THREE brave fishos swam almost a kilometre to the shore of a remote Territory island - in croc-infested waters - after a freak swell swamped their 4.5m tinnie.Public servant Aaron Packham, 38, said the sea was calm when he and his wife, Dannielle , and their mate Brett dropped anchor in their well-equipped boat at Bynoe Harbour yesterday.
"It got a bit choppy, so we headed closer to shore - then two or three decent waves jumped in the boat,'' Mr Packham said.
"There was nothing that we could do.
"Another one came over and just drenched the boat, and it went completely down.
"I tied the EPIRB around my neck and started swimming.''
They had travelled about 60km from Crab Claw Island on the second day of a fishing weekend when trouble struck.
The trio used Eskies and a fuel tank as floaties.
Brett was picked up by a crew of fishermen who took him to Crab Claw, southwest of Darwin, to raise the alarm and get more help.
But the boat was too small to take all of them.
Mr Packham set off the emergency beacon when he and his wife climbed ashore on Indian Island at 11am.
The Careflight turbo-prop King Air plane, en route from Darwin to Katherine, was diverted to search the popular fishing harbour.
It showed a Navy helicopter where the couple, who suffered some scratches, were stranded.
A Careflight chopper picked them up and the team later drove them back to Bynoe to pick up their car.
"The boat's upside down somewhere bashing against rocks,'' Mr Packham said.
He said they were all thankful to the emergency crews and the other fishos who helped during the rescue.
"We had all the right gear but that's just the way of nature,'' Mr Packham said.
"We're lucky to be alive.''
Quick action by a skim boarder saved the life of an infant pulled into a rip tide by a rogue wave on Saturday at Aliso Beach, according to witnesses.
Pat Watson, 46, who took up skim boarding after moving from Hawaii in 1991, said he threw his board aside and took off in a dead sprint when he saw a child tumbling down the sand berm into swirling whitewater. “I couldn’t see anyone else moving,” said Watson, who was skimming with his son, Danny, 18. They both “bolted” for the child.
“I was on it,” Watson said. He figures he covered 75 yards before diving into the surf, even though he had yet to see the child resurface. Incredibly, Watson caught sight of her underwater and grabbed her diaper. “I knew she’d been under water at least 15 seconds,” said Watson, who held the baby up overhead while still trying to get his footing before another wave overtook them.
When he resurfaced again, holding the child like a football to his chest, Watson said she wasn’t moving. “I flipped her over,” he said, flooded with relief when she began to cough, vomit up seawater and cry. He placed the child in the outstretched arms of the trembling, unidentified mother, who left the beach before speaking to authorities, Watson said.
“It’s a phenomenal rescue,” said Jason Young, chief of OC Lifeguards, responsible for guarding Aliso, one of the county’s most popular beaches. “Once a human submerges, there’s a very low chance of saving them,” Young said.
At the time of the rescue prior to noon, county guards were not yet scheduled for duty in Aliso’s towers, Young said, though one guard in a vehicle was roving between Aliso and Three Arch Bay beaches. Laguna’s five southern beach coves are county beaches.
Later, Watson’s daughter told him she had observed the incident’s origin, seeing a rogue wave sweep the beach and swamp the mother, wearing street clothes and walking near the top of the sand berm, who twice attempted to grab the child before she tumbled into the surf.
Other than skimmers, few people were in the water because of the strong surf, Watson said.So it all started with a freaque wave sweep the beach. It was a local happening, but great rescue story nevertheless -- and for believers it's a miracle indeed there are God's fingerprints all over it!
A strong wave surge has been blamed for killing a 60-year-old woman while she was walking along Shoal Bay Beach in Port Stephens at the weekend.
The woman, understood to be from Londonderry in Sydney's west, was reportedly walking along the west end of the beach when she was knocked unconscious by a shore-dumping wave.
It is believed the tourist was dragged out by the wave and drowned.
Paramedics were sent about 8.30am on Saturday after the woman was pulled unconscious from the surf.
