A surfer encountered the freaque wave

I think we can all agree that of all walks of people, surfers are basically the ones that have most encounters with waves so that they may be regarded as the ones that know more about waves than most others in general, especially the nearshore surf waves. But when they are on board a vessel that encounters a freaque wave attack, do they have more insight on waves than ordinary people? May be!

Yesterday there was an article in the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot written by the well known surfer James Pribram:

Last night was the first night I slept more than four hours. We have been stuck in gale force winds for more than a week now, with frequent downpours and churning seas.

Two days ago while on watch, I was up on the deck by myself. I had just sat down, turning my head around over my left shoulder and swoosh — a rogue wave washed me clear across the deck and onto the other side of the helm.

I'm not sure if I would have been washed overboard, because I was able to grab on with my right hand and then my left, jerking me back. Even so, thankfully, I had just clipped in my harness before taking the wave at full blast.

My whole right side is a bit bruised, swollen and sore from holding on. I ended up lying on my back with the entire gully of seawater emptying out on top of me. I thought I was dreaming; it all happened so quickly. I remember thinking, "Just hold on. Let the water drain out and you'll be fine.

"Nothing was floating through my mind (no pun intended) at the time. No great revelations of life. Just a very clear vision of water pouring on top of me, like some sort of baptism. Time had slowed to an almost halt. In a strange way it felt very empowering.

There's a reason why I always say "I love you" to those I care for most. Because you never know when it will be your last time to say it. Especially on a journey in the middle of the ocean. Searching for the fourth gyre I had but one thought, one vision that day. Well, two, actually.

One: of treading water and watching the sailboat sail off into the distance.

Two: of a clean ocean one day.

Peace.

It's not a long article so I quoted it here in full. It is of interest to note that he was really encountered the freaque wave in action and he provided the detailed action in detail: "I had just sat down, turning my head around over my left shoulder and swoosh — a rogue wave washed me clear across the deck and onto the other side of the helm." Ouch! He was out there by himself so no one corroborate him. We will certainly not have any doubt about the fact that a freaque wave washed him clear across the deck. It was out of nowhere, he did not seen it.. Just "swoosh" and there was the freaque wave. We can not expect any more detailed description than that. That was what really had happened. But still we have no idea what the wave was, where did it come from, and how and why it happened. That's the state of our knowledge. The only thing certain is that it had happened! He was bruised, swollen and sore. Otherwise I tend to think that he was very lucky. "Just a very clear vision of water pouring on top" of him. We appreciate that he shears this story with the rest of us. We wish all the encounters can be as lucky and able to recall what had happened. That may not be helpful to the research, still knowing what had happened is better than leave to theoretician's imaginations. Thanks to Mr. Pribram for an inspiring as well as philosophical article telling us what had happened to himself. May the luck be with him always!

Owen Phillips, R.I.P.

This post today is a memorial which may be unusual for this blog in general, but Owen Phillips (1930-2010) is an exceptionally eminent scientist in modern ocean wave studies who had passed away over a month ago and the news has just now come to my attention. It will be a stretch to say that he is a friend -- only to the extent that I usually shake hand with him whenever I see him in a conference. Some of my friends are his Hopkins students. I am just an admirer, if not a fan, of Owen Phillips. When some of my friends call him Owen, I always feel comfortable to call him Prof. Phillips.


I guess it's generally acceptable to think that all ocean wave aficionados know about Phillips-Miles theory as the corner stone of modern ocean wave studies. In 1957, independently Phillips and John W. Miles (1920-2008) published separate ocean wave theories in Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Phillips treats the resonance between turbulent atmospheric pressure on ocean surface, while Miles concerns hydrodynamical stability between surface waves and the atmospheric boundary layer. The combination of their theories constitute the linear basis of ocean wave models. Phillips also advanced the concept of equilibrium range in the spectrum of ocean waves that provided wave data analyst like me ample opportunities to play with wave spectrum data. Phillips also studied extreme waves theoretically with his students in the 1990's which has received less attention in the freaque waves community.

