No doubt you will have seen in the media these beastly Orcas attacking the underwater steering / rudders of yachts - particularly in Spain and the Med. I have a cunning plan - how to scare them away without harm ...... Paint a large aggressive monster face on the hull of the boat, facing the rudder. So when a cheeky orca comes to nibble the rudder it will be face to face with a massive set of teeth and angry eyes. This is my doodle - but all would be under the waterline. Good eh
Reminds me of the fact that a tiger has a set of fake eyes on the back of its ears to deter a would be attacker...But, who/what the fuck is going to sneak up and attack a flipping tiger?
maybe you need an "ant predation pinger"? https://www.boatsnews.com/story/413...-a-safe-way-to-keep-orcas-away-from-your-boat
This reminds me of licky kicky the home security dog, friendly on one side, bladed legs on the other. I can only hope you’re already been down to the patent office and associated your name to this wonderful deterrent You’ll have your very own yacht this time next year
It’s so nice to see people enjoy their retirement as it’s intended. I wouldn’t get in the dragons den lift just yet though. X
......maybe another fucking tiger ? Maybe, but doesn't look big enough to scare a mouse ! Busy working, I am.... Seriously, if I lived in that area I would paint a massive set of teeth and eyes on the bottom of the hull of my boat and see what happens - it might make them angry though I think Orcas have poor colour vision so it would have to be done on black/white - but it would look cool anyway !
That would be the worry ! Anyway, a friend of a friend set off today on a round the world trip in this yacht - and there is a real concern about Orcas near Gibraltar as this will be on the route to Madeira and on to Cape Verde. That is how all of this has come about. It seems to me that animals often make a threat - bear their teeth, hiss, growl - whatever threat they do. If you ignore it then you are likely to get bitten. Seems reasonable. So the painted teeth on the hull would be the threat. It is the warning. Next some kind of acoustic defence could be deployed, or even some kind of dazzling strobe. All of this is low tech, cheap and easy to deploy as a non harmful defence. If I was on that boat surrounded by Orcas I would be worried as well.
I think it's save to say none of these beautiful machines have ever been attacked by the killer whale, so I say good thinking on you sir.
I see where you’re coming from but you’re missing an important detail. And that is that Orcas are pretty smart. I reckon it’ll take more than a painted hull to foil them. By yeah, I read they are becoming increasingly aggressive towards keeled yachts. The theory is that some of them have been clobbered by the keels of boats. So they attack the rudders. And apparently they’re teaching the kids to do it too. The fishy breathed hooligans.
Yes, agreed they are smart. But it would be interesting to see what would happen ! Examples of painted animals being used by humans to affect other animals: A fisherman in the US paints simple small fish on the underside of the hull of his fishing boat that looks like a school of bait fish from below - when fishing for tuna. He reckons that helps attract them Conservationist tagging chicks in the nests of aggressive birds - one guy painted a monster toothed face on the back of an old US steel helmet to protect himself when climbing the tall trees to ring Harpy Eagle chicks in the nest. You could have a double headed design - one on the bow and the other on the stern - then the Orcas would have two sets of teeth to watch out for ! I would have a version of this painted on the underside of the hull !!
I was walking around a harbour in Scotland and I noticed a few fishing boats had plastic owls strapped to the mast. So I asked a bloke on deck what was the reason. ‘To scare the seagulls off’ he said. ‘Does it work’ I replied. ‘Nah, does it fuck’ he chuckled. I’m assuming your mates mate is in the Mediterranean at the moment? I can confirm there are indeed Orcas roaming the Straits of Gibraltar. And some mightily impressive buggers too. It’s a rich feeding ground. Boosted by North African line fishermen after tuna. The Orcas tend to snaffle hooked tuna minus the head. They leave that bit as they know there’s a dirty great hook in it, smart buggers that they are…
That is deffo a thing here in NZ too. You often see the owls sitting on a boom or somewhere prominent.. yes limited success but if it stops half the build up of seagull shit!…
IIRC whales exhibited similar behaviour in the Sea of Cortez prior to the whaling ban. They would attack the whaling boats as they left the harbours. The Sea of Cortez is a very strange place
Smear the rudders with Carolina reaper chillies and hope the orcas don’t like the taste of hot curries… I know from painful experience that stuff doesn’t wash off!
Just paint a “No Orcas Allowed” sign on the hull. I hung a “No Wasps Allowed” sign in my kitchen last November and I didn’t see a single one of the nasty stripy fuckers until the middle of April. Follow me for more handy household tips. Edit: on reflection, it might be better to write “No Killer Whales Allowed” because although they’re really clever, I’m not sure they know latin.
