About a year ago, the mysterious attacks by killer whales on sailing and motor boats began off the coast of Spain and Gibraltar. Now a BAVARIA client has also become a victim of such an attack. 

“We were sailing at about 5.5 knots from Cadiz/Spain to Portimão/Portugal when we were attacked by two young orcas,” was how the owner of the now badly damaged Dehler 34 described the incident. The two whales measured about four metres in length and immediately went for the rudder of the sailboat. This is consistent with the behaviour that has been reported frequently from the area from Gibraltar to the Bay of Biscay over the last year. “We switched off the engine, but the two whales continued to attack the rudder for almost an hour. Then we noticed that they were trying to push the boat towards their school. Before they could completely destroy the rudder, we restarted the engine and navigated away from the larger group. 

The animals chased us, kept attacking the rudder and hitting the hull until they finally gave up after about 20 minutes.” 

This eerie scenario is far from an isolated incident. Since the summer of 2020, reports of very similar incidents have been piling up off the coast of Spain and Portugal. Researchers and experts disagree on what could have triggered the behaviour, which is actually unusual for killer whales. While some see an explanation in the youthful exuberance of individual whale individuals testing their pubescent strength on sailboats, others are of the opinion that a very specific, aversive incident between whale and ship could have been the trigger for the animals now judging boats as predators and attacking them. 

Orcas belong to the dolphin family and live in relatively close family groups of up to ten animals, within which they pass on behavioural patterns and hunting strategies. They are known to hunt in coordinated groups and communicate to do so using a wide repertoire of sounds, which can vary greatly from school to school. Attacking boats and ships represents a completely new behavioural pattern that baffles experts. 

Sandra Ahrabian, CEO of BAVARIA AG, commented on the loss report as follows: “We are of course first of all glad that our customer personally did not come to any harm. The damage to the boat is already being processed and was handled by us as quickly as possible so that the voyage can be continued soon. “