Moment British sailor Greg Blackburn realised boat was being ‘attacked’ by apex predator off Tangier on Strait of Gibraltar
Greg Blackburn, an experienced sailor from Leeds in the United Kingdom, felt the bumps to his vessel before he saw the apex ocean predator that caused them.
His crew were navigating the Strait of Gibraltar, near Tangier in Morocco on May 2, when something started slamming into the hull – repeatedly.
The Bavaria 46 was already being tossed around by “heavy weather” thanks to 25-30 knot winds and a rolling swell of two to three metres.
Then an encounter with some of the most intelligent animals on the planet started.
“We took a knock to the rudder, and at first I thought we had just rolled down a wave and got a bit of resistance,” Blackburn said.
“Then we had a second one, which caused us to jump around, and then the third one we were trying to turn up into a wave and the rudder went ‘no you’re going the other way’.
“At that point, we were like ‘there’s definitely something down there’.
“After that was when we got the first sighting of them.”
Two large orcas, otherwise known as killer whales, were responsible for the ramming but Blackburn said four more would join in – causing extensive damage to the boat.
“Once the main pod turned up it looked like there was a matriarch with a calf,” he said.
“Thought ‘oh dear’ when I saw them.
“There’s not a lot you can do at that point.
“After reading reports and knowing what has been going on, just thought we were in for a ride now.”
‘Scary’ encounters plaguing same stretch of water
The Strait of Gibraltar has become infamous for orca “attacks”, after hundreds of similar ramming incidents.
Blackburn said the encounter didn’t feel malicious.
“You can see in one of the videos the matriarch coming up and attacking the rudder with calf at side of her, then she drops back and then the little calf gets in to have a go,” he said.
“It was definitely some form of education, teaching going on.”
For over 45 minutes, the orcas made passes along and under Krzemien’s catamaran off Portugal, paying particular attention to the rudder.
“At the beginning, I was frightened because I thought they broke something on the hull,” Krzemien said.
“(But) they were eating the rudder, quite softly … I realised they were not going to break anything.
“They were very calm, not aggressive.
“For me, it was like they were playing with the rudder.
“It was like a Chupa Chups for them.”
Pod of whales get up close to two paddleboarders
‘Tried to be as boring as possible’
When Blackburn realised what was happening he dropped everything but the main sail “and tried to be as boring as possible”.
“There was nothing we could really do.”
When the orca pod lost interest the crew limped back to port in Tangiers.
There they found extensive damage to the rudder and two snapped helm chains.
Blackburn estimates the damage bill will be in the thousands.
“And that’s the stuff we know about at the moment.
“I would really like to thank the staff, police and customs at Tanja Marina Bay.
“They were amazing at supporting us after the attack, really humble and kind and made our stay as comfortable as possible, until we were in a position to move on.”
Blackburn has urged any sailors setting out on the Strait of Gibraltar to track sightings beforehand and try to map a route that avoids the animals.
“But obviously that day they had ventured south.
“I have personally sailed thousands of miles up and down that coastline over the last year with no incident.
“(But) they are amazing creatures to behold in their natural environment, just the sheer power and the way they move so freely in the water.”
