"I head butted the dash and received some wounds to my head while my old man was left seriously injured as he took most of the impact."
A pretty wild story of Moby Dick proportions from Kalbarri, eight hours drive north from the Western Australian capital, involving a much-loved former child prodigy and his daddy.
The surf star Ry Craike, you’ll remember ol Craikey from his cameos in various Quiksilver films, back before it was gutted and sold, and his old boy were twenty-two nautical miles north of Kalbarri on July 16 when their boat was belted on the port bow by a whale.
In a post that quickly drew comments from a who’s who of the surfing world, including Mick Fanning, Mark Healey, Parker Coffin, Brendan Margieson, Selema Masekela and Taj Burrow, Craike painted a dramatic picture of the event,
View this post on Instagram
I head butted the dash and received some wounds to my head while my old man was left seriously injured as he took most of the impact. It took me nearly an hour to steam back to Kalbarri where I was met by the Kalbarri sea search and rescue approximately 2 mile outside of the Kalbarri river mouth.
We had 2 members from sea search and rescue jump on board and look after Dad while I steamed in the river mouth. I was taken to Geraldton in the ambulance while my old man was flown down to Perth by Royal Flying Doctor in a critical condition.
All first responders including the ambulance crew, sea search amd rescue and Kalbarri Health Centre provided amazing care. I am so happy to say that my old man is now awake and is making good progress, receiving the best care possible.
He received a lot of serious injuries but he is a stubborn old bugger and we are hopeful in time he can make a full recovery and get back do doing what he loves.
On behalf of me and my family we would like to thank everyone that has been involved in helping us, the amount of love and support has been overwhelming ❤️(sorry if I have not responded to a lot of msgs as I lost my phone overboard on impact). If it wasn’t for my boat the Double Barrel being built like an absolute tank – I’m not sure if we would even still be here.
Dad has been a professional fisherman for nearly 50 years and between us we have around 80 years of time spent on the ocean. I love whales and it’s so good to see the population increasing, but it’s now something we all need to take into consideration when out on the ocean. With the technology of speed boats becoming so good and the amount of whales around we need to take extra precautions. I’m pretty glad I was up to date with my first aid and had a first aid kit onboard too.
My old man is 70 in September and you would be hard pressed to find a more active 70 year old out there. He foil boards daily and loves anything to do with the ocean, the true definition of the eternal grommet! Please send him lots of positive healing vibes and hopefully he is back out doing what he loves as soon as possible!
I hope everyone is ok and that includes the whale.
Ringtones via MMS
Interesting time of night to be heading out to the islands , thank the lords for Sat Nav.
Number of times I’ve left port in total darkness and the skipper just opened the throttle staring at his little satnav screen.
cant count
your either in or out.
no one making you jump on
The whale hit the boat seems like a better story than the boat hit the whale
Sea lions descended from carnivorous bears.
The Double Barrel!
My brother christened my boat
Another Nose Dive
No I in go ry is a amazing film highly recommend
Can you send them from any distance? Or are they more effective the closer you are? Currently more questions than answers.
You know, good vibes could potentially attract whales.
Father and son bang a whale. Fuck yeah.
Xox
https://youtu.be/CPv5NZR_Wtk?feature=shared
Sending vibes post haste
Hoping he’s ok
What sort of boat?
Whale …Craikey mate!
You guys always have to make it a joke, don’t you? Always having a wry crack at someone’s expense.