News Releases

Note: This story was sent to OrcaNetwork and is a first hand account of a recent incident in Nootka Sound

Our buddy boat had an encounter with Luna in Zuciarte Channel in Nootka Sound on 8-10-04 about 1000.

We (Marcia and Larry, S/V Sail La Vie, & Dave and Marcia, S/V Juniata) are buddy boating around Vancouver Island this summer.

The incident with Luna is as follows:

Around 1000 on 8-10-04 after leaving Critter Cove, Dave calls us on our walkie talkie to say there's Luna off our port beam about 1 mile away. We saw him and it looked like he was feeding but the instant he detected our boats he began quickly porpoising through the water towards us. At the last second he decided to visit Juniata. Both our boats were cruising at 5 knots.

Juniata is a 37' Pacific Seacraft sailboat and weighs 25,000 pounds. They were towing a wood dinghy.

Luna approached them off their port beam. He nudged his shoulder against the boat and the boat's rudder going from side to side moving and rocking the boat and kicking their stern back and forth. Then he proceeded to lift and push their dinghy (100 lbs) so hard from the side that he swamped it. After swamping the dinghy Luna pushed the half submerged dinghy under the stern of their boat. At this point they cut the painter on the dinghy and let it go adrift. This seemed the best course of action because they couldn't control their boat towing a half submerged dinghy and they were hoping Luna would hang back and play with their dinghy and not their sailboat. They could not risk having the dinghy jammed under the boat by Luna.

As soon as Luna made contact with their boat Marcia called the Tofino Coast Guard due to the strength Luna was showing causing them to struggle with their boat's steerage. Marcia also asked for suggestions on how to get away from Luna and a course of action to deal with the whale. The Coast Guard suggested turning on any depth/sonar equipment they had (it was on) because they'd heard Luna didn't like it but if she would stand by they would try and find someone with more information. The Coast Guard also asked if they'd seen the research vessel S/V Anon. Negative and no response on VHF channel 16 from Anon. Marcia updated the Coast Guard when they had to cut their dinghy loose and provided it's GPS position.

Dave called us on the walkie talkie and told us "to get the hell out of here" as he knew our boat Sail La Vie could not withstand the forcefulness of Luna. We weigh 10,000 pounds, were towing our dinghy with an out board motor on it, have a 25 hp outboard motor on our sailboat's stern and 2 wood rudder boards hanging in brackets off our stern. At this point we could tell there was a problem by watching the eratic actions of Juniata. We started to figure out a plan if Luna should come to us. Full out - 7 knots we got away from Juniata.

We continued to moniter Marcia's conversations with Coast Guard Tofino. The Coast Guard contacted the Tofino Reseach Center and were told that Marcia and Dave were to be as "boring as possible, to not make eye contact with Luna and to stay out of his sight".

While waiting for the Coast Guard's recommendations, Luna had become totally enthralled with Juniata's rudder. Luna forcefully pushed the rudder from one side to the other making steering very difficult and caused them to fear breakage. Dave gripped the wheel with both hands trying to buffer the nudges Luna was giving their rudder and to keep it from slamming into the rudder stops. We continued to watch Juniata struggling for control, being pushed by Luna. Twice Luna put his nose against the diesel engine's exhaust outlet at the stern of the boat blocking the engine exhaust and nearly stalling the engine. Fearing damage to the engine, they shut the engine off. Tofino Coast Guard had by now recommended they become as boring as possible and they rolled out their head sail and were barely moving in 3-5 knots of wind. Dave sat on the cockpit floor, fighting the wheel due to Luna's actions and Marcia stayed below. They ceased all conversation between themselves and turned off! all instruments.

The Coast Guard got back to Marcia and said that the information they gave her earlier was all they could suggest. At this time the Canadian Navy vessel HMCS Calgary came out of Muchalat Inlet. They had heard Juniata's coordinates, knew they were close, and offered their assistance. They put a fast skiff in the water to potentially lure Luna away from Juniata and also offered to recover their dinghy. They would stay near by for assistance. Luna turned for the HMCS Calgary, close by, shortly after Juniata undertook her "boring" routine. As soon as possible Juniata was underway at 7 knots getting away from Luna.

The encounter lasted over 45 minutes. Dave and Marcia did every thing the posted notices we'd read warning us of Luna: don't slow down, maintain your course and don't make contact with Luna. Easier said than done in a sail boat.

We met Keith Wood on the dock in Friendly Cove the next day. He is using his own funds and his 48' sailboat Anon for a research vessel for Luna. He told us his was the only boat this Spring looking for L-pod off the West side of Vancouver Is. We have been out of communications for about 2 months and we've only heard of Luna thru word of mouth and a Canadian DFO posting. Keith was very interesting to talk with and caught us up to date on what was and wasn't being done for Luna. Contrary to what we'd heard he said the First Nations are in favor of a Luna reunion with his pod but naturally. Is this possible who knows?

What we do know is that this beautiful wild animal is lonely and friendly. And as time goes on will get bigger, lonelier and friendlier. David and Marcia on Juniata were very frightened by their encounter with Luna but knew his behaviour was out of curiousity and not aggressiveness. However, having a wild animal "playing" with their 25,000# sail boat like a toy made them not ever want to encounter Luna again. And had the HMCS Calgary not arrived who knows how long Luna would have stayed with their boat? So Marcia and Dave sent big grateful thanks yous to the HMCS Calgary and their crew who did recover and return their dinghy. Also to the Tofino Coast Guard for standing by and monitoring them for their safety. The Meyer's have 2 suggestions: Sailboats and slow powered boats must identify and stay out of Luna's known current area. Never tow a dinghy in Nootka Sound. What seemed to work was staying out of his sight, being quiet and having had the motor off, being boring!. They hope for a better dissemination of information on Luna.