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PostPosted: Sun Jun 20, 2021 8:09 pm 
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Just got back from a brisk 20 knot wind shakedown sail off of Santa Barbara. Spotted a few dolphins starboard. Before I knew it we were in the midst of a pod of at least 20, surfacing and diving both port and starboard close enough to touch. After a handful of seconds I anxiously veered off.... seems like we could have easily ran ahead of one and have it pass under the trampoline.

Can anyone verify a case of actually hitting Flipper ? Seems very possible & the mammal would have sustained injury.


Last edited by george-pickle on Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Dolphin Striker
PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:00 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
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Location: Oceanside, California
Dolphins are pretty smart to stay clear.

Seals though?... I hit one and barely missed one in a single day. The guy was startled and jumped up and we smacked him with the front crossbar. That was pretty sketchy as we were midway between San Diego bay and the Coronado Islands. Double trapped.

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 Post subject: Re: Dolphin Striker
PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:13 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:13 am
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Location: Nepean S.C. Ottawa, Canada
Sounds fishy to me.....

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 Post subject: Re: Dolphin Striker
PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:41 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:15 pm
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Location: Oakland, CA
mmiller wrote:
Dolphins are pretty smart to stay clear.

Seals though?... I hit one and barely missed one in a single day. The guy was startled and jumped up and we smacked him with the front crossbar. That was pretty sketchy as we were midway between San Diego bay and the Coronado Islands. Double trapped.

Yep. Dolphins did the same to me at a race in Santa Barbara, on a breezy broad reach. The darn things ambushed me on all sides and scared the daylights out me.

While racing on a breezy broad reach in Montery a massive sea lion jumped completely out of the water just in front of and between the bows and barked three times mid-air, and all I could think was, "Don't land on the boat!" It hit the water, then the next thought was, "Please dive so my daggers don't hit you!" No damage to the boat, but I lost about a year's worth of health.

Dumb animals!!!


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 14, 2021 7:55 pm 
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I have been close to dolphins quite a few times, but I do think they are pretty sharp about what surrounds them. They can come quite close. I was with a couple of college friends years ago at Kitty Hawk NC and oddly enough the wind completely died and we were 5 miles from our launch point. As we sat adrift for a few minutes, 3 large dolphins came up very close and were swimming around the rudders checking us out on all sides. My friends were totally freaked out and amazed because they had not seen dolphins in the wild before. After checking us out the were gone in an instant so they seem very alert to their surroundings.

We had to paddle my 16 the full 5 miles back to our rental house. I have never had that happen except that one time. Fortunately we had two oars onboard for getting through the surf which was a challenge with a light onshore breeze. The air was so dead, even bubbles in the water were not moving relative to my boat. Very bizarre side note. The boat actually goes pretty quickly with two padding, but 5 miles was a long way.

Randy


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:04 pm 
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Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:02 pm
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Location: Rockford, IL
Man! so cool. The most exciting fishy thing I had happen was a bluegill jumped out of the water into the cockpit of my Sunfish.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:35 pm 
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Location: Shell Point, Florida
I was close hauled sailing maybe 11 or 12 mph and surfed down the back side of a four foot swell almost on top of a five or six foot shark. The shark sensing the boat hull ducked under the windward hull and immediately there was a SMACK! and my leeward rudder kicked up almost parallel to the surface. I see dolphins often and they seem to smart to let something like this happen.

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