They tried to revive the woman but she died at the scene.
Reports suggest the woman may have lost her shoe and had been trying to retrieve it when she was struck.
Despite sleepy Shoal Bay's reputation for calm waters, the spot at the west end of the beach is known among locals as a notorious spot during wave surges because of a combination of steep sand and shore dumpers.So here, again, a sad beach tragedy happened! Even in a beach that has a reputation for "calm waters"! Well, as the locals know the dangerous of the spot is notorious, how can a tourist be so informed and be forewarned not to lost her shoe there? It all seems so unreal, but tragedy always happens when there is least expectation! May the lady rest in peace and may all tourists have a heightened sense of caution so that not to let their guard down when enjoy walking on those beautiful peaceful beaches!
Ryan Williams led a charmed, sun-splashed existence.
The USC Viterbi School of Engineering PhD student found his classes stimulating, professors engaging and research on autonomous underwater robots fascinating. And then there was his California Dreamin’ lifestyle.
Williams, a native of Roanoke, Va., luxuriated in the Southern California sunshine, golfing, swimming and skiing. He even took up surfing, which energized him.
“The California mentality was refreshing and, of course, the weather was amazing,” he said.
And then everything changed. On Jan. 27, 2008, Williams went to Santa Monica with friends to catch some waves. As he paddled toward the breakers, he dove under an oncoming swell.
In a freak accident, he landed headfirst in a hidden sandbar and snapped his neck. He lost all feeling in his legs and arms. If not for the two surfers who pulled him from the water, Williams would have surely drowned.
At just 26, the former high school pitcher and star basketball player had become a quadriplegic, with no use of his legs and limited use of his hands. Many people in a similar position would have understandably retreated into self-pity and bitterness. Not Williams.
“I don’t feel downtrodden at all,” he said. “I try to say, ‘this is life. This is the way it is. Let’s try to do something with it.’ ”He's certainly determined to "do something with it" with a roaring start! That's really showing a remarkable and courageous young scholar with a brilliant future. We wish all the best for him. Go for it!
In physics and math there are wave structures called solitons (notsolutions) that are defined as self-contained packets or pulses. Two types of solitons that have long been of interest in the world of scientific research are bright and dark solitons. Until recently, only bright solitons have been successfully demonstrated in a wave tank. This month a team of researchers at Imperial College London, including mathematician Amin Chabchoub, successfully created an example of a dark soliton in water. Their actions bring important new information that will impact the world of optics, oceanography, and beyond.
In the context of the ocean, waves evolve in that familiar manner as they as ebb and flow. Solitons, on the other hand, somehow manage to keep a constant size and shape. They also travel more slowly than regular waves. In the 60′s and 70′s oceanographers observed bright solitons in the deep sea, later successfully recreating them in a laboratory setting. Their work revealed that bright solitons are the cause of, among other phenomena, rogue waves that occur at sea. It was then theorized that dark solitons must be capable of the opposite- decreasing the power of a wave.
Using a 17 meter long wave tank, Dr. Chabchoub and his team simulated wave formations as they passed through dark solitons. What they found was that, indeed, there was a reduction in the amplitude of the waves. With this result the team now wants to investigate what happens when bright and dark solitons come together. Their hope is that if they continue down this current path, this information could help coastal regions better deal with large waves caused by extreme weather or earthquakes. Today’s dark soliton experiments in a laboratory could become tomorrow’s anti-tsunami safety system.
Their actions bring important new information that will impact the world of optics, oceanography, and beyond.I guess oceanographers and ocean wave scientists would be interested. But, but, BUT, I just failed to see there's any real ocean wave connection here that can be translated the theory to the real ocean, especially deep-trough kind of freaque waves in the ocean are not uncommon. Obviously theoreticians do need this ocean implication to justify their far out theoretical mumbo-jumble could have some sort of real world usefulness, but what, where, and how it can be done are still the unanswerable questions every time a new theory came around to make this conjecture and this one this time is certainly no exception. There is as yet just no conceivable road way to link between theoretical ivory tower and the real ocean -- an unavoidable fact that no theoretical gurus would care to face!!