So one can safely regard Owen Phillips as one of the academic giants on the 20th century. I met him from time to time in different conferences, I wish I could be more assertive to talk to him more and learn from him. In one particular occasion he had some kind words on a poster paper I presented. I could pursue it deeper with him on that. Only much later did I realized that was a missed opportunity on my part. Prof. Phillips, R.I.P.

Fishermen rescued after freak wave

It is always good to read a happy ending rescue story. This one from Sydney Morning Herald today with an encouraging title: "Fishermen rescued after freak wave":

A fisherman says he is lucky to be alive after a freak wave threw his boat 100 metres on to rocks off Port Kembla, south of Sydney.

Chris Howarth and his two crew were rescued on Sunday morning after they were left stranded on Five Islands Nature Reserve.

They were forced to abandon their $50,000 boat as they waited for a rescue helicopter.

The crew failed to spot the wave which forced the boat sideways during an early morning fishing trip, Mr Howarth said.

"Where that wave came from, I don't know," he told reporters.

"We didn't see it. The first thing we knew about it was the boat was going sideways and we were up on the rocks."

Fearing for their safety, the drenched crew abandoned the boat, with one of them calling for help from his mobile phone.

"Me being the skipper, I ordered everyone out while we could," Mr Howarth added.

"I have just got to thank all of those guys, the police, maritime service board, everybody.

"We caught a hell of a lot of fish, they're all gone too."

There are some telltale details regarding the encounter not usually included in this kind of general reporting, e.g. the crews simply did not see the wave until the boat was forced onto the rocks. This is clearly an evidence that the wave must be a freaque one. Unfortunately we are still left with not known exactly what kind of wave that was -- a wave that we know it had happened, we can only describe the aftermath, but we can certainly not able to give any explanation for its happening. That's the essence of freaque wave encounter we face presently. No amount of theoretical mumble jumble can remedy that!

Tragedy at Newport, Oregon

Lori Tobias of Oregonian authored this tragic story with a long detailed title: "Woman drowns, man missing after big waves wash both off jetty at Newport." It is so well presented, I have to excerpt her whole article here:

NEWPORT – George Bulawka, 48 was supposed to head home to Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, but the weather on Oregon's central coast was so beautiful he couldn't bear to leave. So he hung around and went to the South Jetty on Yaquina Bay, hoping to find conditions nice enough to stroll to the end.

Instead, about 1 p.m., he ended up watching a tragedy unfold as a couple made that same walk.

"The waves were so high, they were crashing over the pole at the end of the pier," said Bulawka, a schoolteacher. "I kept watching. I just thought they would stop. They kept going."

And then they were gone.

The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the body of a woman about 1:15 p.m. The search for her companion continued into the late afternoon. No identifications had been released by Wednesday evening.

Skies were blue, the temperature was mild and the sun shining. But the seas were huge, tumbling high and white and measuring 18 to 20 feet, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Bulawka was resting on the beach near the jetty when a wave came in and soaked him. He stood and that's when he saw them. "I noticed those people had parked their bikes and were walking out to the pier," said Bulawka.

Not long after, Larry Prantl, of Waldport, passed the couple on the jetty.

"I was coming back," said Prantl. "I saw some fairly big stuff breaking. I wasn't in any danger, but I could see if you were out farther, it was going to be really, really dangerous. I passed them a third of the way where the east end of the jetty would start. I said hi to the guy. The gal smiled at me, " said Prantl, who estimated the couple were in their 20s. " I kept walking back, and I looked back and I saw they still kept walking."

Bulawka watched, too. Even as they started getting wet and catching the spray from waves, the two continued on.

"It looked like they had walked rocks before," Bulawka said. "They were in good shape. They seemed to be a fit couple."

He watched them reach the end of the jetty, and by then assumed there must be a safe place to take shelter that he just couldn't see.

"I have pretty good eyesight, and I saw a taller person, I assumed to be the man, holding on to the white pole. I could see another person crouched down behind him. I saw several waves coming over and he was still holding on, and the next wave they were gone."

Prantl asked a woman to call 9-1-1 and in a short time, the rescue-turned-recovery efforts were under way. Police recovered the body of the woman about 40 yards southwest of the jetty in the ocean.

Wednesday afternoon, the police cut the couple's bicycles from a log, retrieved a cell phone and other personal items and went about the grim business of learning who they were.

