(CNN) -- A sailor has described her "miraculous" escape after a whale leapt out of the water and crash-landed on the deck of her boat off the coast of South Africa.
Paloma Werner, 50, of the Cape Town Sailing Academy, and her partner Ralph Mothes had been watching the whale from a distance in Table Bay, near Cape Town harbor, when it moved toward their 10-meter vessel and breached 20 meters away.
Southern right whales are a common sight in Cape Town waters during the breeding season from June to November, drawing whale watchers to the region. Werner said the couple -- both experienced sailors -- expected the creature to go under the boat before re-emerging on the other side.
"I looked around and I saw this huge whale coming out of the water and smashing against the side of the boat," Werner told CNN. "The whale slipped back into the water but we just saw the mast with all its rigging and everything flying towards us, and that was scary.
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