40-ton whale lands on yacht during Cape Town sailing trip

London, July 21 (ANI): A couple on a Cape Town sailing trip was left stunned when a 40-ton whale crash-landed on their 33ft yacht.

Ralph Mothes, 59, and Paloma Werner, 50, were enjoying calm seas off the South African coast when the animal flipped into the air and smashed into their mast, thrashing about the vessel before it slipped back into the water.

"It really was quite incredible but very scary. The whale was about the same size as the boat," the Telegraph quoted Werner as saying.

"We'd spotted it about 100 metres away and thought that was the end of it. Then suddenly it was right up beside us.

"I assumed it would go underneath the boat but instead it sprang out of the sea. We were very lucky to get through it, as the sheer weight of the thing was huge.

"There were bits of skin and blubber left behind, and the mast was wrecked. It brought down the rigging too.

"Thank goodness the hull was made of steel and not fibreglass or we could have been ruined," she stated. (ANI)