Robert Powell, the skipper of the Beneteau 393 Clipper, Bonhomme William, had researched details of any orca encounter in the Strait of Gibraltar before leaving Vilamoura in the Algarve bound for the Greek islands.

After checking the numerous orca Facebook groups, such as Orca Attack Reports, and believing the orcas were now heading north, following the migrating tuna, he felt now would be a good time to sail his yacht to the Greek islands with crew.

“I’d looked at all of the orca sites and there hadn’t been any sightings, but there are so many sites now that do orca alerts, but I looked at the ones I follow and there seemed to be no sightings of orcas in the area where I was due to sail. I felt it was safe to sail the route I had chosen, which was in around 40m of water.

“I know the advice is to hug the coast in around 20m of water but that would have added days to the journey. I assessed the risk, and I had sailed across the Bay of Cadiz at this time of year before and I thought it was worth the risk,” said Powell.

Bonhomme William left Portugal on 23 July 2024,

Bonhomme William tooks 30 minutes to sink following the orca encounter. Credit: Robert Powell

By the following evening, the yacht was off Punta Camarinal in the Strait of Gibraltar.

” I went up on deck, and all of a sudden, I heard a crunch, and it sounded like I’d hit a rock. It was like a really loud scraping noise and there was a real big shudder on the boat. I thought I’d hit a container or a fishing net or something submerged. I was probably about five miles out so it was unlikely to be a rock and there was nothing on the charts.

I took the boat off auto and just took the wheel for a sec. And as I took the wheel, I felt the rudder go, and I heard the noise again. I thought, Geez, that’s not a rock. I thought maybe a rope had wrapped around the prop, but then I looked off the back of the boat, and there were two fairly young orcas, not quite fully grown.”

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This was the start of a two-and-a-half hour orca encounter which resulted in the sinking of Bonhomme William.

Powell said he followed the orca encounter advice: he let go of the wheel, tried to outrun the orcas and put the boat in reverse, all to no avail.

“They just didn’t let up. One of them had the rudder in its mouth, it was like it was trying to wrench it off, and then I spotted a third orca which came in and banged against the rudder as well. I know there is advice to completely stop the boat but I didn’t feel comfortable with that, although it wasn’t long before we couldn’t go anywhere because the rudder was broken.”

Orcas have been interacting with small yachts off the Iberian Peninsula since 2020. Photo: Martyn & Zoe Barlow

Powell said he threw pingers and firecrackers into the water.

“They took no notice whatsoever,” said Powell. “After 40 minutes of trying to outrun them, putting the boat in reverse, they had disabled the rudder. That is when I saw two very big orcas sitting off the boat, around 10-15m away from the other three. I decided to put out a Mayday because, at that moment, I felt I was in a bit of trouble.”

As he was trying to contact the Spanish Coastguard, one of the larger orcas crashed into the boat.

“There were five of them just slamming into the side of the boat and one of them was hitting the keel as well; I could feel the shudder through the boat. I was concerned about taking on water so I checked the bilges and the keel bolts; there was no sign of water. By now, we knew that a rescue vessel was being sent, but we had no ETA as to when it would arrive,” explained Powell.

The orcas continued to hit the boat’s hull until it cracked amidships.

“I saw water coming in from the starboard side of the boat, but I couldn’t pinpoint the source, which I believe was behind the cooking and fridge unit on the boat. From the photos I took, you can see the damage to the stern and around the rudder which is to be expected from where they were smashing it. I am no expert, but I think the orca just used their bulk to crack the hull.”

Rudders are often targeted by the orcas. Photo: Martyn & Zoe Barlow

Powell said he believes one of the large orcas was White Gladis, known locally for being involved in encounters with boats.

The crew of Bonhomme William had already deployed their liferaft, as well as the boat’s tender with its outboard engine; the Spanish Coastguard advised them not to get into either the liferaft or tender if orca were still in the area and to “stay on the boat for as long as possible”.

By the time the Spanish rescue boat had arrived, the yacht was already half-submerged.

“The captain of the boat asked permission to come onboard to see if he could save the boat, but he said there was just too much water to pump; she could not be saved. I saw the orca when I first spotted the rescue boat and then didn’t see them again. I can only assume the loud engine noise meant they cleared off.”

The crew were then safely transferred to Barbate.

Powell said he was surprised by the ferocity of the orca encounter, although he said the Coastguard were less surprised.

“There are a lot of people who want to protect the killer whales and I understand that. I don’t want to hurt a killer whale; they are beautiful creatures. It’s just unfortunate that we’ve got this current battle between sailing boats and nature,” he said.

Robert Powell started sailing four years ago and spent much of the summer working on Bonhomme William before his planned voyage to Greece. Credit: Robert Powell

Powell says in hindsight he would not have done the voyage. He would also have stopped the boat immediately and turned everything off as soon as the orca encounter began.

“I am no longer convinced there is a so-called orca season. The information I got originally was the orcas sit in the Strait waiting for the tuna to run, which is normally in June. The orca then chase them north which is why you normally get sightings in middle and northern Spain, northern Portugal and southern France in mid-July.  When I spoke to the rescue boat crew, they said they did not think the orca even left the Strait anymore.”

He advises other sailors planning voyages in the area to follow the advice and hug the coastline in 20m of water.

“As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t tenable to hug a coastline in 20m and have 2-3 days added onto the journey. So I think now, sailors have to seriously think about if they really want to sail in that area, especially if orcas are always there. Until there is a solution it is just luck really.”

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