orca sailboat race

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Orcas disrupt sailing race near Spain in latest display of inexplicably bold behavior

A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar, the latest encounter in what researchers say is a  growing trend of sometimes-aggressive interactions  with Iberian orcas.

The 15-minute run-in with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew competing in The Ocean Race on Thursday to drop its sails and raise a clatter in an attempt to scare the approaching orcas off. No one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said in a video posted on The Ocean Race website that it was “a scary moment.”

“Twenty minutes ago, we got hit by some orcas,” he said in the video. “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”

Team JAJO was approaching the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on a leg from the Netherlands to Italy when at least three orcas approached the VO65 class sloop. Video taken by the crew showed one of the killer whales appeared to be nuzzling the rudder; another video showed one of them running its nose into the hull.

Scientists have noted increasing reports of orcas, which average from 16-21 feet (5-6½ meters) and weigh more than 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), bumping or damaging boats off the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula in the past four years.

The behavior defies easy explanation. A team of marine life researchers who study killer whales off Spain and Portugal has identified 15 individual orcas involved in the encounters — 13 of them young, supporting the hypothesis that they are playing. The fact that two are adults could support the competing and more sensational theory that they are responding to some traumatic event with a boat.

READ MORE: What the grieving mother orca tells us about how animals experience death

The sailors were warned of the hazard.

“We knew that there was a possibility of an orca attack this leg,” Team JAJO on-board reporter Brend Schuil said. “So we had already spoken about what to do if the situation would occur.”

Schuil said there was a call for all hands on deck and the sails were dropped to slow the boat from a racing speed of 12 knots. The crew made noises to to scare the orcas off, but not before it had fallen from second to fourth on the leg from The Hague to Genoa, where it is expected to arrive this weekend.

“They seemed more aggressive/playful when we were sailing at speed. Once we slowed down they also started to be less aggressive in their attacks,” he said. “Everyone is OK on board and the animals are also OK.”

The Ocean Race involves two classes of sailboats at sea for weeks at a time, with the IMOCA 60 boats competing in a six-month, 32,000-nautical mile (37,000-mile, 59,000-km) circumnavigation of the globe. Boats have already contended with a  giant seaweed flotilla , catastrophic equipment failure, and a collision that knocked the leader out of the decisive seventh leg.

Although the race course navigates around exclusion zones to protect known marine habitats, there have been previous encounters with whales in The Ocean Race and other high-speed regattas.

However, they usually involve the boats crashing into the animals, and not the other way around.

One of the boats in the around-the-world portion of this year’s Ocean Race triggered its hazard alarm after hitting what they suspected was a whale off the coast of Newfoundland in May; two crew members were injured in the collision. At the beginning of the 2013 America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay, a whale was reported in the bay and organizers were prepared to delay a race if it wandered onto the course. In 2022, the start of SailGP’s $1 million, winner-take-all Season 2 championship race on the same area of San Francisco Bay was delayed when a whale was spotted on the course.

In 2005, the first South African yacht to challenge for the America’s Cup hit a whale with its 12-foot keel during training near Cape Town, stopping the 75-foot sloop dead in the water, injuring two crewmembers and snapping off both steering wheels.

AP Sports Writer Bernie Wilson contributed to this story.

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Group of orcas attack and sink vessels off Iberian Peninsula

World Jun 14

Watch CBS News

Killer whales attack sailboats during international race: "A dangerous moment"

By Kerry Breen

June 23, 2023 / 12:15 PM EDT / CBS News

Two sailing teams competing in a round-the-world race had a scary encounter with a pod of orcas on Thursday afternoon, race officials said. 

The two teams are part of The Ocean Race, an international competition that also gathers climate data . The race has seven stretches across the world, but the two boats that encountered the killer whales are participating in a smaller three-leg version of the competition, called The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint .  

One boat was crewed by Team JAJO, a group from Amsterdam. The other is crewed by Mirpuri Trifork Racing, a team from Portugal. The boats were traveling through the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Gibraltar when the encounter happened at around 2:50 local time, the organization  said in a news release .

Jelmar van Beek, skipper of the JAJO Team, reported that there were multiple orcas involved. Both teams said that there was no damage to the boats and reported there were no injuries, but said the orcas had pushed up against the boat and nudged and bitten at the rudders. In one case, an orca rammed the boat.  

"Twenty minutes ago we got hit by some orcas," said Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek in a news release. "Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team. We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible and luckily after a few attacks they went away … This was a scary moment."

The incident comes amid reports of seemingly coordinated attacks on boats by orcas. Multiple such incidents have been reported around Gibraltar, which neighbors Spain. Incidents where orcas have worked individually or in a pod to ram a boat's hull or rudders have tripled in the past two years , researchers have said, but it's not clear why. Between July and November 2020, there were 52 such interactions recorded by GTOA, a group that studies orcas in the Gibraltar area. In 2022, there were 207 such interactions. In at least three cases, the damage has resulted in sinking, The Ocean Race said. 

A boat captain who was attacked twice by orcas, once in 2020 and once in 2022, told Newsweek that the whales seemed to have a plan. 

"First time, we could hear them communicating under the boat," he told Newsweek. "This time, they were quiet, and it didn't take them that long to destroy both rudders. ... Looks like they knew exactly what they are doing. They didn't touch anything else." 

Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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'Scary moment' as orcas disrupt ocean boat race in latest display of puzzling behaviour

Crew forced to drop sails in 15-minute encounter near strait of gibralter.

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A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar, the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas.

The 15-minute run-in with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew competing in The Ocean Race on Thursday to drop its sails and raise a clatter in an attempt to scare the approaching orcas off. No one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said in a video posted on The Ocean Race website that it was "a scary moment."

"Twenty minutes ago, we got hit by some orcas," he said in the video. "Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team."

Team JAJO was approaching the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on a leg from the Netherlands to Italy when at least three orcas approached the VO65 class sloop. Video taken by the crew showed one of the killer whales appeared to be nuzzling the rudder; another video showed one of them running its nose into the hull.

