‘It was like hitting a brick wall’: Skipper whose fishing boat smashed into a WHALE describes the moment his vessel collided with the giant mammal
- Ryan Sattery was on way back to Geraldton when his boat collided with whale
- ‘It was like hitting a brick wall,’ Mr Sattery described the horrific moment
- His friend was thrown from his seat, suffered a split lip and also lost some teeth
- Unsure what breed whale was – but it’s common for humpbacks in this season
A skipper has detailed the moment his boat struck a whale in the water, sending him and his friends flying to the deck.
Ryan Sattery was guiding his boat back to Geraldton in Western Australia after day out fishing on Sunday on Sunday when the vessel struck the giant mammal about 3.20pm.
He issued a mayday call saying the vessel was taking in water and feared it would sink.
‘It was like hitting a brick wall,’ Mr Sattery told the ABC.
‘Me mate goes, ”oh look there’s a whale,” and it just popped right up in front of us and we smashed straight into it.
Ryan Sattery and a group of people were on their way back to Geraldton, on the coast of Western Australia, when their boat hit the whale (Pictured: The rescue boat called out to guide the crew home)
‘It all happened so quick – it just jumped up in front of us.’
One of his friends was thrown from his seat and smashed his face into a fibreglass panel, suffering a split lip and broken teeth.
Other people were also thrown from their seat while everything on the boat was tossed around due to the heavy impact.
Mr Sattery said the whale was four or five times bigger than the boat, but he was unsure what breed it was.
A sponson on the boat was damaged but the vessel was able to make it back to shore.
Crew from the Geraldton Volunteer Marine Rescue Group accompanied them back to the Batavia Marina, arriving at 5.30pm.
They believe the whale was four or five bigger than their vessel and could not figure out what breed it was (stock image)