Friendly dolphins?

Dolphins aren't always friendly

One of the great pleasures of offshore sailing is the chance to enjoy the company of bowriding dolphins. They are often our companions, and are a useful antidote to take your mind off the size of the waves in a big breeze. Common dolphins always seem to me to be the fighter aircraft of the seas, with their aerobatic displays breathtaking by day, but perhaps even more spectacular by night when phosphorescence streams from their bodies leaving vapour trails of pure green fire.

Watching more closely from the bow, though, reveals a different side to this playful behaviour. What we think of as pure sport means more to the dolphin as a way to get into the pressure wave ahead of our bow, putting the animal in pole position in a sweet spot of low energy drive. A bit like being weightless, as one cetacean expert explained it to me.

And that can lead to some decidedly ‘unfriendly’ dolphin behaviour. We’ve watched bottlenose dolphins repeatedly bump each other out from under our bow, and last summer off the coast of Portugal observed the common dolphin in the image above launch a really vicious attack on its nearest neighbour, beak wide open before ramming the smaller animal and driving it off.

And that would certainly make me think twice before swimming with these creatures. We seem to have invested dolphins with a whole range of quasi-mystical healing powers, which in turn has been used to us to excuse the inexcusable – keeping these magnificent wild creatures in captivity. And although we’ve seen another less cuddly side to dolphin behaviour, that’s the side we like the best – wild and free, not in a sterile pool trained into some sort of mental straitjacket for our entertainment. Better they are like the open sea – untamed, powerful, and, on occasion just a little scary.