• Video Orcas are ramming boats off the Spanish coast, puzzling experts
• Inbreeding is hampering population growth for orcas, study finds

Scientists have noted increasing reports of orcas bumping or damaging boats off the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula in the past four years. The mammals average from 5-6 1/2 metres) and weigh more than 3,600 kilograms.

The behaviour defies easy explanation. A team of marine life researchers who study killer whales off Spain and Portugal has identified 15 individual orcas involved in the encounters — 13 of them young, supporting the hypothesis that they are playing. The fact that two are adults could support the competing and more sensational theory that they are responding to some traumatic event with a boat.

"We knew that there was a possibility of an orca attack this leg," on-board reporter Brend Schuil said. "So we had already spoken about what to do if the situation would occur."

Schuil said there was a call for all hands on deck and the sails were dropped to slow the boat from a racing speed of 12 knots. The crew made noises to to scare the orcas off.

WATCH | Aggressive orcas damage boat off southern Spain:

Aggressive killer whales damage boat off coast of southern Spain

"They seemed more aggressive/playful when we were sailing at speed. Once we slowed down they also started to be less aggressive in their attacks," he said. "Everyone is OK on board and the animals are also OK."

The Ocean Race involves two classes of sailboats at sea for weeks at a time, with the IMOCA 60 boats competing in a six-month, 32,000-nautical mile (37,000-mile, 59,000-km) circumnavigation of the globe. The race is on its final leg, from The Hague to Genoa, where it is expected to arrive later this week.

Boats have already contended with a giant seaweed flotilla, catastrophic equipment failure, and a collision that knocked the leader out of the decisive seventh leg. One of the boats in the around-the-world portion of the race triggered its hazard alarm after hitting what they suspected was a whale off the coast of Newfoundland; two crew members were injured in the collision.

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Three killer whales surround racing sloop in latest unnerving encounter with the marine mammals

A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar, the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes-aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas.

Key points:

• The boat crew made noise to scare the orcas away from the racing sloop
• Scientists have noted increasing reports of orca aggression in the region
• Some of the mammal's actions may be attributed to young whales playing

The 15-minute run-in with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew competing in The Ocean Race to drop its sails and raise a clatter in an attempt to scare the approaching orcas off.

No-one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said in a video posted on The Ocean Race website that it was "a scary moment".

"Twenty minutes ago, we got hit by some orcas," he said in the video. "Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team."

Team JAJO was approaching the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on a leg from the Netherlands to Italy when at least three orcas approached the boat. Video taken by the crew showed one of the killer whales appeared to be nuzzling the rudder; another video showed one of them running its nose into the hull.

Scientists have noted increasing reports of orcas, which average from 5 to 6 metres in length and weigh more than 3,600 kilograms, bumping or damaging boats off the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula in the past four years.

The behaviour defies easy explanation. A team of marine life researchers who study killer whales off Spain and Portugal has identified 15 individual orcas involved in the encounters.

Thirteen of the animals are young, supporting the hypothesis that they are playing.

The involvement of two adults could support the competing and more sensational theory that they are responding to some traumatic event with a boat.

Sailors forewarned of the hazard

"We knew that there was a possibility of an orca attack this leg," Team JAJO on-board reporter Brend Schuil said. "So we had already spoken about what to do if the situation would occur."

Mr Schuil said there was a call for all hands on deck and the sails were dropped to slow the boat from a racing speed of 12 knots. The crew made noises to scare the orcas off, but not before the vessel had fallen from second to fourth on the leg from The Hague to Genoa, where it is expected to arrive this weekend.

"They seemed more aggressive/playful when we were sailing at speed. Once we slowed down they also started to be less aggressive in their attacks," he said. "Everyone is OK on board and the animals are also OK."

The Ocean Race involves two classes of sailboats at sea for weeks at a time, with the IMOCA 60 boats competing in a six-month, 59,000-kilometre circumnavigation of the globe. Boats have already contended with a giant seaweed flotilla, catastrophic equipment failure, and a collision that knocked the leader out of the decisive seventh leg.

Although the race course navigates around exclusion zones to protect known marine habitats, there have been previous encounters with whales in The Ocean Race and other high-speed regattas.

However, they usually involve the boats crashing into the animals, and not the other way around.

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Spain warns boats of possible orca run-ins near the Strait of Gibraltar this summer

FILE - An Aerial view of Gibraltar rock seen from the neighbouring Spanish city of La Linea, Oct. 17, 2019. The ramming of a small boat by an orca in the Strait of Gibraltar prompted authorities in Spain to recommend Tuesday May 14, 2024 that small vessels stick to the coastline in that region to avoid often-scary interactions with killer whales. (AP Photo/Javier Fergo, File)

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — After another ramming of a boat by an orca in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spanish authorities recommended small vessels stick to the coastline in that region to avoid often-scary interactions with killer whales during the summer.

In the latest incident, two people aboard a 15-meter (50-foot) boat in Moroccan waters requested help from Spain’s maritime rescue service Sunday after reporting that an orca knocked the craft several times, damaging its rudder and causing a leak. The people were picked up by a passing oil tanker summoned by the rescuers, and their boat later sank.

Spain’s ministries for transport and the environment, along with its merchant marines, issued notices Tuesday urging both sailing boats and small motorboats to beware of orcas between May and August in the area between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz.

The Atlantic Orca Working Group, a team of Spanish and Portuguese marine life researchers who study killer whales near the Iberia Peninsula, says were 197 such known interactions in 2021 and another 207 in 2022.

A pod of orcas even disrupted a sailing race last year, when a boat sailing from the Netherlands to Italy had a 15-minute encounter with the animals, prompting the crew to drop their craft’s sails and raise a clatter to fend them off.

There have been no reports of attacks against swimmers. The interactions on boats seem to stop once the vessel becomes immobilized.