"I've lived here my whole life," said Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Dave Peterson. "This happens all the time. I don't know if they think those waves are just little sprinkles or what."

Wednesday evening, Bulawka was in his hotel room, still trying to make of sense of what he witnessed.

"I am in shock, I guess," said Bulawka, his voice wavering. "Even at the end of the day, I wanted to go to the jetty; the waves had gone way down. But I wouldn't do that now that I saw how quick the waves come back up. It wasn't just one rogue wave; they just kept coming and coming and coming."

Picture by Lori Tobias -- A Coast Guard motor lifeboat plows the water
between the south and north jetties outside Yaquina Bay.

Well, indeed, waves may be " just kept coming and coming and coming" and all are seemingly harmless splashes. May be that's what the couple felt. But it all takes is that one big one in a fraction of a brief moment and all are too late after that! We'll never know if that big one will ever come, when, how, or where. But it will come, somewhere, some time, for certain! Danger is everywhere, not just around the corner. Stay safe by all means! Don't take any chance. What can be more important than your own safety?

Remembering the loss of the Big Fitz

Found from the Times of the Internet .

On this day, remembering the loss of the Big Fitz 35 years ago, I think the most important, significant development over the laqst 35 years was the publication of the paper of Hultquist, Dutter, and Schwab in the May 2006 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). In this paper the three NOAA scientists made the best possible hindcast of the weather condition surrounding Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, using the best possible wave forecasting model available. *

Now after 35 years there is not much more science and technology can do to find out what was really happened beyond speculations. We still don't know how or why it had happened. That's the way it's going to remain from 35 years ago until, well, what ever!

Of course we do sincerely extend our sympathy to the 29 mourning families still grieving on the loss of their love ones. Here is the list of the whole crew from S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online.

* The adjectives I used here, i.e., most important, significant, best possible, are in my opinion in the generally objective sense describing my honest feelings. That, of course, may or may not be in consonance with conventional wisdom. But conventional wisdom at the present has unfortunately mostly politically contaminated. Political correct conventional wisdom in science is the most disgusting thing one can think of in science. I don't blame my colleagues who have to play the game sometimes. That's how I finally realized the beauty of being retired -- being relieved from all those PC concerns is so refreshing and liberating. Freedom is such a wonderful thing!

A survaval story at Sunshine Coast

Gail Forrer-Arnold of Sunshine Coast Daily reported yesterday this fisherman's survival story after he was encountered a freaque wave that rolled his boat over:

The adventure began on Tuesday night when the avid fisherman went to Noosa River to check his crab pots.

“But it was such a lovely night, I thought I would just duck out and head up the beach. It was beautiful, really flat.”

Following his heart and led by his line, Andrew boated down the river, over the bar and across to Teewah.

“I was about 100 metres off shore from the beach, and I had my back to the shore,” he said. “I was fishing in the gutter off the beach.”

A rogue wave gave little warning of its 9pm arrival.

“I just sort of heard the noise of the wave starting to break – I had the motor running.”

The wave rolled the boat over.

“Instead of going into shore, I was sucked out to sea,” he said.

He swam under the boat to get his lifejacket, found the V cover and wrapped his legs in it to stay warm.

“I lashed my hand to the front of the boat – just in case I passed out or fell asleep. And I had my legs tucked up into the front of the boat.

“I could have climbed on top of the boat, but the chill factor stopped me.

“I was warmer in the water.”

When the sun rose he watched as a trawler, helicopter and light planes passed by him.

Except for the trawler, he said he was not panicked.

“The only time I was a bit worried, was when I saw the trawler,” he said.

“I used to work on trawlers in the Bass Strait, so I know sharks follow trawlers looking for scraps.”

By 9am, Mr Taylor had decided he could not wait any longer for a rescue.

“There wasn’t anyone on the beach,” he said. “I decided I’d had enough.

“I’m not fit, but I’m determined, so I just swam in.

“Going through the surf break was the hardest.”

Mr Taylor said it was well after lunch when he reached home ground and phoned Noosa Coast Guard.

