Lewis Childs was surfing by himself off Neskowin in Tillamook County on Friday morning when something unusual happened: a 6-foot-tall dorsal fin broke the surface of the water about 30 yards from his board.
A killer whale.
“I knew it was not a dolphin,” the Portland musician said. “I wasn’t sure if it was a shark. I didn’t know exactly what it was. I just knew it was a big fin.”
Childs had been surfing off Ghost Forest in Neskowin State Beach Park all week, enjoying a small but growing swell and regular visits from a sea lion that had been popping up near his board.
But Friday felt different. The weather was rougher, with occasional rain and heavier water. There also was no sign of his sea lion companion.
“I started to get a little bit of a spooky feeling,” Childs said.
It was the kind of eerie sensation experienced surfers know well, a sixth sense when they’re in the water that something is off but they can’t identify what it is.
Trusting that feeling, Childs headed back towards shore. But, as the weather shifted and the sun came out, he decided to go back out for another session. About 10 to 15 minutes later, he saw the fin.
The killer whale, or orca, appeared to be moving towards him before it turned away and headed north, Childs said. Unsure in the moment what the creature was, he waited to see if a wave was coming, but with none in the distance, he put his feet on his board and paddled to shore as fast as he could.
Childs looked back once as he paddled and believed he saw the fin again before he made it back to the beach.
A nearby beachgoer, Jim Hirrlinger, told Childs the fin belonged to a bull orca, and that he managed to capture the encounter on video. Hirrlinger said he also saw a baby orca.
While surfers are no strangers to sharing the water with marine life like seals and dolphins, encounters with orcas are extremely uncommon.
Orcas generally are not dangerous to nearby humans in the ocean. While the 10,000-or-so-pound mammals are apex predators, there have been no documented fatal attacks on humans by killer whales in the wild.
After the run-in, Childs connected with Julie Conrad, who helps manage a Facebook page that tracks whale sightings off the Oregon coast. She told him there was likely more than two orcas nearby, since it’s uncommon for only a bull and calf to travel together.
Childs said the rare encounter was inspiring.
“I felt fantastic that there were orcas and that I was able to be out there with them,” he said. “I just felt honored that I was able to have that experience.”
For Childs, being alone out in the surf made the moment even more memorable.
“It was definitely wild and raw,” Childs said. “I was so happy somebody caught it on video. Surfing alone, you have lots of wild experiences, but nobody ever catches it.”
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