On Sat, 15 May 2010 17:54:53 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 15 May 2010 17:03:27 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 15 May 2010 10:22:44 -0800, You wrote:

Most Commercial Shipping Vessels do [not] carry any type of electronic
equipment that could, or would, show a whale in near vicinity of a ship.

I agree assuming that you meant "do not carry". Military vessels are
more likely to carry high tech gear like that in my somewhat informed
opinion, side scan SONAR and the like.

Ships hitting whales has nothing to do with whales being stupid.

In some areas of a lot of whale activity, they mandate that large
ships travel slower so the whales can get out of the way.

I wonder whether whales feel any incentive to "get out of the way"?
After all, porpoise seem to be attracted to small boats and frequently
seem to play in he wake or dive under the boat.
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Sat, 15 May 2010 19:25:04 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 15 May 2010 17:52:37 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 15 May 2010 10:22:44 -0800, You wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 14 May 2010 21:06:27 -0400, "mmc" wrote:


"WaIIy" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 13 May 2010 18:31:15 -0700 (PDT), Bil wrote:

A good database of whale/sailboat strikes might lead to mitigation
specific to cruisers. At the moment, we don't know whether - for
example - sailing with a sonar depth sounder operating avoids whale/
sailboat strikes. That's why a database with details of where/when/
under what conditions would be valuable.

Really, how stupid does a whale have to be in order to "bump into" a
boat?

Think about it.

People walk in front of moving cars, OD on drugs, have unprotected sex, use
tobacco, etc, etc ,etc.......we are the most self destructive species.


How stupid does a ship manned by many people and all the latest
electronics, have to be, to run into a whale?

Most Commercial Shipping Vessels do carry any type of electronic
equipment that could, or would, show a whale in near vicinity of a ship.
At most they carry a Depth Sounder, which on the High Seas, is likely
turned OFF, and only used when entering, or leaving Port. AsK "Me" How I
know... I did SOLAS Inspections on 300 GTon and up Vessels for a couple
of Decades. Duh.....

Not the point.

Perhaps you are being a tad too abstruse for us, the unenlightened.

Dogs do that sometimes but I see it more often in cats.

I've seen quite a few whales, in quite a few different circumstances,
and frankly I have no idea whether they are intelligent or not. Some
are quite obviously capable of being trained.

I've seen some in the wild that clearly looked like they were playing
to the audience, and I've seen others that seemed totally oblivious to
the presence of man or boat.

It is likely that Sperm whales are capable of emotion, at least.
Witness the account of the sinking of the ESSEX; and Killer Whales
certainly are intelligent enough to be trained.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Sun, 16 May 2010 07:59:26 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

After all, porpoise seem to be attracted to small boats and frequently
seem to play in he wake or dive under the boat.

We see that all the time, most recently yesterday at the SW corner of
Puerto Rico. We had two big ones playing in the bow wave for several
minutes, sometimes jumping at right angles to each other in front of
the boat. They are very fast and agile, never getting hit as far as I
know.

On 5/15/10 9:27 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 16 May 2010 07:59:26 +0700,
wrote:

After all, porpoise seem to be attracted to small boats and frequently
seem to play in he wake or dive under the boat.

We see that all the time, most recently yesterday at the SW corner of
Puerto Rico. We had two big ones playing in the bow wave for several
minutes, sometimes jumping at right angles to each other in front of
the boat. They are very fast and agile, never getting hit as far as I
know.

Gosh. Porpoises playing around a boat. Did you take photos?

--
The Tea Party's teabaggers are just the Republican base by another name.

On Sat, 15 May 2010 21:27:15 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 16 May 2010 07:59:26 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

After all, porpoise seem to be attracted to small boats and frequently
seem to play in he wake or dive under the boat.

We see that all the time, most recently yesterday at the SW corner of
Puerto Rico. We had two big ones playing in the bow wave for several
minutes, sometimes jumping at right angles to each other in front of
the boat. They are very fast and agile, never getting hit as far as I
know.


Funny, Everyone bitches about jet skiers "wake jumping" but admires
the porpoise playing in the bow wave :-)
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 May 2010 21:27:15 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 16 May 2010 07:59:26 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

After all, porpoise seem to be attracted to small boats and frequently
seem to play in he wake or dive under the boat.

We see that all the time, most recently yesterday at the SW corner of
Puerto Rico. We had two big ones playing in the bow wave for several
minutes, sometimes jumping at right angles to each other in front of
the boat. They are very fast and agile, never getting hit as far as I
know.


Funny, Everyone bitches about jet skiers "wake jumping" but admires
the porpoise playing in the bow wave :-)
Cheers,

And I am guessing that you cannot see or tell the difference?

Bruce
(bruce,suckingthecockatgmaildotcom)

On Sun, 16 May 2010 18:06:51 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

On Sat, 15 May 2010 21:27:15 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 16 May 2010 07:59:26 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

After all, porpoise seem to be attracted to small boats and frequently
seem to play in he wake or dive under the boat.

We see that all the time, most recently yesterday at the SW corner of
Puerto Rico. We had two big ones playing in the bow wave for several
minutes, sometimes jumping at right angles to each other in front of
the boat. They are very fast and agile, never getting hit as far as I
know.


Funny, Everyone bitches about jet skiers "wake jumping" but admires
the porpoise playing in the bow wave :-)
Cheers,


Have you ever been in an anchorage with a bunch of crazed jet skiiers
swarming around like mosquitos on steroids?

I'd also maintain that porpoises are smarter than jet skiiers since
they never seem to get hit or run into each other.

In article ,
Wayne.B wrote:

On Sat, 15 May 2010 07:20:26 -0400, wrote:

How stupid does a ship manned by many people and all the latest
electronics, have to be, to run into a whale?

A big ship would not see them in time, and if they did, would not have
time to avoid them. We are a lot closer to the water in our boat,
but did not see the minke whales until they were about 100 feet away.
A large ship would probably not see them at all.

Old whales also have human frailties: deafness, blindness..

On Sun, 16 May 2010 08:21:20 -0400, wrote:

Porpoises are probably better at quick turns than a whale. They may
also be smarter.

I'd vote yes on both of those. We've had a lot of opportunities to
observe porpoises in the wild and their quickness, curiosity and
agility are astounding.

In article ,
wrote:


How stupid does a ship manned by many people and all the latest
electronics, have to be, to run into a whale?

Most Commercial Shipping Vessels do carry any type of electronic
equipment that could, or would, show a whale in near vicinity of a ship.
At most they carry a Depth Sounder, which on the High Seas, is likely
turned OFF, and only used when entering, or leaving Port. AsK "Me" How I
know... I did SOLAS Inspections on 300 GTon and up Vessels for a couple
of Decades. Duh.....

Not the point.

So Sonny, what is your point... besides the one on the top of your
head....