“37:57.046N 8:51.977W”

1349 Miles since leaving Sandwich

Cascais to Sines We meet Orcas and lose a good friend 1-4 October 2022

The day before we departed Cascais Norma had a bit of luck and found 10 euros laying on the pavement. I shared the luck by having my hair cut and you guessed it that cost 10 Euros meaning Norma gets to step out with a newly trimmed Paul the lucky girl.

The morning of the 5^th October saw Spectra with a newly varnished back end departing Cascais skippered by a very smart yachting gentleman and what a sight we both made. As mentioned before there had been a whole series of Orca attacks over the last few days and to say we were nervous was an understatement.  Of course, it happened, and we had a meeting with a large Orca along the way. After the event I produced an official report for the Cruising association and Orca watch Iberia as they are tracking these incidents. Rather than repeating myself I have copied the report below which covers all of the salient points. What it doesn’t cover is how scary / awesome the experience was. The Orca came from nowhere and any thought of my planned defences went straight out of the window. I had previously decided not to turn everything off and play possum which is the current advise and instead opted to keep the engine running at the same speed and head for shallow water. My thought process behind this was simple, if the Orca was trying to scare us away, then I was only too happy to move away and let it go about its business. Second reason is that I would rather be proactively doing something that passively hoping the problem would go away and finally turning everything off, dropping sails and lying dead in the water or running your engine in reverse simply doesn’t seem to be working as yachts are still getting their rudders bent almost on a daily basis.

Anyway, here is the report:

Position of incident:   38.20.97 N   9.03.9 W Approx 5 miles SSE of Sesimbra.

Time 1230 Local 5^th October 2022

We were on passage from Cascais to Sines. At 1030 the wind died and so we dropped all sails and started the engine. Our plan was to keep below 100 meters as much as possible while maintaining a fairly direct line to Sines. After passing Cabo Espichel we turned to port aiming to skirt along the edge of the deep water in the Canhao de Setabul (761 Meter) and then turn to Starboard as the water shallowed.

Approximately 1100 we heard a report of an Orca attacking a 10-meter yacht “Calluna” somewhere ahead. We did not get the exact position but estimated it to be in the middle of the deep-water channel. The yacht reported the Orca left them after 15 minutes, they had sustained damage to their rudder but could still steer to a limited degree and were making their way to Sines for inspection and repair. Another yacht contacted them and offered to shadow them.

 1230: In 120 meters depth a large Orca surfaced behind us. I turned 90 degrees to port heading directly for the shallow water and maintained speed, 6.7 Kts under engine alone. The Orca then surfaced very close to our Port aft and came along side its estimated length was 5-6 meters. I radioed an all-stations position report saying we had a large Orca alongside with no hull contact at this time.

 At 1235 the Orca made first contact with the hull on the aft port side. I updated the, all station radio report, with the information that the Orca was now making contact with us. 

 For the next 15 minutes the Orca alternately brushed up against our Port and starboard sides always at the back. We all felt the stern being lifted as it passed under the hull. The contact could be felt as shoves more than blows and the lifting of the hull was only approx. 0.5 meters maximum but then Spectra does weigh 18 Tonnes so that is a lot of weight to shove around.

 I kept the rudder centralised and didn’t feel any significant impact although with hydraulic steering the wheel does not transmit much if any feedback at the best of times.

 After approximately 15 minutes the Orca was seen swimming away to the North West.

 My impression was that we were being warned off or shepherded away from the deeper water. Perhaps there was a young orca nearby? That is pure conjecture as we saw no other Orcas.

 We continued in towards the beach and hugged the coast keeping below 50 meters for the rest of the trip and had no other sightings.

Yacht:    Spectra

Make:   Vagabond 47

Type:     Long Keel cutter rigged ketch

LOA:      15 Meters + Bowsprit

LWL:      10.97 meters

Beam:   4.06 meters

Draft:    1.7 meters

Displacement:   18144 Kg

Antifoul: Black

And that is it. We got into Sines later in the day and met up with Petra and Benjamin from the yacht Calluna who had been attacked earlier. They had a bent rudder and steering arm which would require a lift out for repair. Lovely young Dutch couple who now have had their plans rearranged by a force of nature beyond their control. To be honest they were very philosophical about it and we were all quite upbeat as we drank a few beers while swapping videos and war stories in equal measures.

The next morning the water was clear enough to allow me to see the whole of Spectra’s rudder. After checking the linkages inside Norma wound the wheel back and forward while I stared from the pontoon. Apart from two rubbed lines on the rudder we have escaped unscathed. PHEW!!!

Unfortunately, other yachts hadn’t been so lucky and apart from Calluna there were three more on the hard standing awaiting repair all with rudder damage from Orcas.

Repeated strikes caused this rudder to delaminate

Another one with a chunk taken out

The second bit of bad news was from our friend Stuart back in Ramsgate via WhatsApp later in the morning. We discovered that our dear friend Tony had died in Canterbury hospital while we were at sea. Tony had been ill for a while but to be honest we were all confident that he would pull through. Affectionately known as Gay Tony (by me) he certainly was, and I feel honoured to have known him. A great guy with some fascinating stories to tell and always with a twinkle in his eye and a pursing of his lips. He will be missed by all that had the privilege to call him a friend.

Tony Smythe, Lovely man and a good friend

Sines was a nice stopover, but it is sad to see that it has been hit rather hard by covid and the economy downturn. The last time we were here in 2014 the town was growing, and investment was coming in. This time unfortunately that seems to have stopped and it was looking a bit tatty around the edges. I expect it will improve as the next season brings in more revenue, I certainly hope so as I do like the place.

I’m going to stop now as Tommy is in need of a beer and is staring at the back of my head like an angry cat who has been shut outside on a cold winter’s night looking through the window.

I know he is there I’m just not going to look.