This is a very tough fisherman who made his survival sounds easy. But it was most definitely not easy at all. That was a calm night, "beautiful, really flat" as he tells it, which must accounts for his easy survival. He heard the noise the wave made before the encounter. So freaque waves must making some sound -- but so far no one in the academic world pay attention to the sound effect yet!

What I would suggest is that he should have his life jacket on all the time out there instead of swam under the boat to fetch it.

Other than that I just wish to congratulate him for his lucky survival.

Now a happy rescue in Northern Ireland

Now today we have a nice survival story from Northern Ireland. Here's the reported story according to Connaught Telegraph:

A coastal community in north Mayo is celebrating this week the survival of two young local men after their trawler capsized when swamped by a freak wave in a heavy swell while they were hauling crab pots. John O'Donnell (18), from Porturlin, Ballina, and Nathan Flannery (25) from Rossport, Ballina, didn't even have time to send out an SOS as their vessel 'Léim an Bhradán' (Leap of the Salmon) began sinking. They took to a liferaft but to their horror the emergency craft initially failed to open.

The young men, who were both wearing lifejackets, eventually managed to right the raft and climb into it.

They then spent nearly 12 uncomfortable hours bobbing about in the Atlantic, some 13 miles off the north Mayo coastline at Belderrig, before they were spotted by the crew of a Sligo based Coast Guard helicopter.

The helicopter crew directed the Ballyglass RNLI lifeboat to the scene and the young men taken ashore at Ballyglass to recover.

These two young fishermen are extremely lucky indeed according to the rescuers. During the 12 hours they spent adrift the men had fired a smoke signal when they spotted a helicopter. But the crew of that aircraft failed to spot their signal. Eventually they were spotted by the crew of Coast Guard helicopter. Thank God for the wonderful happy ending!

While not all reports had mentione freaque waves as the cause, as usual no more detail is available at any rate. This report by IrishTimes.com, for example, has this fair description but did not characterize the wave as freaque:

The pair were moving crab pots closer inshore when the incident occurred. Their vessel, Léim an Bhradáin, was in a heavy swell and the pair were hauling pots when a wave came across the stern.

The boat broached and capsized. The pair were thrown into the sea, with no time to reach their VHF radio to raise the alarm.

Fortunately, the vessel’s life-raft released and floated to the surface. However, although it began to inflate on contact with water, its straps were jammed. Mr O’Donnell found a car key in his pocket and managed to cut the straps, allowing the raft to fully inflate.

The pair clamboured aboard and tried to keep warm, estimating the time at about 1pm on Saturday. Weather conditions were southerly force two to three with moderate sea conditions, but this particular area of coastline is known for its heavy seas.

Now we have here may be some thing new: a freaque wave in heavy swell! I doubt anyone knows what exactly a freaque wave in heavy swell is. Swell usually can be expected to have regular patterns approaching or refracting toward the nearshore area. Clearly freaque waves can happen in the swells also.

By the way this RTÉ News has video on location for the rescue.





Wouldn't it be nice if every encounter case can be solved and rescued successfully like this one!

And another!

Another very sad news reported in UK dailymail this morning. Here's the long headline:
"Husband's agony as British tourist, 63, drowns after wave sweeps women off beach in California."

Here are the details:

Hands clasped together in anguish, Michael Hauffe could only pray for his wife after she was swept out to sea by a freak wave.

The British tourist had watched in horror as his 63-year-old wife Ann and her friend were knocked off their feet on a beach in California.

And as rescuers searched the coastline for her, Mr Hauffe, a poor swimmer, could only stand and watch.

He had immediately run for help when the current swept his wife and her friend Angela Jewell, into the ocean. Rescuers managed to save Mrs Jewell, who is also 63.

But Mrs Hauffe, of Cocking, in the South Downs, in West Sussex, drifted further out and then disappeared.

Some 90 minutes after the search began, a lifeguard helicopter spotted her off the coast at Carmel. But her husband’s worst fears were soon realised.

She was no longer breathing and was pronounced dead on Monday afternoon at Community Hospital, off the Monterey Peninsula.

The Hauffes, who have a family garage business, and their friends the Jewells, had been walking along Carmel River Beach near a lagoon when the wave hit the women, who were closer to the surf.

