Re-forming

What it's like to hit a SPERM WHALE in a sailboat

An event we will never forget during our Baltic to Adriatic journey was a close encounter with a sperm whale between the Aeolian Islands. If you haven’t already, you can read all about it in this post. To recap, we were sailing on a close reach from Filicudi to Vulcano, with very varied wind conditions due to blocking and channeling effect of the tall volcanic islands. Finally we had some good conditions and were going at close to seven knots with a significant heel, with most of the starboard side below the waterline. Otherwise the sea conditions were relatively calm, there were almost no waves and excellent visibility afforded us magnificent views of all the Aeolian Islands. All seven of us were on deck and before anyone could have even spotted anything we felt a very noticeable shock go through the boat, almost like hitting a sandy bottom, but the boat kept on going. The first thought was of a log in the water but a few seconds later we saw the unmistakable tail fin and back of a sperm whale break the surface just behind us.

Usually seeing a whale is something every sailor dreams of, but in our case we were more concerned with the well-being of the whale and our boat than enjoying this encounter with one of the most magnificent inhabitants of the sea. So nobody had the time or mind to take any pictures to document this unbelievable incident.

We don’t know how badly the whale was hurt but according to research, the chances of a whale being killed by a small vessel at less than 8nm is relatively low (<20%).

Of course it was quite a shock for us, but after quickly establishing that the Goden Wind was alright and no water was pouring in anywhere, we started to wonder who we should inform about the event. Our first idea was to tell the coast guard, but since there was no immediate danger, we held off on that, since we wanted to figure out what to tell them first. When we arrived on Vulcano and spoke to the harbour master there he advised us to be cautious about telling the coast guard since they might decide our ship was not seaworthy (although it almost certainly was).  A careful inspection of the affected area revealed no cracked ribs or damage to the welds between the hull and reinforcements making us confidence that there was nothing to worry about. In the end we decided to just report the incident to the IWC Global Ship Strikes Database and continue our journey.

Fortunately for us, the whale mostly caused cosmetic damage to the hull and interior, although the starboard bow bunk became pretty much useless. A friendly call to Pantaenius, our insurance, was very helpful and a few days later we had a list of shipyards in the Adriatic, that could fix the damage.

Starting Trouble

After reaching Brindisi (where one of the shipyards is located), we had trouble getting our engine started again. Some very helpful conversations with Massimo Balsamo of Naval Balsamo helped figure out the problem as he was always happy to help.

Our friendly welcome and need to get spare parts made us decide to get the bump straightened out in Brindisi as well.

The first step was to strip the bow down to the hull, meaning to take out all the carpentry and insulation. Ronzino, the yards woodworking expert, quickly opened up everything and prepared the area for structural work.

With the hull bare, the aluminium specialists moved in with heavy equipment which included a hydraulic cylinder and pump. After a few hours of intense pumping with the ribs in place there was not much progress except maybe some sore muscles for the operator of the hydraulic pump. That really gave us an idea of how tough she really is and what a heavy whale we hit to have caused such a deformation. Since there was no way of getting the hull straightened out like that, a new approach was needed.

To make the hull more pliable, they carefully cut the ribs out in the affected area to make it possible to bend back into its original shape. It was a little bit scary hearing the sound of the the hull being cut but they did a good job of removing just the bent ribs without cutting into the planking.

Without the reinforcements it was comparatively easy to straighten out the hull and after a short while working with the hydraulics again, the bow had a much better shape. Next they re-welded the Ribs back, but were a little hasty in doing so, and did not keep the the symmetry of the stringers. That did not pass quality control and had to be redone!

Even after welding, the hull still wasn’t quite smooth yet, especially since the old filler and paint had suffered from the heat of the welding. So it was time for some filler, to achieve that final beautiful shape. Not just one, but a good few layers of filler were needed to achieve a proper ship shape.

A smart solution to getting the shape right was clamping some planks to the hull which would act as guides to properly apply the filler. The hollow area underneath the planks was then filled in with the epoxy based material which made for excellent templates to fill in the rest of the remaining dent.

Layer by layer it became smoother and smoother with the help of a powerful sander. Some final finishing touches by hand and it was ready for primer paint which is just sprayed on quickly and efficiently using an airless paint gun.

With the primer on, all that was missing is the shiny topcoat. The boat being outside, that needed to be done with a few hours of dry weather. Unfortunately, the first time they sprayed the red stripe a low pressure area centered right around us and a totally unpredictable thunderstorm cell passed overhead. The heavy rain created permanent water streaks in the paint, necessitating a repaint.
Not long after, with some better weather a fresh coat made the Goden Wind shine in renewed beauty!

On the inside the shape has also changed slightly, so some slight modifications to the woodwork  were necessary resulting in an ever so slightly smaller starboard bunk in the bow. No problem though, the cushion still fits in its place and everything works as it used to.

During the entire working process, even when the boat was on the hard we continued living on it and supervising the work. Fortunately most of the work was either in the bow or outside so we could still comfortable stay on her. Showers and toilets were also close by so all in all it was quite a fun time. Especially enjoying a meal on deck with good weather while watching day to day work in the yard.

Thanks to Naval Balsamo for the good work and great advice. There will be more on that in the next post about engine troubles and repairs.

If you've made it this far, you must be really interested in the story! So even though the insurance covers most of the cost of the repairs, we still have a co-pay of 1000€. So if you can spare something to cover that cost it would really help us out:

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