The researchers say that the killer whales seem to be targeting boats in a wide arc covering the western coast of the Iberia Peninsula, from the waters near the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain’s northwestern Galicia.

The orcas off the Iberian coast average from 5 to 6½ meters (16-21 feet) in length, compared to orcas in Antarctica that reach 9 meters (29½ feet).

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Killer whales are 'attacking' sailboats near Europe's coast. Scientists don't know why

Scott Neuman

An orca pod seen in the Strait of Gibraltar in 2021. Renaud de Stephanis/CIRCE Conservación Information and Research hide caption

An orca pod seen in the Strait of Gibraltar in 2021.

Ester Kristine Storkson was asleep on her father's small yacht earlier this month, sailing off the coast of France, when she was violently awakened.

Scrambling on deck, she spotted several orcas, or killer whales, surrounding them. The steering wheel swung wildly. At one point, the 37-foot sailboat was pushed through 180 degrees, heading it in the opposite direction.

They were "ramming the boat," Storkson says. "They [hit] us repeatedly ... giving us the impression that it was a coordinated attack."

"I told my dad, 'I'm not thinking clearly, so you need to think for me,'" the 27-year-old Norwegian medical student says. "Thankfully, he is a very calm and centered person, and made me feel safe by gently talking about the situation."

After about 15 minutes, the orcas broke off, leaving father and daughter to assess the damage. They stuck a GoPro camera in the water, she says, and could see that "approximately three-quarters of [the rudder] was broken off, and some metal was bent."

A screen grab from a video of the encounter between a pod of orcas and the Storkson boat. Ester Kristine Storkson hide caption

A screen grab from a video of the encounter between a pod of orcas and the Storkson boat.

For any vessel, losing steering at sea is a serious matter and can be dangerous in adverse conditions and some sailboats have had to be towed into port after orcas destroyed their rudders. Fortunately, the Storksons had enough of their rudder left to limp into Brest, on the French coast, for repairs. But the incident temporarily derailed their plan to reach Madeira, off northwest Africa, part of an ambitious plan to sail around the world.

There is no record of an orca killing a human in the wild. Still, two boats were reportedly sunk by orcas off the coast of Portugal last month, in the worst such encounter since authorities have tracked them.

The incident involving the Storksons is an outlier, says Renaud de Stephanis, president and coordinator at CIRCE Conservación Information and Research, a cetacean research group based in Spain. It was farther north -- nowhere near the Strait of Gibraltar, nor the coast of Portugal or Spain, where other such reports have originated.

That is a conundrum. Up to now, scientists have assumed that only a few animals are involved in these encounters and that they are all from the same pod, de Stephanis says.

"I really don't understand what happened there," he acknowledges. "It's too far away. I mean, I don't think that [the orcas] would go up there for a couple of days and then come back."

These encounters — most scientists shun the word "attack" — have been getting the attention of sailors and scientists alike in the past two years, as their frequency seems to be increasing. Sailing magazines and websites have written about the phenomenon, noting that orcas seem to be especially attracted to a boat's rudder. A Facebook group , with more than 13,000 members, has sprung up to trade personal reports of boat-orca encounters and speculation on avoidance tactics. And, of course, there are no shortage of dramatic videos posted to YouTube.

Scientists don't know the reason, but they have some ideas

Scientists hypothesize that orcas like the water pressure produced by a boat's propeller. "What we think is that they're asking to have the propeller in the face," de Stephanis says. So, when they encounter a sailboat that isn't running its engine, "they get kind of frustrated and that's why they break the rudder."

Even so, that doesn't entirely explain an experience Martin Evans had last June when he was helping to deliver a sailboat from Ramsgate, England, to Greece.

About 25 miles off the coast of Spain, "just shy of entering the Strait of Gibraltar," Evans and his crew mates were under sail, but they were also running the boat's engine with the propeller being used to boost their speed.

As Evans was on watch, the steering wheel began moving so violently that he couldn't hold on, he says.

"I was like, 'Jesus, what's this?'" he recalls. "It was like a bus was moving it. ... I look to the side, and all of a sudden I could just see that familiar white and black of the killer whale."

Evans noticed "chunks of the rudder on the surface."

Jared Towers, the director of Bay Cetology, a research organization in British Columbia, says "there's something about moving parts ... that seem to stimulate them."

"Perhaps that's why they're focused on the rudders," he says.

The population of orcas along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts is small and de Stephanis believes that the damage to boats is being done by just a few juvenile males.

If so, they may simply outgrow the behavior, de Stephanis says. As the young males get older, they will need to help the pod hunt for food and will have less time for playing with sailboats.

"This is a game," he speculates. "When they ... have their own adult life, it will probably stop."

An orca calf, photographed in the Strait of Gibraltar, in 2021. Renaud de Stephanis/CIRCE Conservación Information and Research hide caption

An orca calf, photographed in the Strait of Gibraltar, in 2021.

Towers says such "games" tend to go in and out of fashion in orca society. For example, right now in a population he studies in the Pacific, "we have juvenile males who ... often interact with prawn and crab traps," he says. "That's just been a fad for a few years."

Back in the 1990s, for some orcas in the Pacific, something else was in vogue. "They'd kill fish and just swim around with this fish on their head," Towers says. "We just don't see that anymore."

Orcas Attack 2 Yachts In Ocean Race: Latest Reports Of Killer Whale Antics

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Two teams participating in the six-month-long Ocean Race have reported run-ins with killer whales, including one encounter that saw orcas accelerate toward a racing yacht, ram into it and bite the rudders, ESPN reported—the latest unexplained aggression from the marine mammals toward boats.

A group of Bigg's killer whales swim together as seen from a Pacific Whale Watch Association vessel ... [+] on May 4, 2022, near Whidbey Island in Washington state. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Team JAJO, made up of crew from the U.K., the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, were sailing near the Strait of Gibraltar when a pod of orcas attacked the boat for several minutes, per ESPN .

