Rougue waves

I know we have some sailors here and thought they and others may find this of interest.

I spend parts of each year in my 30s and 40s going to Alaska for commercial fishing. Mostly relatively safe, salmon seining on a 58' boat. But, I also made some crab trips to the Bering sea on a 105' powers scow the "Ramblin Rose" I have seen some waves. One guy I fished with lost his brother on a boat that was suspected of encountering a rouge wave near Unimak Pass in the Aleutian Islands. A guy I new from Sand Point AK a small town in the Aleutians, told me he was the last surviving male of his high school class. He became a welder

There used to be a lot of disbelief of the idea of monster "Rouge waves"

That skepticism changed on New Year's Day in 1995, when a rogue wave struck the Draupner oil installation in the Norwegian North Sea. Equipped with a downward-pointing laser, the platform recorded a 26-meter (85ft) wave spiking out of a sea filled with 11.8-meter waves — a nautical Bigfoot caught in a high-resolution snapshot.

Any way it its an interesting article on such waves and predicting them.

Quanta Magazine

This is thought by many to have been the cause of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975. It was clear that the bow plunged downward first, nearly in an instant, and that the boat broke in two with the stern ending up upside down at the bottom of the lake. The theory goes that it was hit by a rogue wave from behind, which lifted the vessel end for end, driving the bow into the water, causing the split, and flipping the rear half over. That's one suggested theory anyway.[Disclaimer: I have no maritime experience and am merely reporting what I've read. Inaccuracies are possible.]

Regards,
Andy

Too many accounts of rogue waves to dismiss them. Looks like an interesting article. Thanks!

I saw a rogue wave push cars into the hotels on the beach in Daytona in the early 1990s. It was about 3-4 feet high, stretched for at least a mile in each direction.


Unless it was aliens...

Don't know if it was rogue or not , but it was huge . I was on the USS Midway CV41 , off the straits of Singapore . We weren't allowed on the flight deck , waves were breaking over the bow , 80-90 feet off the water line . Needless to say there were a lot of seasick people on that ship . We even had pilots blowing chunks !

Oh yeah, there are way too many documented instances of rogue waves to deny their existence. If you watch the series, "Deadliest Catch", there have been several filmed incidents with rogue waves, including one that rolled the boat on it's side and darned near overturned it. And in 2005 in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Rita several jackup rigs were lost due to them being overtopped and having their legs broken off.

BTW, that boat you worked on, the "Ramblin' Rose", was featured on the Deadliest Catch in seasons 7 & 8.

steelslaver said:

I also made some crab trips to the Bering sea on a 105' powers scow the "Ramblin Rose"

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This Ramblin Rose?

muddocktor said:

BTW, that boat you worked on, the "Ramblin' Rose", was featured on the Deadliest Catch in seasons 7 & 8.

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I know. That was well after my time. I was last on her in 1984, when I was 43. Decided I was to old for that game. I have a picture I took from the wheelhouse somewhere of her bow completely buried in a wave. Sometimes during big storms, a few waves would come over the bow and down the deck and slam into the front of the house so hard water would spray out the sides of a dogged tight porthole. I just hung a towel over it so the water just went to the floor. My bunk was on the opposite wall.

Yes, thats her

One of the most amazing things. During a big storm, water cold enough the spray freezes in the rigging, the wind is screaming in the rigging, blowing about 100mph, 35' wave after wave, tops of waves ripped off by the wind and hurling thru the air
and the whole time these little sea birds are tucked in beside the boat, wings beating away and when the wave face came they flew right smack into it and as you came up over the top and tipped back down they came flying right out of the back side of the wave. Water, air, water, air, they never quit, Toughest little mothers I ever saw. I am beat to **** just being on the boat, inside and dry running it 2 on 6 off and those guys are living in THAT

Well after having crossed the Intl date line 3 times aboard troop ships and spending a half century deep sea fishing and 25 years cruising the Caribbean and Mediterranean and I feel blessed that I never had the pleasure of seeing a rogue wave. I've been in very rough seas few times but nothing to compare with one of those bad boys.

