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Luna

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A WHALE OF A TALE
 

We first heard about Luna, a young male killer whale, when we were in Walter’s Cove on the west coast of Vancouver Island last summer.  Luna had somehow become separated from his pod and had become isolated in Nootka Sound.  We thought it cute that this whale was befriended by First Nations people and were dubious about what people were saying about the dangers presented by this whale.  After all, should we not share the ocean with Luna just as we share the seashore with the bears?  We have since changed our opinion – a close encounter with the whale tends to do that.

 In Hanna Channel, in Nootka Sound, on June 30, we met up with Luna.  We had not sought Luna, and had no desire to meet him.  We were motoring along on a lovely warm sunny day on flat water when we came across two large power boats and a sailboat trying to sail in close to no wind, and a couple of small aluminum boats in Hanna Channel.  The boats were all stationary or motoring slowly.  We figured there must be sea life in the channel and perhaps Luna himself.  We slowed our engine and moved out of mid channel towards Bligh Island to try to keep out of the way.  To our delight, Luna leaped entirely out of the water about three hundred yards to port.  Before Kathleen could retrieve her camera from below, within seconds of our first sighting, Luna was upon us, pushing at our boat.  At first we thought this was fun.  However, those thoughts quickly cleared when Luna started to hit our boat forcefully, skewing us from one direction to another, and pushing us toward shore.  We had shut our engine and depth sounder off, since we had heard that Luna was attracted to prop wash and engine noise, and sonic waves can apparently irritate whales.  When we restarted the engine and tried to motor away Luna became even more aggressive and forced our rudder and hence the tiller back and forth.  Our wood tiller caught on the cockpit coaming and splintered into pieces.  The propeller was struck by the rudder that had been forced excessively to one side, and the engine stalled.  We now had lost steerage way.  There was only slight wind where we were, and the water was too deep for anchoring.  We did not dare to launch the dingy to tow the sailboat.

View Link to Westview Marina and Map showing Hanna Channel - Click Here

Fortunately, two Indian Fisheries gentlemen saw our predicament, and with considerable skill, towed our boat to an abandoned native marina. Luna continued pushing at our boat throughout the tow.  At the dock, Luna pushed our bow up onto the dock so that about six feet of the bow was on or over dock.  Finally, the boat was moored at the dock and we left the boat to Luna.  Luna continued to bash the boat for another hour or so.  The total “attack” lasted about two and half hours.  The First Nation men enticed the whale away by running their boat back and forth near him. Luna eventually became interested in their prop wash and was led away.

Judy and Urs Boxler were in the vicinity and heard our distress call, and kindly joined us at the dock to stand by in case we needed a tow.  The tiller was trimmed (14 inches shorter) and the fractured pieces bolted together.
 We (rather nervously at times) continued our cruise, not knowing about the integrity of our rudder.  The transmission started to make an awful noise- repairs were done at Ucuelet on July 23.  Subsequently when we had our boat hauled at Sidney in September, a large crack in the rudder over the rudder shaft was discovered.  The lower gudgeon had been sprung; the propeller shaft was bent; and considerable bottom paint was missing.  This was all repaired, as was the extensive gel coat abrasions at the bow.  Total cost of repair was $5,700.

Luna was undoubtedly just playing when he attacked our boat.  We wonder if he was just being a horny teenager who found our boat attractive.  We can understand that, as we also think our boat is pretty!

Luna is a magnificent creature.  He is dangerous, though, and may kill someone one of these days.  We fear for Luna’s future.  

Tim and Kathleen Woods
SV Georgia Dawn
Spencer-35mkII Hull 63

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sv Georgia Dawn  Spencer 35mkII Hull 63

Comments from the Webmaster
As many of our Members around the world may not be familiar with who Luna is, I have provided a few links to offer a little insight. 
Our fellow Members, Tim and Kathleen aboard Georgia Dawn, even after the incident, seemed to be more worried about Luna's future then their own problems from the encounter. 

Links to Learn More about Luna
Reunite Luna    History and Story about Luna
Officials Postpone Plan to Relocate Killer Whale    Associated Press Article with Public Comments

UPDATE:  About a year after the incident noted above, Luna died when she went head to head with the hull of a Fishing Boat.  As much of a problem as Luna may have been, it seems that we will not be able to find what the cause for his actions were.  Another mystery of the Orca.

Learn and see more about the Orca - Click Here

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