Yacht sinks after latest incident involving orcas in strait of Gibraltar

An unknown number of orcas have sunk a yacht after ramming it in Moroccan waters in the strait of Gibraltar, Spain’s maritime rescue service has said, in the latest in a series of similar incidents involving the animals.

The vessel, Alboran Cognac, which measured 15 metres (49ft) in length and carried two people, encountered the highly social apex predators, also known as killer whales, at 9am local time on Sunday.

The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before the boat started taking on water. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank.

The incident is the latest example of recurring orca rammings around the Gibraltar strait that separates Europe from Africa and off the Atlantic coast of Portugal and north-western Spain. Experts believe them to involve a subpopulation of about 15 individuals given the designation “Gladis”.

riodoro1,

How did they manage to break the hull?

Evotech,

Fucking yeet

Cort,

I’m guessing fiberglass not a steel hull. So ramming it with the momentum of a small whale would delaminate or crack it.

riodoro1,

That’s why im surprised. The laminate on those boats is pretty damn thick. It takes a lot of force to break it. Blunt meat impacts don’t sound like enough but maybe at this scale it is.

girlfreddy,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

According to the Cruising Association, three yachts were sunk in 2022 and 2023 after orca interactions. As Fantini says, breaking the rudder completely can open a hole, and water can rush in, sinking the boat. Even those sailing in sturdy racing boats, with back-up rudders and rescue services close by, can find the experience frightening.

There’s a video on the source page of the orcas banging against the rudder. bbc.com/…/20230626-why-are-orcas-suddenly-ramming…

ColdWater,
@ColdWater@lemmy.ca avatar

LOL nice

scroll_responsibly,
@scroll_responsibly@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

🫡

fritobugger2017,

A 49ft sail boat is not exactly a yacht. The orcas need to move up to bigger targets like the mega yachts of the oligarchs. Time to arm the orcas.

JayleneSlide,

There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht, as opposed to a boat, such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht

That said, I’m all for training and arming the cetaceans.

theacharnian,
@theacharnian@lemmy.ca avatar

Hahaha

boatsnhos931,

Welp, it’s been nice knowing ya orcas. See you in the extinct animals wiki

Daft_ish,

Save the whales has regularly been my own personal credo. Who knew it was the whales that would save us.

Duamerthrax,

Arm The Whales!

We need to make them metal armor with Naval Rams on them.

dlpkl,

The orcas gave us enough time bring down the bourgeoisie. Now they’re taking things into their own flippers.

noxy,
@noxy@yiffit.net avatar

underwater castle doctrine

Phegan,

Based orcas

sagrotan,
@sagrotan@lemmy.world avatar

Eat the rich.

FuglyDuck,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

Ew. Junk food worse than McDonald’s.

homesweethomeMrL,

Team Orca

JoMiran,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

A theory I read about the genesis of these attacks reads a lot like the plot of that terrible 1970’s B-movie. It sounded far fetched TBH.

https://imgsrc.cineserie.com/2021/10/1931548.jpg

wjrii,

Gladis is latin for ‘sword.’ There’s a militia of a dozen angry boat-sinking orcas with a badass SpecOps nickname, preying on the material resources of the yachting class.

When do we post this one to wholesome news?

Kaput,

Theory that just poped in my mind, orcas have been hurt by large boat are now attacking small ones to kill them before they grow.

JoMiran,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

There is a theory I read that said that it was indeed a boat that accidentally killed a female’s infant. She attacked and figured out that hitting the rudder would make them stop and then she proceeded to teach the pod.

Another I read was that it started as juvenile Orcas just fucking about and now it’s turned into a preferred pastime. AKA, Orca hooligans.

Both seem anecdotal and not scientifically provable though.

ripcord,
@ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

Was there any evidence of any of those or are those theories just fanfic?

JoMiran,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

They were able to trace the start of the behavior down to a single female. All the pods that are doing this are related to her. The “why” did they start is the mystery.

dogslayeggs,

While whale watching in Sea of Cortez, they were saying one small pod of juvenile orcas are straight up dicks. They will attack anything and everything, including taking down blue whales.

I can absolutely see this as hooliganism.

ProvableGecko,

juvenile Orcas just fucking about

Youths

eestileib,

Y00tz

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The play thing seems to be the favored hypothesis by biologists at present.

And I kind of love it. Rich people lose their boats because orcas think they’re fun to sink.

fritobugger2017,

The owner’s of a 49ft sail boat isn’t exactly the kind of “rich” that needs to be targeted.

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