“They rammed us again and again with a run-up and with full force”

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Meanwhile, Werner Schaufelberger (72) can laugh about the incident. But on the night from Thursday to Friday last week it was not “really funny”, says the experienced sailor in an interview with Blick.

Schaufelberger was with his crew on the Swiss sailing yacht “Champagne” from Tenerife to Benalmadena in southern Spain when a pod of killer whales suddenly attacked the boat shortly after midnight. “At first I thought we had rammed something,” says Schaufelberger. “But after a short while we realized they were killer whales.”

Holes temporarily closed

The crew shut down the ship’s engine immediately after the initial attack, Schaufelberger said. Meanwhile, the killer whale attack continued. “There were two smaller and one larger orca. The two little ones shake the rudder in the back. The big one kept running and rammed the ship with full force,” says Schaufelberger. At one point, the two smaller killer whales also started to ram the ship with a run-up.

Nearly two hours into the attack, the crew then discovered two holes in the rear of the ship. Water entered the ship through these holes. “We have tried to provisionally seal the gaps. We then alerted the coastguard,” says the skipper. “We had a sick feeling,” says Schaufelberger. “But after so many years at sea, you’re not really afraid anymore.”

“Seeing a ship sink for the first time”

A nearby lifeboat recharges the exhausted sailors. The yacht is taken in tow, but the damage is too great. Shortly before entering the harbor the water is up to the deck. At one point only the mast sticks out above the sea. Schaufelberger and his crew have to watch as their “Champagne” sinks in the Mediterranean Sea. “I saw a ship sink for the first time – the moment is special,” says the experienced sailor.

Orca attacks are frequent in the area. Most of the time, however, these would be harmless. “Normally there is only minor damage to ships, if any. Killer whales never actually destroy such ships.” According to the German Foundation for the Preservation of the Sea, only three ships have been completely destroyed by killer whales.

“could have been worse”

Despite the moment of fright and the sunken yacht: Schaufelberger bears no grudge against the animals. “We don’t know why killer whales keep attacking ships, but I don’t blame them.”

Researchers have long wondered why whales regularly attack ships. In 2020, biologist Juan Antonio Romero said, “The only clear answer we can give is that we have no idea what’s going on.”

Of course he would have liked to keep the ship in its entirety, says Schaufelberger. “If everything had gone according to plan, I would not be at home now, but on the high seas for Mallorca.” But: “In the end, relatively little happened. The boat may have sunk, but we were rescued and we are fine. It shows that it could have been much worse.”

Source: Blick