Orca avoidance navigation stratgey

[alexincornwall]

Hi all,

I'm not sure if the YM forum is the best place for this one but here goes...

Hoping to garner a few opinions on Orca avoidance navigation strategy for an upcoming passage from Falmouth to Cartagena (Med) in late August/early September (dates dependent on weather of course - a lot of weird/irritating depressions this summer). Has anybody here completed a similar passage during the more Orca active months?

Our rough plan is Fal - Cascais - somewhere on the central Algarve and then into the med.

I’ve been following a few of the Orca related groups on Facebook which are useful. There now seems to be a very strong consensus for following the 20M contour in the Orca hot spots which I reckon to be all the way from Galicia/Finisterre to the Western Algarve in late summer. Their location seems to be changing quite quickly as attacks are now being reported in the Med with sightings in North Biscay. Indeed, we heard a report on VHF of Orcas just five miles away from us off the Glénan Islands during a delivery to La Rochelle a couple of weeks ago.

Tracking the 20M contour seems fine in principle but in reality, that’s going to add a lot of miles to the trip and I would consider that staying this close to the shore would present more navigational hazards than simply sailing through the Orca zones - pots, nets, fishing boats, other nasties…

My plan was to keep 60nm West of Finisterre (and the TSS), and remain in deep water for as long as possible before setting course for Cascais as quickly as possible. Or possibly omitting Cascais from the plan altogether? I’d be happy to stick to the 20M contour for a couple of hundred nm, but 600 seems a bit tiresome.

I think I’m up to speed on best practice should we have a run in.

Any thoughts on the above? The black and white delinquents are making quite a nuisance of themselves this year!

 

[Halcyon Yachts]

We deliver a lot of yachts that way. We've only had one incident this year.

Here is some advice from one of our delivery skippers:

Pete

 

[alexincornwall]

Thanks Pete, I'll take a look

 

[Seven Spades]

The stratergy in May/June when nearly all the orcas are off Barbate is to keep to the shallows south of Cadiz until you are past Gibralter. Go inside all the tuna nets. people who followed this strategy did not get attacked whilst others who went straight across the bay were taken out. The problem you have is the Orcas have split up into many different groups and so keeping up with the hot spots is a challange. The stratergy remains the same, near the hot spots keep to the shallows. You cannot do that crossing Biscay you just have to take a chance.

I strongly urge you to join orcas.pt - Orcas / Sailing boats in Portugal and Spain in doing so you will get links to two "Telegram" private groups. In these groups there are two members who have access to the Spanish Governments trackers attached to some of the Orcas. Each day they update the groups on the current location and hotspots. Forget about FaceBook there is a lot of disinformation there.

Good Luck.

 

[mainsail1]

What is the best tactic? Well, I think one good answer is that your guess is as good as anyone else. A lot of people make the trip without any problem.
We decided to cross Biscay in April as we expected the Orcas to be well South. In three weeks we slowly made our way to Cascais, at which point we left the boat there to let the Orcas go by to the North and we returned late August to complete that part of the trip to Gib. All without Orca incident or any sighting. Now, most people may not have the luxury of time in which case my tactic would be to go all the way to Gib in April/May, keeping to travelling at night or fairly close to the shore by day.
None of this helps a start in August or September and I would not go across Biscay at that time these days.