Aleria's Adventures

Yannick Lemmonier, sailmaker from Galway, aboard his Mini.  The MiniTransat fleet pulled into Baiona, Spain to avoid heavy weather and orca attacks. The Minis were being thrown around like dinghies by the whales and apparently, the aluminium mini 650 support boat was attacked. They had a nasty go at his rudder.  Several other yachts have been towed to Baiona, a UK vessel to Vigo and a Swiss boat to Cangas. The activity of the whales is very high off Galicia, Spain right now. The current advice is not to transit these waters until later in October.  Many thanks to Rhys Walters for the report and photos. Severe weather warning for fleet Map of latest Orca interactions

Orcinus orca  While working the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) pandemic response in the Atlantic, we had multiple reports of whales being struck by boats crossing from the Caribbean to Europe. One report, however,  was instead about whales attacking a boat. The yacht was transitting from Portugal to La Linea when orcas repeatedly rammed the vessel and spun it around 180 degrees. Every time they tried to resume course, they were rammed again, almost like the whales wanted them to leave. After the boat remained motionless for a period, the whales finally swam away. Although the sailors noted some damage to their steering, they were able to safely enter the port. Since then, numerous reports have appeared from the Straits of Gibraltar to the NW corner of Spain. Others weren't so lucky. Scientists can’t explain why killer whales are interacting with sailboats off the coast of Galicia and Portugal. Researchers say it is very unusual for orcas to show aggressive behaviour and ram into bo...