Crew members banged on the hull of the ship to try to drive off the creatures, which video shows circling the Dutch vessel, before they took down the sails to slow the boat, leading the whales to lose interest.

The Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team also reported a run-in with orcas, organizers told ESPN, but neither boat was damaged and no crew members were injured.

It’s only the most recent attacks in the same Iberian Peninsula region, where orcas have already sunk three boats and attacked several others.

The Ocean Race started in Spain in January and has 11 boats racing around the world in a route that touches South America, Brazil, Denmark, the Netherlands and the East Coast of the United States before its scheduled end in Italy next week.

Key Background

The Atlantic Orca Working Group has reported a 298% rise in orca boat interactions from 2020 to 2023, with more than 500 reported in total, USA Today reported. Orcas have sunk three boats in waters off the Iberian Peninsula—only 8 miles from where The Ocean Race boaters were attacked—so far this year and damaged several more. Social media has been abuzz with theories about the recent rise in attacks, with the prevailing conspiracy that the animals are enacting revenge for increased human interaction near their habitats with one biologist telling Live Science, "the orcas are doing this on purpose.” But most scientists say they’re likely just adopting a behavioral "fad," usually seen among young whales, similar to the "aggressive and reckless behavior in human teenagers," The Washington Post wrote, comparing it to a few weeks in 1987 when killer whales in the Pacific Northwest swam around sporting dead salmon on their heads. A June 2022 study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science reported that orcas have stepped up the frequency of their interactions with sailing vessels in and around the Strait of Gibraltar, the same area The Ocean Race boat was attacked.

Surprising Fact

Four killer whales were spotted 40 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts last week, continuing the trend of "unusual" behavior, the Nantucket Current reported .

Crucial Quote

"Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team,” Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said.

37,000. That’s how many miles boats in The Ocean Race will sail before the end of the race.

Further Reading

Racing yachts have close encounter with pod of orcas near Strait of Gibraltar (ABC News)

Killer whales of the Strait of Gibraltar, an endangered subpopulation showing a disruptive behavior ( Marine Mammal Science )

Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. But why? (Live Science)

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A pod of orcas interrupted a boat race in the Atlantic Ocean and rammed two vessels during the competition

• Orcas rammed into two boats competing in The Ocean Race on Thursday. 
• Video of one of the orca encounters shows two of them intentionally bumping into the sailboat. 
• "This was a scary moment," Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said of the encounter. 

A pod of orcas rammed into two boats on Thursday, causing them to get off track in the middle of The Ocean Race competition. During the grueling, months-long competition, participants travel over 36,000 miles around the world in sailboats. 

The Ocean Race representatives said in a statement that two of the VO65 boats involved in the race "had direct encounters with orcas " during a recent leg of the competition in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Gibraltar. 

Related stories

These are especially risky waters for boats right now as there have been frequent orca encounters off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. Earlier in June, a pod took the rudder off a yacht sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

"This was a scary moment," Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said, according to The Ocean Race. 

The killer whales pushed up against the boats belonging to Team JAJO and Mirpuri Trifork Racing, The Ocean Race said. 

In one instance, The Ocean Race said the pod of killer whales was "ramming into the boat and nudging or biting at the rudders."

"Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team," van Beek told The Ocean Race. "We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible and luckily after a few attacks they went away."

Video of orcas ramming boats during The Ocean Race

Video of the encounter with Team JAJO shows at least one of the massive creatures repeatedly ramming into the boat.

The orca then swims away from the sailboat before returning with a second killer whale. The video shows both orcas swimming nearby and seemingly intentionally bumping into their boat multiple times, causing the boat to shake.  

The teams each contacted Race Control after the encounters to report that no one had been injured and that there hadn't been any damage to their boats, The Ocean Race said. 

Some people have said these orca encounters may escalate over the coming months and years. But experts have told Insider in the past that these encounters are probably not attacks and are more out of fun . 

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Orcas Sink Another Boat Near Iberia, Worrying Sailors Before Summer

Two people were rescued on Sunday after orcas damaged their boat near the Strait of Gibraltar, where the animals have caused havoc in recent years.

By Isabella Kwai

Summer is on the way, meaning that the orcas are out to play near the Strait of Gibraltar — which is bad news for sailors.

Two people were rescued on Sunday after an attack by a group of orcas caused enough damage to sink their boat, according to the Spanish maritime rescue service. It was the fifth such sinking in waters off the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa in recent years.

The Alboran Cognac, a sailing yacht about 50 feet long, was approached by the animals on Sunday morning, some 14 miles off Cape Spartel in Morocco, the rescue service said. Crew members onboard reported that the animals had slammed the hull, damaged the rudder and caused a leak.

A nearby oil tanker quickly maneuvered toward the boat and evacuated the two sailors, who were taken to Gibraltar, the rescue service said. The boat was left adrift, and the Moroccan authorities reported that it eventually sank.

It’s the first boat to sink in those waters this year after an orca-related mishap. A group of orcas that traverse the Strait of Gibraltar and nearby waters has plagued sailors and intrigued marine biologists , who are studying the population. Since 2020, orcas have disrupted dozens of sailing journeys in these high-traffic waters, in some cases slamming vessels hard enough to cause critical damage.

Last November, orcas slammed a yacht’s rudder for 45 minutes, causing its crew to abandon the vessel, which sank near the Tanger Med port.

The group is more likely to appear in the busy lanes around the Gulf of Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar between April and August, the Spanish government said in a news release, and sailors have spotted some of the orcas there in recent weeks.

Researchers do not know why the pod is targeting boats, but they have theorized that the behavior is a form of play for the curious apex predators. The interactions have become so frequent that they are now a multinational issue, involving scientists and officials from Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Online, anxious sailors have gathered to share advice on navigating “orca alley,” and biologists are tracking the orcas’ movements and testing methods that could deter them.

In the event of an orca encounter, the government advised in its release, boats should not stop but instead head toward shallower waters near the coast.

