LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE IN PADDLER’S REMARKABLE WHALE TALE
It’s the most miraculous downwind story you’ve ever heard.
A whale breaching out of the ocean and landing on top of a surfski paddler – who somehow escaped unharmed.
But the most miraculous part of Joe Terblanche’s tale?
It’s the second time something like this has happened.
On Monday, Joe and long-distance downwind world record holder Quinton Rutherford set out for a run in “pumping” Durban conditions.
For whatever reason, Joe felt the need to double-check his safety equipment before setting out, but once he was into the steep runs which separated him from Quinton, he didn’t have a care in the word.
Until it happened.
“I was on this run and veering left, then out of nowhere this massive whale breached right in front of me and came over the top of me.” He tells The Paddler. “And bru – it was like slow motion.”
“It went so high that I had enough time to jump off my ski, before it landed right in the middle and cracked it in half.”
Joe isn’t a marine biologist, but he knows enough to declare that whale was big.
Its fin glanced his head amid the detonation of the splash, which launched him some 15 metres across the water.
“I was a bit concussed and a bit confused as to where I was at… I couldn’t believe it.
The shock quickly wore off, replaced by a sobering realisation.
Joe was now bobbing in sharky waters three kilometres off land with no one to help him get back in.
He needed to think fast.
The wreckage of his ski and his paddle were both floating nearby, so he climbed onto the back and tried to paddle, push and kick his way in.
“It lasted me about three or four minutes, then the whole boat sank.” He recalls.
“So now I’m two and a half kilometres out in open ocean floating around like a lost fart.”
Perhaps just as unlikely as the whale drama itself, he spotted a lone paddler heading his way and waved him down.
Climbing onto the back of his ski, the pair managed to battle back to land, before Joe swam into the shore.
“I got out of the water and walked up the beach in a daze… and people asked, ‘Why are you swimming in your PFD?’
“When I told them, they said ‘Oh bullshit! You’re talking shit.’ He laughs.
His busted ski, only intact by pieces of foam and the wire of his rudder cable, washed onto the beach around five kilometres north some hours later.
When contacted by The Paddler, Joe seemed somewhat surprised by just how viral his tale had gone on social media, shared to all corners of the world.
“I sent it out to one or two surfski groups and that was it… I had no idea how far it went.”
But the kicker is still to come.
He had a near-identical incident two years ago.
Except this time, it wasn’t a whale… instead, it was a shark.
“I was paddling downwind and catching runs when next minute this shark came up in front of my nose and took the whole thing off!” He recalls.
“The whole front of my ski was gone, and I was left two and a half kilometres out.
“I had déjà vu yesterday… there’s no worse feeling than your boat slowly, slowly sinking in sharky water.
“Your legs are dragging at the back of the water and this big boy is going to come and fetch you at any time and take off your legs.”
“It could only happen to me, honestly.”
When contacted by The Paddler, Joe seemed somewhat surprised by just how viral his tale had gone on social media, shared to all corners of the world.
“I sent it out to one or two surfski groups and that was it… I had no idea how far it went.”
But the kicker is still to come.
He had a near-identical incident two years ago.
Except this time, it wasn’t a whale… instead, it was a shark.
“I was paddling downwind and catching runs when next minute this shark came up in front of my nose and took the whole thing off!” He recalls.
“The whole front of my ski was gone, and I was left two and a half kilometres out.
“I had déjà vu yesterday… there’s no worse feeling than your boat slowly, slowly sinking in sharky water.
“Your legs are dragging at the back of the water and this big boy is going to come and fetch you at any time and take off your legs.”
“It could only happen to me, honestly.”
Joe is the kind of paddler who gets out on the water every day – his passion and enthusiasm for the sport is infectious.
He’s determined not to let his two run-ins stop that.
But there is one thing he says he’ll change.
From now on, he’s going to paddle with a GoPro.
“Most definitely” he laughs.
