Orca Attacks on Yachts

[psk125]

Originally Posted by dlj

Not the information I heard.

dj

Perhaps you are not reading the linked articles posted in this thread? They all seem to concur, with the later ones adding details that the earlier ones missed. There is also another wreck, off Portugal, of a Danish boat with four dead, the boat washed ashore with its keel and mast ripped off. They went out into 8m waves and got swept ashore. That is a different event.

[dlj]

Originally Posted by psk125

Perhaps you are not reading the linked articles posted in this thread? They all seem to concur, with the later ones adding details that the earlier ones missed. There is also another wreck, off Portugal, of a Danish boat with four dead, the boat washed ashore with its keel and mast ripped off. They went out into 8m waves and got swept ashore. That is a different event.

I did read the link. It is a sensationalist bunch of crap. So many things wrong in that article it would take me far to long to go through all the documentation showing just how many lies were in that article. It was sensationalism at it's best.

dj

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by dlj

I did read the link. It is a sensationalist bunch of crap. So many things wrong in that article it would take me far to long to go through all the documentation showing just how many lies were in that article. It was sensationalism at it's best.
dj

Agree, this thread is idiotic. I've always regarded this forum as having some level of sophistication.
Even the thread title is childish. Killer whales? really? can we not at least use the correct nomenclature rather than the words of 12 year olds?
Please, will an admin change the title and it's imbued violence? Perhaps even kick the thread to touch?

[Pete7]

Done

However, was it necessary to quote the Express, that's the newspaper equivalent to the Basil Brush news channel.

[Graham376]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Done

However, was it necessary to quote the Express, that's the newspaper equivalent to the Basil Brush news channel.

Here's another report, maybe more reliable than the Express - https://poland-24.com/orcas-sink-pol...tion-underway/

[s/v Jedi]

Here’s what I don’t like:

- “Killer whale” is an officially accepted alternate name for an Orca. You will find it in every dictionary and encyclopedia. Calling for a ban on the use of this name on CF is wrong.

- Calling events a bunch of lies without supporting evidence should not be allowed on CF. Just the fact that it was published in the Express is not evidence that it was a bunch of lies.

- Reading other reports and quotes from those involved, it appears that all the facts reported were actually true. None of it was a lie. The boat was attacked for 45 minutes and was damaged bad enough to not make it into port.

Now my opinion: there’s a group of people active who support the attacks by Orca’s on sailboats and they try to wipe all info from the forum that shows factual reports, effective measures against attacks etc. All this because “we should not go out sailing in their ocean”. I find this disgusting.

Orca’s are aggressive animals that got the “killer whale” name because of their aggressive killings of seals and other animals. They will even come onto a beach to grab them and drag back into the water. If this info is too much for you to bear then unsubscribe from the thread instead of trying to twist the truth to fit your agenda.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Graham376

Here's another report, maybe more reliable than the Express - https://poland-24.com/orcas-sink-pol...tion-underway/

And the article starts with

In an unusual and dramatic incident.
dramatic maybe but unusual it is not. Many HUNDREDS of attacks have taken place. People who are not sailing on this part of the coast are not fully conversant of the danger that this poses to yachts and human life.

It is even possible that the 4 fatalities on the Atlantic coast were a consequence of sailing in shallow water to avoid attacks by killer whales. Sadly we will never know.

KILLER WHALES is a term recognised by National Geographic, NOAA Fisheries, Britannica and even the IWC and WDC. Instead of criticising nomenclature constructive discussion would be more in keeping with the spirit of the forum.

[Lee Jerry]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Orca’s are aggressive animals that got the “killer whale” name because of their aggressive killings of seals and other animals. They will even come onto a beach to grab them and drag back into the water. If this info is too much for you to bear then unsubscribe from the thread instead of trying to twist the truth to fit your agenda.

That's not the story I heard.

The "killer whale" moniker was actually a mis-translation of what should have been "killer OF whale" (from Spanish IIRC). Notable since not many other sea creatures (i.e. not humans) hunt whales.

Orca are part of the porpoise family and are not true whales. (NB - I am not a biologist.)

[boatman61]

^^^Yes^^^
Orcas were given the name Whale Killer which in time morphed into 'Killer Whale' by ancient sailors' observations of groups of orcas hunting and preying on larger whale species. Their Latin name, Orcinus orca, also reflects this observation of orcas feeding on large whales.
Another common name for killer whales in Spanish is ballena asesina, which translates to "assassin whale".