The Ramblin Rose had 2 3408 Cats for power and 2 straight 6 Cats Gen sets for running circ pumps, hydraulics and refrigeration, plus a little 4 banger John Deere Gen set if you were just powering the house and the lights etc. Held about 32,000 gallons of fuel and had a centrifugal fuel cleaner, She ran about 9 Knots

After I was on her while trying to get into Akutan in a storm with a load of over a 100 1000# crab pots on deck she ended up laying over hard on one side, the skipper was quick enough to power it back up (turn into it and firewall the throttles) before the next wave finished her off. Then they went out on deck and suitcased 25 of the pots. Suitcasing means dumping them with the lines and buoys inside them un recoverable. Better to dump 25K worth of gear than lose the boat with you on it. After that they set her up so they could flood the bulbous bow with sea water for more stability,

In 1984 2 A boats the Americus and Altair, out of Anacortes WA (where I started out from) rolled over in the Bering sea near each other. and all 14 hand lost their lives
Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States (1). During 1992--2008, an annual average of 58 reported deaths occurred (128 deaths per 100,000 workers) ((1.3 per 1000)) (1), compared with an average of 5,894 deaths (four per 100,000 workers) among all U.S. workers. During the 1990s, safety interventions addressing specific hazards identified in Alaska resulted in a significant decline in the state's commercial fishing fatality rate (2). During 2007--2010, CDC expanded surveillance of commercial fishing fatalities to the rest of the country's fishing areas.

Figures compiled by the Alaska Crab Coalition, a trade group, show that the fatality rate among Bering Sea crab fishermen is seven times that of U.S. fishermen

It used to be about 235 boats and 2500 men a year went out, Boats were lost every year, guys went over board (a death sentence in hard weather) crushed by the pots etc. I think in 1984 the Bering sea took 44 lives

Want an interesting read?
Spike Walkers "Working on the Edge"

I will say this, the easiest day I ever had on a crab boat was way harder than the worst day I ever had in the oil fields.

Just another day at the office!

This is me with my in-laws standing next to a replica of the James Caird, outside Punta Arenas, Chile. That was the boat Ernest Shakleton, Frank Worsley and 4 others sailed in from Elephant Island at the tip of the Antarctic Penninsula, to South Georgia Island. They saw one Rogue wave they estimated at 90-100 ft which broke over the top of them. Many in the 40-50 foot range. Others have crossed the lowest continent, climbed across South Georgia, but no one has yet attempted a similar crossing. I doubt they ever will.

All the Coasties I met in AK were great people. They were out last life line.
They said that they were treated was better in AK than Florida. Where it was mostly all about drugs.

That boat up on the crest best get his nose pointed one way or the other, that is a real pour way to take a wave that big. But, sticking your bow into one isn't that much fun either

What most of the world would call a hurricane force winds is called just barely fishable in the crab fleet.

The story of Shakleton, his crew, their survival on the ice and then his amazing trip in a life boat over 800 miles across the Antarctic ocean , finding the back side of that island by dead reckoning and then crossing it to save his crew is totally amazing and a super human feat. Just climbing across South Georgia, with some rope and hardly any gear was a super human feat. Men with all the gear in they wanted who have crossed it, bow down to what he did.

His ad for a crew

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.

Ships of wood, Men of steel.

Not that big but there was one I remember that came ashore in 1991 Daytona Beach and all the cars parked in front of the boardwalk a salt water bath.

Here you go
Another day at the office

The dance floor

Don't fail us now

It's no Bering Sea boat, but it made quite an impression on this teen...




The guys who work in the snot day-in and day-out are made of sterner stuff than I.

Imissedagain said:

Heavy Weather Sailing by Coles has some wavy tales of woe.

This video is for near shore sailing fun.
In keeping with the tippy Laser characteristics the Brits kept that element as part of their design.
But don't worry.... the Yanks are coming!!!
Any Yank with an NA degree would have stabilized the Laser.

