MY ORCA TERROR
Skipper tells how two killer whales rammed yacht for 25 minutes
A YACHTSMAN had a terrifying encounter with two killer whales which rammed his boat.
Dieter Peschkes is the latest sailor to suffer an attack off Spain and Portugal.
Delivery skipper Dieter was taking the 45ft sailing vessel from Southampton to its owner in Gibraltar.
Six miles off Lisbon he and his two crew felt a powerful judder.
The helm span violently out of control and the yacht veered off course.
Dieter thought he had hit a submerged rock until he looked down and saw two seven-foot orcas attacking the rudder.
The creatures continued to charge the vessel for 25 minutes before swimming away.
Dieter later found two other yachts were damaged and a sailor injured in identical attacks the same day.
The 47-year-old, from Dorchester, Dorset, said: “These attacks have really gone crazy in the last 20 months and it’s left a lot of scientists baffled.
“The whales tend to go for the rudders and some scientists think it could be defensive behaviour. Or it may be they mistake the bottom of the boat for prey.” Between July and November last year there were 45 recorded incidents of mostly young killer whales attacking boats, often damaging the rudders. In August this year a family of orcas attacked British sailor Alan Bruce in the Strait of Gibraltar for a terrifying 90 minutes. He and his crewmate huddled below as the mammals struck at the sides of the boat trying to capsize them.
Then French sailor Arthur Dyevre had to be rescued after his boat suffered a twohour attack. Dr Simon Boxall, of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, believes the attacks could be due to the pandemic. He said: “In the last 20 months marine traffic has been at a record low, meaning you have a generation of young whales who may never have had human contact. “When they first see a boat they may feel threatened and act defensively.” adam.aspinall @mirror.co.uk