The riptide then pulled them both 100 yards into the ocean, officials said.

Detective Sergeant Matt Luther, of the Monterey coroner’s office, said: ‘There is a lagoon one side and it can look pretty calm but there are some big waves on the ocean side.’

Mrs Jewell was saved after a lifeguard swam out to her and stayed with her until a rescue boat arrived. She was in good condition when she was pulled from the water.

Last night she was said to be in hospital with stomach pains.

An official warned that the strong local surf can be deadly for holidaymakers trying to make it out of the ocean on their own.

State Parks Superintendent Dana Jones said: ‘If anyone gets into difficulties near the shoreline, they should wait just beyond where the surf breaks and wait for rescuers.’

Now this tragedy seems to have caused by a combination of large wave and rip current -- the wave may or may not be freaque. But who knows? What would be the difference? Another dreadful tragedy happened and there is not much we can do about it except pray! Yes, we can only pray for Mrs Hauffe's soul, RIP and for her husband and family.

We really need more research into this phenomenon which is now non-exist. When do the powers that be will come to implement something?

Another encounter case, another tragedy.

This is reported in Kansas State Collegian and picked up by a couper of Kansas State tv stations:

Last Wednesday, a K-State professor died while vacationing in Mexico.

Mary Hale Tolar, director of leadership studies, sent an e-mail Sunday evening stating Tony Jurich, professor of family studies and human services, drowned while on vacation with his wife, Olivia Collins, instructor in the school of leadership studies. The pair were walking on a beach when a "rogue wave" overtook them and they were pulled into the water by the undertow.

The hotel staff witnessed the event and entered the water pulling out Collins and Jurich. Collins was revived then transported by ambulance to a local hospital and spent two days recovering, according to the e-mail.

It is a local news in Manhattan, Kansas, but the story is certainly not unfamiliar: walking on the beach, encountered an onshore freaque wave, and resulted in tragedy. We share our deepest sympathy with the professor's family. Similar and familiar happenings as has been reported at many other places before. Some survived, some ends tragedy. Sometimes it's worldwide news, sometimes it's just local. How many cases that did npt even get reported?

Also similar with previous cases, there is still no details about the freaque wave that was encountered -- basically we don't know what had happened -- it just happened!
A tragedy here and there, somewhere, a lost soul here and there, somewhere. When will it happen to have some power that be that will decide to do something -- such as making measurements to find out what, why, or how?

Rescue in Poole Harbor

This rescue case happened last Sunday in southern England. According to BBC News:

Two fishermen were rescued after their boat capsized off the Dorset coast.

The men had been bass fishing on Saturday afternoon in the Swash Channel in Poole Harbour when a freak wave hit their boat.

Coastguards were alerted by the crew of a passing vessel who saw them clinging to their upturned vessel and waving for help.

They had spent about half an hour in the water when they were rescued by another boat.

The Poole RNLI inshore lifeboat crew arrived a short time later and brought the men ashore.

John Vine, volunteer helmsman, said: "There was a strong easterly wind that made conditions extremely rough.

"These guys were very unfortunate.

"We were very concerned that the men had been in the water for a long time, lucky for them that the passing vessel was there to lend a hand."

So they are two lucky fishermen after all. This is a more typical than atypical story for fisherman. They are usually not far from shore, but entirely vulnerable when any kind of wave hits their boat. We don't know what kind of wave that did hit them, it can be surmised that the wave may or may not be the kind of freaque waves the academics familiarized with. Anything that capsizes a boat will be necessarily a freaque wave by an ordinary stretch of conventional mind. There is no way to verify it. Let's just accept the report and record it as a freaque wave encounter. Thank God the rescue is successful! Here's a scenery of the scenic Poole Harbor:

Space Hopper to the rescue!

I have never heard such a thing as Space Hopper before. According to the Wikipedia:

The term "space hopper" is more common in the UK; the toy is less familiar in the United States, and may be known as a "hoppity hop" or some other name.

That explains this recent rescue story from U.K. reported in mirror.co,uk News:

A freak wave washed Charlotte Wright, 15, and her friend Hannah Woolacott 16, off the pier in Dawlish, Devon, on Saturday.