The Fastnet Race of 1979 had lotsa waves and was part of the early use of carbon fiber for rudder post design..... failures.
Sad but true.

If you have to duck when the Boom comes by... ya needs a bigger boat.

Incredible Foiling Laser - Taking off at Southampton Water Activities Centre - Flying Boat - YouTube

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My son sailed Lasers around the turn of the century. Biggest seas ware at the Youth World Championships held at the Buffalo Canoe Club on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario back in 2002. First day was great and all of our kids got top 10 finishes, Then the wind started blowing from the west and stacked up the seas at the east end of the lake. We were up the next day and were told the seas were forecast at 4's. We thought rough but doable. Turns out they were talking in meters Long story short, the Croatians took over from there.
The Laser is a wonderful little boat, the best thing Bruce Kirby ever did. I still have my son's boat, it was a 1996 hull built for the Atlanta Olympics. I keep threatening to put a 4.7 rig on it and take my 65 yr old lard butt out sailing. I could probably hold down a Radial but I KNOW I'd get whacked with the full rig. I've seen several clips of the hydro foiling Lasers and it really looks looks a hoot!!

Rogue wave? BTDT...

I was a recreational boater for nearly 40 years and a professional Captain {100 ton USCG Masters License} for the last 15 of those. My thankfully one and only Rogue Wave experience came when I was skippering a 54', 75 Ton Sport Fisher out of San Diego. We were on a 3 day trip with 6 guests and two crew and myself chasing Tuna, primarily Albacore but Yellowfin and Bluefin were always welcome as well.

We were about 120 miles southwest of San Diego and 50 miles offshore in rough but fishable conditions, 4 - 6' southwest swell with a couple of feet of wind chop on top of that with winds at 12 - 15 and building out of the northwest {which should have been my first clue}. I had just pulled up close abeam of a large kelp patty hoping that throwing some fresh bait would bring up the larger tuna lurking beneath.

We were nearly dead in the water as I had pulled the boat out of gear and ghosted slowly alongside the paddy so as not to spook anything beneath. We were more or less beam on to the swell and my deck hands began tossing nets of anchovies over the side. The captain's chair up on the fly bridge puts me 15'+ above the water.

I glanced to the west just in time to see a wall of water bearing down on us and I could not see over the top. it was about 25 yards from us ands coming fast. I just had a couple of seconds to grab the mic and yell a warning over the PA for everyone to hang on... and no, I did not think to scream "Rogue Wave" though clearly that was what was roaring down on us.

We rolled through about 30 degrees burying the starboard rail and taking a lot of water into the large cockpit but the scuppers quickly carried it away as we rolled back to port as it passed beneath. I jammed the throttles to the stops and spun the wheel to port to get our nose back to the west lest there be another behind it but fortunately it was just the one "Rogue".

A quick head count ensued and confirmed everyone was still aboard. The only serious damage was to our large {8' long} cockpit freezer which was torn from its mounts by the roll. When that happened the ground wire pulled out and our 15 KW genset continued to pump AC to the the ungrounded chassis of the freezer which was now laying across the back of the cockpit.

When my deckhand went to attempt to push it back in place the shock decked him, I'm guessing his rubber boots probably saved his butt. I hit the emergency shut off and then we all stood around uncomfortably looking at each other wondering if it really was shut down and wondering who was to be the fool to confirm it was really off. Yep, dat would be me. It was off and other than wrestling it back onto its mounts and rewiring the plug we had no further issues.

We did manage to limit out on the Albacore with quite a few other tuna and few yellowtails and all of our guests went home with full ice chests of fresh filets. The tips were better than average as in addition to the fine catch we all got to go home with a pretty good sea story/fishtale.

I'll never complain about the price of sea food again. Color me a yellow bellied coward.
Tom Black

There is a saying in the crab fleet. Your not buy crab,, your buying men's lives.