Orca attack

Here's my take on finding a workable answer...... It's down to all of us to find/fund the solution. By us, I mean the European sailing community. It's not incumbent upon individual countries; if we want an answer then 'we' must find it.

Our collective sailing organisations should club together to fund research into the exact frequency that these eastern Atlantic Orcas don't like. Once found then a pinger aimed at recreational sailors should be produced. Anyone between Ouessant and Malaga should carry two on board ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. Perhaps even deployed full-time? There are pingers available, I carry two that I bought in the commercial harbour at Lagos, but I think it should be one attuned to exactly the frequency these particular Orcas find unpleasant, but not so so powerful that their hearing would be permanently damaged.

There are a great number of ideas being put forward, but as far as I know, no definite progress is being made. 'We' need to get the ball rolling and find an answer because otherwise, sooner or later, someone will injure or kill an Orca. That would be a tragedy and could well lead to boats really being attacked rather than having their rudders destroyed.
 
Major_Clanger said:
Here's my take on finding a workable answer...... It's down to all of us to find/fund the solution. By us, I mean the European sailing community. It's not incumbent upon individual countries; if we want an answer then 'we' must find it.

Our collective sailing organisations should club together to fund research into the exact frequency that these eastern Atlantic Orcas don't like. Once found then a pinger aimed at recreational sailors should be produced. Anyone between Ouessant and Malaga should carry two on board ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. Perhaps even deployed full-time? There are pingers available, I carry two that I bought in the commercial harbour at Lagos, but I think it should be one attuned to exactly the frequency these particular Orcas find unpleasant, but not so so powerful that their hearing would be permanently damaged.

There are a great number of ideas being put forward, but as far as I know, no definite progress is being made. 'We' need to get the ball rolling and find an answer because otherwise, sooner or later, someone will injure or kill an Orca. That would be a tragedy and could well lead to boats really being attacked rather than having their rudders destroyed.
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That is flannelling around. If you had read the posts a solution has been found, it is to bomb the little sods. Much like as it was in WW2, You would have also wasted time in negotiating with the 3rd Riech.
 
Zing said:
That is flannelling around. If you had read the posts a solution has been found, it is to bomb the little sods. Much like as it was in WW2, You would have also wasted time in negotiating with the 3rd Riech.
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A bit like reasoning with you then. Killing the whales is just not going to happen
 
As a staunch environmentalist the idea of anyone taking action against wild animals is not on. I love my boat and sailing but tough if these amazing creatures are pissing off your sailing fun. If you dont like it then go sail somewhere else.
 
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winch2 said:
As a staunch environmentalist the idea of anyone taking action against wild animals is not on. I love my boat and sailing but tough if these amazing creatures are pissing off your sailing fun. If you dont like it then go sail somewhere else.
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Would you change your view if they appeared in the Solent or in the waters outside ? Shallow water doesn't bother them.
 
Zing said:
That is flannelling around. If you had read the posts a solution has been found, it is to bomb the little sods. Much like as it was in WW2, You would have also wasted time in negotiating with the 3rd Riech.
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If you believe that's the solution for the 'little sods' then best you stay ashore. You've got no right to be on the water.
 
Major_Clanger said:
Our collective sailing organisations should club together to fund research into the exact frequency that these eastern Atlantic Orcas don't like.
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well, assuming there is such a frequency..,

what makes you think that research into things that Orca don't like would even be permitted?

I think the research itself would violate the protection laws, and you wouldn't even have the excuse that your life was in danger.

You need to understand that both the governmental authorities, and whale activists/researchers mostly don't give a rat's a$$ about attacks on yachts, and to the extent they think about it at all, they probably think it's good thing; more attacks=fewer yachts on their ocean.

It is up to sailors to protect their crew and their yachts with whatever means they think will work. Word of mouth indicates that fireworks are working, so it's probably a good idea to carry them.

Whatever you do, don't post it publicly anywhere.

I would probably also turn my AIS off when transiting the area in question; better for there not to be a record of your presence.
 
It is claimed that there have been over 700 'interactions' off the Iberian coast since 2020. I have also read highly dubious reports of '...pods of angry Orcas ganging up to attack commerical shipping...' elsewhere in the Atlantic, with far too strong a flavour of fertile imagination and zilch in the way of facts or evidence. However it does suggest that the same thing could be beginning to happen elsewhere.

