SPECIAL REPORT: HELEN FRETTER ON ORCA ‘ATTACKS' ON YACHTS

The first signs that something odd was taking place came in July 2020. After the strangest start to a summer any of us can remember, just as Europe began to open up to sailing once again, there were reports from Gibraltar and the Spanish Atlantic coast of orcas apparently attacking yachts.

Orcas are considered calves until they wean, at around four years, and juvenile until males grow a dorsal fin, at around 14 years old, or females have their first calf at 12-13 years

One of the earliest incidents involved a Hallberg-Rassy 36, which was being sailed to southern Spain by a delivery crew from Halcyon Yachts. “Our crew had just set off from A Coruña and were a couple of miles offshore when the crew suddenly felt the wheel being ripped out of their hands,” Peter Green of Halcyon Yachts explained. The yacht was later taken under tow, but the impacts from the orcas continued, snapping the tow rope. When the yacht was lifted ashore there were clear bite marks on the hull and the rudder was split in two.

Although such incidents sound almost unbelievable, a clear pattern soon began to emerge. Spanish naval yacht, Mirfak, lost part of its rudder after orcas appeared to bite at the stern of the yacht – which the crew captured on video. Within six months, there had been around 40 such incidents reported.

The Atlantic Orca Working Group has live data on latest incidents and advice at orcaiberica.org

This summer, the situation escalated. Dr Ruth Esteban, a marine scientist who has spent six years observing the Spanish orca population and is now investigating the orcas’ behaviour with the Atlantic Orca Working Group, says that from June to mid-July 2021 alone there were 53 reported incidents.

Martin Evans was on board another HallbergRassy, a 49 called Kismet, also being delivered by a Halcyon Yachts crew. The crew were some 50 miles west of Gibraltar when they encountered a large group of orcas in June this year.