The U.S. Coast Guard announced on Sunday (April 21) that it was suspending the search for four fishermen whose boat is believed to have been destroyed by a rogue wave.
The 50-foot Nite Owl vessel was tied to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico about 115 miles (185 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas, in rough weather on Friday morning (April 19), according to the Associated Press .
But in the early morning darkness, "a rogue wave, a freak wave or something hit the side of the boat," John Reynolds, the sole survivor of the accident, told the AP.
The wave "tore the wheel house and canopy off the boat," Larry Moore, owner of the commercial fishing vessel, told the Beaumont Enterprise from his home in Golden Meadow, La. "Everyone was asleep when it happened." The shattered craft sank within two minutes." [Shipwrecks Gallery: Secrets of the Deep]
Rogue waves, sometimes called "freak waves," are extremely large waves that occur far out at sea in apparent isolation and without any obvious cause. The waves can easily reach 100 feet (30 meters) or more in height.
Though researchers have yet to understand how rogue waves develop, some scientists claim atmospheric pressure may play a role. Other research suggests rogue waves could result from the clash of two interacting wave systems traveling perpendicular to each other.
After a possible rogue wave destroyed the Nite Owl, all five men aboard were thrown into the choppy water without life jackets.
Though Reynolds tried to help the other men into the life raft he found, his efforts were thwarted by the rough sea's 12-foot (3.7 m) waves and his crewmates' poor swimming ability, he said.
"I got in the raft. I heard them call out. There was a little ring inside there with a 60-foot line on it," Reynolds told the AP. "I threw it in the direction I heard [a crewmate] hollering from, hoping he could grab a hold of it and pull himself to the life raft. Apparently, he couldn't get a hold of it."
Reynolds, 56, was rescued by the Coast Guard later that morning after firing flares into the air. Though he has worked as a commercial fisherman for 35 years, Reynolds told the Beaumont Enterprise that this was the first time he had ever ended up in the water.The key information is clearly what the sole survivor told AP: "A rogue wave, a freak wave, or something hit the side of the boat!" But the scary part has to be that the boat was tied to an oil rig and still only one was lucky to be near a life raft. The oil rig was obviously survived, but 5 lives lost unfortunately. May they all rest in peace now. This is another case that science will not able to do anything to help!
The Cribbar (English: Ploughed Reef), also known as the Widow Maker, is a reef off the Towan Headland in Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
The Cribbar is best known for creating annual big waves, popular with experienced big wave surfers from across the world. Wave faces can be in excess of 30 ft (9.1 m). The Zorba is a reef 2 miles (3.2 km) further off the coast and can create even higher waves.Now here's an article in today's UK Daily Mail showing a series of photos and a video along with this:
They call it the Bone Cruncher, and sometimes the Widow Maker - a rare 20ft swell that comes crashing down on the Cornish coastline.
Only the bravest surfers are willing to take it on - and that's exactly what this daredevil succeeded in doing yesterday.
These images show the solitary surfer had a clear path ahead as he rode on the crest of the infamous Cribbar wave.
The swell became the stuff of legend in 1966 when three visiting Australian surfers stumbled upon it.
The closed-circuit cameras on a yacht in Portosole, Sanremo, Italy captured the moment when on Jan. 23, 2013 a wave crashed over the sea wall, sending a motorcyclist, his bike and a car into the marina. It is believed the motorcyclist was not seriously injured.The video ia also available here:
THE HAND of God delivered two Nova Scotia fishermen from the deep earlier this month, says a Woods Harbour skipper.This story was given by Woods Harbour fisherman Capt. Sandy Stoddard when he talked with reporters outside of the Woods Harbour Community Centre in Woods Harbour on Feb. 23, 2013. Thanks to Brian Medel for recording this great story. One just can not quarrel with the skipper about' "The hand of God" behind all these! We just wish to thank the Good Lord Who does allow such a nice story be actually happen and be told. Deo Gratias!
