For me it wasn't a game at all, they knew exactly what they were doing"
"They knew the boat's weak points and knew how to sink it," owner Richard Powell told the New York Post.
Last week, an orca group sank his Oceanis 393 "Bonhomme William", worth around 130,000 euros, after attacks that lasted two hours. Powell, 59, and two fellow sailors had been on a ten-day trip from Vilamoura, Portugal, to Greece for 22 hours. Powell wanted to celebrate his birthday on board. The attack occurred about two nautical miles off the Spanish coast in water about 40 metres deep.
Their only intention was to sink the boat, and that was it"
Alleged intentional behaviour
According to Powell, five orcas circled the sailing yacht and took turns smashing it around 8 p.m. in a coordinated attack that Powell likened to the slaughter of wolves.
The owner of an IT company said he felt the first impact on the bottom of the boat and assumed the yacht had run over a rock.
"While I was looking around the boat to see if I could spot anything - I was doing about five to six knots - it was hit again," Powell said.
"On the second hit, I looked over the stern of the boat and could see the dark shape of a killer whale in the water."
First the rudder destroyed, then the yacht
The group of five initially focussed on the rudder, so that the sailboat was no longer steerable after around 15 hits.
Then the Orcas split up, each focussing on a different part of the boat, including the keel and stern.
They were circling. It was like watching wolves hunt"
"They took it in turns to get to the boat - sometimes two would come at the same time and strike. That was pretty scary, of course."
It took an hour and a half before the hull gave way under the pressure of the whales and broke, causing the water to pour into the saloon.
Although the crew radioed for help immediately after the attack began, it took two hours for Spanish sea rescuers to arrive and rescue the crew, just minutes before the yacht sank.
Defence measures ineffective
Powell said he tried everything from throwing firecrackers into the water to switching off the engine to fend off the attack, but nothing helped.
It was a very long attack and I was surprised by its ferocity"
Powell believes the group - which included two juvenile orcas - could be the same group that has terrorised other skippers in European waters in recent years.
I have the feeling that they are boat sinkers"
"They knew what they were doing, I'm sure of it. It's only a matter of time before someone shoots one of these killer whales," Powell warned. "The battle between man and beast is only going to get worse. Luckily none of us were in the water and got hurt."
It's a lottery whether they hit you or not"
