Killer Whales Wreak Havoc on Sailing Yachts
The Bad Boys of the Orca World
Meet the orca group responsible for ramming yachts.
If you’re reading this online while you sail your yacht around the world, you may want to put down your device and instead scan the horizon for orcas.
Orcas, also known as killer whales, just made headlines again for sinking yet another yacht near the Strait of Gibraltar (in southwest Europe).
Have all orcas in the world set out to target the typically luxurious boats of the wealthy?
The “bad boys” of the orca world
The latest yacht to be sunk was not a small or unsafe vessel. It was a 50-foot-long sailing yacht, and its occupants had to be rescued from the open ocean at the site of the sinking.
This attack marks the fifth time in the past three years that yachts targeted by orcas have been so badly damaged that they’ve sunk. Although not all of the cases where killer whales have attacked such ships have led to them sinking, scientists have documented more than 50 similar cases since 2020.
There are several interesting aspects to these reports. One is that most of the attacks seem to have taken place in this same part of the ocean, off the coasts of Spain, Morocco, and…
