Killer whales are 'attacking' sailboats near Europe's coast

> Towers points out that such "games" tend to go in and out of fashion in orca society. For example, right now in a population he studies in the Pacific, "we have juvenile males who ... often interact with prawn and crab traps," he says. "That's just been a fad for a few years."

> Back in the 1990s, for some orcas in the Pacific, something else was in vogue. "They'd kill fish and just swim around with this fish on their head," Towers says. "We just don't see that anymore."

Orcas have their own planking, dabbing, etc. Incredible.

> They were "ramming the boat," Storkson says. "They [hit] us repeatedly ... giving us the impression that it was a coordinated attack."

Sounds exactly like the beginning of that ScFi book The Swarm :)

Can't they get hurt by the propeller if the engine is running?

I'm not a lawyer, but if this is in international waters, what's the harm? They're just fish, despite the scary name.