Killer whales attack yacht racing at sea

The moment a killer whale hits a boat participating in The Ocean Race

CBS News reported on June 23 that the incident occurred during the Ocean Race sailing competition, which was also an opportunity to collect weather data worldwide.

The race has seven stages in total, but the killer whale encounter happened during a smaller version of the main event, called The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint.

A total of two teams participated in the minor tournament, one boat was sailed by the JAJO team from Amsterdam (Netherlands), and the other boat was sailed by the Mirpuri Trifork Racing team (Portugal).

At the time of the encounter with the killer whales at around 2:50 p.m. on June 22 (local time), the two teams were racing across the Atlantic to the west of Gibraltar.

JAJO captain Jelmar van Beek said multiple whales were involved in the attack. There were no injuries to the crew and their boat was not damaged. However, the killer whales did engage in some aggressive behavior, including shoving, nudging the boat, and biting at the rudders. In one case, a whale rammed the boat.

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“Twenty minutes ago, we were attacked by some killer whales,” said Captain van Beek. “Three whales came straight at us and started ramming the rudder. It was a beautiful sight to see killer whales, but it was also a dangerous moment for our crew. We quickly lowered the sails and slowed down. Luckily, after a few attacks, they left… It was a very scary moment,” the captain recalled.

The encounter comes amid a growing number of reports of so-called “coordinated” attacks by killer whales, with similar incidents reported around Gibraltar.

A captain who was attacked by killer whales twice in 2020 and 2022 said the creatures seemed to behave according to a plan in each encounter.

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