Their screams alerted Matthew Gribble, Andrew Riches and Leigh Larratt, all 24, who called the coastguard then raced to the rescue. The lads threw a lifebuoy but it didn't reach the girls. So quick-thinking Matt flung out a Space Hopper that a neighbour had brought out.

Charlotte and Hannah grabbed the toy, got to the lifebuoy and held on until Exmouth inshore lifeboat arrived.

Leigh said yesterday: "The Space Hopper saved the day. Matt got it right next to the girls and they got hold of it for long enough to get to the lifebuoy.

"They were fighting for their lives.

The sea was really rough and they kept going under."

Matt added: "I threw the Space Hopper into the air and gave it a good punch. Luckily it landed within two feet of them - they were quite far out, around 20 metres from the seawall.

"We knew help was on the way and we just screamed at the girls to keep their heads up out of the water. But the younger girl was blue in the face and looked really bad."

Two lifeboat crews and a rescue helicopter were scrambled. Helmsman Giles White said "Any longer and we would have been pulling out bodies."

The best part of the story is of course this:

Both girls were treated in an Exeter hospital and later released.

Thank God for that! All's well that ends well -- it's good to have a space hopper around!

By the way here's what a space hopper looks like:

A wall of water in Bangladesh

An interesting expression in this sobering article by EIN News:

A wall of water whipped up by strong winds over the Bay of Bengal has flooded coastal areas in Bangladesh, forcing about 150,000 people to flee their homes, officials said.

"A wall of water" is one of the well-known characteristics freaque waves are known for. In this case, however, it was clearly not freaque wave at any rate, rather it is the storm surge as the title of the article correctly identified. Storm surge is expectantly generated by strong wind, once upon a time storm surge had also been referred as the "wind tide." So no one should mistaken it for a freaque wave which is mostly unexpected and not necessarily generated by wind. Come to think of it, a wall of water in connection with freaque waves was basically from the viewpoint of someone on a boat when encountering a freaque wave. The massive wave could appear to the people on board as a wall of water -- though not the wall of water like a storm surge or a tidal bore usually produce. Now the recent Hollywood movie called Poseidon that opened the scene with something like a wall of water and the Ship Captain announced a freaque wave is coming is clearly and totally unrealistic!

A tragedy happened in Karon Beach, Thailand

This tragedy happened in June but it was just reported in Australia ninemsn news today:

A UK backpacker drowned after being swept from the arms of her boyfriend as they were swimming at a beach in Thailand.

Rebecca Callaghan, 21, was embracing her boyfriend Ian Fenwick in calm, knee-deep water off Phuket on June 12 when a freak wave knocked them over, an inquest into her death has heard.

Mr Fenwick was pulled underwater and when he managed to surface, he saw his girlfriend floating face down, the Daily Mail reports.

"We stood in the water up to our knees, hugging, when a wave came from behind and knocked us off our feet," he told Worcestershire Coroners' Court.

"I remember feeling her arms let go of me."

Though Ms Callaghan was described as being a strong swimmer and diver, she was unable to battle the powerful rip off Karon Beach.

Though the beach is a popular tourist destination, more than 20 people have drowned there in the past year.

Ms Callaghan had been saving money for four years for her backpacking trip, which was set to include Australia and Indonesia.

The U.K. dailymail online also reported this case with an added picture of the beach:

There is not much more one can say about this tragic event. Especially when we see the picture of the beach where this case was taking place. We can just wonder how can something like that can ever happen?

A reader named Rick made this very good comment in the Dailymail article: I was on this beach in March and was just up to my knees in the sea when a wave knocked me over. The weight of water was enormous and the undertow very strong. Luckily I managed to crawl out the sea on all fours and did not go in again for my whole stay. It really is a treacherous tho beautiful beach. BEWARE.

Clearly that had happened before and will happen again. As the brother of the victim commented: "You can be the best swimmer in the world and this can still happen." We have seen plenty of this kind of cases from all over the globe over the last few years. So, what else? Just beware!

"The Wave" a first read.

I did not get around to go to Barnes&Noble or Border book stores. But yesterday when we were shopping at Target I was thrilled to find they carried this newly released book. So for the first time in my adult life, I purchased a brand new book in the first week of its release.

