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From: Mark Hursthouse
_: 5
Date: 26-11-09
Time: 12:01
Hello Wade, as promised, some photos - taken in Westhaven last night, so the viz wasn't exactly gin clear, and most of the closeups are a bit out of focus, but I think you will get the gist.
Just to recap the story - Friday 20th at around 3pm we were sailing, running downwind, towards Motuihe channel, and when approx half way between Browns Island and Emu Pt we found ourselves in the midst of a pod of many orcas, perhaps as many as 20, including a couple of very large males, and also some small young ones. We dropped the headsail and drifted slowly SE across the light SW breeze, doing about 2 knots. One female came from astern and appeared to "dock" and stayed there for approx 1 minute, seemingly motionless. She was rolled onto her right side. It almost seemed like she was caught up in the rudder or prop, but we couldn't make her out very clearly as she was positioned a few feet down, at or just below the bottom of the rudder I guessed. Wendy is convinced that the orca was holding on to the rudder with her mouth, and we certainly saw her mouth open when she finally disengaged from this limp position. Next day I dived on the rudder, and saw only a single swish mark on starboard side of rudder. A little while later I had a closer look and saw a pattern of marks on the lower port side of rudder, near trailing edge.
Most of the attached photos are of port side rudder, where the "artwork" is located near the lower end of the trailing edge. There are a couple of photos of a single swish mark on the starboard side of the rudder. Note that there is a skeg in front of the rudder - no photos of that.
The marks look like they are individually made, ie different angles on each one. Also there is a noticeable "flair" within some of the "brush marks", maybe indicating some pressure change of the applied "brush" during the brush-stroke.
There was a diver around the back of the boat for a few minutes chatting to my partner Wendy shortly before I noticed the pattern of marks and we are wondering if he could have made these marks, perhaps with a dive glove of the type with an abrasive finger tip. However, it would be strange for him to make several marks with separate actions in one place yet leaving the rest of the rudder untouched. Not as strange as an orca doing this though!!
In the photos I notice there are some additional marks above the main grouped pattern, and I hadn't noticed those from in the water at all, even when I dived in the clear water at Onetangi. I look forward to your thoughts Wade, and if you think the boat needs to come out for a closer look, I am very happy to cooperate.
Best regards Mark POST SCRIPTUM:Hi Wade, couple of details to correct and clarify .. the orca was rolled onto her left side, not her right - I was looking at her tummy from the starboard side of the cockpit. So if she made these marks with her mouth, it could have been with her upper gum, or lower side of tongue.
You can work out the dimensions from the ruler view, but my rough appraisal is that the pattern of marks covers an area approx 10cm x 7cm, and the individual marks are 15-20mm diameter, and the scratched lines within each mark look to be between 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm apart.
I forgot also to mention the visit from a trio of 3 orcas, a short time after the "docking" one departed. These 3 (two large female, and one medium sized female) followed very closely (less than 1m) side by side almost touching each other behind the boat for maybe a minute.
Best regards
Mark
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Last changed: 26-Nov-2009