Dorset man's killer whale near miss off Portugal coast
Dieter Peschkes was approached by two 3m killer whales while sailing back to the UK.
Last updated 2nd Oct 2021
A Dorset man's boat was attacked by killer whales on the trip back from Portugal.
Two 3m killer began to bite the rudder of the boat while Dieter Peschkes made his way back from delivering a boat in Portugal.
It follows an rise in attacks there over the past year which is puzzling scientists.
Dieter said:
"We were sailing, the conditions were perfect, when suddenly we felt the boat judder. We thought maybe we'd hit some debris in the water or caught a discarded fishing net around the propeller.
"We went up to the stern of the boat and went to take the wheel but as we did so the steering was pulled out of our hands and we looked over the back and there were two orcas going for the rudders under the boat.
"We first of all cut our engine then we cut all our electronic gear like the sonar, radar, because we've heard that can make them aggressive or get them confused, and then we just drifted.
"They continued coming in and hitting the side of the boat and hitting the rudders for about 15 to 20 minutes."
Dieter says his main concern was whether or not they would damage the boats steering. The boat was made of full aluminium which Dieter says is sturdy enough that they wouldn't be able to damage the hull.
But he told Greatest Hits Radio he still came away pretty lucky:
"On the same day as we were attacked, there were two other boats in a 30 mile radius of us that were attacked.
"One of them lost their steering gear and had to be towed in, and the other had a crew member injured."
The crew member fell over and sustained injuries when the killer whales first struck the boat.
Dieter added finally:
"They are very graceful to see in the water and I think we were very lucky to see them. They were beautiful to watch."