French sailboat, with four crew on board, sunk following interaction with orcas

[Iron E]

Translated from Autoridade Marítima Nacional Facebook Page:

Sailboat with four crew on board sinks off Viana do Castelo
A French flagship sailboat, with four crew on board, sunk this morning following a water inlet on board, following alleged interaction with orcas, about 14 nautical miles (approximately 25 kilometres) west of the harbour Viana from the Castle.
Following an alert received at 12:05 p.m., through the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Lisbon), reporting that a sailboat with four crew members on board was in danger of sinking, they were activated IME Day to site of the Life Station crew of Viana from the Castle.
Upon arrival at the scene, it was found that the four crew members had been rescued by a sailboat nearby, feeling well physically and without needing medical assistance.
The bumpy sailboat ended up sinking, with the crews of the Viana do Castelo Life Saving Station proceeded to collect various debris, no pollution focus has been detected on the site.
The Local Command of the Maritime Police of Viana do Castelo has taken note of the incident and a warning will be issued to the navigation, for reasons of safety.

[goboatingnow]

Bad orca bad boy sit

[psk125]

Is that a picture of the actual boat? These Orcas are known to attack the rudder area, so sinking bow-first would seem unusual in this case.

[JC Reefer]

I wonder if shooting bottle rockets underwater would scare them off. Might be good reason to carry a few hundred pounds of black powder.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by psk125

Is that a picture of the actual boat? These Orcas are known to attack the rudder area, so sinking bow-first would seem unusual in this case.

Wherever the boat was broken must be forward, if that is a picture of the boat in the process of sinking.

It would be good to get more information.

Ann

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by JC Reefer

I wonder if shooting bottle rockets underwater would scare them off. Might be good reason to carry a few hundred pounds of black powder.

I’ll shoot 12 gauge slugs

[danstanford]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Wherever the boat was broken must be forward, if that is a picture of the boat in the process of sinking.

It would be good to get more information.

Ann

I understand your point Ann, but if the hull sloped downward from the rudder location going forward, could she not have filled the bow from the stern?

Interesting question!

Dan

[danstanford]

Not that you wouldn't go to their rescue, but wouldn't you feel nervous taking your sailboat into an area where Orcas just sank a sailboat? yikes

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Wherever the boat was broken must be forward, if that is a picture of the boat in the process of sinking.

It would be good to get more information.

Ann

From Facebook
Autoridade Marítima Nacional

https://www.facebook.com/AutoridadeMaritimaNacional

From portugalresident

https://www.portugalresident.com/sec...on-with-orcas/

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by psk125

Is that a picture of the actual boat? These Orcas are known to attack the rudder area, so sinking bow-first would seem unusual in this case.

Not necessarily. Whenever I've seen a sailboat flooding (like from deck leaks or leaking through hull, etc,) they tend to go bow down.

[leboyd]

Several articles have mentioned these are juvenile whales. It had me recalling the juvenile Pilanesberg’s elephants who were attacking (“interacting”) with cars, people and other animals, killing and injuring both man and beast. I wonder if something similar is happening. What’s the difference between a boat in their neighborhood and a car in the elephant’s? The solution in Africa won’t work here, but if this is a similar cause, these aren’t “interactions” and are in fact attacks. Some kind of deterrence is necessary until (hopefully) the grow out it. If they don’t grow out it, things will become much worse.

[JPA Cate]

Agree it could be worse. However, the instructions in the portuguese resident link did not mention what the fishermen have discovered deters the "interactions": namely to put the boat in reverse, engine on, and make tight reverse turns. Orcas cannot swim backwards.

I'd be interested to learn whether there are more "interactions" when boats are under sail, or under power.

It would be good if the marine biologists could be certain whether or not it is "play", and also what are the numbers of people who escaped unscathed by using the reversing maneuver. If going there, you might want to have a few drills, getting headsails down or furled, so that you could do it smoothly under duress.

I haven't seen any boats sinking, Fred, I didn't know they tend to go bow down. Thank you for that.


Ann

[leboyd]

Yes, reported reverse maneuver makes sense.

IMHO I’m afraid the biologist won’t ever really be able to say whether it’s play or not, and some (many/most?) have been keen to protect animals more than humans. The reason I lean towards these being attacks and not play is because most animals do not play in a manner that has a pretty good probability of injury or death, especially predators. Juvenile lions don’t play with adult jaguars and juvenile jaguars don’t play with adult lions. Dolphins play with boats and never get near the rudder and basically leave when the boat stops. I hate to say it, but until one of these whales are seriously injured or killed, I see things getting worse not better. But I hope I’m very wrong.

[skipperpete]

Thats often how yachts lie when flooding, area of least buoyancy is forward although a lot depends on how much weight is at the stern. If the bow area is watertight she may stay afloat but its a slim possibility.

[ItDepends]

Another approach I have seen on the intertubes to deal with these critters, is to tow a dinghy to give them something else to play with, other than your rudder.

It SEEMED to work on the one video where they butted and bounced the dinghy but didn't damage the mothership.

For what it is worth...