Ladies and gentlemen, imagine this: you’re out for a peaceful morning of fishing off the New Hampshire coast, and suddenly, a massive humpback whale decides to make your boat its landing pad! That’s exactly what happened to a group of boaters on Tuesday, and the entire heart-stopping incident was caught on video.
Gregg Paquette from Groveland and Ryland Kenney from Dover, New Hampshire, were on their fishing boat, blissfully unaware of the excitement that was about to unfold. “We didn’t see him for a couple of minutes, and then the next thing we knew, he popped up and landed right on the transom of the boat,” Paquette recalled. Now, can you imagine the sheer surprise and terror of seeing a giant whale suddenly appear and descend upon you?
Ryland Kenney shared his quick-thinking reaction: “I just looked up and just kind of saw the boat tipping, and I said, ‘The only way to avoid this is to just kind of jump horizontally away.'” Talk about quick reflexes!
Not one, but two groups of boaters had a whale actually hit their boat near the coast of Maine/NH. And both times it was caught on video! The first incident happened Sunday, and the second video is from this morning, causing the boat to flip. Thankfully, no one was hurt. pic.twitter.com/FnMSZdhDDC
— Anna Coon (@AnnaWGME) July 24, 2024
In another boat nearby were Wyatt Yager, 19, and his brother Colin, 16, both from Maine. They were fishing about a mile off the coast, searching for pogies. Colin was recording video when the whale decided to make its grand entrance. “I saw it go up so I was just lucky enough to be facing the right direction,” Colin said. His video shows Wyatt in the foreground, capturing the moment the whale breaches and heads straight for Paquette and Kenney’s boat.
“When I turned, the whale’s head was already landing on the engine,” Paquette continued. “So when I saw that, then all of a sudden, I look down, the boat is pitching up, the transom is going down into the water.”
Kenney added, “Everything seemed like in slow motion. It was really weird. Everyone was like, ‘Oh, it was eight seconds. How’d you move so fast?’ But it was almost slow motion, like a movie.”
In the dramatic video, the whale breaches, sending fish flying out of the water. As the whale’s mouth closes, it flops over onto the rear of the boat, causing it to capsize. One of the men jumped overboard while the other was thrown into the ocean. Luckily, the Yager brothers were nearby and quickly rushed to their aid, pulling them out of the water.
“Truly grateful to them,” Paquette expressed. “They were making the video, dropped everything, zoomed right over and plucked us out.” Kenney added, “It’s kind of a miracle that I’m alive. I don’t know what was going through my head. Just, kind of, survival.”
The U.S. Coast Guard received a mayday call after the whale caused the 23-foot center console boat to capsize. The Coast Guard confirmed that the men were rescued by other boaters and brought safely to Great Bay Marina.
Sara Morris from the University of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory provided some insight into the whale’s behavior. She explained that the whale was likely lunge feeding when it collided with the boat. “I think one of the key things is that when whales are sighted to encourage boaters to keep their distance,” Morris advised. “The whales are moving around underwater and coming up, potentially in an area different from where they went down, and we want to give them as much leeway as we possibly can to avoid a situation like what you see here.”
Folks, remember, nature is unpredictable, and when you’re out on the water, always keep a safe distance from these magnificent creatures to ensure both your safety and theirs.
A breaching whale landed on and capsized a boat Tuesday in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire. Everyone, including the whale, were unharmed. pic.twitter.com/fmo7ckzTAS
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2024
