Re: I hate it when this happens....
Hi everybody,<br /><br />Been reading your comments about the whale strike, the newspaper's story as they have described it in Aspect's link is total B*** S***. I live just down the coast (30) miles from where this happened last sunday, there was no family from England involved, but a local sailor who was returning to Magnetic Island (a suburb of Townsville City) from a coastal town further north in his recently refurbished 30 ft trimaran when the whale broached under him near Palm Island punching a hole in the bottom of the boat and breaking his rudder. He had to be assisted by the coast guard and other boats in the area to get to Magnetic Island before sinking.<br /><br />The whale is actually 14m long (approx 45ft) and is thought to be about 17yrs old. The Parks & Wildlife Rangers went out to monitor the whale's condition as it is pure white (albino) and is thought to be the only white humpback whale in the world at this time. The sailor and his yacht have been shown on local TV along with film of the whale which is swimming around happily with several other whales in the local area and not showing any injuries apart from a small wound on its back.<br /><br />I just read a similar story with a photo on CNN's website so I had to respond with the true version, the media sometimes doesn't let the truth get in the way of a good story. The Whitsunday Islands where the media claim this to have happened is about 200 miles south of Palm Island where the photo was taken. I fish the area from around Palm Island in the north to about 30 miles to the south of Magnetic Island and out to the Great Barrier Reef, since the ban on whaling we are seeing about a 10% increase in numbers every year of whales migrating north to our tropical waters from Antartica to breed and then returning south in the summer.<br /><br />Bob
