Sailors see group of orcas approaching them — then things got ‘dangerous,’ video shows
Jelmer van Beek and his crew have been at sea for months.
Team JAJO is representing the Netherlands in The Ocean Race — which is described as “the longest and toughest professional sporting event in the world” and involves three legs of sailing over a six-month period that started in January. Recently, while sailing in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Gibraltar, the team of sailors had a scary encounter.
“20 minutes ago we got hit by some orcas,” van Beek said in a video of the June 22 attack shared by The Ocean Race. “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders.”
Video shows the massive whales barreling toward the bottom of the boat and repeatedly pushing against the rudder. The team immediately took down its sails and slowed the boat as fast as possible to stop the attack, according to van Beek.
“Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team,” van Beek said. “This was a scary moment.”
A second team also reported experiencing an attack on June 22, according to a news release from the race. The Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team from Portugal was in the same area when it encountered whales.
Both teams reported that there were no injuries or damage to their boats from the attacks.
“Fortunately for The Ocean Race boats today, the orca encounters were brief and relatively benign, although no doubt frightening, but with no damage to the people, boats or animals,” race officials said.
‘Orca attacks’
The June 22 encounters are the latest in a growing trend of what some have called “orca attacks” on boats in the area surrounding Gibraltar, The Ocean Race said.
These attacks involve an individual or pod of orcas repeatedly ramming into a boat, often causing significant damage — and in at least three cases causing the boats to sink, according to the race. Scientists have yet to determine what is causing the attacks but have developed theories.
The first hypothesis is that killer whales have invented a new fad, similar to how humans develop trends, Alfredo López, an orca researcher at the Atlantic Orca Working Group (GTOA), told Scientific American.
A second hypothesis is that the attacks, which began in 2020, are in response to previous bad experiences involving a boat.
“It is a rare behavior that has only been detected in this part of the world,” López told the outlet.
Gibraltar is on the southern coast of Spain, about 410 miles southwest of Madrid.
This story was originally published June 23, 2023 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Sailors see group of orcas approaching them — then things got ‘dangerous,’ video shows."
