Two lucky sailboaters rescued in Morro Bay

This local news tells a rather not unfamiliar story:

The Coast Guard rescued the two men early Thursday morning after a rogue wave hit their sailboat near Morro Bay shortly after midnight. The sailboat rolled over south of the harbor entrance, breaking its mast.

Paul Bloch and Ken Price never expected their sailing trip from Marina Del Rey to San Francisco to catch a snag in Morro Bay.

"It knocked me out of the boat," Bloch said.

A rogue wave took the two men by surprise and rolled the boat.

"Flipped all the way around in slow motion. It was very surrealistic and everything in there was flying," Price said.

Swimming for his life, Bloch reached the boat safely and got back into the boat with his buddy, but their problems were just beginning as they inched closer to the surfline. Both men soon realized the sailboat had a broken mast and had lost all power, including the radios and GPS

"We had a handheld radio that we found and saved our lives," Bloch said.

When the men were out there, it was around midnight, so not only did they have to compete with the darkness, but heavy fog and high surf.

"The ocean's an unforgiving place," said Morro Bay Harbor Director Eric Endersby. "You've got a lot of factors out there, and they got caught behind the wrong ones."

The boaters sent out a mayday, set off a flare, and help arrived just 10 minutes later. The two were able to anchor their sailboat outside the Morro Bay harbor before being rescued.

"My God, when we saw the flares in the sky that the coast guard was near, it was such an extraordinary experience," Bloch said.

An experience they say they can share because they kept their cool while being tossed at sea.

"Just don't panic. That's what gets people. We didn't and we're here," Price said.

The Morro Bay Harbor Patrol says it's been a couple of years since they've had an incident like this one. They advise boaters to always check the weather conditions before heading out and check with local marine agencies once in route.

The stranded sailboat was hauled down to Port San Luis before being pulled out of the water.

So here again, freaque waves are just unfathomable -- they can happen any time any place without warning.  When it happens it just happens!  Thanks be to God there are always Coast Guards for the rescue.

Visualizing global surface ocean currents!

Here is an absolutely fascinating video.  I have a hard time trying to upload the Youtube video. Please go there to check it out. I first got the info from Ed Yong (@edyong209 on Twitter.)

A team of data visualisers at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre has put together an incredible animation of sea surface currents around the world.

The visualisation was put together using data from Nasa's ECCO2model. The model maps ocean and sea ice data across the world, at impressive resolutions that can resolve ocean eddies and narrow-current systems that don't show up in coarser models. These currents tend to be the main drivers of heat, salinity and carbon transport in the oceans.

The patterns under the ocean represent the bathymetry of the depths below the surface, exaggerated 40x. The topography of the land has been exaggerated 20x. The model simulates flow at all depths, though the visualisation only shows surface flows.

Now do they have any bearing on freaque wave occurrences?  Can anyone compare those known locations where freaque waves had happened with these global currents to see if  there can be any correlations?

A celebration of life at sea!

Here's a news item from the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society:

The winner of a national competition to find the best maritime limerick in celebration of life at sea has been announced by the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society today ahead of World Poetry Day on 21 March.

The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society, which provides financial support and advice to retired seafarers in need, launched its inaugural Seafaring Limerick Competition, which was judged by the Bard of Barnsley, the renowned English poet Ian McMillan. Ian, who is poet-in-residence for English National Opera and regular presenter of R3’s The Verb, has strong maritime connections, with his father having served in the Royal Navy. 

The competition, which received 120 entries, was won by Maggie Ballinger from Sheffield, who penned this offering:

The swell, and the towering wave,

Cover many a seafarer's grave.

So to land Britain's dish,

(What are chips, without fish?),

A man must be strong, skilled and brave.

I have to agree with the judge, English poet Ian McMillan, on his comments on this winning work: “Maggie’s limerick actually covers a number of emotions which is hard to do in five lines: it rhymes, it’s got rhythm, it’s a proper limerick.”  Congratulations to Mrs. Maggie Ballinger from Sheffield -- And a salute to all the "strong, skilled and brave" men and women out there confronting the swells and the towering waves every day!

From the lone survivor . . .

Otago Daily Times published this article today that tells the stody of the lone survivor of the Easy Rider tragedy in the Foveaux Straight yesterday entitled "I was ready to go":

When the fishing trawler Easy Rider set off from Bluff on Wednesday, the nine crew and passengers on board were in high spirits and looking forward to fruitful muttonbirding and cod-fishing expeditions.

"All the wives were on the wharf, and they waved out to their husbands, saying 'Good luck, and see you, and have a good season'," said deckhand Dallas Reedy (44), the only one of the nine to have yet returned from the trip alive. 

The weather conditions were not too rough, the ship's load was well secured and, despite suggestions otherwise, the vessel was not overloaded, Mr Reedy said from his hospital bed yesterday afternoon.

But he said those onboard could not have foreseen two freak waves that suddenly struck the vessel from the side and tipped it over before sinking it near the northern tip of Stewart Island just a few hours after it had departed.

