Killer Whales Appear During Norway Surfing Contest

The Lofoten Masters surf event in northern Norway made bigger headlines than usual this weekend, with two killer whales filmed swimming through the lineup during a heat.

According to the Lofoten Masters Facebook page, “the Norwegian Orca Survey confirmed this as an actual attack on a human, where the whales changed their mind in the last second. First time ever documented on film.”

While the idea of an attack - aborted or otherwise - by the most feared animal in the seas might sound like a terrifying episode, both commentators and competitors managed to maintain a staggering degree of chill… perhaps due to the cold.

“We have two killer whales in the contest area, I wonder what the judges are scoring that?” said the commentator.

One of the surfers waved his arms aloft in apparent celebration, before taking off on a wee right runner and bashing the closeout, Surfeuropemag.com reported.

Lofoten, a set of islands inside the Arctic Circle in the north of Norway are the go-to spot for cold water chic surf photo trips, with the main surf spot Unstad even boasting an excellent surf camp.

There are no previous reported incidents of killer whale attack anywhere in Europe, although a surfer was bitten at Point Surf, California in 1972, the only known case of a non-captive orca biting a human.