The attached report too suffers from over-zealous reporting of what is actually going on, "... the night bridge lit soft blue, an ordinary watch with the engine ticking steady,..." hardly encourages factual credibility, but the author does seem to have done some research as well, coming up with some concerning claims.

North Atlantic warning: orcas now targeting commercial vessels in what experts call coordinated assaults
 
oldharry said:
It is claimed that there have been over 700 'interactions' off the Iberian coast since 2020. I have also read highly dubious reports of '...pods of angry Orcas ganging up to attack commerical shipping...' elsewhere in the Atlantic, with far too strong a flavour of fertile imagination and zilch in the way of facts or evidence. However it does suggest that the same thing could be beginning to happen elsewhere.

The attached report too suffers from over-zealous reporting of what is actually going on, "... the night bridge lit soft blue, an ordinary watch with the engine ticking steady,..." hardly encourages factual credibility, but the author does seem to have done some research as well, coming up with some concerning claims.

North Atlantic warning: orcas now targeting commercial vessels in what experts call coordinated assaults
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I fear you have become a victim of 'click bait'. If you take a slightly closer look at that site you will see that 'Lydia' posted 35 stories to that site on 26th November. The stories range from air fresheners to Orca attacks and everything in between.

I don't really understand the logic behind these web sites as they are apparently not selling anything, maybe just looking for search engines to find them and people to link to them. But to what end? Any web marketeers on here who can supply an answer?
 
After a conversation with Google AI it arrived at the following (and I hope it's OK to post this)...

"The observation that all content on the website jefferson-electrical.co.uk is attributed to one author, Lydia Pencombe, and was published on a single date (November 26, 2025), suggests a strategic publishing approach rather than the organic growth of a genuine blog.

This practice typically suggests the following:
  • Bulk Content Upload: The articles were likely uploaded and published all at once in a single, massive batch, rather than being released incrementally over weeks or months. This is efficient for rapidly populating a site with a large volume of pages.
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy: This method is often used to quickly generate a high number of web pages (impressions) across a wide array of keywords and topics, aiming to capture diverse organic search traffic from search engines like Google.
  • Content Farm / Traffic Generation: The website is likely being utilized as a "content farm" to drive traffic. Once a certain level of traffic is achieved, the site owners can monetize it through display advertising or affiliate marketing.
  • Generic or AI-Generated Content: The content covers a very broad range of topics—from space travel to home decor and health tips—which makes it highly unlikely that a single person ("Lydia Pencombe") is an expert on all these subjects. The consistency in the author profile and the bulk posting suggest the content may be outsourced, mass-produced, or generated by AI tools to be readable but not necessarily authoritative or unique. "
So, I would suggest people look just slightly beyond the surface of this type of story.
 
I did query the validity of the report, and am not unduly surprised if it is fake.
alahol2 said:
After a conversation with Google AI it arrived at the following (and I hope it's OK to post this)...

"The observation that all content on the website jefferson-electrical.co.uk is attributed to one author, Lydia Pencombe, and was published on a single date (November 26, 2025), suggests a strategic publishing approach rather than the organic growth of a genuine blog.

This practice typically suggests the following:
  • Bulk Content Upload: The articles were likely uploaded and published all at once in a single, massive batch, rather than being released incrementally over weeks or months. This is efficient for rapidly populating a site with a large volume of pages.
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy: This method is often used to quickly generate a high number of web pages (impressions) across a wide arr of keywords and topics, aiming to capture diverse organic search traffic from search engines lik
  • Content Farm / Traffic Generation: The website is likely being utilized as a "content farm" to drive traffic. Once a certain level of traffic is achieved, the site owners can monetize it through display advertising or affiliate marketing.
  • Generic or AI-Generated Content: The content covers a very broad range of topics—from space travel to home decor and health tips—which makes it highly unlikely that a single person ("Lydia Pencombe") is an expert on all these subjects. The consistency in the author profile and the bulk posting suggest the content may be outsourced, mass-produced, or generated by AI tools to be readable but not necessarily authoritative or unique. "
So, I would suggest people look just slightly beyond the surface of this type of story.y in in
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