Mr Reedy was sitting at the back of the boat with a couple of seasick passengers he had just met when the first wave struck the vessel's starboard side and "washed me to port side through the boat". 

"While I was there, I think another wave hit us and tipped us right over. It happened within 10 seconds. I heard the rush, saw the water and it just blew me straight over the side of the boat."

Mr Reedy was suddenly thrust into a lonely, gruelling 18-hour ordeal in chilling waters in which he thought he would die along with the others. 

He talked and sang old songs to himself and to the empty petrol container he clung on to and named "Wilson" in the manner of the Tom Hanks film Castaway - to try to keep himself going. 

After the rogue waves struck, Mr Reedy initially managed to scramble on to the upturned vessel and stayed there for two hours - tapping on the hull to try to get a response from those who were inside the boat's wheelhouse but getting no response. 

Then the sound of rushing air signalled the boat was sinking "like the Titanic".

When the petrol container popped up, Mr Reedy - without a life jacket - grabbed it and emptied it so he could use it to keep himself afloat. 

For the next 16 hours, he called on all his army and diving experience to get through.
He also thought about the amazing survival story of a former school classmate, Robert Hewitt, who survived at sea for four days and three nights off the Kapiti Coast near Wellington in 2006. 

As the hours piled up, Mr Reedy felt himself fading. 

He began making peace with his situation.

"I wasn't scared. I thought 'Oh well, I am about to find out what's on the other side'. I was ready to cross over, and that's made me a lot more relaxed. I talked to myself and to Wilson." 

But something made him hang on. He wanted to be there for his two sons' 16th and 18th birthdays next week, and to see his wife again. 

"We have just had our 20th wedding anniversary, and I wanted a few more.
"Towards the end ... I didn't have anything left in me. I was ready to go - and I heard the boat coming."

A young man standing on the back of a rescue boat had spotted him about 6pm on Thursday.

"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. I couldn't have lasted another night. When they pulled me out of the water, it was like coming out of the womb, being reborn." 

Mr Reedy did not see the bodies of any of the other eight people on the Easy Rider. He later learned one body was recovered from nearby.

"I don't feel guilty about it that I lived. I wish I had been able to do something else for my mates. But I fought for my life. I really wanted to live." 

Mr Reedy is still recovering in hospital from the effects of his ordeal, including hypothermia.

He had an emotional meeting yesterday with the families of the eight victims - some of whom asked him what their loved ones were doing prior to the capsize.

Mr. Reedy has provided sufficient details about the circumstances surrounding the encounter -- probably the very best informations that one can reasonably expect.  Of course it still do not have the kind of information we would like to have, e.g. the size of the wave -- but who can remember thoswe things when life is on the line?  Please read the original article for the names of the victims.  This is a real tragedy with one lone survivor.  God bless him!

Foveaux's rogues demand vigilance

Kimberley Crayton-Brown of the Southland Times wrote this  nice article on freaque waves in the Foveaux Strait.  She talked to two persons: one a survivor of freaque wave encounter in Januaey and the other a scientist.

Known as one of the most unpredictable stretches of water in the world, a rogue wave in Foveaux Strait claimed more lives this week. 

In the past 15 years rogue waves have been cited as the cause of several boat capsizes in the south, including the Easy Rider on Wednesday night. 

Ryal Bush man Barry Bethune knows better than most the power of rogue waves in the strait. 

Mr Bethune survived four hours in the strait after his boat was capsized by a rogue wave in January. The freezing waters claimed the life of his son, Shaun Bethune, and best friend Lindsay Cullen. Two others were rescued from the water by Easy Rider skipper Rewai Karetai. 

Mr Bethune said he had been looking the other way when the wave hit. 

"All I felt was my boat just getting picked up and tipped over," he said. Another passenger on the boat had been looking out the window when the wave came, and told Mr Bethune all she had seen was a wall of water.
The wave had been two or three times bigger than any other waves they had seen that day, he said.
"I didn't have any time to react and move away from the wave, to surf in front of it or anything like that." 

He had been steering through the waves to make the trip more comfortable, because they did not come from just one direction, but had not expected the rogue wave, he said. 

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research scientist Richard Gorman said rogue waves were at least twice the size of the significant wave height at the time. 

For example, if the significant wave height at the time were 4 metres, there could still be a mixture of wave heights of 6m to 7m, Mr Gorman said. 

"If it is starting to get above 8m that is very unusual for the normal sea conditions, if it is over twice as high we define those as rogue waves," he said. 

"The main problem seems to be they are particularly steep waves, just being a high wave doesn't necessarily cause a problem. If it is a long swell and not particularly steep (the boat) will ride over it, if it is steep it causes capsize." 

Foveaux Strait generally has reasonably energetic wave conditions, and Niwa data showed westerly wave conditions were coming into the strait at the time of capsize, Mr Gorman said. 

Mr Bethune said rogue waves were a lot more common than people realised. 

"Talk to any fisherman out there, every one of them has got a story to tell about a rogue wave," he said.
There were some "bloody horror stories" among recreational fisherman about rogue waves, he said, that never made the press and people needed to be more aware of how common they were.

