The seas and the oceans have always been both calming and terrifying. Sailors of both present and bygone ages have endured a lot of storms, lightning strikes, and animal attacks. Nature doesn’t make an exception when it comes to sports, either. The world of aquatic sports is also full of stories where players face nature’s wrath. In fact, in a recent interview with the Olympics, a veteran gold-medal winner spoke about how dangerous the ocean can be. Struck by lightning and attacked by a family of killer whales, this sailor talks about the frightening aspects of aquatic sports.

Kirketerp is a Danish sailor who has now faced two terribly harrowing experiences. The most notable part in all of this? Both these events happened in a span of just six months!

The Unrelenting Lightning Strike

Kirketerp was in Singapore in January 2023, where he was competing in the SailGP Event. He was filling the role of a grinder for ROCKWOOL Denmark. The Danish team finished in second place in the event. Kirketerp decided to do the winning team of New Zealand a favor. He let the winners party while ensuring their boat was secured properly. Despite this grand sportsmanship gesture, the NZ boat got struck by lightning while Kirketerp was on board! While other people on board didn’t feel a thing, Kirketerp was unluckily in contact with a shroud when the lightning struck.

“It was a very, very unpleasant experience, because it goes from zero to 100 in a split second. You just hope that it is ending soon and doesn’t accelerate further. You start asking yourself, where you will be in a few seconds,” said Kirketerp in an interview with CBS. Recalling the almost fatal accident, he admitted that he was scared when it was happening. That day, Kirketerp survived a deadly 300 million volts of electricity! He suffered muscle contractions and back pain for a few weeks after this, but fortunately, he recovered from the incident successfully.

An encounter with whale

While it’s said that lightning doesn’t strike a person twice, nobody said anything about lightning being followed by a marine attack. Six months after the SailGP event, killer whales surrounded and attacked the 2008 Beijing Olympics Gold Medallist. The whales kept bumping into his boat occasionally, attacking the boat’s rudder. Kirketerp was participating in The Ocean Race when this incident occurred.

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“They didn’t come with full force and smash into it, because then it would break right away. But it is still a very large and heavy animal, so when they give a slap with the head to the rudder, the entire boat shakes,” revealed Kirketerp. He also said that he was only worried about the rudder breaking and making things difficult for them.

He was sure that the boat wouldn’t sink. Speaking about his future as a sailor, the Danish said that all sports, especially water sports, come with risks. Moreover, the things he went through were chance encounters and not something that typically occurs. Kirketerp said he loves the oceans and would not give up sailing them because of these unlucky encounters. This answer from Kirketerp goes to show that he is too resilient to be shaken up by these incidents. He will keep sailing; come whale or high thunder!

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