A breaching whale came crashing down on a small boat in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, capsizing the boat but miraculously leaving those onboard uninjured.
The people on the boat, which was sailing near Odiorne Point State Park, were thrown from the vessel by the force of the strike, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, but unhurt.
"Next thing we knew, he just popped up and landed on the transom of our boat," said Greg Paquette, one of the fishermen on board. "No warning."
"You're basically trying to survive," said the other fisherman, Ryland Kenney. "It's something that happens so quickly."
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Sixteen-year-old Colin Yager and 19-year-old brother Wyatt were out for a morning of fishing and saw the whole thing. Colin said he was enjoying the moment, watching pogies fly out of the water, looking for stripers to catch and hoping to get a video of the whale breaching. They got much more.
"It was crazy," Wyatt said. "We were just completely in shock. It was kind of instinct to just drop everything and make sure the guys were OK."
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Colin's video shows the moment the whale hit the neighboring boat. Wyatt shouts in surprise then immediately starts turning their boat around to rescue the men in the water. The men were able to climb up into the boat, unhurt.
“They were kind of laughing about it. They were in shock but they were in good spirits. They weren’t completely freaked out," Wyatt said.
"The water temperature was 55 degrees, so when I dropped in, it was really hard for me to catch my breath," Kenney recalled. "I wasn't scared at that point, it was the shock of the water."
Kenney and Paquette had other friends out on the water, in a bigger boat, so the brothers dropped them off and continued on with their morning.
“I fish a lot, maybe like five times a week and I’ve never seen anything like that," Colin said.
Colin said the whale didn't seem agitated — just hungry.
“I thought it was just a crazy memorable experience, I’m just happy that everyone was alright so it’s not a terrible memory for anyone," Colin said.
The Coast Guard said the whale appears to be unhurt.
The Center of Coastal Studies Marine Animal Hotline and NOAA were informed.
