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CNN Sunday Morning

Whale Hits Sailing Boat

Aired August 24, 2003 - 07:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the deep seas off the coast of Australia. A family set sail on a voyage when an unwelcome visitor came aboard, a huge humpback whale, cruising the seas for love in all the wrong places. Well, this whale of a tale, sorry, from ITN's Romilly Weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMILLY WEEKS, ITV NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Humpback whales cavorting in the wild. It's a sight like no other. But imagine one of these landing on your small sailing boat.

The Johnsons were on a little yacht off the coast of Australia. Their holiday was going swimmingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're toward...

WEEKS: But they never made it there because the whale leapt straight of the water and onto their boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about 12 foot out of the water and about three foot away from us. And it was looking straight at us, which was fairly amazing. And as it slipped off the boat, there was a very loud eerie groan, which was pretty amazing to hear.

WEEKS: The whale left behind a trail of destruction and some of its barnacles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw it swimming away from - at the boat. And I just panicked. I turned around and looked at the state of the boat. And I was just panicking.

WEEKS: The Johnsons' boat was so badly damaged, they had to be towed back to shore. But the families say they haven't been put off by the sailing or the whales, they just prefer them when they don't try and hitch a lift.

Romilly Weeks, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: As for the fate of the rare albino humpback whale, this picture was taken soon after the accident and actually looks worse than it really is. Been spotted cruising the ocean again with just a few cuts to its dorsal fin.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 24, 2003 - 07:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the deep seas off the coast of Australia. A family set sail on a voyage when an unwelcome visitor came aboard, a huge humpback whale, cruising the seas for love in all the wrong places. Well, this whale of a tale, sorry, from ITN's Romilly Weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMILLY WEEKS, ITV NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Humpback whales cavorting in the wild. It's a sight like no other. But imagine one of these landing on your small sailing boat.

The Johnsons were on a little yacht off the coast of Australia. Their holiday was going swimmingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're toward...

WEEKS: But they never made it there because the whale leapt straight of the water and onto their boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about 12 foot out of the water and about three foot away from us. And it was looking straight at us, which was fairly amazing. And as it slipped off the boat, there was a very loud eerie groan, which was pretty amazing to hear.

WEEKS: The whale left behind a trail of destruction and some of its barnacles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw it swimming away from - at the boat. And I just panicked. I turned around and looked at the state of the boat. And I was just panicking.

WEEKS: The Johnsons' boat was so badly damaged, they had to be towed back to shore. But the families say they haven't been put off by the sailing or the whales, they just prefer them when they don't try and hitch a lift.

Romilly Weeks, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: As for the fate of the rare albino humpback whale, this picture was taken soon after the accident and actually looks worse than it really is. Been spotted cruising the ocean again with just a few cuts to its dorsal fin.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com