Being totally ignorant of the existence of this book and the author, I was eager to find out who were the expert scientists that the non-scientist, journalist author got her information and knowledge from. I did not start reading the book at the beginning. I jumped directly to the chapter that has the title "Schrodinger's Wave" which was indeed a document of how and where she encountered the scientists: the 10th International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting and Coast Hazard Symposium in the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii in November, 2007.

I was not too impressed at first as the author somewhat overblown the event by comparing the Workshop with the Tahiti Teahupoo for world surfers and saying that the workshop attendants "temporarily tripling the north shore's per capita IQ." There are all kinds of conferences where wave aficionados gather yearly all around the world here and there, this wave hindcasting and forecasting workshop may or may not even on the list. The organizers had always cleverly select attractive places for their meeting. This one in the north shore in 2007 clearly attracted more people than usual, many of them might not have attended the previous workshops.

But as a professional journalist, she masterfully described the scenes of the conference: the registration, the posters, and the chitchats over beer at the ice breaker. Not being at the workshop myself (As it was during the same time period while I was going through my retirement, I submitted an abstract at Don Ratio's invitation and later withdrew because I was just not quite up to the travel at the time and I was also not too excited about the program.) She zoomed into the only session that I most liked to attend -- the Extreme Wave session on the fourth day. Reading her detailed descriptions of the session highlights gave me a sense that I would probably get just as much out of it if I were there. For that alone it's certainly worth the money buying the book!

I don't know if there's someone advised her, she seemed to know exactly the right experts to talk to. One, in particular, is Al Osborne, one of the premier nonlinear theoretical physicist from Texas originally but now resided in Italy. I don't know if Al was prepared to talk to this journalist, but clearly in trying to make her understand he had this down-to-earth metaphorical explanation of freaque waves:

"It's like this rogue wave is hiding," he said, using his hands to demonstrate. "He's got his arms out, covering a lot of other waves. And when he gets ready, he sweeps in all their energy, stealing from them and pulling it up under this one big single peak."

I think this could be destined to be the classical theoretical explanation of all times. of course that's not the whole answer. It all depends on "when he gets ready"! We don't know when? We don't know where? We don't know how? And we don't know why? Especially out in the open ocean. But Osborne's refreshing explanation certainly satisfies any non-specialist's curiosity!

At the end of this chapter the author noted that on the first day of this conference, on November 11, 2007, there was a bad storm near Russia's Black Sea that sunk four carriers and split an oil tanker into two. Those cases got nothing to do with freaque wave or the workshop. I did blogged about the storm here.


P.S.

While the November 2007 North Shore Workshop had a fair collection of Freaque wave scientists and aficionados there, they represent only a small subset at best. There are plenty of experts from Russia (other than Zakharov), Norway, France, Germany, and U.K. who were not there. So dealing with scientific theory of freaque waves, the author's speedy education is clearly far from complete.

The book "The Wave" .

After being quiet, sort of in an uneasy doldrums, in the wide ocean world out there for some time now, while it is still quiet yet out there, there is suddenly some media agitation about waves has been occurring in recent days. I am referring to the just now publication of a Doubleday book entitled "The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean" authored by Susan Casey. Here's the Youtube advertisement of the book:



I have not get the book yet. I intend to of course. It is certainly of interest to see this seemingly popular book by an established author who is NOT a scientist. This entry today is just a preliminary introduction. I will blog about and from the contents of this book in the coming days.

Not trivia matter

Freaque wave happenings are clearly not trivia matters, but the following recorded event appeared in the Environment Canada's Weather Trivia Calendar according to this news item:

On. Aug. 31, 2008, several dozen people were enjoying a bonfire at Middle Cove Beach, Nfld. about 8:30 p.m. when a giant rogue wave out of nowhere blew them over. Helping each other from being carried out to sea, they rushed to safety on higher ground.

That just shows that freaque waves happen any places any time. If it does not get reported does not mean that it did not happen. Even it did get reported it might just get buried somewhere in the paper works someplace or even re-appear as trivia somehow.

Another encounter just encountered.

