Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner of Cape Town Sailing Academy in South Africa are old hands when it comes to expeditions on the open seas. But there's no way they could have anticipated Sunday's wildlife encounter when they set out for a routine sail near Robben Island: A 40-ton whale leaped out of the sea and landed on the deck of their boat, the London Daily Telegraph reports. Luckily, Mothes and Werner both came away alive, as did the whale.
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Pictures provided by Werner show the incredible sight of the breaching whale just before impact, as well as the aftermath.
Click the image to see more photos of the whale and the mangled yacht
Courtesy of Paloma Werner
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