Danish sailor Martin Kirketerp has already had a whale of a year in 2023, and some of the things he has experienced are rather shocking. Between January and June, Kirketerp got struck by lightning and had his boat attacked by a family of killer whales.
In an interview with Olympics.com, Kirketerp went in-depth on his eventful year so far, and it began with some foul weather following January's SailGP event in Singapore. Kirketerp's ROCKWOOL Denmark team finished in second place, and he decided to do a good deed by helping to sail the New Zealand team's boat back to the harbor while they celebrated with the winner's trophy.
During that process, a storm rolled in and lightning struck the boat. Kirketerp felt a jolt of electricity run through his body, and he just hoped it would end quickly.
"It was a very, very unpleasant experience, because it goes from zero to 100 in a split second," Kirketerp said. "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. I was scared while it was on, I'd like to admit that."
Once it was over, Kirketerp said he checked his "ticker," which was still working normally. The main issue was that he couldn't feel his arm right away and had to spend the night in the hospital for evaluation.
Kirketerp survived his brush with 300 million bolts, but his year was just getting started. In June, Kirketerp was part of Team JAJO as it raced through the Strait of Gibraltar when a family of orcas swam up to the boat. Kirketerp told Olympics.com the whales were just trying to play, but the boat had to stop for 30 minutes while they smacked up against it.
"They came over to lay next to the rudder and gave it a good beating once in a while," Kirketerp said. "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. I was very afraid that the rudder would crack, but I wasn't afraid of sinking."
After all he has been through, Kirketerp never gave serious thought to ending his career. Kirketerp knows there are risks involved with sailing, but he feels that is no reason to stop doing something he loves.
"I continue to do the things I do," Kirketerp said. "We can all agree that the things we do at sea and in extreme sports involve some risk. But the two episodes I have experienced here are outliers. None of this is standard. It's not something that happens at every race."
Even prior to 2023, Kirketerp had lived a pretty exciting life. In 2008, he and Jonas Warrer of the Danish team won gold in the 49er class.