Sandy Stoddard, captain of the Logan & Morgan, spoke Monday about a miracle at sea two weeks ago, when two young men who were tossed overboard after a violent rogue wave slammed into their boat were returned from almost certain death.
Just 16 days after the entire crew of the Miss Ally was lost, Stoddard went to sea. It was the halibut fisherman’s first trip since that tragedy.
March 5 was a dark night.
“We were off Canso … probably 75 miles,” Stoddard said. “We were hauling our gear when it happened. A huge wave came out of nowhere.”
Winds were gusting 75 to 90 kilometres per hour.
“In 40-some years … I’ve never seen nothing like that,” 56-year-old Stoddard said with a note of disbelief in his voice.
SEE ALSO: Investigation into sinking of Miss Ally ends
“It just came out of nowhere and just picked us right up and threw us down. And when it threw us down, it threw two men overboard.”
The small group of fishermen working aft were in their oil gear work clothes. They had no time to don survival suits.
Stoddard, the fifth man on board, was in the wheelhouse.
Wind screeched through cables and deck gear banged together hard as the boat slammed back down into the trough behind the wave.
The four crew members straining to hold on suddenly became two. The men on deck looked around frantically and screamed to Stoddard at the helm, “They’re gone!”
How in the world did the crew get their friends back, people have asked.
“Listen,” said Stoddard, speaking deliberately.
“I’m telling you right now … it’s only by the grace of God that we got ’em back. That’s the only way.
“One guy we got back … it’s hard to explain where this guy went. He told me he stood on something and it threw him back aboard the boat.
“We’re Christian people. It was God’s hand that he stood on, and God flipped him back aboard the boat.
“He didn’t get wet. He was to his neck in the water and he was still dry when he came back aboard the boat.”
That man was Gordie Rhyno, Stoddard said.
When he dropped on deck, he ran to the stern, where the other missing man — Gregory Nickerson — would suddenly surface.
“He just knew,” Stoddard said. “Gordie was on the stern hollering for Gregory and then Gregory answered him.”
Nickerson appeared under a 1.6-metre aluminum overhang, a platform supported by braces.
“He came up underneath there and he was panicking and his hand hit one of the braces and he grabbed the brace,” Stoddard said. “He only called out the once. We (didn’t) hear him no more.”
The men threw a lifesaver to where Nickerson’s voice was last heard.
“On the fourth throw … Gordie said, ‘I got him,’” Stoddard said.
Readings on board showed the water temperature was 2.2 C.
The men worked on Nickerson because he had swallowed a lot of water.
“It took us an hour before we got Gregory back,” Stoddard said.
An emergency call was never made.
“It happened so fast. It was over and there was nothing to call in.”
Nickerson said Monday that he is feeling better and will probably head back to sea soon.
“We was all there joking and laughing, then it was just, bang,” he told CBC News. “Nobody knew nothing. Nobody seen it coming.”
Some have asked why the outcome with the Miss Ally was so different. Both had crews of five men. Both sought halibut in much the same area of ocean.
“We cannot and will not and do not have the answers to the things that we … know nothing about,” Stoddard said.
And while the community grieves for the five lost from the Miss Ally, Stoddard said he’s thankful his men were saved.
“That makes five men I’ve lost,” said Stoddard, who was a captain at 19.
He lost three in the 1980s.
“I got em all back.”
Stoddard hasn’t been on the ocean since the harrowing incident. But soon, maybe this week, he will head out.
“We’re facing, for some reason, way more rogue waves today than we ever faced before. I don’t remember ’em being like this.”
People need to be ready, Stoddard said, because the end may be closer than they realize.
A Polish man who had been living in Ireland for a number of years died after being hit by a freak wave on a fishing trip with friends.The report also included this tidbit:
The 55-year-old fisherman, who was married and had been living in Co Kildare, drowned when he fell off rocks into the sea at Mullaghmore Head, Co Sligo.
