John Craike in a stable condition and moved to hospital surgery unit after boat hit whale off Kalbarri

A 69-year-old father’s condition has improved and he is now in a stable condition more than a week after being badly hurt when a whale hit his boat.

John Craike and his son Ry were fishing 18km off the coast of Kalbarri when their 7m catamaran collided with a whale about 6.45pm on Tuesday, July 16.

Mr Craike received medical treatment in Kalbarri before being flown to Perth for treatment at Royal Perth Hospital.

He remained in a critical condition for more than a week before becoming stable on Thursday morning.

In a post on Monday, Ry said his father was “awake and making good progress”.

“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,” he wrote.

“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.”

Ry, a 39-year-old professional surfer, said the boat was struck on the port side bow by a whale “on the steam back to Kalbarri”.

“I headbutted the dash and received some wounds to my head while my old man was left seriously injured as he took most of the impact,” he wrote.

He said it took him nearly an hour to get back to Kalbarri, where he was met by sea search and rescue near the river mouth. Two sea-search personnel boarded the vessel to give John medical treatment.