An hour that must have seemed like ten… Vendée Globe skipper Sébastien Destremau and his crew were shaken up on Monday evening aboard the Lancelot. While sailing off the coast of Spain, their boat was targeted by a group of eight killer whales who relentlessly attacked the hull for 55 minutes, the sailor’s website reports, Oceanfront. “An hour under their battering, it was very impressive and we were very scared, he says. We saw them coming from quite a distance and we immediately understood that this time it was for us. »
Brinquebalé in all directions, the experienced 58-year-old skipper was stunned by the strength of the cetaceans. “It’s terrifying to feel a fifteen-ton boat being shaken like a nutshell. We weren’t far on board. As required by procedure, Destremau contented himself with bringing the boat to a stop by lowering the sails… and waiting for it to pass.
“No aggression towards humans”
“During the Vendée Globe, I was accompanied by killer whales in the South Seas, but I would never have imagined being the victim of an attack. Besides, attack is probably not a good choice of word, because there was no aggressiveness towards the human being that we are but only towards the boat”, specifies the sailor from Plancoët, in the Côtes- of Armor.
Finally, more fear than harm. “There are no injuries on board, I just twisted my thumb with the helm when an orca hit the rudder, a large piece of which came off,” says Destremau. The boat is also safe, even if it had to stop in Cadiz (southern Spain) to carry out some checks. The crew must then resume their journey to Brittany.