A crew of Norwegian sailors have recounted how they survived their terrifying encounter with a pod of killer whales as a damaged tourist vessel sank nearby.
The Norwegian Najad 570 ‘Nova Vida’ set out on Saturday to sail from Cascais, off the coast of Lisbon, to Sines when they were attacked by orcas.
Video from their cockpit shared with the Daily Mail showed the boat’s steering wheels spinning as killer whales circled just after 12pm on September 13.
Lisa Festervoll, among the crew, said they had been travelling for two weeks and were aware of recent encounters in the area, which they had been monitoring.
‘There is very little you can do to avoid the attacks completely, and it seems that a lot of it is luck,’ she told Seilmagasinet.
The crew slammed the boat into reverse when the orcas suddenly attacked the helm. Having sustained heavy hits to the rudder, ‘we quickly lost control’, she said.
The whole boat shook, ‘hit hard and quickly’. They were ‘in disbelief’ as a six-metre long killer whale passed by the side of the vessel.
With the rudders struck several times, the vessel began to turn in circles. A tracker showed the vessel circle eight times as the crew tried to fend off the whales.
They used what they had to hand, and poured vinegar on the orcas in the hope it might deter them from attacking. Whether or not it would work, they did not know.
But after ‘several intense minutes and hard hits on the rudder’, the whales finally moved on to the nearby Oceanview to join up with a pod attacking the sinking boat.
The crew of the Nova Vida scramble to keep the boat under control during the orca attack
The quick-thinking team used what they had available and poured vinegar in the ocean
The Oceanview tourist boat sank after being attacked by a pod of orcas on Saturday
The Oceanview (front) is attacked by orcas with the Nova Vida (back) nearby
Orcas seen off the coast of Lisbon, where multiple boats have been attacked in recent days
Footage showed the crew walking on the deck, pouring vinegar into the ocean as the boat turned in rapid circles.
The crew maintained composure and poured liquid from a large water bottle around the boat as to not feel helpless.
Whether or not it worked, the orcas circling the Nova Vida eventually gave up and joined the five or six others tracking the Oceanview.
Oceanview, a tourist boat, was ‘ravaged’ by the orcas until it sank. Pictures shared with the Mail showed the stern sticking out above the waves, the rest underwater.
All five people on board were rescued, but the crew on board the Nova Vida spent another hour and a half sat waiting for help.
Festervoll said they could only ‘cross their fingers’ that the pod would not return to attack their damaged boat.
The Norwegians could be seen in the background of video footage as the Oceanview tourist boat was rushed until it sank off Fonte da Telha beach on Saturday.
In the end, the crew of the Nova Vida were able to install their emergency rudder and pry it enough to get them the 10 nautical miles back to Cascais, to the north.
A rib from the coast guard came to support, driving alongside on standby.
The Nova Vida will need a few weeks of repairs before it is ready to set sail again.
Morten, one of the crew members, plans to cross the Atlantic in the battle-hardened Najad 570.
Local media reports that four people had to be rescued after being rammed by the same pod that attacked the five on the Oceanview.
The Nova Vida sustained significant but not critical damage from the orca attacks
Moments before, the crew of the Nova Vida had been enjoying rolling on the waves
The Oceanview (pictured) was attacked on September 13 until it sank, after the pod of orcas tried to attack the Nova Vida
A rib from the coast guard came to support, driving alongside on standby
The Nova Vida returned to dock for a ‘few weeks’ of repairs before its next journey
Data shows the path of the boat after the rudder was knocked, sending it spinning
Portuguese coastguard officials said the Oceanview sinking occurred approximately five nautical miles from the beach at Fonte da Telha.
Footage of the incident shared by sailing company Mercedes-Benz Oceanic Lounge showed an orca repeatedly striking the underside of the yacht.
Bernardo Queiroz, director of the Oceanic Lounge, said his vessel was on a dolphin watching tour when they noticed the Oceanview making erratic movements.
The Portuguese coast guard was called in two days later, on Monday, to save four people stuck on a sailboat in Costa da Caparica that suffered ‘successive collisions … caused by orcas’, before being accompanied on to the port of Cascais, to the north.
Attacks are relatively common. Between 2020 and 2023 there were reportedly around 500 attacks.
No humans have been injured, but 20 per cent of the vessels have been damaged and several were lost.
