79 MAKE MY DAY - Do we dare to go through the orca alley?

We have been waiting a long time for a good weather window to go to Porto Santo. We have heard many good stories about that little island next to Madeira. But in addition to the normal weather planning, we have another consideration. ……Orcas Since 2020 an unusual phenomenon has occurred along the west coast of Europe. From the Bay of Biscay in the north to the strait of Gibraltar in the south, Orcas have been attacking sailboats and damaging the rudders. Recently this has become the subject of many news reports. In 2021 as we sailed along the west coast of Portugal we saw many boats on the hard with damaged or missing rudders. The devastating results of attacks by the orcas. The official advice to avoid the orcas has been to stay close to the shore. In a water depth of maximum 20 meters. We don’t like to sail in shallow water. Because that is where all the fishing nets and other hazards are located. If something happens, the rocky shore is very close by leaving little time to react. We have a steel ketch with a long keel, so we felt pretty safe and sailed far offshore in deeper waters. Luckily we never saw any killer whales ourselves that year. Last year we cruised the western Mediterranean where the hasn’t been any orca activity. Since the summer of 2022, the Orcas damaged sailboats so badly that 3 actually sank. Luckily there have been no human casualties. Sailors are avoiding the areas where orca sightings have been reported. We have heard reports that some harbors in these areas are nearly empty. The sailing community is continually discussing the situation with the orcas. All the sailors we’ve met are concerned about them. We’ve heard a multitude of advice from fellow sailors to avoid orca attacks or “encounters “ as they are officially called. These range from dragging a cloth soaked with diesel behind the boat because the orcas find it irritating. To towing a dinghy or an inflatable toy behind the boat, hoping the orcas will play with that instead of damaging the rudder. Some Sailors are ordering pingers to drag behind their boats. This is an acoustic repellent emitted on the 40kHz band with a powerful signal of 175 dB. The sound emitted is not repetitive, which is not very pleasant and thus repels the cetacean. It is just a sound and reportedly doesn’t cause any injury to them. However they are not allowed to be used in Spanish or Portuguese waters. Official advice if you are attacked: Turn everything off. Engine, autopilot, depth sounder etc. Drop your sails and wait till they go away. But sometimes the orcas stay for hours chewing on the rudder and and bumping the hull. Nowadays there is contradictory advice from other marine research groups; turn on your engine and go as quick as possible out of the area. If possible, head to shallow water. To us this makes more sense. The orcas live in groups and are hunting tuna. You come into their area and they want you to leave. They will follow you for a while and when they stray too far from the group, they will turn around. During encounters or attacks, sailors are employing various tactics, some of which are frowned upon or just plain illegal. These include; Placing a metal tube into the water and banging it with a hammer. Pouring sand in the water, sticking lit flares into the water, and throwing large waterproof firecrackers that will explode under water. Anything to stop them from damaging the boat and leave. We had been in the Bay of Gibraltar for a long time and the Orcas are getting more active. Especially around the corner from us on the Atlantic side of the Strait of Gibraltar. A triangle from Tangier to Barbate to Tarifa. We had a good weather window and decided to go. We left early in the morning and went through the Orca alley in daylight. Just in case we had some deterrents ready to use, hoping that we didn’t have to. Hope you enjoy! Don’t forget to like and subscribe If you would like to put something in the “Tip Jar” You can use PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/svmakemyday Music by Chris Foster- Drift away