Tom Waddington, boating across the Atlantic, filmed an hours-long encounter with what appeared to be fin whales, after Waddington enjoyed interacting with the whales until one rammed into his small boat.
Tom Waddington Skier
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Tom Waddington Skier
Tom Waddington, on his solo adventure boating across the Atlantic, found plenty of company at sea Sunday when a pod of pilot whales swarmed around him. They’ve grown from a few playful animals to hundreds of larger creatures that have been chasing him for hours, including at least one ramming his small boat.
Rowing the nearly 2,000 miles from the coast of Newfoundland to Penzance, England, Waddington watched in amazement as the whales poked their heads out of the water and frolicked in groups.
“This is amazing,” Waddington said as he videotaped the whale’s behavior, before adding with a laugh, “It’s pretty cool but I’m scared I’m going to hit the rudder.”
Waddington escaped unharmed but was a little shaken by the danger the thousands of pounds of mammals posed to his boat and equipment while sailing solo and unsupported.
“They were just playing and diving under the boat and I was taking video,” he wrote on Facebook and Instagram, describing how he was surrounded by hundreds of whales before one of them crashed into the side of his skiff.
“And I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ and all of a sudden it went from David Attenborough to Moby Dick. And I was really scared.”
Waddington’s team on land believes the playful mammal is a long-finned pilot whale, known to live in the North Atlantic and “highly social, living in large groups of several hundred individuals in tightly packed pods of 10 to 20,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Waddington said the whale appeared just as he was feeling down after a rainy morning.
“What a special treat,” he said in the video. “I’ve seen a lot of whales in my time, and they just came to say hello.”
When it was time to say goodbye to his visitors, Waddington didn’t know what to do. He shouted a bit, splashed his oars, and headed north, but the whales followed. And for more than two hours, more whales seemed to keep appearing.
Waddington, a ski instructor who is rowing across the Atlantic to raise money for Stephen Fry’s British mental health charity Mind, estimates he’s been joined by more than 1,000 whales, and called his coach, Charlie Pitcher (who has rowed across the Atlantic himself), for advice.
“He said the best thing to do was to stay quiet and still, which is the exact opposite of what I had just done,” he said.
A map showing Tom Waddington’s progress as he rowed across the Atlantic Ocean.
Mind All Matter
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Mind All Matter
Eventually, the whales left the ship and its sole passenger, leaving behind an unusual story of their journey across the Grand Banks, a massive fishing ground on the edge of the North American continental shelf.
“It was an incredible experience,” Waddington said.
The encounter did not disrupt boats or navigation across the open ocean.
He added that favorable winds and waves, and what Waddington calls “whale-fueled adrenaline,” have kept his boat going smoothly. The voyage can be tracked online.
