Sailing crew narrowly escape after giant whale capsizes 44-foot boat in Pacific Ocean
Sailboat crew left stranded in Pacific Ocean for 10 hours after their 44ft ship was hit by a WHALE https://t.co/Huny09EYmo
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 22, 2023
Rick Rodriguez and three friends spent 10 hours on a lifeboat and dinghy after a giant whale sank their 44-foot Raindancer sailboat in the Pacific Ocean.
It happened at 1:30 p.m. m. March 13, during a planned three-week sailing excursion from the Galapagos Islands to French Polynesia.
A group of friends is lucky to be alive after a giant whale sank their boat sailing across the Pacific Ocean. @SamBrockNBC shares the story. pic.twitter.com/HaQE63T3IO
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 22, 2023
After hearing a loud noise, Rodríguez and his crew were thrown from the great impact, and they quickly issued a mayday on the VHF radio and sent an emergency position.
The Peruvian coast guard picked up the distress signal by notifying a Coast Guard station in California, alerting Tommy Joyce, who was sailing 180 miles behind Rodríguez.
Shortly thereafter, Geoff Stone answered one of Rodney’s emergency calls from a friend and coordinated his rescue with Joyce and Peruvian officials aboard their 45-foot Rolling Stones boat.
He is now safely aboard the Rolling Stones, which are expected to arrive in French Polynesia on Wednesday.
