Hell hath no fury… like ‘White Gladys’

prey - fellow whales.

“They could crush the boat in a heartbeat if they wanted to,” added Destremau.

“But they were not aggressive. They were just coming in very gently, placing their nose wherever they wanted to place it, and pushing hard.” The real danger, he emphasises, is to the killer whales themselves.

“I am very concerned about the near future for these beasts and I think we have a huge responsibility to protect these animals," he added to Newsweek

The solo round the world yachtsman is particularly worried that with the media emphasising the aggression sailors are now getting armed to fire at them if they come under attack. That said, he confirmed how ‘terrifying’ the incident was at the time.

“At first, I thought it was wind coming in really fast... And so I started to drop the sail a little bit and then I turned around again to look at where the wind was and I thought, 'Wait, that's not wind, that's fish. Those are orcas!'”

With approximately 20 orcas approaching, he made the decision to lower the sails in hopes that the stationary boat would lose their interest. Yet the orcas persisted.

“They started to come closer and closer. They started to have a look and a little bit of a sniff and then, suddenly, 'BANG,' that was a big one," he explained.

The orcas targeted the ship's rudder, displaying their impressive power as they pushed against it.

Within minutes, the bottom of the rudder shattered, creating potential risks for the boat. But despite the scary situation, no human has ever been harmed by the pod of orcas, and it was up to humans to adapt to the mammals, not the other way round.

“It's their world, it's not ours,” he concluded.

IT has taken six years, but now the state-of-the-art Lathbury Sports Complex, which the government called ‘a feat of engineering’, is open.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Minister for Sport Steven Linares officially opened the new public sports facility. It features a football pitch, running track, rifle range, Olympic-size swimming pool and parking for locally-based business Bassadone Motors.

The four year delay for the facilities was put down to COVID-19, Brexit and travel issues.

Digging out 60,000 cubic metres of solid limestone rock was another reason for the delay.