Video: Orcas attack Dutch team in Ocean Race; No injuries

Three orcas attacked the Dutch sailing team JAJO during a leg of the Ocean Race on Thursday. The team managed to film the killer whales banging their heads against the rudders of their sailing yacht. Luckily, the damage was limited, and the sailors and orcas all escaped the incident unharmed.

The orcas attacked when the team was just off the Strait of Gibraltar in the leg from The Hague to Genoa. “Impressive to see the orcas, first of all. A beautiful animal. But also a dangerous moment for us on the team. The team reacted really well, and we took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible. Luckily after a few attacks, they went away. But a scary moment,” JAJO captain Jeroen van Beek said.

The attack lasted about 15 minutes. The sailors scared them away by making noise, and the killer whales eventually left. The team was in second place in the Ocean Race when the Orcas attacked and in fourth place once they could get sailing again.

A spokesperson for the Ocean Race told Omroep West that, as far as they know, both the orcas and the crew escaped the attack unharmed. “As far as we can tell, the boat is also damage-free, but you can imagine that we were not able to carry out a full check.”

Brend Schuil, the on-board reporter aboard Team JAJO, told the broadcaster that the team was prepared for a possible orca attack because it has been known to happen in the area. “So we had discussed what we would do if such a situation arose,” he said. “The whole crew reacted calmly and professionally, and luckily I had my gear ready, so I could get some footage.”

This is the second clash between orcas and Dutch sailors this week. On Wednesday, Dutch sailor Wim Rutten told the Volkskrant that an orca repeatedly bumped into his ship off the coast of Norway. Rutten and his sailboat escaped unharmed.

Orcas have also been attacking sailing boats around the waterway between Spain and Marocco. The reason for the killer whales’ sudden targeting of fishing boats remains unclear, but there are several theories, Jeroen Hoekendijk of the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) told NU.nl.

One theory is that an orca had a bad experience with a bot off the Spanish coast and taught younger killer whales to target boats. Another possibility is that the orcas attack ships because fishermen bother them. “Orcas and fishermen both hunt bluefin tuna. There is tension there,” Hoekendijk said. It is also possible that the animals swim into the boats out of curiosity.