An unsuspecting windsurfer collided with a gray whale in San Francisco Bay in a startling and rare encounter captured on video.
The footage shows the moment the surfer is forcefully thrown from his board as a gray whale surfaces off the California coast, plunging him into the water.
The man, identified as Eric Kramer by multiple news outlets, had been sailing near San Francisco when the whale surfaced in his path.
“It was a ‘whale’ of a day,” he wrote on social media. “Please be cautious and respect wildlife, I had reduced my speed greatly bc I had seen a couple whales in the area but on my last run back it just popped up right in front of me. Glad we are both OK.”
Gray whales have been spotted in the area since January, which is earlier than usual this year. In March, an adult female gray whale was found dead in San Francisco Bay, likely killed by a vessel, marking the first recorded death of 2026 according to SF Gate.
In recent days, biologists have found three more dead whales in different locations, though their causes of death remain undetermined. The previous year saw a troubling number of deaths, with 21 gray whales washing ashore in the Bay Area, the highest figure in 25 years.
Population estimates have dropped to their lowest levels since the early 1970s, and have halved since 2016, from roughly 27,000 that year to less than 13,000 in 2025.
Currently about six gray whales are in San Francisco Bay, according to ABC7, stopping during their migration north from Baja California in Mexico to their feeding grounds in the Arctic.
Many gray whales now show signs of poor nutrition, and reproduction rates have dropped significantly. During the 2025 migration, only 85 mother-calf pairs were recorded moving past central California by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the lowest number on record. Scientists believe that shifting food availability in the Arctic, likely linked to the climate crisis, is a key factor.
The gray whales off Baja California are well known for their curious behavior toward boats, despite being hunted drastically during the 20th century. Under federal regulations people must now maintain a distance of at least 100 yards from whales.
