Through Adele Leberre
Published on November 6 22 at 17:51 Côté Quimper See my news Follow this media
The four survivors and the English skipper who rescued them. ©Corentin Roussel.
Corentin Roussel and his three friends were scared to death. Tuesday, November 1, 2022, off the coast of Portugaltheir 12 meter sailboat was attacked from five to seven killer whales. The repeated pushes of the whales caused the shipwreck of the boat.
“According to the insurance company, this is the first shipwreck caused by orcas. It would be the 130th attack since 2020 in Spain and Portugal,” says Corentin Roussel, still emotional. but relieved to be alive.
Originally, the four Parisian friends were supposed to head for the Canary Islands and then the Caribbean “to spare us several weeks or months, depending on one or the other”.
“A Dance of Death”
The owner of the boat and two friends left Ile aux Moines (Morbihan) ten days ago. Corentin Roussel joined them on Wednesday October 26th at the port of La Corogne, in Spain. After several days of bad weather, Monday 31 October finally offered a weather window to pass Cape Finisterre calmly.
It was sunny. We saw dolphins and gannets while diving. And then we heard a first shock at the level of the rudder. We then saw five to seven killer whales including a mother and her calf. They circled the boat, swung it around, rammed it. It was a dance of death.
Corentin Roussell
survival gear
The four friends then hear the first creaking under the fuselage. Then a second. And finally a third. Then they discover a hole of 80 cm overlooking the aft cabin. The water immediately rushes into the newly purchased sailing boat, which has been prepared for this trip under the coconut palms.
We emptied the holds and tried to get out. Vain. And finally, we took all the survival gear with us. We created a May Day in exchange with the Guardia Civil. We made contact with a first sailing boat, but it was too far away. Eventually, an Englishman escorting a Swedish ship got distracted.
Corentin Roussell
“Never been so scared”
The killer whales are always circling around the sailboat. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. I’ve seen myself in the stomachs of those killer whales. There are stupid ideas that then come to mind. But we stayed calm,” recalls the 28-year-old model.
They wait for the last minute to board life raft for fear of being run over by those big whales. “Finally, we got on two minutes after they left. The attack lasted 45 minutes and the capsize 30 minutes.calculates Corentin Roussel, who comes from a seafaring family from Finistère.
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The English skipper disembarked the shipwrecked people in Povoa de Varzim, a port north of Porto (Portugal). On Friday November 4th they were still in Porto to complete all the formalities: police, insurance, reports…
“If I testify, it is to prevent tragedy from happening next time. If there had been bad sea conditions we might not be here. »
safety instructions
In retrospect, Corentin Roussel believes that “it was more like training. Above all, we had the impression that it was the mother and her little one who hit the sailboat. She had to show him how to attack prey. »
The four friends were aware that the area was frequented by killer whales. “We were aware. Before our trip we had read the safety instructions in case of killer whale attacks. We applied them: furling the sails, shutting down the engines and all the equipment…”
It obviously wasn’t enough to keep these animals away. Scientists still do not explain the behavior of this killer whale population.
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