The incident happened in an area notorious for freak waves. Local anglers tend to avoid the area.So two points here should be of particular note: first the area where the tragedy happened is known to be "an area notorious for freaque waves". And further "Local angelers tend to avoid the area!" Therefore when visiting some fishing place it is clearly advisible to seek local informations to learn the local experiences and for safety! By all means avoid any place local people are known to have avoiding!
A giant wave is being blamed for the death of an elderly woman who was walking with a companion on a beach in Mexico when it broke on the shoreline, sucking her and a companion out to sea.
Local officials indicated that the deadly wave broke on shore as the pair of U.S. tourists was walking on the beach close to the famous stone arch in the Pacific resort of Cabo San Lucas. A 65-year-old woman was killed in the unusual event, while her 70-year-old partner was listed in serious condition at an area hospital.
Giant ice boulders line the shore of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. While ice does break off from floes on Lake Michigan, residents say they've never seen anything like this.
Glaciers in the tropical Andes have been retreating at increasing rate since the 1970s, scientists write in the most comprehensive review to date of Andean glacier observations. The researchers blame the melting on rising temperatures as the region has warmed about 0.7°C over the past 50 years (1950-1994). This unprecedented retreat could affect water supply to Andean populations in the near future. These conclusions are published today in The Cryosphere, an Open Access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).O.K. for a lay person like me I have only one stupid question: If there is such thing as "rising temperatures" why are we still having the kind of cold winter we have. Where is global warming?
Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes, had emitted signs of an imminent paroxysm in recent weeks. On Jan. 22, lava and strong flashes in the volcano's New Southeast Crater were clearly visible from the Sicilian foothills; these often herald a new paroxysm: short, violent eruptive bursts.
Dorschfeldt said he knew Mount Etna's recent signals could precede new activity. "[I've] followed the activity of Etna for many years, and with time you learnto know it as if it were your friend," he said in an email interview. "Following it constantly [you] learn to be a keen observer and a minor change can lead to something important," he told OurAmazingPlanet.
The tallest volcano in Europe, Mount Etna is almost constantly spewing gas or lava. Its Bocca Nuova crater also erupted earlier this year, from Jan. 10 to Jan. 20. In 2011, Etna's violent bursts were spotted from space.I got it from Sigma Xi's Science Smart Brief this morning.
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Daredevil Chuck Patterson found a novel way to tackle the waves off the coast of Hawaii – on skis!
It looks like another big wave riding hero but look a little closer and you can see that the man at bottom of the wall of water is not on a board but skis. Look a little closer still and the mental wave rider has two ski poles in his hands as well.
Chuck is a ‘driven by his passion for snow’. He grew up skiing in Lake Tahoe California as a young man but has made the transition to water, now.
He obviously gets a little snow-sick for the slopes though and decided to give himself a little reminder as his ski-surf YouTube video above shows.
1. The first step that SIMA recommends is not letting snow build up for long. If you regularly go out when there are a few inches of snow on the ground versus waiting until 2 feet have piled up, you'll be working with more manageable weights.
2. Their second tip is to wear breathable layers. Your body can still heat up quickly doing manual work outside in the cold. Layering is important to help you keep from overheating in your warm winter clothes. You could end up dehydrated if you get too hot and start to sweat. Opt for fabrics made from cotton or silk that allow more evaporation than wool or man-made materials.
3. You should also wear good boots. Good snow boots will be warm, waterproof and have good traction. Slipping on snow and ice can lead to a lot of unnecessary injuries, so be sure to move carefully and wear the right gear for your feet.
4. Like any other strenuous physical activity, you should take the time to properly stretchbefore you head outside to shovel. This is especially important considering you will be "working out" in cold weather. This will help prevent pulled muscles.
5. You'll put less stress on your body if you focus on pushing and not lifting snow out of the way. This will use less energy to help you stave off fatigue and will also be easier on your back and shoulders.
