Since 2020 there has been a new pattern of behaviour within a population of orcas that feeds on and follows the migration of tuna exiting the Mediterranean from the Strait of Gibraltar and heading West and North around the Iberian Peninsula over a period of several months.

This behaviour has seen juvenile orcas interact with vessels (mostly sailboats) that are transiting this coastline, in many instances causing damage to rudders. Orca encounters are now a common risk for yachts making passage in the waters off the western Iberian peninsula.

Many yachts don’t come across Orcas and a great number sight killer whales but have an incident-free encounter. However there are instances where interactions have appeared “threatening”, with a growing number of yachts suffering severe rudder damage.

Up until July 2022, interactions were limited to just damage; the orcas’ ‘playing’ with rudders of sailing boats essentially left them stranded, but otherwise intact. The worst that happened was a wait for rescue, and then an expensive repair bill.

But that changed in July 2022 when a family’s boat sank after a late-night ‘interaction’ off Sines in the south of Portugal, followed by a second sinking off Viana do Castelo in the north of Portugal at the start of November 2022.

The reason for this recent and repetitive behavior towards small vessels is still not fully understood and after more than two years of increased interactions between orca and yachts, no one appears to have worked out why they are happening, or how to stop them. Is playing with yachts just “in vogue” for orcas? is an interesting article with some alternative views from scientists.

Tools for finding the Orcas

A growing number of yachting organisations are publishing advice for yachts, alongside recommendations from orca working groups. This can all be found in the useful resources on this page, as well as news of reported encounters with yachts and orca-related reports.

The Cruising Association are asking yachts to report on sightings and interactions so they can compare data received from interactions against the same data set reported by boats on passage through the affected areas without an interaction. Go to https://www.theca.org.uk/orcas/interaction-report-form. Their advice and findings can be found at www.theca.org.uk/orcas. After approximately six months of collating data, the CA’s Orca taskforce are currently looking at the possibility that black antifoul might factor into the orca behaviour.

Even more useful is a new app, launched in January 2023 by the Spanish authorities, called Orcinus. This is a community driven app, free to download, to report orca sightings and interactions and display real-time incidents to all app users. Find out more at this news report.

An NGO run site supported by several institutions which is widely being used by a group of scientists in the region is https://www.orcaiberica.org/last-interactions.

There are now two WhatsApp conversation groups for yachts transiting this coast. One of the groups is for sharing the location of orcas only, and the other is a discussion group to exchange experiences and mitigation actions to avoid an incident. 500+ members. Go to https://linktr.ee/orcas.portugal to sign up.

If you are planning a passage around the Iberian peninsula, do your research first and identify where you can get the latest location information on encounters and orca sightings. Download Orcinus. The facebook pages/WhatsApp groups established for cruisers to discuss and report encouters, are useful to read so that you as Skipper can establish what encounter-plan you intend to follow should you come across orcas on passage. Methods used vary greatly and should be considered alongside the official guidelines. See useful resources below for helpful links.