A pod of killer whales encountered one of the boats during a long-distance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar. This is the latest encounter, which researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas.
The 15-minute encounter with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew taking part in Thursday’s ocean race to furl their sails and create a clatter to scare off the oncoming orcas. No one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said it was “a scary moment” in a video posted to The Ocean Race’s website.
“Twenty minutes ago we were hit by some orcas,” he said in the video. “Three orcas came straight at us and started banging on the oars. It is impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”
Team JAJO was nearing the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on a leg from the Netherlands to Italy when at least three orcas approached the VO65 class sloop. Videos taken by the crew showed that one of the killer whales appeared to be touching the rudder; Another video showed one of them ramming his nose into the fuselage.
Scientists have noticed increasing reports over the past four years that orcas, which average 16 to 21 feet (5 to 6½ meters) long and weigh more than 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), have bumped into or damaged boats off the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula .
The behavior cannot be easily explained. A team of marine researchers studying killer whales off Spain and Portugal have identified 15 individual orcas involved in the encounters – 13 of them young, supporting the hypothesis that they are playing. The fact that the two are adults could support the competing and more sensational theory that they are reacting to a traumatic event with a boat.
The sailors were warned of the danger.
“We knew there was a possibility of an orca attack on this leg,” said Team JAJO onboard reporter Brend Schuil. “So we had already talked about what to do if the situation were to arise.”
Schuil said a call was made to all hands on deck and the sails were lowered to slow the boat from a racing speed of 12 knots. The crew made noises to scare off the orcas, but not before falling from second to fourth place on the stage from The Hague to Genoa, where they are due to arrive this weekend.
“They seemed more aggressive/playful when we were sailing at high speed. As we slowed down, they also became less aggressive in their attacks,” he said. “Everyone is fine on board and the animals are fine too.”
The Ocean Race sees two classes of sailboats at sea for weeks, with the IMOCA 60 boats competing in a six-month 32,000 nautical miles (37,000 miles, 59,000 km) circumnavigation of the world. The boats were already dealing with a huge seaweed fleet, a catastrophic equipment failure and a collision that knocked the leader out of the crucial seventh stage.
Although the circuit avoids restricted zones to protect known marine habitats, whale encounters have previously occurred in the Ocean Race and other high-speed regattas.
More often than not, however, the boats collide with the animals and not the other way around.
One of the boats in this year’s ocean race, which circumnavigated the world, sounded its danger alert after encountering a suspected whale off the coast of Newfoundland in May. Two crew members were injured in the collision. At the start of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco Bay, a whale was reported in the bay and organizers were prepared to reschedule the race if it made it onto the track. In 2022, the start of SailGP’s $1 million Season 2 championship race in the same area of San Francisco Bay was delayed when a whale was sighted on the course.
In 2005, the first South African yacht to compete for the America’s Cup struck a whale with her 12-foot keel during training near Cape Town, causing the 75-foot sloop to stop dead in the water, injuring two crew members and both steering wheels broke off.
AP sportswriter Bernie Wilson contributed to this story.