter than that: I have just read of a captive baby gray whale that could recognize, from a great distance away, the approach of its favorite trainer. But before we completely dismiss this possibility, let me relate an experience described to me by Bruce Hedrick, whose 40-foot, 12-ton Valiant Sailboat was sexually molested by a humpback whale. The humpback would bang the sailboat hard from behind, come alongside, roll on its side and grasp the boat with his long pectoral fins. With each of these repeated passes, the sailboat got turned around 180 degrees. Incredibly, this went on for 18 hours. How did Bruce and his crew know of the whale^Òs intentions? Would you believe six and one-half feet long and five inches in diameter at the base? Maybe we should ask the question again: how could an animal as intelligent as a whale mistake a fibreglass boat for a mate? Was he nearly blind? Was it an especially whale-like sailboat hull, its fin keel and rudder (flukes) reminiscent of a female humpback on her side? It is possible there was no mistake. The average male of another supposedly intelligent species has been known to become aroused by such unlikely mates as inflated rubber dolls and two-dimensional representations of females complete with a fold and staple through the navel. The not-so-average ones have been known to become aroused from far stranger cues. There is a certain natural logic to all this: sperm is cheap, better to waste some than possibly miss an opportunity to reproduce. A behavioral command of the sort I^Òm about to suggest may well be genetically ingrained in males of the whale species: If it is pointed at each end, rounded in the middle, and moves along slowly at the surface, try to mate with it. Another possibility may be that Bill^Òs kayak was perceived by the whale as a young one to nurse, or even as a marauding shark. I have already mentioned the friendly whale syndrome this was first noted several years ago, when one gray cow learned to come alongside tourists skiffs for ^Ópetting^Ô (or was it for parasite removal?) For a number of years she was alone in this attention-getting quest, but lately the behavior has spread to many other grays. There are reports of them rubbing against boats off Baja as well as several areas along the gray whale^Òs migration route. Maybe the whale that approached Bill Almand^Òs kayak originally approached it to mate or be petted. After the first push (for whatever reason), the whale^Ò s response became typical attack behavior. What could have provoked it? Did Bill poke the whale hard with his paddle when trying to brace? Did the sharp cornered keel on the stern of his boat stab the friendly whale in a sensitive place? Was Bill^Òs kayak mistaken for a shark? Large sharks appear to prey on their young, and I have heard that baleen whales will attack sharks by ramming them in the side with their snouts. I am sure Sea Kayaker readers will come up with many more possible explanations. I hope so, because, on the whole, this article seems to have supplied far more questions than answers! On the basis of these few incidents, I wouldn^Òt want to say that gray whales are a serious threat to kayakers. However, I am not going to deliberately place myself in the path of, chase, or closely approach a devil-fish again. Matt Broze www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:34 PDT