Our member Alessandro Tosetti, headed to Sanremo to complete the Global Solo Challenge , after 78 days of sailing from Auckland passed the Azores and was about to cross the Strait of Gibraltar when he was stopped by a pod of killer whales that damaged the rudder blade.
Having entered the Gulf of Cadiz on Saturday 19 April, Alessandro considered crossing the Strait in the evening and returning to the Mediterranean after 30,000 miles of ocean behind him; he had prepared the boat to face a storm expected in the Alboran Sea over the next two days.
“ I had prepared for the storm and never imagined a group of orcas would attack me in the Strait of Gibraltar. Large animals of about 5 meters that, for about half an hour, beat up Aspra, especially its rudder.
I had positioned myself in a corridor to the South with a few ships to rest a bit… The attack began with a series of blows. I followed the procedure I had read: turned off the autopilot and sonar, closed the sails… Nothing was worth it, after the first blows the hydraulic part of the pilot exploded with all the oil in the bilge, the ropes twisted on the sector, adrift in the middle of the Strait with the ships in transit.
I asked for help from Tarifa MRCC ( editor’s note: the coordination unit of the Search and Rescue operations of the Strait), thinking of being towed. While I was waiting for them, I managed to untangle the knot and free the rudder that seemed to still rotate; on the fly I mounted the emergency tiller and to my surprise I saw that I was able to steer. In this way, under engine power, I steered 12 miles to the port of Tarifa escorted by the tugboat that had arrived in the meantime.
Too bad I discovered that the rudder blade had been mutilated. The axle and bearings seem safe, I hope I can get home like this. If I have done 12 miles, maybe I can do another 800…”
The group of mammals was recognized by the GT Atlantic Orca collective that works for the conservation and management of the Iberian orca, present in around 50 specimens grouped in 5 families. It is considered a subpopulation seriously threatened with extinction, which feeds on Atlantic bluefin tuna and, to follow its movements, migrates from the North in winter to the Strait, where it remains until June. Just like Gladis Albarracín, a female specimen that interacted with Aspra: “she was present in the area in June 2024 and then emigrated to the North with the first groups of orcas that had left the Strait. She is one of the most active orcas and has never stopped interacting with boats since she began this activity”. There have been hundreds of interactions with recreational boats from 2000 to the present.
Biologist Sabina Airoldi, Project Director of the Tethys Research Institute, the research center that studies and monitors cetaceans based in Milan and at our Club, commented on this new behavioral pattern: “The most accredited theory – and one that I also share – is that it is a form of “game”, started by a few individuals and then transmitted to other conspecifics within the same population” says Airoldi. ” There is no evidence to suggest a real attack. If that were the case, a group of killer whales would most likely be able to capsize a small boat, considering that in Antarctica they can lift blocks of pack ice to capture Weddell seals, which often take refuge there to escape predators or to rest. It is therefore not correct to speak of attacks by these marine mammals, but rather of interactions, which in some cases can cause even serious damage to boats”.
Alessandro is currently docked in Aspra at the port of Tarifa, working to fix the hydraulic part of the rudder and reconnect the autopilot so he can set off again as soon as possible and complete his voyage around the world.
We look forward to welcoming Alessandro and ASPRA under the pennant of our sister club, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland.
You can always follow ASPRA tracking here: https://my.yb.tl/ASPRA