Andre M Homem de Mellovideo

I HIT A WHALE! Over 50-knot storm in the Indian Ocean - Ep. 9

July 11, 2024 · 28 min · 23K views · Indian Ocean

What this video covers

A whale strikes Andre M Homem de Mello's boat in the Indian Ocean, hitting hard enough to send his heart racing and leave a visible disturbance on the water's surface.10:19 He sees only the fin above water and feels two distinct impacts against the hull before the animal disappears.11:23 After checking below, he finds no water ingress.11:03 The encounter occurs during a passage through the Indian Ocean that also includes a storm exceeding 50 knots. On November 17 at 07:30, he replaces a sail with a reserve sail, suggesting the storm damaged or wore out the primary.12:39 Fishing lines are also out; he hooks what appears to be a large fish, counts six of something during the retrieval, and a correction later identifies the catch as atum (tuna).24:31 The video is fragmentary and heavily garbled, so the storm sequence itself — sail handling, sea state, boat behavior in 50-knot conditions — is not detailed beyond the sail change.

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