Video: Orca Spooks Surfer Out of Water on Oregon Coast

Published 06/28/26 at 8:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Neskowin, Oregon) – Here's something you don't always see. A surfer just chillin' along the waves of a small Oregon coast town. He then notices a massive fin slicing through the water, not far behind him. It's not a shark, though. It turns out it's a great, big orca. (Photo and video: Jim Hirrlinger)

So what do you do? You hightail it out of the water. It may not be a shark, but as Julie Conrad put it (admin of the Facebook group Oregon Whale Sightings): “I wouldn't want to accidentally end up between this big bull killer whale and his dinner.”

On Friday, June 26 – about 1:30 p.m. - surfer Lewis Childs got an eyeful, and a man named Rick from Idaho happened to be there with his family, filming parts of it.

Childs said once he spotted it, he was paddling “probably faster than I ever have after seeing a dorsal fin that was probably 5 feet tall.”

It turns out, there aren't any records of killer whales attacking humans in the wild (though they've attacked their human handlers while in captivity). Still, as Conrad said, you probably don't want to be the orcas' bycatch.

Conrad told Oregon Coast Beach Connection this was a bull orca with a youngin' in tow. That, however, was telling.

“That's an unlikely pair, so there were probably others in the area,” Conrad said. “The orca was likely patrolling the shore for seals. He probably didn't care about the surfer.” NOTE: the name of the videographer turned out to be Jim Hirrlinger - but it cannot be changed in the video

Killer whales have three-inch-long, very sharp teeth.. It's not a chance you want to take.

They had been seen earlier in the day cavorting around the Depoe Bay area.

These types of orcas – known as transients – are not like the peace-loving, salmon-eating killer whales from the Puget Sound area. This subspecies wanders all over the Pacific, coming out this way in spring to gobble up the baby seals that are born this time of year, and on occasion they snack on baby whales and / or practice hunting by also attacking the mama whale with its baby.

There was striking video of that taken a few years ago. Dozens Watch and Document Orcas Attack, Kill Baby Whale on Oregon Coast: More Videos - Battle between gray whale mother and the pod lasted hours

Orcas hang out here usually through June or so engaging in this, and the sightings of them have been remarkably high this year. Your chances of spotting may still remain decent for a good couple of weeks, maybe longer. The fact that so many have been seen this year is a good sign they'll be around for a bit longer.

Conrad said she's had her own similar experience with a whale while surfing.
She encountered what is known as ”sharking” behavior in a gray whale.

According to OSU's IndividuWhale.com: “This term is used to describe a whale rolling on its side below the surface. This causes half of the tail to stick out of the water and can look like a shark fin.”

Photo Tradeswinds Charters: one of the more amazing encounters this year

Conrad said it spooked her out of the water, but ended up a bit funny.

“Sometimes when they feed, part of their tail flukes pop up out of the water, and it kinda looks like a shark's dorsal fin,” she told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “I was out surfing once, and my parents were cheering from the beach. I couldn't figure out why they were so excited. I saw them pointing so I turned around, and there was a giant fin less than 20 feet away. They said they'd never seen me move so fast. I finally made it back to shore, and that's when I realized it was a juvenile gray whale exhibiting sharking behavior. When you're in the water and see a big fin, there isn't always time to identify the species. We still laugh about the time I swam for my life from a baby gray whale.”

Also see Oregon Man Struck by Lightning: Active Weather Day Also Produced Funnel Cloud - The man was taken to a burn center in Portland. Video of lightning by satellite

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