Yorkshire sailor who feared for his life warns orca attacks could cost lives as crews turn to flares and spikes

Heath Samples, 57, is a life-long sailor - having grown up on the coast of Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Over the past five years, a subpopulation of orcas have began ramming into non-motored boats off the coasts of Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and France.

According to 2024 research and the International Whaling Commission, at least 673 'interactions' have been documented since May 2020.

Heath told how his yacht was attacked by three orcas in 2022 - leaving him and his crew terrified and causing £24k of damage.

Some members of the yachting community have begun using dangerous deterrents including pouring petrol, throwing flares and affixing spikes, he claims.

Others have re-directed their sailing routes or cancelled their plans altogether - as attacks can threaten their homes, livelihoods and even lives.

To avoid harming the orcas, Heath and his sailing pal, Mark Hirst, 61, have designed a rudder attachment which masks the rudder noises that alert orcas.

Heath, who works in IT but has four decades of sailing experience, said: "Nobody knows for sure why these attacks are spreading or what we can do about it.

"We don't know for sure whether it's for fun, practice or mistaking the yachts for prey.

"When it happened to us, we were petrified.

"I can understand people's frustration but I can't condone using animal cruelty to deter them either.

"But if this continues, I can guarantee lives will be lost."

Iberian orcas were not known to attack boats and it shocked people when incidents became more frequent from 2020.

Some experts think orcas may be copying one another and teaching the behaviour to their young.

Heath said: "We don't know whether they are using the rudders as practice, to teach their babies how to attack.

"Or maybe they actually think the rudder is prey.

"From what we understand, it could be to do with the movement of the rudder creating frequencies underwater which sounds like prey.

"When you're sailing, you're moving the rudder all the time and you can't stop that.

"They don't seem to be attacking motorboats, which don't have rudders."

Heath's own orca attack saw two adults and a calf batter the Beneteau Oceanis 40 yacht he was sailing.

He said: "Myself, Mark and two others were sailing 1,700 miles from Scarborough to just south of Barcelona in July 2022.

"We were five nautical miles south of Barbate, Spain, and it was a beautiful sunny day with a perfectly flat sea.

"Then we got rammed - I thought we'd been hit by a tanker, but when I turned around there was no boat.

"I happened again and again and we saw two adult orcas with a baby.

"We tried to outrun them, tried stopping the engine and everything.

"They just kept spinning the boat and bashing the hell out of it for 45 minutes, until help arrived.

"Our minds were racing, we were terrified.

"Even while we were being towed they were still hitting the yacht."

Luckily nobody was seriously injured - walking away with just bruises, cuts and grazes.

Heath said: "If that had happened in the middle of the night, 200 miles off shore, we wouldn't have stood a chance.

"You can be so prepared and well trained but when an orca attacks, you're at the hands of the gods."

The aftermath saw the boat left with £24k of damage, and it was out of the water for 11 months while being repaired.

It was that incident which led Heath and Mark to design the 'Rudder Safe' while looking back on their attack in the pub one day.

Because motorboats aren't often attacked by orcas, they deduced that their fast-spinning propeller would deter the animals because there are lots of bubbles and noise that don't sound like other animals.

So they created a small propeller-like device to fix to the rudders which free-wheels while the boat moves, creating bubbles and noise which disrupts the frequencies underwater.

While at the moment, the small business is just a hobby for Heath and Mark, and Mark makes the devices at his engineering business, they hope people will consider investing rather than using inhumane deterrents that can injure orcas.

Heath said: "I love animals and I do love orcas, harming them is the last thing I want.

"We have to respect the water - it's their home and it's a privilege for us to be there."