Orca attack

[TNLI]

Just by way of update, I heard back from the Nauticat owner who lost his rudder and contained under Hydrovane. He says the Hydrovane was *not* deployed during the attack and would probably have been destroyed if it had.

Nah, even a killer whale could not destroy a Hydrovane rudder. I had one on the steel Van Der Stadt 34 I circumnavigated with, and it's still by far the best self steering system, and the only one that would survive a bite or two.

 

[sailaboutvic]

At least one skipper who experienced an "attack" said that they were obviously playing. In common with nearly everyone on here I have never had that experience ( in 70 years of sailing) even though I have lost count of the number of times that orcas have been close as I can almost see the tunny nets from where I am sitting. I shall continue to keep an open mind.

Playing is just a word someone decided to use to suggest what they doing and it's been use several time since , same as the word attacked,
Both words are mean less .

 

[capnsensible]

For those interested, there is a good article in the December Cruising Association magazine. Non members, worth trying to blag a copy from a friend.

Couple of highlights. They only go for grp rudders, nothing metal. So stow your hydrovane rudder till they go. Use it to get you in somewhere.
If your rudder has a metal frame inside, they stop when they munch that far.

Scaring them away. In the US, authorities tackling oil pollution lower a steel pipe 2 to 3 metres long into the sea and welly it with a hammer. Studies continue but they seem to hate it.

So if you are sailing through the area, perhaps a steel pipe over the transom near the rudder, struck repeatedly whack it with your biggest hammer might work? This last bit is my idea. Just need intrepid volunteers for feedback.

Oh and sail in shallow water......

Obviously I can't repeat the whole thing, but it's well written and researched.

Go careful out there.

 

[Kelpie]

Agreed, it's a good article.
I was a bit surprised that they didn't seem to think that sailing during the day was any safer. I'd previously seen on orcaiberica that more attacks happened at night.
The article also mentioned that most attacks are on monohulls. I know that some cats have been targeted, but I hadn't realised that they were less likely to be hit.

Incidentally one of the case studies was the guy I met in Lagos, who has since repaired his Nauticat and set off for Madeira.

 

[sailaboutvic]

How do you get a Orca in a fridge?

 

[chrishscorp]

How do you get a Orca in a fridge?

In bits ?

 

[pandos]

In the US, authorities tackling oil pollution lower a steel pipe 2 to 3 metres long into the sea and welly it with a hammer. Studies continue but they seem to hate it.

I posted about this on another thread they use it to keep the Orcas and other similar creatures away from oil rigs and oil spills

....it sounds like something that might be worth doing. But I wonder is there a way to mimic this sound and send it through an underwater speaker...or one stuck to the inside of the hull..

Part of capnsensibles post suggested that they hate metal...

What would be the issues with putting a piece of stainless steel folded over the back edge of the rudder...?

 

[sailaboutvic]

In bits ?

That's one way ?

 

[Baggywrinkle]

How do you get a Orca in a fridge?

Tell it that's where the rudders are stored?

 

[Baggywrinkle]

For those interested, there is a good article in the December Cruising Association magazine. Non members, worth trying to blag a copy from a friend.

Couple of highlights. They only go for grp rudders, nothing metal. So stow your hydrovane rudder till they go. Use it to get you in somewhere.
If your rudder has a metal frame inside, they stop when they munch that far.

Scaring them away. In the US, authorities tackling oil pollution lower a steel pipe 2 to 3 metres long into the sea and welly it with a hammer. Studies continue but they seem to hate it.

So if you are sailing through the area, perhaps a steel pipe over the transom near the rudder, struck repeatedly whack it with your biggest hammer might work? This last bit is my idea. Just need intrepid volunteers for feedback.

Oh and sail in shallow water......

Obviously I can't repeat the whole thing, but it's well written and researched.

Go careful out there.

Maybe when they chomp down on metal they become part of the circuit that eats away the boats anodes? Wouldn't be much current but perhaps they are very sensitive .... a bit like humans experience when chewing tin foil.

 

[rotrax]

Maybe when they chomp down on metal they become part of the circuit that eats away the boats anodes? Wouldn't be much current but perhaps they are very sensitive .... a bit like humans experience when chewing tin foil.

A bit like the cell created when you get a piece of the old chocolate wrapper silver paper in your mouth with the chocolate? A mild electrical tingle!

Logical.

Tweak it with a small voltage perhaps

 

[greeny]

Just enough to make them angry maybe.
On a more serious note, I did see on one of the reports a steel boat with steel rudder had been "attacked" The rudder itself was not damaged but they bent the shaft so much it was unusable.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Tell it that's where the rudders are stored?

Open the fridge door and put him In.
One for the Christmas cracker .

 

[Poey50]

Last Friday, report on MOA forum that a Moody 31 was attacked 50 miles south of Cascais. Lisbon coastguard advised to go astern and attack then stopped. A few chips out of rudder and maybe bearing damage but tiller pilot mounting torn out of deck.

Does anyone have the contact details for the skipper? I've been in touch with the skippers of three other substantiated uses of the defensive reversing tactic and would like to do the same for this - which I think is the third out of four. On each occasion neither rudder nor apparently Orcas were harmed.

 

[Cheery]

How do you get a Orca in a fridge?

Tell it to do an impersonation of Boris Johnson.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Open the fridge door and put him In.
One for the Christmas cracker .

To modify the words of Captain Quint, 'You're going to need a bigger 'fridge'.

 

[Sybarite]

Somebody from our home port (Locmiquélic) was attacked of the coast of Spain and like many others he had damage to his rudder and rudder gear.

He had followed the CG recommended practice :

take sails off
turn engine and electronics off.

After discussion with other victims and fishermen he considers that this is just the opposite of what one should do.

He recommends :

putting the engine in reverse (this frightens and confuses the orcas)
pouring some diesel overboard
keeping a hollow stainless steel tube partially immersed in the water and tapping it with a hammer.

 

[laika]

Open the fridge door and put him In.

Don't you have to take the elephant out first?

 

[wightsquall]

Just spoken to a friend who works for the lifeboat service in Cascais. They went out 5am yesterday to tow a disabled yacht in. The tow took 5 hours because of the sea state and because, as he pointed out, boats with broken rudders don't tow straight, they zigzag all over the place.

He says he has personally spoken to six skippers of boats currently in Cascais marina waiting on rudder replacement or repair.

- W

I was on Matahari with the owner. 15nm north of Cascais, calm wind, long smooth swell. 3am aggressively attacked by 4 juvenile orcas.
Slamming the bow, hard 'spouting' & slamming sea surface either side of us, blowing bubble ring, attacking spade rudder from below & from astern. Watched bits of rudder floating off.
On first knock - we switched everything off and were hove-to at 0.5 knots.
They jammed the rudder hard to port - took me 20 minutes kicking the quadrant to align it midships.
The tow was really uncomfortable at 10knots yawing as winds and sea picked up (skeletal rudder bent to stbd)
Rescue /tow boat were excellent. Took 2 hours to get to us, tow took 3 hours back.
Cascais Marina, and immigration & Police authorities were particularly supportive and helpful.
The yacht (1989 Jeanneau Sunshine 38) is having new rudder redesigned by original designer Tony Castro & fabricated locally in Cascais.
The image is as we found the rudder on lift out. it had been a spade design.

 

[Kelpie]

Thanks for sharing. When was this?