Terrifying photos show killer whales try to sink family’s 42ft yacht as they ram it in 30-minute attack off coast of Gibraltar

A British family have told how they escaped a terrifying killer whale attack while sailing off the coast of Gibraltar.

Dave Duffy felt a strong whack against his 42ft yacht at 3am and found a large orca ramming his rudder.

He woke his wife Kim and asked for help to steer the yacht which veered violently in the encounter as three more orcas were repeatedly hitting the vessel.

Mr Duffy, a 45-year-old college lecturer, dragged a metal flare cartridge behind the boat to deter the killer whales and turned the auto helm off.

The aggressive mammals eventually departed after about 30 minutes, causing the couple and their 11-year-old son Jack to breathe a huge sigh of relief. 

Mr Duffy (pictured) said: ‘As we got near I just started to think to myself, “I think we’re going to get through here, we’re going to make it”. Then a couple of minutes later, I felt the boat shudder’

Dave Duffy felt a strong whack against his 42ft yacht at 3am and found a large orca ramming his rudder (file image)

The couple then noticed three more orcas around their vessel which shook every time the aggressive mammals repeatedly hit it (file image)

The Duffy family, from Bournemouth, Dorset, have been travelling around the world for the past 18 months when the orcas attacked their yacht on June 9.

They were sailing back from the Caribbean towards Spain and going through the Strait of Gibraltar when they encountered the killer whales.

It is the latest attack by killer whales on sailing boats in the area in recent years. Since 2020, about 750 reports of attacks have been recorded.

It is said that as the mammal’s natural food sources in the area become scarcer, confrontations between them and boats are becoming alarmingly common.

Mr Duffy said: ‘I was very aware of a potential orca interaction so I put the yacht on the outside of the shipping lane. It was stormy but we were sailing through nicely.

‘As we got near I just started to think to myself, “I think we’re going to get through here, we’re going to make it”. Then a couple of minutes later, I felt the boat shudder.

‘There was this great big whack and I thought, ‘oh my God, here we go’.

‘I looked at the steering wheel and it was shaking from left to right, even though the auto helm was on. As I looked over the back I could see the white markings of the whale which was pretty unnerving.

The deadly creatures eventually departed after about 30 minutes, causing the couple and their 11-year-old son Jack to breathe a huge sigh of relief (file image)

The Duffy family, from Bournemouth, Dorset, have been travelling around the world for the past 18 months when the orcas attacked their yacht on June 9 (file image)

The Duffys were inspired to do a yachting adventure after Dave and Kim’s daughter Jessica died of cancer in 2019 aged nine. They have spent the last 18 months sailing around the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and are due to return home next week (pictured: their 42ft yacht)

‘Then I started hearing the blowholes of other orcas around the boat. I think we had about four around the stern.

‘The boat veered quite violently because of the wind but they kept hitting the rudder and shaking the boat.

‘They are intelligent creatures and were trying to disable the boat to sink us.

‘I dragged a metal flare case in the water to try and disorientate them. That went on for five minutes and they left.

‘But I started the engine up again and within a few minutes they were back and doing the same thing.

‘I turned off the engine again and we drifted and then after another five minutes they left.

‘We got off very lightly. These orcas were about the same size as the yacht, so you can imagine what damage they can do.

‘The fact that we got away with no damage makes it, in a way, a great experience to have had.’

The Duffys were inspired to do a yachting adventure after Dave and Kim’s daughter Jessica died of cancer in 2019 aged nine.

They have spent the last 18 months sailing around the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and are due to return home next week.

Mr Duffy is a heating engineer and lectured in that at Bournemouth and Poole College. Mrs Duffy, who is also 45, is an NHS team leader.