Orca attack

[webcraft]

i have read that although the overall numbers in the large blue tuna off Gibralter area which is the stable diet of the local Orcas have increased fish sizes have reduced .
if the Orca is so intelligent and any reduction in fish stocks is the main issue then why are they targeting yachts which have no influence in the fish stocks instead of even smaller fishing boats , ( attacking a large fishing boat would be futile maybe obvious even to a starving Orca ) or are they and fishermen are not reporting incidents whilst taking their own " measures " . further exasperating the situation .

Maybe they are intelligent enough to think yachties will put pressure on fishermen to reduce catches?

- W

 

[Sailfree]

Today in paper "Portuguese Resident"


NOTE opposite advice - turn off engine and lock rudder

QUOTE:-

The Maritime Police rescued, at dawn today, two people of English nationality, aged 49 and 51, after having been adrift on a sailboat that interacted with orcas off Sintra (Lisbon).
In a statement, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) states that the crew were found four nautical miles (about seven kilometres) from São Julião beach.
“Upon arrival at the sailboat, the elements of the Lifeguard Station found that the two crew were in good physical condition, having proceeded to tow the sailboat to the marina in Cascais, for safety reasons for navigation”, says AMN.
In conjunction with the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), AMN takes the opportunity to recommend "to all mariners that, in the event of sighting of these mammals, the engine be turned off, in order to inhibit the rotation of the propeller, and immobilise the steering wheel, thus discouraging these mammals to interact with the mobile structures of the vessels”.
The alert for the occurrence was given at 04:13.

END QUOTE.

 

[KevinV]

.... a sailboat that interacted with orcas..."

That's a new spin on things

 

[25931]

A rather extreme way of testing the rudder. Just because nine tonnes of cetacean managed to break it doesn't mean that it was about to fail. A bit like the priest in Father Ted going around breaking everything in the house "cowboys Ted, nothing but a bunch of cowboys!"

As I say they continued under Hydrovane alone, no reason that he couldn't have done that over a longer passage.
Thousands of euros out of pocket, weeks behind schedule. Fortunately he was in a position to weather this problem.

Nine tonnes is a touch exagerated, although orca is the largest of the dolphins the average adult male only weighs half of that,clearly more than enough to cause substantial damage.
The fact that the hydrovane was not damaged raises an interesting point. It is accepted that dolphins are intelligent and is assumed by some that the "attacks" are intended to cripple the boat so why was the comparatively fragile piece unmolested ?

 

[Kelpie]

Clearly
Nine tonnes is a touch exagerated, although orca is the largest of the dolphins the average adult male only weighs half of that,clearly more than enough to cause substantial damage.
The fact that the hydrovane was not damaged raises an interesting point. It is accepted that dolphins are intelligent and is assumed by some that the "attacks" are intended to cripple the boat so why was the comparatively fragile piece unmolested ?

I wish I had asked him whether his Hydrovane rudder was installed or not during the attack, it's possible that it was not.
I must have picked up the 9t weight from one of these discussions, should have double checked!

 

[Kelpie]

NOTE opposite advice - turn off engine and lock rudder

This is advice issued by a conservation organisation and is not necessarily about preservation of the boat. From the anecdotal evidence we have it looks like motoring astern is a better bet for stopping the attack quickly.

 

[John_Silver]

I've been wondering if aluminium is the way to go. Interesting clip here Orcas meet OVNI of a pod getting to grips with the twin rudders on an OVNI..... seemed more low key than most encounters described. No hull bumping and, it appeared, no large movement of the rudder surfaces. Whether that was anything to do with the aluminium hull / rudders, there's no way to tell.

 

[sailaboutvic]

It seems one manage to work its way into Valencia mar marina , maybe checking out rudders

 

[Kelpie]

It seems one manage to work its way into Valencia mar marina , maybe checking out rudders

That doesn't look like an orca to me, the dorsal fin is much too small.

 

[sailaboutvic]

That doesn't look like an orca to me, the dorsal fin is much too small.

Call it what you like but they say it was around 60 foot

 

[geem]

Call it what you like but they say it was around 60 foot

Having seen Orcas close up the fin looks way too small on that photo.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Having seen Orcas close up the fin looks way too small on that photo.

There was a shot of it along a 50 Ben and it looked as long as the boat although hard to tell from the photo ,

 

[webcraft]

Basking shark?

- W

 

[Kelpie]

Call it what you like but they say it was around 60 foot

Further evidence that it was not an orca, they are around 20-25ft long.

 

[Mistroma]

Basking shark?

- W

It doesn't look exactly like a basking shark and the tail fin would have been pretty obvious to all in the marina, a giveaway that it wasn't a whale. I think 60' would be much too big for an Orca plus shading and size of fin don't match either. It must be a whale of some sort, perhaps a fin whale. Shape of fin, size and colour might make that a possibility.

 

[Kelpie]

From the size of fin it's not dissimilar to a minke, but again much too large. If genuinely 60ft long it could be a sei whale.

 

[greeny]

Minke whale maybe. Very unusual but not unheard of in the med.

Edit
You beat me to it Kelpie.

 

[sailaboutvic]

So it looks like the rudders are safe after all .?

 

[SaltIre]

So it looks like the rudders are safe after all .?

Yup - if none were eaten that proves it wasn't an Orca. Either that or it wasn't hungry.

 

[capnsensible]

Anyone else ever bother looking at vessel finder now and then?

Every day there are a number of yachts active in the area. And shedloads of fishing vessels.....