Killer Whale Attacks On Yachts Spreads 2,000 Miles To The North Sea

A picture taken on May 31, 2023 shows the rudder of a ship damaged by killer whales (Orcinus orca) while sailing in the Strait of Gibraltar and taken for repairs at the Pecci Shipyards in Barbate, near Cadiz, southern Spain. Photo: JORGE GUERRERO / AFP (Getty Images)

Orcas opened another front in their war against yachts and their rudders this week when a sailing yacht making its way from England to Norway was rammed by killer whales in the North Sea.

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The incident occurred near the Shetland islands nearly 2,000 miles from the Strait of Gibraltar where the initial attacks have occurred, the Guardian reports:

Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired Dutch physicist and experienced yachtsperson, was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway. He was fishing for mackerel, with a single line off the back of the boat, when the orca suddenly appeared in the clear water, and hit the stern of the seven-ton boat.

“I said: ‘Shit!’” Rutten, who said he had heard about the “Portuguese accidents”, told the Guardian. The whale hit again and again, creating “soft shocks” through the aluminium hull.

“What I felt [was] most frightening was the very loud breathing of the animal,” he said. The orca stayed behind the boat “looking for the keel. Then he disappeared … but came back at fast speed, twice or thrice … and circled a bit.

“Maybe he just wanted to play. Or look me in the eyes. Or to get rid of the fishing line.”

This is the first report of an orca attack in these waters since orcas began interacting with boats around the Strait of Gibraltar off the coast of Spain and Morocco. There have been at least 20 attacks on yachts in the last month alone, with the marine mammals sinking three vessels.

Researchers believe the attacks may be coordinated by an older orca named Gladis who, it’s theorized, may have had a traumatizing run-in with an illegal fishing vessel. Since then she’s taught the younger orcas in the pod how to disable such boats. It could also be hunting training, play, or even a “fad.” Orcas have highly developed social groups and fads have been known to spread like wildfire amongst various groups, like in 1987 when scientist noticed one Orca balancing a dead salmon on its head. This odd behavior spread to other animals, according to Atlas Obscura.