But the number of incidents may be declining: Researchers at the Atlantic Orca Working Group said on Monday that the number of orca interactions with boats between January and May had dropped some 40 percent, compared with that of similar periods in the past three years.

Isabella Kwai is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news and other trends. More about Isabella Kwai

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Team JAJO had some special –– and terrifying –– visitors while sailing in the Strait of Gibraltar as part of the 2023 Ocean Race on Thursday.

A group of orcas, otherwise known as killer whales, surrounded the Dutch crew’s yacht, first circling the boat and then ramming into it. 

“This was a scary moment,” Jelmer van Beek, Team JAJO skipper,  said, according to the Associated Press . “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”

Some of Team JAJO’s crew banged on the ship’s hull to try to scare the orcas away while the whales started biting the boat’s rudders.

“We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible, and luckily after a few attacks, they went away,” van Beek said. 

Team JAJO was in second place of the VO65 class in the Ocean Race when the incident happened.

While they dropped to fourth place after handling the orcas, the group eventually slotted back into second by the end of the day and remain there now as the race enters the final leg. 

The Ocean Race, started in 1973, is a six-month yacht race that covers 32,000 nautical miles and goes through nine international cities –– the competition started from Alicante, Spain in January and will finish at the end of June in Genova, Italy. 

There has reportedly been a recent increase in orca sightings in the Strait of Gibraltar.

There were more than 20 incidents of orcas interacting with boats logged in May. 

The Mipuri/Trifork Racing Team, another group competing in the Ocean Race, reported a pod of orcas, but there was no damage caused. 

Team JAJO is in good spirits after the scary moment and is back on track to Italy.

“Thankfully, the crew and the boat are unharmed,” they wrote in an Instagram post . “The Dutch boat skippered by Jelmer van Beek is now back on its way to Genova.” 

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Canadian discovery of orca’s superpower makes them even more scary as yacht attacks rise

Another yacht was sunk this week by a gang of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar

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In a story that is becoming terrifyingly common, another yacht was sunk this week by a gang of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar. And new research from scientists at the University of British Columbia shows that these killer whales are so efficient at breathing, they can perform a dive on just a single breath of air.

Canadian discovery of orca’s superpower makes them even more scary as yacht attacks rise Back to video

The researchers combined drone footage with data from tags suction-cupped to 11 orcas off the coast of B.C. to gather information on the animals’ habits. They found that the whales in their study took about 1.2 breaths per minute while resting, and 1.5 to 1.8 per minute while travelling or hunting.

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In comparison, humans take about 15 breaths per minute while at rest, and between 40 and 60 when exercising. “It’s the equivalent of holding your breath and running to the grocery store, shopping, and coming back before breathing again,” said co-author Dr. Beth Volpov in a press release on the study, which was published in the journal PLOS ONE .

The study also confirmed what scientists had long suspected; that orcas take just a single breath of air between dives. “Killer whales are like sprinters who don’t have the marathon endurance of blue and humpback whales to make deep and prolonged dives,” said co-author Dr. Andrew Trites. However, they make the most of each breath.

That energy was on full display last Sunday, when the Alboran Cognac, a 15-metre sailing yacht travelling in the narrow body of water that separates southern Spain from North Africa, was attacked and eventually sunk by a pod of orcas. It was the fifth sinking in just three years in the region around southwest Europe. No humans have been injured or killed in the attacks.

The yacht’s two-person crew radioed for help and was soon rescued by a passing oil tanker. But the vessel’s hull had sustained serious damage and the boat began to take on water, which eventually caused it to sink, according to news reports .

A group of around 40 orcas live off the coasts of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Gibraltar, and have been attacking boats across this region since 2020. Most occur between May and August in or near the Strait of Gibraltar, but a month ago a group of whales was seen circling a large yacht off the coast of northern Spain, suggesting they were spreading out their activities further and earlier than in other years.

Spain’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Society has put out a release warning sailors of the attacks, with a map of areas to avoid if possible, and advice to stay close to the shore, within safe limits.

The translated statement adds: “It is prohibited to use deterrent measures against orcas that may cause death, damage, annoyance or concern to these cetaceans and, as long as it does not pose a danger to people or animals, it is suggested that photographs be taken of the specimens to have better registration and identification. The photographs will be sent by email to the nearest Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre.”

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Video: Orcas attack Dutch team in Ocean Race; No injuries

Three orcas attacked the Dutch sailing team JAJO during a leg of the Ocean Race on Thursday. The team managed to film the killer whales banging their heads against the rudders of their sailing yacht. Luckily, the damage was limited, and the sailors and orcas all escaped the incident unharmed.

The orcas attacked when the team was just off the Strait of Gibraltar in the leg from The Hague to Genoa. “Impressive to see the orcas, first of all. A beautiful animal. But also a dangerous moment for us on the team. The team reacted really well, and we took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible. Luckily after a few attacks, they went away. But a scary moment,” JAJO captain Jeroen van Beek said.

The attack lasted about 15 minutes. The sailors scared them away by making noise, and the killer whales eventually left. The team was in second place in the Ocean Race when the Orcas attacked and in fourth place once they could get sailing again.

A spokesperson for the Ocean Race told Omroep West that, as far as they know, both the orcas and the crew escaped the attack unharmed. “As far as we can tell, the boat is also damage-free, but you can imagine that we were not able to carry out a full check.”

Brend Schuil, the on-board reporter aboard Team JAJO, told the broadcaster that the team was prepared for a possible orca attack because it has been known to happen in the area. “So we had discussed what we would do if such a situation arose,” he said. “The whole crew reacted calmly and professionally, and luckily I had my gear ready, so I could get some footage.”

This is the second clash between orcas and Dutch sailors this week. On Wednesday, Dutch sailor Wim Rutten told the Volkskrant that an orca repeatedly bumped into his ship off the coast of Norway. Rutten and his sailboat escaped unharmed.

