EXPECTED IT TO GET THIS CLOSE. YOU KNOW, HE BREACHED UP WITH A MOUTHFUL OF FOOD AND THEN LANDED DOWN ON HERE. GREG PAQUETTE FROM GROVELAND POINTS OUT WHERE THE SKIN AND BLUBBER IS LEFT BEHIND AFTER A MASSIVE HUMPBACK WHALE LANDED ON HIS 23 FOOT CENTER CONSOLE ON THE WATER. FOR 40 YEARS, IT JUST HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS. HE WAS PROBABLY ABOUT MAYBE THREE, 3.5FT TO FOUR FEET FROM ME. RYLAN, KENNY WAS NARROWLY MISSED BY THE BREACHING WHALE, THEN FORCED TO JUMP OUT OF THE WAY OF THE CAPSIZING BOAT. I KIND OF JUST SAW THE THE BOAT TIPPING AND I SAID THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID THIS IS JUST TO KIND OF JUMP HORIZONTALLY AWAY FROM IT. THE TWO WERE FISHING AND ACTUALLY HAD ONE ON THE LINE WHEN THIS HAPPENED OFF THE COAST OF RYE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. THIS MORNING, COLIN YEAGER TOOK THIS INCREDIBLE VIDEO. I HAD MY FISHING ROD RIGHT HERE AND PHONE IN MY HAND, AND I JUST I SAW IT GO UP. SO I WAS LIKE, JUST LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE FACING THE RIGHT DIRECTION. HIS OLDER BROTHER, WYATT, WAS DRIVING AND RUSHED INTO RESCUE MODE. I SAW IT COME UP AND I WAS JUST LIKE, OH, IT’S GONNA HIT THE BOAT. AND THEN IT KIND OF YOU KNOW, IT STARTED TO FLIP AND THEN IT JUST KIND OF JUST STARTED DRIVING OVER, TRULY GRATEFUL TO THEM. AND THEIR QUICK THINKING, BECAUSE THEY WERE THE ONES WHO WERE MAKING THE VIDEO AND THEY JUST WHOA, YOU KNOW, DROPPED EVERYTHING, ZOOMED RIGHT OVER AND PLUCKED US OUT. AFTER THE TWO TEENS PULLED THE MEN TO SAFETY, A TOW COMPANY BROUGHT THE BOAT BACK TO THE MARINA IN MAINE. WILL EXPERTS URGING BOATERS TO KEEP THEIR DISTANCE WHEN THEY SEE WHALES? WE WANT TO GIVE THEM AS MUCH LEEWAY AS WE POSSIBLY CAN TO AVOID A SITUATION LIKE WHAT YOU SEE HERE, BUT THESE MEN, GRATEFUL TO BE ABLE TO TELL THE TALE. IT’S KIND OF A MIRACLE, YOU KNOW, THAT I’M THAT I’M ALIVE. AND, YOU KNOW, I DON’T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH MY HEAD. I WAS JUST KIND OF SURVIVAL. NOW, THAT WHALE EXPERT ALSO SAYING THAT THE WHALE WASN’T BEING AGGRESSIVE, IT WAS JUST FEEDING AND LIKELY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT THOSE BOATERS WERE THERE. THE COAST GUARD SAYING THAT THE WHALE WAS UNINJURED, AND THOSE MEN ALSO UNINJURED. ONE OF THEM GRATEFUL THAT HE WAS WEARING A LIFE JACKET. WE’RE LIVE IN ELIOT
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Whale lands on boat off New Hampshire coast, throwing people into ocean
"It's kind of a miracle that I'm alive."
