Rougue waves

steelslaver

steelslaver

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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
 
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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"
Click to expand...

This Ramblin Rose?

i-2b2Lt5R-L.jpg
 
muddocktor said:
BTW, that boat you worked on, the "Ramblin' Rose", was featured on the Deadliest Catch in seasons 7 & 8.
Click to expand...

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:eek:
 
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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.
 
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QVctNOf.jpg

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.
 
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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. :D

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. :D

Incredible Foiling Laser - Taking off at Southampton Water Activities Centre - Flying Boat - YouTube
Click to expand...

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 :eek: 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.
 
Was on the USS Exford (a little over 500' long) when a rogue wave hit us about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras. We went over 52 degrees and it took a loooong while to come back, but she did. Dumped me out of the top bunk onto the porthole and broke off a 12" sea valve, along with other damage and shifted cargo. Left turn into Newport News dry dock. This was about 1965 and was very real.
 
We were off the coast of Japan on the USS Franklin D Roosevelt CVA 42 and they had reported waves coming over the flight deck. But that changed when the guys in the Catapault shack reported that the walkway was gone.
Is it damaged came the reply?. No gone. 60 feet were ripped off as it had never been there. Frank
 
LoboGunLeather said:
I will never look at Alaskan king crab the same way I used to see it.

Compared to the power of wind and ocean, I think nuclear weapons are just toys for kids to play with.
Click to expand...

Mother nature has some serious fury.

Taken over the entire cloud shield of an "average" hurricane, the energy released daily in the form of rain and wind is the equivalent of about 13,000 megatons -- almost equal to the destructive potential of all the weapons in the Cold War missile silos in the United States and the former Soviet Union. That's a million Hiroshima bombs exploded at a rate of more than 10 a second -- 20 Little Boys for each of the 50,000 (estimated) cities on the planet.

Of course lucky for us that energy is spread out over a huge area compared to the blast radius of a nuke. When 6 of you are on a 100+ft piece of steel bobbing around like a leaf in a boiling tea kettle you do get a clue. When the whole boat goes Bong and vibrates like a pipe struck by a sledge hammer you will pray for the welds and when you see a swimming pool of water that was ripped from the top of a wave fly through the air you will be "amazed" A friend of mine sent me this picture of a mid water dragger he was on in the Bering sea, wheel house windows all blown out, covered with mattresses held on by rope, the "house" portion of the boat shoved back 18" out of location held on by broken steel. Electronics, radar, radios, GPS antennas and their wiring gone or worthless because the displays had been soaked in salt water. He is a tough guy and he told me it scared him so bad he didn't need to use the bathroom for 2 days afterwards. LOL The steel awning above his head is normally about 30ft or so above the water line. Look at how it was bent back snapping off multiple welds
MamErQj.jpg


Valcanos
Mount St Helens was a actually a rather small volcanic explosion when viewed with Huaynaputina, Krakatoa, in fact it doesn't even make the top 10. The explosion of the Yellowstone Caldera 640.000 years ago dwarfed those by about 100 times. Its current magma ball could easily fill the Grand Canyon and that gentlemen is one big hole.

Mount St Helen had about the same power as 500 of the bombs used in Hiroshima.
 
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One of the scariest nights of my life January 27, 1996
One dark night on the Bering sea I was doing my 2 hour stint of jogging into a storm, blowing hard 25-30 ft waves. The radar showed 2 big rain squalls ahead of me and I though I was lucky when they passed on either side of me. Then the sea changed. Instead of just one 30 ft wave after another they were coming at different angles, some at least 40ft, turn the boat left to meet one power it up to climb the face then as the boat broke over the top the props would clear the water and you had to throttle down the cats to slide down the back. turn the boat to meet the angle of the next wave and power it up to climb the face of it, Look out to see the jumble of water in front of you that was coming next, then over the top you go throttles back and the world disappearing till your bow buried itself as you hit the bottom of the trough and you slammed them forward again to power the bow up so you climbed the next wave. I remember the guy I was BS on the radio once going dam that was a big wave with appropriate curse words. LOL My right forearm ached from running the throttles and yes, I was scared for a while then that wears off and then dealt with it as there was not one thing I could do about it but just keep running the boat till the next guy took his turn and I go go down to my bunk and try and stay in it. One boat less than 100 miles from us, the Pacesetter, disappeared that night with 7 good men.
Go here and click on a year to see how Alaska fishing takes its toll for the year
Alaska Recent Maritime Losses 1972-2015 – Alaska Shipwrecks
 
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We were steaming in the Gulf of Mexico one right and were hit by a Rogue Wave. It was around 0200 and I woke being thrown out of my rack and it felt as if the ship rolled at least 40 degrees.

Spoke with a buddy who was on the Bridge Watch when it hit and he said it came out of nowhere.
 
As usual I learn something on this forum. I have always suspected that at least some of these waves were caused by geologic activity, even if not formally declared a Tsunami. But Tsunami waves are of a completely different type.

Very interesting thread and I LOVE the sea stories.
 
This morning I ran across a reference to an oilfield disaster that was started due to a rogue wave back in 1982. I'm talking about the Odeco Ocean Ranger disaster, which happened off the Atlantic coast in the Grand Banks area. They were drilling there when a bad winter storm and had done an emergency disconnect from the well and were in a mode to ride out the storm when a rogue wave came along and knocked out a porthole in the ballast control room, which was some real bad juju, to say the least. Since the normal storm waves were 50-65 ft, that meant that salt water was continually coming into the ballast control room, which was 28 feet above the waterline and as you know, salt water doesn't mix with electric and electronic equipment worth a darn and the controls started randomly opening and closing valves in the pontoons. Around midnight or so, Maydays were received from the rig and it capsized around 3:00 AM. There were ships that went to them when they heard the Mayday calls, but were unable to help due to the severe weather.

All 84 people on the rig were lost, all due to a rogue wave and poor design of the rig. Another factor in the death toll was the lack of any survival suits onboard in the middle of winter in the North Atlantic.
 
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

I had heard this before but there has been lots of speculation on it so who really knows. Anyway That song about it by Gordon Lightfoot has always been a favorite of mine.
 
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