This has just happened a few hours ago according to Vineyard Gazette Online reported by Mike Seccombe:

Several people were injured and others suffered property losses when a high-speed ferry returning weekend tourists from Martha’s Vineyard to New York was disabled by a freak wave.

Passengers on the Seastreak evening service were sprayed with shards of glass when the wave detached a heavy metal box containing life jackets from the bow of the vessel and drove it into a front window.

The boat put into New London, Conn., where it was met by ambulances. Two passengers were treated for minor cuts and elected to continue the journey by another boat. One man required two stitches for a facial cut and later was driven to the city.

Several bicycles which had been stored on the bow also were damaged, and other passengers reported damage to electronic equipment, mainly cell phones, when seawater flooded in through the smashed front window.

Seastreak manager Mike Glasfeld said the boat was carrying just fewer than 300 passengers on the run, which left Oak Bluffs at 4 p.m.

Although the wind was blowing over 30 miles per hour at the time, he said the boat had following seas and winds.

“It was smooth running up to that wave and it was smooth after that wave. It was just one wave that created the mayhem,” he said.

The incident happened about three hours into the journey.

. . .

This is a rare reporting that includes good details on what had happened especially the comment that:

“It was smooth running up to that wave and it was smooth after that wave. It was just one wave that created the mayhem,”

This certainly casts off any doubt about whether or not a freaque wave was encountered. One seldomly able to secure such an explicit description. Luckily there were only relatively minor damages and injuries. But nevertheless a freaque wave was the likely culprit that caused the mishap.

A tragedy at the Outer Banks in North Carolina

Here's a tragic story, from dailypress.com, of beach going again, our deep sympathy and prayers go to the family:

The body of a 19-year-old Gloucester man was found after he went missing while swimming Wednesday at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Brian Mouring's body was found about 1 nautical mile from where he went missing while swimming near the Oregon Inlet, said Petty Officer 3rd Class David Marin, a spokesman with Coast Guard office in Portsmouth. Mouring's body was found by a park service ranger near a campground at Oregon Inlet.

"The body was found by park service rangers," Marin said. "We assisted with the search and were oncall if there was any other need for us but it was park service that recovered the body."

Mouring was camping with four friends at Oregon Inlet in the Outer Banks as their last hurrah of summer before they parted ways for school, said Mouring's grandfather, John Mouring. Just before heading home on Wednesday, they decided to take a final swim.

He was in water waist- to chest-deep near a friend when a freak wave larger than others suddenly reared up. Mouring's friend spied it in time to dive into the wave or under it. When he looked back for Brian Mouring, all he saw was foam.

"Brian may have been caught by surprise and slammed into the sand," John Mouring said. "We think he was rendered unconscious or couldn't help himself."

It is not an unfamiliar case. It was being called a freaque wave which may not necessarily be a very large one either. But the key that caused the tragedy was clearly the part that was "caught by surprise." One has to be on alert at all time. Never let the guard down. Don't ever be allow yourself be "caught by surprise."

Between a rock and a very wet place!

Here are two pictures published in an article by Matt Fortune in UK Dailymail today:

A man "had climbed over protective bars several feet further back from the edge in his pursuit of the ultimate wake-up call and was fortunate to survive as the area was engulfed by water." It was at Ben Buckler headland North Bondi Beach in Sydney. The author described the man as "brave but foolish" which is clearly an accurate statement no one would disagree. Even he was prepared, that was nevertheless a foollish thing to do. Thanks to the article for these two spectacular wave pictures!

A case in Lake Simcoe

This CTV news I just read happened last week:

A father and son ended up in hospital after a spectacular wipeout with their speedboat Sunday on Lake Simcoe.

York Regional Police said the 32-year-old son was discharged from hospital Sunday night while the 64-year-old father was kept overnight for observation.

They had been out on the popular recreational lake in a 14-metre-long Nortec speedboat, which is capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour.

Witnesses said the boat hit a rogue wave in Killarney Bay around 4:30 p.m., causing the boat to roll.

"The boat is like, cut in half," said Denise Carl as she videotaped the aftermath of the crash.

The good news is that after hospital stay, everyone is o.k. Too bad that there were videos showing the aftermath, but none was able to capture the freaque wave in action. Well, that's life!