In times of old, a sailors biggest fear was attack by sea creatures – The Kraken and its like. As the sea was tamed by better and bigger boats the reality was revealed that bad weather was the cause of most maritime losses. With the advent of more sophisticated weather modelling like the ones we use, a sailor would be unlucky to be caught in weather beyond the capability of the crew or the boat.
So what next to worry about?!
Scurvy?!
Next on my list would ordinarily be underwater objects. Occasionally a big log or tree washed offshore can do damage to smaller sailing vessels, but the real killer is shipping containers washed overboard and floating, like icebergs, just under the water. A collision at 6 knots would severely impair hull integrity and a sinking would be a real possibility. There would probably be time to deploy the life raft in that situation.
But imagine the irony, that we have now come full circle and that the biggest risk we face travelling along the North Atlantic Coast from Brest to Tangier is sea creatures, and more particularly the Orca aka Killer Whale!
Over the last four years many vessels have been damaged by Orca attack, specifically, they collide with and chew the rudders off boats, leaving them without the ability to steer, and in need of assistance. A number of theories abound, as to the cause of this behaviour. Some believe the Orcas consider sailors are involved in the reduction of the tuna pods and are seeking to preserve the food source by attacking competitors, others believe one or two rogue whales are simply enjoying a little bit of vandalism, not unlike some of our own teenagers!
Four weeks ago, a U.K. vessel was sunk off the Portuguese coast when the rudder stock punctured the hull, leaving a family to abandon ship and await rescue from the Salvamento. With this near fatal collision the authorities are under greater pressure to come up with a solution. What that might be is difficult to envisage.
If it is a vandal like behaviour, the risk is it is spreading amongst the pod and may spread to other pods around the world. There are thousands of whales all around, but they operate as individual families and the only pod to adopt this destructive behaviour is the Galician Pod.
Here is video of them caught red handed (so to speak) this week.
So what can we do?
1. Keep an eye on the Cruising Association web site for recent interactions.
2. In all non Spanish waters deploy anti depredation devices aka pingers, designed to repel cetations including Orcas. Unfortunately it is illegal to use them in Spanish waters as the authorities believe it upsets Orcas intent on sinking sail boats.
3. Bang a scaffold pole hung in the water. Authorities found this worked when trying to force whales away from oil spills. We’ll see what it works keep them away from us!
Finally, it is recommended that chlorine be flushed through the heads, some recommend trailing a diesel soaked rag, and others recommend putting the boat into reverse and driving towards them, to frighten them with a propeller.
Hopefully we won’t need to find out which, if any of these, work!
Carioca Sailing 
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