'Oh No': Orca Rams and Lifts Yacht in Latest Portugal Attack

An orca rammed and lifted up a yacht with its mouth in the latest attack to occur off the coast of Portugal.

Experienced sailors Paul and Norma Russell had been sailing from Cascais to Sines, coastal Portuguese towns, when the orca approached and began terrorizing the boat on October 5.

Since 2020, there have been hundreds of interactions between orcas and boats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. The encounters have ranged from orcas simply approaching boats to actively interfering with them. It is not clear whether the same orcas have participated in the attacks or why they are doing it. Some scientists suspect it may be learned behavior within a particular pod.

Orcas, which are highly intelligent creatures, have often been observed interfering with boats as a game. Experts investigating the interactions do not believe they are an act of aggression. But as the whales can sometimes grow as large as 26 feet, the incidents can sometimes cause severe damage.

Paul Russell told Newsweek that he and Norma, his wife, as well as two friends had "listened with growing concern" to VHF traffic regarding orcas' attacks on boats. In fact, orcas had attacked another yacht just one hour before the incident occurred.

"After hearing a steady stream of reports of yachts being damaged in this region, plus seeing evidence of yachts on the hardstanding with rudder damage in virtually every marina since leaving La Coruna [in Spain], we were of course very concerned," Russell said.

He continued: "I wouldn't say that we were scared—if you're scared you really shouldn't be out there. But we certainly had a healthy dose of trepidation and a feeling that it was only a matter of time before we met up with an overly tactile orca of our own."

Norma was sitting outside on the deck at the precise moment the orca surfaced directly beneath the boat and began swimming alongside.

"Oh no, we have got an orca," she said at the time.

"This rather highlights our feelings, as we were half expecting it and it seemed to be our turn. I said everyone should get into the cockpit and away from the sides and turned [the yacht] 90 degrees to port heading for the beach about three miles distant," Paul Russell told Newsweek.

He continued: "The orca surfaced alongside a couple of times but made no contact and we relaxed a bit. It was then that I made my first radio broadcast giving our position and saying that we had a large orca alongside, but no contact had been made. Meanwhile, everyone was standing in the cockpit talking excitedly about where it would appear next. Norma grabbed her phone and moved onto the cabin roof area in order to grab a picture if it was possible."

Norma managed to capture video footage of the orca swimming alongside the yacht before it began ramming.

The orca then began to nudge the boat. Russell said no one panicked but tension filled the air as the orca continued to push the boat.

Russell kept the engine running, but the orca kept ramming the boat. It did so from both sides and then moved to the rear.

The orca then lifted the back of the boat with its mouth before dropping it back into the water. The whale continued to ram the boat for 15 minutes before it swam away.

"At no time did I feel that [the boat] or the crew were in any immediate life-threatening danger, but that doesn't detract from our general feeling of being subject to the whims of a force much greater than our own," Russell said. "The general consensus was that we were strangely glad that it had happened, as it was definitely a...less ordinary experience, but we are in no rush to experience it again anytime soon."

Had the crew been in a smaller boat, Russell said, the damage would have been much worse.