Yacht Vs. Orcas (or "Family Tides")

An engagement party on a fancy yacht turns to terror after a baby orca is killed and the pod attacks. Family secrets spill out and very bad decisions are made.

Stephanie and Mark seem to be the perfect couple; young, happy, beautiful, affluent. Why are they getting married in a grotty government county clerk’s office with no family present?

They go to their engagement party and it becomes clear that they don’t want their families to know they are married yet. Mark comes from money and his dad, Hunter, is so rich that he has his own pet Senator with him. Stephanie was working-class; she worked on Hunter’s yacht which is how she met Mark. Stephanie’s family, in the form of mom, brother and sister, come to the party partly to support Stephanie and partly to see how the one percent lives. Other guests include Mark’s frat brothers who brought a stripper and a duffle bag full of every kind of drug rich douchy frat boys can get their hands on, which is a lot.

As it turns out, it is the annual Shady Palm Harbor Shark Fishing Tournament and Hunter just wants an audience when he catches a prize-winning shark. Roach, the hapless deck hand, does all the work and Hunter claims credit when he hooks a shark.

Meanwhile, an orca pod just off the coast is celebrating the birth of their newest family member. They sing the songs of joy and life as they hunt for food. The biggest orca hears a thrashing in the ocean.

The pod of orcas eats Hunter’s shark off the line and Hunter goes nuts and starts blasting away at the pod with a rifle, killing the newborn baby orca. Hunter hoists his prize as the orca pod mourns their loss and whips themselves into a hateful frenzy.

The bachelor party below deck is fully underway when the pod starts slamming into the yacht, damaging the propellor and the rudder.

The senator demands that Hunter call the coast guard, but Hunter, libertarian to a fault, refuses and arms the drugged-up frat boys which leads to the senator being shot dead on the deck of the ship.

As the yacht sinks, the survivors get into a life raft, but not all make it. The orcas eat the duffle bag of drugs and then some of the engagement party guests.

The guests reveal family secrets and feed each other to the killer whales. Even the coast guard ship that comes to rescue them is destroyed.

Only one human survives this encounter. Family is strong, and even stronger when you weigh two tons and can swallow a seal whole.

This project was inspired by news reports of attacks on boats by orcas in the Straights of Gibraltar, and videos of sharks that had eaten drugs thrown overboard by smugglers and acting erratic.