Orcas have also been attacking sailing boats around the waterway between Spain and Marocco. The reason for the killer whales’ sudden targeting of fishing boats remains unclear, but there are several theories, Jeroen Hoekendijk of the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) told NU.nl .

One theory is that an orca had a bad experience with a bot off the Spanish coast and taught younger killer whales to target boats. Another possibility is that the orcas attack ships because fishermen bother them. “Orcas and fishermen both hunt bluefin tuna. There is tension there,” Hoekendijk said. It is also possible that the animals swim into the boats out of curiosity.

So, THIS Is Why Orcas Keep Attacking Boats, According To Whale Scientists

We don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s been a spate of orca ‘attacks’ on boats over recent years 

The first recorded attack occurred in May 2020 in the Strait of Gibraltar and while this was thought to be an anomaly at the time, it was far from it. In fact, over 600 interactions have been reported since 2020

Strangely, it is just one group of Iberian orcas that are inflicting these terrors. The orcas chase sailboats and break their rudders. Before these attacks started, orcas were never thought to be aggressive to humans. 

Speaking to the BBC , one sailor, Andrea Fantini, spoke about his boat being attacked. He said: “We saw the first orca coming, then the second, then the third, and then we were surrounded by orcas. There were seven orcas all around us, and they started to attack the rudder. It was super weird, and a bit scary.”

While that does indeed sound scary, scientists are hesitant to describe them as being ‘attacks’ as the orcas might actually be being playful. Researchers instead describe them as ‘orca interactions.’

The reason behind orca attacks

While people on social media are excited to see a ‘communist uprising’ from these marine mammals, recent research undertaken by the International Whaling Commission has revealed that, actually, the orcas are just playing a little game.

In the report, researchers said : “The behavior has more in common with fads seen elsewhere and seems associated with play or socializing , perhaps encouraged by the recent increased abundance and availability of prey—reducing the time needed for foraging —and by the reduction in negative interactions with fisheries.”

The team also noted that males in another group of whales go through periods of “ritualized ramming or butting of heads” every now and then, with the behavior disappearing and reappearing, once ceasing for 20 years before beginning again.

 They’re just silly little (massive) guys! Having fun! Only doing accidental harm!

W hat mariners should do to avoid orca interactions

Researchers strongly recommend that people do not try to deter orcas, advising: “Move away from the whales as quickly as possible, at least 2 to 3km [1.2 to 1.9 miles] from the area in which the whales were encountered, either toward the coast (in the Gulf of Cádiz and Strait of Gibraltar) or toward an area where rescue can be expedited.”

They said that moving away may not end the interaction but may reduce the chance of damage.

• Seriously, Why Are Orcas Attacking Boats?
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• Orcas Can Mimic Human Speech, Research Suggests

Orcas aren’t attacking boats — they’re just playful teens, scientists say

What might seem like killer whales orchestrating vengeful and coordinated attacks on ships is probably a playful fad among bored teen orcas, scientists say.

Hundreds of dangerous boat-ramming incidents over the past five years have cast orcas as deep-sea villains plotting to take back the ocean.

But the killer whales causing mayhem off Europe’s Iberian Peninsula might actually just be bored teenagers — at least, that’s the leading theory among a group of more than a dozen orca experts who have spent years studying the incidents.

Since 2020, members of a small group of killer whales have rammed into at least 673 vessels off the coasts of Portugal, Spain and Morocco — causing some to sink . The Spanish and Portuguese governments responded by tasking a group of experts with determining what was causing the whales to strike rudders, which are used to steer ships, and how to stop it.

The group, which includes biologists, government officials and marine industry representatives, on Friday released a report outlining their hypothesis: The orcas just want to have fun, and in the vast — and rather empty — open waters, the boats’ rudders are a prime toy.

“This looks like play,” said Naomi Rose, a senior scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute who was part of the working group. “It’s a very dangerous game they’re playing, obviously. But it’s a game.”

In most cases, the scientists found, the orcas approaching the vessels come from a group of about 15, mostly juvenile, whales. They typically approach slowly, almost as if to just bump the rudders with their noses and heads. But even young orcas average between 9 and 14 feet long, so the rudders would often get damaged or destroyed when the whales touched them, said Alex Zerbini, who chairs the scientific committee at the International Whaling Commission, a global body focused on whale conservation.

“There’s nothing in the behavior of the animals that suggests that they’re being aggressive,” said Zerbini, who is also part of the working group. “As they play with the rudder, they don’t understand that they can damage the rudder and that damaging the rudder will affect human beings. It’s more playful than intentional.”

Though orcas are known for their whimsy antics — like using jellyfish, algae and prey as toys — the researchers believe their playfulness has reached new levels in the Iberian Peninsula because of the rebound in the bluefin tuna population, their main source of food. In past decades, when orcas faced a tuna shortage, much of their time was spent trying to hunt down food. But once the tuna population bounced back, whales suddenly “have all this leisure time on their hands because they don’t have to eat every fish they find,” Rose said.

It’s not yet clear why the orcas are attracted to rudders or how they became fascinated by them in the first place. Still, Zerbini said it could have started with one curious, young killer whale that was perhaps enthralled by the bubbles surrounding a moving ship.

“Maybe that individual touched a rudder and felt that it was something fun to play with,” he said. “And, after playing, it began propagating the behavior among the group until it became as widespread as it is now.”

In other words, it became a ridiculous fad — not unlike, say, the viral Tide pod or cinnamon challenges .

It wouldn’t be the first time that killer whales mimicked a particular craze. In the past, some populations have taken to wearing dead salmon as hats or playing games of chicken, Rose said. And, just like human fads, the trends have a tendency to make comebacks years later, she added.

“My guess is that juveniles who see their older siblings or parents wearing salmon hats or doing some other fad sometimes remember these things as adults and think, ‘This is funny. Let’s do it again,’” she said. “These animals are cultural and sophisticated thinkers, and they’re just incredibly social.”