[GordMay]

All living things have a scientific name and a common name.
The scientific name is always in the language of latin or greek, and has two parts [binomial nomenclature]: a genus and a species.
The common name is what we use everyday, to talk about living things around us.
This is a worldwide naming convention [taxonomy] for all biological organisms, and this system has been around for a very long time. The system was first developed by Swedish botanist and physician, Carolus Linnaeus, in the mid- 1700s.
Lee & Phil are correct.

[TrentePieds]

For what little it may matter, the common name for the Orca in my native Danish is "spækhugger". Quite literally that translates into English as "blubber chopper". The reason that Orcas are so called is obvious to anyone who has seen a pod actively engaged in hunting and feeding.

Orcas have teeth for a reason. They are mammals adapted to life in the sea, but apart from that, their behaviour appears to be much like that of a terrestrial mammal, the wolf. They hunt in packs, they apply strategy which appears to be well thought out. Orcas can, like wolves, be tamed to some degree, but like a "tame" wolf, an orca in captivity needs to be handled very, very carefully.

You will recall that half a century ago an organization called "Sealand of the Pacific" kept several captive orcas in a pool in the harbour of Victoria, BC. The sort of intra-pack rivalries, conflicts and dominance assertions one sees in wolf packs appeared to operate in the "pack" of orcas at Sealand. Eventually the psycho-dynamics of the pack became untenable, and three of them, Tillicum, Haida and Nootka IIRC, grabbed a young woman trainer and drowned her. They did not eat her. It was IMO purely a vengeance attack.

Sealand was closed down and the "tame" orcas were dispersed to sundry US organizations where all of them eventually expired in miserable circumstances resulting both directly from the manner in which they were kept and, less directly, from the psychological deterioration suffered by all intelligent captives.

For those of us with some awareness of the psychology of the Canis species, it is not really all that difficult to understand the psyche of the Orcinus species. Perhaps there is wisdom, for yotties, in accepting that orcas can bear grudges and that they talk to each other!

TrentePieds

[Putt-Putt]

My understanding is that Killer Whales or Orcas are part of the Dolphin, not the Porpoise Family.
Both the Dolphin and the Porpoise Family are in the suborder of toothed whales.

As a result a Killer Whale or Orca is considered a true whale.

[s/v Jedi]

Just read the encyclopedia before posting people… there is no speculation, just fact. Orca’s are in the dolphin family.

They also like to eat dolphins.

The name Orca is even more sinister than killer whale because it means “from the Kingdom of the dead”. All of these names share the common meaning: they are killers.

There’s also a whole number of yet to be designated species and/or subspecies, each different animals with different behaviors. Some just eat fish.

Yes, the origins of the name Killer Whale come from “Whale Killer” as observed by sailors. I was referring to more recent times where they studied their behaviors and I remember a documentary showing how they would come onto a beach to grab seals and teaching this to their young. They also kill for fun, i.e. without eating the kill. In those documentaries the narrator always mentions that they give honor to their name, supporting my comments that their name, be it killer or bringer of death etc. is because of their aggressive hunting and killing. They don’t have a nicer or more friendly name.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Just read the encyclopedia before posting people… there is no speculation, just fact. Orca’s are in the dolphin family.

They also like to eat dolphins.

The name Orca is even more sinister than killer whale because it means “from the Kingdom of the dead”. All of these names share the common meaning: they are killers.

There’s also a whole number of yet to be designated species and/or subspecies, each different animals with different behaviors. Some just eat fish.

Yes, the origins of the name Killer Whale come from “Whale Killer” as observed by sailors. I was referring to more recent times where they studied their behaviors and I remember a documentary showing how they would come onto a beach to grab seals and teaching this to their young. They also kill for fun, i.e. without eating the kill. In those documentaries the narrator always mentions that they give honor to their name, supporting my comments that their name, be it killer or bringer of death etc. is because of their aggressive hunting and killing. They don’t have a nicer or more friendly name.

So they are 'Amost' human.. just have yet to develop weapons to join us as the 'Ultimate 'Killer'...

[Graham376]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

And the article starts with

In an unusual and dramatic incident
dramatic maybe but unusual it is not. Many HUNDREDS of attacks have taken place. People who are not sailing on this part of the coast are not fully conversant of the danger that this poses to yachts and human life.

Being based in the area and personally knowing 2 people/boats who've been attacked, I'm quite conversant of the risks. Bearing in mind the hundreds of thousands of boats based from Gib to Brittany and the thousands of others passing through every year, the number of attacks actually represent a tiny minority of boats and don't stop most owners from going out sailing.