Papa Johns 31 hits whale

[Brewster Minton]

He hit a whale about 60 miles out and it cracked the bow about 2 feet under the waterline. The crack is about 14" long in the dead center of the hull. It also cracked his dash, the floor in the V berth. He says the boat hit the whale and jumped 5' out of the water, his crew went flying he said he thought that was it he was going to end up dead. They are ok and the boat did not sink or take on water. He told me the 31 Bertram saved their lives. Any other boat would have sank.

[Capt. Mike Holmes]

Did he report it as an incidental marine mammal killing, or did the whale survive? I got that brochure and form to report how many whales, porpoise, seals, etc, you had to "accidently" kiill during commercial fishing operations again this year, after returning it last year with a note explaining I don't commercial fish.

Great testiminial to the strength of the boat.

[thuddddddd]

Brewster, how fast was he going? Not to sound like a pussy, but did the whale make it? We get a fair # of whale hits up here, and it's a BIG deal with the conservation dept.

[Capt. Mike Holmes]

A mother pigmy sperm whale and her calf washed up on the beach at Galveston last week. The mother died pretty quickly, they kept the calf alive for a few days. Very rare here.

[Dug]

Wow! Glad he is ok!

I have seen a few whales out there from time to time, and running at night unnerves me anyway! It sounds like he was running in the day, but still.

I know a few people that has happened to, but not to that degree.

And he has a great boat!

Wow...

[Brewster Minton]

20 knots and it was 5-7 foot waves running down sea and Im sure the whale is fine.

[Dug]

That is about the speed I was running last fall when I hit the tree with the running gear.

It scared the poo poo out of Liz and I, and really rocked the stern of the boat. I would say it lifted it pretty significantly out of the water no doubt.

Dug

[RussP]

We hit a big semi submerged tree a while back, it was a pretty big bang as it bounced under the boat. Linda slowed down but we did'nt feel any vibration so we went on our way. We hauled out on Monday for our annual refit and after pressure washing I noticed a nice gouge in the port shaft tube right into the meat of the 3' tube. I figure the tree went down after hitting the shaft tube and kept it from hitting the prop & rudder. There is no subitute for 1708 cloth and epoxy resin.

RussP

[Rob C]

I hear it's better if you harpoon them and let em bleed out a bit, then jump on them. Just kiddin PETA. ;-) sorry I have been drinking a bit. I was realy just kidding. It just reminds me of a joke about the best way to catch a manatee(sp), circle hook or J-hook? Ya got to smile????