Frightening away whales

Badger

Badger

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I have been told that shouting down the heads is an effective way to sace of whales who are geeting too near the boat.Has anyone had any experience of this ? Thanks Badger
 
Badger said:
I have been told that shouting down the heads is an effective way to sace of whales who are geeting too near the boat.Has anyone had any experience of this ? Thanks Badger
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Why would you want to scare them away? I've had a couple of brown trouser moments with blue whales in Biscay. "Rising at 1m, rising at 3/4 mile, rising at 1/2 mile, etc. BUt have come to the conclusion that you can't do much about them. I've never hit one but know a few peeps that have.

But by and large, and they are absoultely wopping, I'm not sure that shuoting down the bog or letting off a hand grenade is actually going to make 90 tons of mammal move that far. And you might like to consider that if you upset it......
 
Whales tend to use high-frequency sound for location, and lower frequencies for communication.

Given the amount of energy associated with a sailing or motorboat being scattered from the hull or propellors, it's a very dodgy proposition to expect a human voice to overcome other ambient sound. Perhaps best to strike the keel bolts or engine/leg with a hammer.

Shell Oil were recently accused of frightening whales from their feeding grounds by the noise made on their floating construction sites for oil platforms near Sakhalin. Again the source is heavy machinery of high power, not human voices.
 
If you read the book "Solo across the Atlantic (a pensioner's tale)" by Trevor Wilson, you will come across his description of an incident where he meets a large whale at close quaters & tries to scare it away by sticking his head under water & making - as near as he can "Whale song like noises". The reaction was immediate & drastic as the whale effectively jumps out of its skin (& the sea), broaching some distance out off the water right alongside his small boat & almost landing back on top of it!

So, possibly not that good an idea then. Incidentally, Trevor is a member of the same club as me, so I know him & while he certainly tells a great story, they are invariably true.
 
Why frighten them away, why not entice them away?

What you need is 'Wailaway' (TM). Send me your cheque for only £495 + VAT and i'll send you a battery powered box (batteries not included) that when it detects a whale nearby makes a sound (inaudible to the human ear) replicating the mating call of another whale, thus causing the whale to rush off elsewhere in search of rumpy-pumpy.

The Deluxe Mk 2 GT Wailaway (£795 +VAT) works on two channels, and rather than enticing the whale away, reasons with it instead.

Extensive bench-testing here in Norwich shows Wailaway is 100% successful at keeping whales at bay. Also works on oil-tankers, bulk carriers and container ships!
 
I found myself in the middle of a large pod in the Med a few years ago. Not annoying them was right at the top of my thoughts, closest one was a boat length--Impressive!
A
 
On passage from the Azores to the Channel we had been looking out for dolphins without much luck when my daughter yelled out 'Dad, there's a dolphin out there'. A closer look showed that it was a little larger - a 60 ft fin whale. It was 20 yards away on a converging course and had shown no signs of being aware of us.

I started an engine and it immediately veered off.

The following day we sighted a pod of them but when we tried to motor towards them for a better view they went away.

I think human noises are just as likely to make them curious but they are wary of engines.
 
A German circumnavigator I know has an obsessive fear of hitting a whale. He ties a thin wire from the bottom of his rudder skeg to an aft quarter cleat. He reckoned the vibration, caused by water flow, (like a guitar string) kept the whales away.
 
Badger said:
I have been told that shouting down the heads is an effective way to sace of whales who are geeting too near the boat.Has anyone had any experience of this ? Thanks Badger
Click to expand...

They are very common on the east and west coast of Oz, so common on the east coast they should be called a hazard to navigation.

Out sailing one weekend and noticed a pot of about 6; now we laws here that state you must not pursue whales, nor alter your heading to intercept them.

I recalled seeing one of the many whale watching tourist boats getting ready as we left the harbour, so I called him up, gave him our position and the bearing of the pod.

Returned to the boat club the next day and was handed a bottle of Bundy rum from the skipper of the whale watcher, nice.

Over the years I have had several encounters with whales, not all good; sailing along, not a care in world, suddenly a very load rush of water from behind, turned to see a huge whale half out of the water no more that half a boat length behind and to the side, Came down with a mighty splash. I kept looking astern for hours after that.

Out on a leisurely cruise, little to no wind, next thing we have whales close to the port side, jumped up and ran forward to find another just off the bow. Started the engine and all they scarpered, thank you god.:rolleyes:

Avagoodweekend......
 
Saki

Just shout a few japanese words and they'll soon eff off, Kamikaze Saki is probably the inspiration for talking to whales down the big white telephone!
 
i started the engine and the whale circled round again! But it kept reasonably clear.

I hear that chucking bleach done the toilet is efective.

Althought it sounds like a joke, i also put a load of descaler down the bog a while back in a marina and next morning, lots of dead fish floating on the surface. Hm.
 
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