Iberian Peninsula: orca attacks Portugal sink sailing yacht Ti’fare

The second sinking in a month

The waters off the Iberian Peninsula are again under the spotlight for reasons that challenge the long-held safety of mariners. Last Friday, maritime authorities received a distress call that confirmed the latest serious incident involving orca attacks Portugal has recorded. The French sailing yacht Ti’fare, carrying a family of five (two parents and three young children), was aggressively rammed by orcas approximately 50 nautical miles off the coast of Peniche, Portugal. The impact, focused on the rudder, caused the vessel to take on water rapidly, forcing the crew to abandon ship. The quick action of the family, successfully boarding their life raft, was crucial. This incident marks the second yacht sinking in a single month due to these aggressive encounters, underlining a growing maritime security concern in the region.

The family’s rescue highlighted seamless cooperation between private and public naval operations. A good Samaritan fishing boat, the Silmar, was the first on the scene, successfully picking up all five family members from their life raft. Subsequently, the Portuguese Air Force dispatched a Merlin helicopter from Montijo, safely transporting the survivors to shore at around 2300 hours that same evening. This dramatic rescue underscores the volatility introduced by the local pod of Iberian orcas. For years, these attacks, which exclusively target the rudders of slow-moving sailing yachts, have baffled researchers. The prevailing theory, supported by researcher Lamya Essemlali, is that these incidents are a form of play, with the objective being to make the vessel spin, rather than a deliberate, malicious intent to sink the yacht or harm humans—a crucial distinction for mariners operating near the Strait of Gibraltar and the wider Atlantic Ocean.

Why the Iberian orcas are targeting yachts?
The ongoing issue of rudder damage and subsequent sinkings has transformed what was once a rare event into a persistent threat, fundamentally altering the calculus for cruising in the area. Experts point out that if the orcas truly intended to consistently destroy vessels, the sinkings would be far more frequent; of the hundreds of harassed yachts, only a handful have succumbed. Nevertheless, the recent sinking of the Ti’fare is a stark and timely reminder that while no fatal orca attack on a person in the wild has ever been recorded, the material threat to property is real and immediate. The maritime community, from marine rescue personnel to private sailors, must adapt their strategies for transiting the Iberian Peninsula.

Source: maritimescrimes.com