Orcas, Rose said, are similar to people in many ways. For instance, each population has a particular culture, language and food staple. Orcas and people also mature at a similar pace and, much like humans, female whales do so faster than males.

When it comes to the rudder bumping, Rose said, most of the whales involved are male juveniles and teens, meaning they are between the ages of 5 and 18. Fully grown males — over the age of 25 — are not participating in the antics. And while some adult female whales have been spotted at the scene of the incidents, “they seem to be just sort of keeping an eye on their kids, who are doing the actual playing,” she added.

For sailors, though, the practice is no game. Rose said she worries about frustrated mariners launching flares or other devices to deter whales. Not only could those measures deafen or harm whales, they might backfire by “making the game even more fun for them,” she said.

“The more dangerous it is for the orcas, the more thrill they seem to get out of it,” she said.

So what’s a better way to stop the boat-ramming? According to researchers: taking away the orcas’ toys — or, at least, making them less fun to play with.

The working group proposed several methods that will be tested this summer, Zerbini said. One involves replacing rudders’ typically smooth surfaces with abrasive or bumpy materials. They will also test a device that makes banging sounds around vessels and have suggested that boats hang rows of weighted lines, which orcas dislike.

“We don’t want to see more boats being sunk and we don’t want to see people in distress,” Zerbini said. “But we also don’t want to see the animals being hurt. And we have to remember that this is their habitat and we’re in the way.”

Killer whales keep ramming and sinking boats. Scientists now may know why, report says.

An international group of orca experts met to determine why orcas are ramming boats. the leading theory: they're bored and playful..

For the last five years , killer whales have been ramming – and in some cases sinking – expensive yachts, fishing boats and motorboats in the crystalline waters off the coast of Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco.

Why has been a mystery – until recently.

A multinational group of orca experts that met in February and were sponsored by the governments of Spain and Portugal has released a report outlining why they think it’s happening and what can be done to stop it.

What originally appeared to be attacks on more than 673 boats since 2020 now seem more likely to be a bunch of bored teenage orcas looking for something to do, said cetacean expert Alexandre Zerbini. Essentially, the whales started a fad of playing with boat rudders.

The report comes two weeks after the first ramming of the season , which resulted in a sailboat sinking at the southern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. On the morning of May 12, a group of orcas snuck up on a 50-foot sailboat and dove at its rudder, damaging the Alborán Cognac and causing a leak that eventually sank the boat. The two crew members were evacuated to a nearby oil tanker, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais .

These encounters have been going on for five years, with the first documented encounter happening in May 2020. Since then, at least five sailboats and two Moroccan fishing boats have been sunk.

“It starts in the spring, goes way off the charts in the summer and goes away in fall. That’s because the whales and boats are in the same area at the same time,” said Naomi Rose, a senior scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C., who was part of the working group.

This group of orcas interacts with the vessels because they are being enriched by the experience, said Renaud de Stephanis, president of CIRCE (Conservación, Información y Estudio sobre Cetáceos), an organization dedicated to preserving marine life. De Stephanis has been studying orca behavior for over 25 years and was also at the gathering of scientists in Madrid.

“The sea is a very boring place for an animal,” said de Stephanis. “Imagine if you’re a dog or some other mammal, you can interact with objects around you. But in the sea there’s not much for the orcas to interact with, so they play with the rudders.”

A dangerous game for young, bored whales

Overall the incidents have mostly involved juveniles, who are “more playful and courageous in approaching boats,” said Zerbini, who also chairs the International Whaling Commission’s scientific committee.

He imagines a young orca butted its head against a boat’s rudder one time and when it moved, the orca thought, “This is fun.” After ramming it a few times, a piece of the rudder broke off and that was even more fun because there was something to play with.

“There’s documented evidence of the orcas then playing with the pieces,” he said.

Orcas , which are also called killer whales, are actually the largest member of the dolphin family . Dolphins in turn are a type of toothed whale , a group that also includes porpoises, beaked whales and sperm whales.

This type of behavior isn't surprising, given that orcas have culture, exhibit coordinated behavior, share knowledge and have long memories, said Rose.

“It’s a very sophisticated thing to do something for no purpose other than that it amuses you,” she said.

Orca attacks aren't about revenge

There was no evidence that the attacks are being led by older female orcas in revenge for a boat harming a young whale, as has been suggested at times , the group said. The notion took the internet by storm in 2023, with "Sink the rich" mugs and T-shirts featuring killer whales on them proliferating.

“That’s probably based on people watching Hollywood movies,” Zerbini said.

Despite the number of news reports that have suggested the matriarch revenge theory, “I tracked it down and it never happened,” said Rose.

In the face of what they felt was incorrect information about the motivations behind the encounters, she and close to 80 other marine biologists published an open letter in September saying they didn't believe that was what was behind the incidents.

"Science cannot yet explain why the Iberian orcas are doing this, although we repeat that it is more likely related to play/socializing than aggression. However, it is unfounded and potentially harmful to the animals to claim it is for revenge for past wrongs or to promote some other melodramatic storyline," they wrote.

The new Spanish/Portuguese report underscores this and adds why it might have happened – the recovery of the bluefin tuna orcas prey on.

Why were the young orcas so bored?

A surprising chain of events is behind the encounters, the scientists believe.

This particular population of Iberian killer whales is critically endangered, in part, because its primary prey were bluefin tuna that had long been overfished and were in decline.

That meant the orcas had to spend lots of time hunting and feeding, leaving little space for the kind of play juveniles are known for.

Better protections have meant the tuna population rebounded in recent years. Climate change may also play a role, leading the tuna to be abundant in the Gulf of Cádiz year-round rather than seasonally. "This year-round abundance means that there appears to no longer be a need for the whales to pursue every fish encountered," the report said.

That was good for the orcas but may be the cause of the problems for boaters, said Zerbini.

Effectively, the killer whales “have time on their hands," he said, "so they’ll go start playing with rudders.”