6. Staying hydrated is essential for preventing dehydration. Take water breaks, as you would if you were working out in a gym or playing a sport.
7. Working on driveways and sidewalks can put you dangerously close to traffic, so be sure topay attention to your surroundings. Cars can lose control on snowy roads and end up leaving the pavement. Be aware of the traffic around you when you are near the street.
8. Finally, you should be sure to have your phone on you in case something does go wrong. Being able to call for help at the first sign of an emergency could make a big difference.
ACTION man Mark Beaumont last night described the terrifying moment his tiny rowing boat was flipped over by a massive wave.
Mark, 29, and five crewmates came close to death when their vessel capsized in the Atlantic last month.
The Scot told how he he was left trapped upside down in the boat.
He said: “It pitched up without warning. I was upside down and fighting to get my shoes out of the rowing straps. They were stuck.
“I managed to pull my feet free and kicked for the surface.”
The crew were trying to break the 30-day record for rowing across the Atlantic. They were 520 miles from the finish in Barbados on day 27.
Mark, from Newburgh, Fife, added: “We survived so ultimately the expedition was a success.”
SCOTS ADVENTURER Mark Beaumont’s ill-fated record attempt boat has been salvaged after floating at sea for a full year, he revealed today.
• Boat found with currency and equipment still on board
• Vessel ran aground on the Florida shoreline
• ‘Sarah G’ was adrift at sea for a year
The £70,000 vessel capsized after being hit by a massive wave during the the trans-Atlantic mission, forcing the six-strong British and Irish crew to escape into a lifecraft.
Mark made several dives into the depths of the freezing ocean to retrieve vital life-saving equipment but the rest of the cargo of the 36ft fibreglass craft, named Sara G, was thought to be lost.
The Perthshire 30-year-old, who has just returned from a cycling trip in Malaysia, said the boat’s recovery was “incredible”.
It had been spotted drifting in the Carribean several times in the past 12 months by the US coastguard but it had been deemed too expensive and complicated to recover.
However it finally ran aground on the Florida shoreline at the weekend.
It still contains wallets, food and hundreds of dollars and pounds abandoned when the men had to flee for their safety.
US salvage expert Mark Hutchings, owner of TowBoatUS on Key Largo, Florida, told how he spied upturned The Sara G which is covered in what looks like bullet holes.
He said: “We salvage boats every few days but this one is unique. I’ve never seen one like it.
“Sitting there, it looked like an upside down sailboat.
“I’ve seen some boats come apart after just a few days on the water. This was was out there for a year so its a pretty substantial boat. Some stuff on board was destroyed but other things were totally intact.”
He added: “It still smells pretty bad in there.”
He said personal items would be returned to the rowers as soon as possible.
The boat itself has suffered substantial damage, including several suspected gun shot holes where people have tried to sink it, fearing it was a shipping hazard.
The state-of-the-art craft was on-course to break the 32-day east to west cross-Atlantic rowing record in January last year.
Mark and his crew, rowing in two-hour shifts, had covered more than 2,000 miles in 27 days when the freak waves picked the boat up by the stern, rotated it and capsized it.
The men endured a terrifying three-hour wait on the lifecraft before being picked up by a passing ship and brought to safety.
Another Perthshire adventurer, Benno Rawlinson from Abernethy is now trying to smash the rowing record.
He and his team have so-far rowed almost 1,500 miles after setting off from Gran Canaria on January 18.
Mark Beaumont became famous in 2008 after breaking the record for cycling around the world - completing his 18,297 miles in 194 days and 17 hoursSo it's a story with a happy ending after all! And the mighty ocean is certainly not grasping or greedy like some government we know!!!
This is a clear cut case of wrong place, wrong time. A motorcyclist was riding along the docks of a harbor wave in Portosole, Sanremo, Italy. A security camera on a yacht happened to catch this intense moment. A rogue wave came over the wall and was so strong it took out not only the motorcyclist, but also the cars that were parked near there.
