Over the past two years, reports of orcas, or killer whales, attacking boats near the Straits of Gibraltar keep surfacing. The whales have been ramming boats with their snouts and seem to focus their attention on sailboat rudders. We wouldn’t want to anthropomorphize the orcas, but their attacks seem planned, coordinated and intended to harm or even disable the boats they are attacking. This week, at the start of a round-the-world sailing race for double handed Class 40s called Global40, the orcas struck again. The eight-leg race started in Tangier, Morocco and was bound for the first stop in the Cape Verde Islands. As the fleet entered the Straits of Gibraltar, the Japanese entry Milai encountered a pod of orcas that took aim on the boat and smashed one of the class 40’s twin rudders. Being attacked by orcas like this has to be an amazing and frightening experience. Author Andy Rice has the full story in Scuttlebutt that you can read here.
Read an in-depth report on orca attacks in Yachting Monthly from last September here.
Watch a video on orca attacks here.
You can follow the Globe40 race here.