Orcas have a history of weird fads

Killer whale groups, especially younger individuals, are known for their fads and idiosyncrasies.

In the Pacific Northwest, one group of killer whales suddenly got into the habit of carrying dead salmon around on their heads in 1987. The fad arose and spread widely among the group that summer.

The salmon hats craze began with adolescent orcas but then spread, said Rose.

“By the end, everyone was wearing them, including the adults,” she said.

Then the fashion dropped out of style as quickly as it had begun.

Zerbini thinks the craze for ramming rudders among the Iberian killer whales is probably a similar fad. “They are very intelligent and playful animals,” he said.

Only about 15 out of the fewer than 40 or so killer whales in this population are engaging in the behavior.

“We think the orcas are getting something out of it, they are enjoying what’s happening. They’re playing,” he said. “Obviously, they don’t understand that that play can mean harm to the boats.”

What should boat owners do?

The group discussed methods to deter the orcas from interacting with the rudders. One method that de Stephanis is testing involves altering the surface and appearance of the rudder.

“The orcas are very timid and careful, these plastic protuberances create acoustic sounds when the orcas scan the rudder,” said de Stephanis.  In addition, orcas really hate jellyfish, so adding flowing pieces behind the rudder gives it the appearance of a jellyfish and deters the orca, de Stephanis added.

Another possible deterrent: hanging lines on weights into the water around the boat.

For now, workshop participants suggest mariners avoid areas where the Iberian killer whales are likely to be from May to August, stay closer to shore in shallow areas and move at least a mile away from any orcas who begin to interact with their boats, preferably toward shore to make rescue faster, should it be necessary.

The suggestions, which have been communicated to boaters in areas where the killer whales are interacting with vessels, appear to already be having an effect.

Since changing the recommendations to advising vessels to flee the interaction immediately, vessel rescues have declined by 80% from May 2023 through May 2024, said de Stephanis.

During that same period, the number of interactions (when an orca touches a vessel) has declined by 70%, he said.

$1 million, 80-foot luxury Sunseeker Atlantis yacht sinks off Florida coast. Photos, what we know

Two people were rescued off the Florida coast Saturday when an 80-foot luxury sports yacht began sinking according to a release from the U.S. Coast Guard in Jacksonville.

Unlike other recent incidents in other parts of the world, no orcas were involved in this yacht going down. The operator reported that the boat hit something in the water.

At 11:37 a.m. the operator of the yacht radioed that they were taking on water three miles off the coast of St. Augustine Beach. Multiple agencies responded, the Coast Guard said.

When marine units from St. Johns Sheriff's Office and St. Augustine Police Department arrived, the boat was already partially submerged. Two people were safely removed.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our partner agencies for their invaluable assistance during this case," said U.S. Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Ricardo Santacana. “With the weather improving and mariners heading out onto the water, it's imperative for everyone to verify the presence of all necessary safety equipment aboard their vessel. This ensures that responders, as demonstrated in this case, can swiftly locate you and render assistance when an emergency arises.” 

Here's what we know.

Why did the Sunseeker Atlantis yacht sink off the coast of Florida?

According to the operator of the boat, it struck something.

St. Johns County Fire Rescue reported it was a dredge pipe piling and a photo of the piling shows a bent sign.

Was anyone hurt when the Sunseeker Atlantis yacht sank?

One person suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital in stable condition, St. Johns County Fire Rescue said in a Facebook post .

What kind of yacht sank off the St. Augustine Beach coast?

The boat appears to be a Sunseeker Atlantis , built in the United Kingdom and delivered in 1999, according to Boat International.

The motor yacht is one of 21 Predator 80 models. It has two Caterpillar diesel engines, a top speed of 45 knots and a cruising speed of 40 knots, with room for up to six guests in three staterooms, plus two crewmembers.

The yacht was designed by naval architect Don Shead, with interiors from designer Ken Freivokh, Boat International said. Similar Sunseeker Predator 80 yachts have been listed for around $1 million.

What will happen to the Sunseeker yacht Atlantis?

A hazard has been issued to alert others of the partially submerged vessel.

The owner of the boat will arrange salvage and the cause of the incident is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.

Man is fined after trying to 'body slam' killer whale

A New Zealand man has been fined over a social media video in which he tries to “body slam” an orca swimming next to his boat, in what officials called “stupid” and “extremely irresponsible” behavior.

In a video the Department of Conservation says was shared to Instagram in February, the 50-year-old Auckland man, whom authorities did not name, jumped off the boat into waters off the coast of the Auckland suburb of Devonport, where an adult male orca and calf were swimming nearby.

The man yells “I touched it” to the other people on the boat and then asks “Did you get that?” in an apparent reference to whether his encounter with the orca was successfully filmed. He then tries to touch the animal again. Other people aboard the vessel can be heard laughing and cheering in the background.

A member of the public had alerted the Department of Conservation to the video, which principal investigation officer Hayden Loper said left officials “genuinely stunned.”

“This is stupid behavior and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca. It is extremely irresponsible,” Loper said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added that orca, also known as killer whales, are protected in New Zealand and it is illegal to swim with them.

“Orca are immensely powerful animals, and this really could have ended horribly — with either the startled whale being injured, or the man responsible being harmed by the aggravated animal.”

The department said the man had been fined 600 New Zealand dollars (about $365).

“If we continue to behave aggressively or inappropriately around animals, particularly animals like the big brain Orcas, they will probably learn to avoid us.” Mark Simmonds, Director of Science at OceanCare, told NBC News. “They might even learn to respond in ways that we won’t like.”

Orca, whose numbers in New Zealand are estimated to be between 150 and 200, are apex predators that can weigh 12,000 pounds or more. The animals, the largest members of the dolphin family, have made headlines in recent months over a series of boat-ramming incidents off the Iberian Peninsula, including last week .

Experts say the orca are most likely acting out of curiosity and playfulness rather than attacking the boats.

Aishwarya Thapa Chhetri is an intern for NBC News based in Hong Kong.