Greg Blackburn, an skilled sailor from Leeds within the United Kingdom, felt the bumps to his vessel earlier than he noticed the apex ocean predator that prompted them.
His crew had been navigating the Strait of Gibraltar, close to Tangier in Morocco on May 2, when one thing began slamming into the hull – repeatedly.
The Bavaria 46 was already being tossed round by “heavy weather” because of 25-30 knot winds and a rolling swell of two to a few metres.
Then an encounter with among the most clever animals on the planet began.
“We took a knock to the rudder, and at first I thought we had just rolled down a wave and got a bit of resistance,” Blackburn mentioned.
“Then we had a second one, which caused us to jump around, and then the third one we were trying to turn up into a wave and the rudder went ‘no you’re going the other way’.
“At that time, we had been like ‘there’s positively one thing down there’.
“After that was when we got the first sighting of them.”
Two giant orcas, in any other case referred to as killer whales, had been accountable for the ramming however Blackburn mentioned 4 extra would take part – inflicting in depth injury to the boat.
“Once the main pod turned up it looked like there was a matriarch with a calf,” he mentioned.
“Thought ‘oh dear’ when I saw them.
“There’s not so much you are able to do at that time.
“After reading reports and knowing what has been going on, just thought we were in for a ride now.”
‘Scary’ encounters plaguing similar stretch of water
The Strait of Gibraltar has develop into notorious for orca “attacks”, after lots of of comparable ramming incidents.
Blackburn mentioned the encounter did not really feel malicious.
“You can see in one of the videos the matriarch coming up and attacking the rudder with calf at side of her, then she drops back and then the little calf gets in to have a go,” he mentioned.
“It was definitely some form of education, teaching going on.”
For over 45 minutes, the orcas made passes alongside and beneath Krzemien’s catamaran off Portugal, paying specific consideration to the rudder.
“At the beginning, I was frightened because I thought they broke something on the hull,” Krzemien mentioned.
“(But) they were eating the rudder, quite softly … I realised they were not going to break anything.
“They had been very calm, not aggressive.
“For me, it was like they were playing with the rudder.
“It was like a Chupa Chups for them.”
Pod of whales get up close to two paddleboarders
‘Tried to be as boring as possible’
When Blackburn realised what was happening he dropped everything but the main sail “and tried to be as boring as doable”.
“There was nothing we may actually do.”
When the orca pod lost interest the crew limped back to port in Tangiers.
There they found extensive damage to the rudder and two snapped helm chains.
Blackburn estimates the damage bill will be in the thousands.
“And that is the stuff we find out about in the mean time.
“I would really like to thank the staff, police and customs at Tanja Marina Bay.
“They had been superb at supporting us after the assault, actually humble and type and made our keep as snug as doable, till we had been ready to maneuver on.”
Blackburn has urged any sailors setting out on the Strait of Gibraltar to track sightings beforehand and try to map a route that avoids the animals.
“But clearly that day that they had ventured south.
“I have personally sailed thousands of miles up and down that coastline over the last year with no incident.
“(But) they are amazing creatures to behold in their natural environment, just the sheer power and the way they move so freely in the water.”
Source: www.9news.com.au
