Adelaide sailor hits back at online monkey business

When Adelaide sailor Riley Whitelum took on a pack of angry monkeys to protect his children he had no idea it would unleash a pack of equally angry online critics.

An Adelaide father and global sailor has hit back at an avalanche of online criticism he received after footage of him protecting his children from monkeys on a Thai beach went viral this week.

Riley Whitelum and his partner Elayna Carausu have been sailing the world on their yacht La Vagabonde for almost a decade, raising their two boys onboard and posting videos of their adventures for their two million social media followers.

When they recently pulled in to a Thai beach they found themselves surrounded by aggressive monkeys, forcing Whitelum to fight off the creatures in order to protect his young sons Darwin and Lenny.

A video of the incident was picked up by news outlets around the world, with Whitelum telling his followers that he had received a lot of negative comments over the incident.

“The comments can be broken down into two categories,” he said.

Riley Whitelum and his family found themselves surrounded by aggressive monkeys on Monkey Island in Thailand. Picture: Youtube/Sailing La Vagabonde

Riley Whitelum fends off wild monkeys on Monkey Island in Thailand. Picture: Youtube/Sailing La Vagabonde

“One would be, ‘You should have known and you shouldn’t have taken your kids there, to that beach’. The other category would be, ‘You guys are dumb influencers and probably did it just for clicks’.

“To the people saying we should’ve known, maybe if we’d arrived on a cruise ship … I guess technically we’re tourists but we’re just not doing things in the way that tourists do.

“We’ve been sailing around the world for many years – eight or nine years now – so when we do stuff it’s off our own steam. It’s difficult to do every bit of research on every location.

“I’m generally focussed on is there reef around, what’s a protected anchorage – there’s a whole bunch of things I’m worried about that are more likely than getting attacked by monkeys on a beach.”

Whitelum went on to reject criticism that he and his partner were “dumb influencers”, saying that they were a family focussed on adventure and learning about the world.

“For the people saying we’re dumb influencers – that’s a stereotype I understand, but it’s lazy of you to make a snap judgement and a bit ignorant as well,” he said.

“We do more than take fancy photos on Instagram. We’ve been sailing around the world for many, many years, we’re raising two kids on the ocean … and we’re trying to document out voyage.”

The monkeys were unavailable for comment.