Peter Eliopoulos
Reporter
Two people were thrown into the ocean after a humpback whale landed on their fishing boat off the New Hampshire coast on Tuesday morning, and the entire incident was caught on video. "We didn't see him for a couple of minutes, and then the next thing we knew, he popped up and landed right on the transom of the boat," said Gregg Paquette of Groveland, who was aboard the fishing boat with Ryland Kenney of Dover, New Hampshire. "I just looked up and just kind of saw the boat tipping, and I said, 'The only way to avoid this is to just kind of jump horizontally away,'" said Kenney. Wyatt Yager, 19, of Maine, said he and his brother Colin, 16, were fishing about one mile off the New Hampshire coast because they were looking for pogies. Colin spotted the whale and began recording, with his video showing Wyatt in the foreground. "I saw it go up so I was just lucky enough to be facing the right direction," Colin said."I saw it come up, and I was just like, 'Oh, it's going to hit the boat,' and then it kind of started to flip," said Yager. "When I turned, the whale's head was already landing on the engine," said Paquette. "So when I saw that, then all of a sudden, I look down, the boat is pitching up, the transom is going down into the water.""Everything seemed like in slow motion. It was really weird," Kenney said. "Everyone was like, 'Oh, it was eight seconds. How'd you move so fast?' But it was almost slow motion, like a movie."Yager's video shows the whale breaching, propelling fish out of the water. As the massive animal's mouth closes, it flops over onto the rear of the nearby fishing boat with two men aboard.Video: Boaters warned to keep distance from humpback whalesOne of the men jumped and the other was thrown overboard as their boat rolled, and the Yager brothers said they helped pull them out of the water. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. "Truly grateful to them," said Paquette. "They were making the video, dropped everything, zoomed right over and plucked us out." "It's kind of a miracle that I'm alive," said Kenney. "I don't know what was going through my head. Just, kind of, survival."A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that the agency received a mayday call after the whale caused the 23-foot center console boat to capsize. The Coast Guard also confirmed that the men who were on the boat were recovered by other boaters and brought to Great Bay Marina. Video below: See Yager's video of the whaleSara Morris of the University of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory said the whale was likely lunge feeding when it came in contact with the boat."I think one of the key things is that when whales are sighted to encourage boaters to keep their distance," Morris said. "The whales are moving around underwater and coming up, potentially in an area different from where they went down, and we want to give them as much leeway as we possibly can to avoid a situation like what you see here."
RYE, N.H. —
Two people were thrown into the ocean after a humpback whale landed on their fishing boat off the New Hampshire coast on Tuesday morning, and the entire incident was caught on video.
"We didn't see him for a couple of minutes, and then the next thing we knew, he popped up and landed right on the transom of the boat," said Gregg Paquette of Groveland, who was aboard the fishing boat with Ryland Kenney of Dover, New Hampshire.
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"I just looked up and just kind of saw the boat tipping, and I said, 'The only way to avoid this is to just kind of jump horizontally away,'" said Kenney.
Wyatt Yager, 19, of Maine, said he and his brother Colin, 16, were fishing about one mile off the New Hampshire coast because they were looking for pogies. Colin spotted the whale and began recording, with his video showing Wyatt in the foreground.
Colin Yager
"I saw it go up so I was just lucky enough to be facing the right direction," Colin said.
"I saw it come up, and I was just like, 'Oh, it's going to hit the boat,' and then it kind of started to flip," said Yager.
"When I turned, the whale's head was already landing on the engine," said Paquette. "So when I saw that, then all of a sudden, I look down, the boat is pitching up, the transom is going down into the water."
"Everything seemed like in slow motion. It was really weird," Kenney said. "Everyone was like, 'Oh, it was eight seconds. How'd you move so fast?' But it was almost slow motion, like a movie."
Yager's video shows the whale breaching, propelling fish out of the water. As the massive animal's mouth closes, it flops over onto the rear of the nearby fishing boat with two men aboard.
Video: Boaters warned to keep distance from humpback whales
One of the men jumped and the other was thrown overboard as their boat rolled, and the Yager brothers said they helped pull them out of the water. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.
"Truly grateful to them," said Paquette. "They were making the video, dropped everything, zoomed right over and plucked us out."
"It's kind of a miracle that I'm alive," said Kenney. "I don't know what was going through my head. Just, kind of, survival."
A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that the agency received a mayday call after the whale caused the 23-foot center console boat to capsize. The Coast Guard also confirmed that the men who were on the boat were recovered by other boaters and brought to Great Bay Marina.
Video below: See Yager's video of the whale
Sara Morris of the University of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory said the whale was likely lunge feeding when it came in contact with the boat.
"I think one of the key things is that when whales are sighted to encourage boaters to keep their distance," Morris said. "The whales are moving around underwater and coming up, potentially in an area different from where they went down, and we want to give them as much leeway as we possibly can to avoid a situation like what you see here."
Off-duty police officer has close encounter with humpback whale