"People underestimate Foveaux Strait."
- © Fairfax NZ News

The comment that freaque waves "were a lot more common than people realized" probably will not draw strong objections from anyone.  And the final comment "People underestimate Foveaux Strait" is probably also meet no disagreements. The scientist, Richard Gorman, whom I have met a few times, gave a fairly competent and straight forward answers. But the fact remains that we just do not know or understand what was really happening out there and why. The headline of the article "Foveaux's rogues demand vigilance" may be a little too strong.  Off hand I can't come up an alternative.  So I'll let it stand!

Another peril, another small fishing boat, in Foveaux Strait again.

This 38 feet fishing boat (Doug Field/Fairfax NZ), Easy Rider, is the latest victim of a freaque wave encounter that had just happened south of New Zealand in the Foveaux Strait as reported in The Press by Tim Donoghue, Keven Noprquay and Gwyneth Hyndman:

SEARCH UNDERWAY: The boat Easy Rider was heading north near Stewart Island when it capsized with nine people on board. 

A rogue wave caused a fishing boat to capsize in Foveaux Strait with nine people on board, the only known survivor of the tragedy has told police. 

Easy Rider, a 38-foot vessel, capsized off Saddle Point at the northern tip of Stewart Island, in 13degC waters well known for rips, about midnight Wednesday.

Here's some details:   

One person has survived 18 hours in the chill waters of Foveaux Strait, but hopes have faded for up to seven others - two young children among them - missing after a Southland fishing boat went down in treacherous waters.

One body, believed to be that of an eight-year-old boy, has been found.

The survivor was found at 6pm tonight, four hours after the alarm was raised, and 18 hours after the sinking.
Easy Rider was heading north near Stewart Island when it capsized around midnight, Inspector John Doherty said.

The alarm was raised 14 hours after the capsize, when Easy Rider failed to make a 2pm rendezvous at Stewart Island.

Police said the survivor was on the deck of the boat with two others when it was hit by a rogue wave, which caused the boat to capsize almost immediately.

The rest of the passengers were said to be in the wheel house of the boat.

The survivor was able to pull himself up onto the hull where he remained for approximately two hours before the boat sank.

There is no doubt about the case being a freaque wave encounter.  The boat capsized almost immediately  and it took 14 hours for the alarm to be raised.  

Foveaux Strait is undoubtedly a rather dangerous place, in May of 2006 a 50 feet Trawler, Kotuku, sunk here with 6 lives lost.  Sadly with repeated tragic happenings in less than 6 years, we are unlikely to learn much about freaque waves per se beyond the usual speculations.

The case of MV Rabaul Queen disaster

It's been called Papua New Guineans' "worst ever sea trouble" by Islands Business in an article written by Rowan Callick. The case of MV Rabaul Queen disaster, according to Wikipedia was happened in the early hours of February 2nd this year during herregular weekly route between Kimbe, the capital of West New Britain, and Lae, the capital of the mainland province of Morobe.  The ferry capsized and later sunk in rough conditions.  About 237 crew and passengers werem saved, between 100-200 were lost. Islands Business reports that "many of those who drowned were inside the cabins and were trapped inside the hull when the boat foundered. The reason, according to the crew, was the impact of three freak waves."



BBC reports the MV Rabaul Queen sank east of Lae, some 16 km fron shore.  According to Shipwreck Log, the rescue vessels reported 5 m swells and 45 mph winds where the Rabaul Queen sank.  Weather Service had an advisory and warn vessels about the adverse conditions. And

the ferry had been struggling to recover when being struck by a series of large waves.   One report states the vessel  tilted over three times before it capsized.   Many on the top deck were able escape, but many others were trapped inside the lower decks.   The Rabaul Queen remained afloat for another four hours before it sank.  Many survivors stated they struggled in oily water looking for anything to keep them afloat.

A worst disaster indeed!  It's all started with the "inpact of three freaque waves" and here the report was "a series of large waves."  So as usual in this kind of unfortunate cases informations are scanty and may be conflicting.  But we can pretty much surmised that they encounterd a series of waves which may be larger and unexpected that would be fiting the requirement of freaque waves since we don't really have a precise definition of freaque waves at this time.  This one can be considered as a freaque wave disaster.  Human tragedy for those lost souls may they rest in peace.  For the time being, however, we just have to content that we have no idea on how to effectively prevent similiar cases from happening again. 

Four fishermen lost at sea.

A very sad case happened over the weekend near the North Pacific coast of  Wasahington state as this report  by Jeff Barnard of  AP:

 The brother of one of four commercial fishermen lost at sea wonders whether their 70-foot trawler hit a rogue wave and sank.

 The Lady Cecelia disappeared off the Washington coast Saturday morning. The Coast Guard found only some debris, an oil sheen, crab pots and an empty life raft.

Among the four missing fishermen is deckhand Jason Bjaranson ((BYAR-an-son) of Warrenton, Ore.

 Bjaranson's brother, Adam Bjaranson, told The AP the Coast Guard speculates the Lady Cecelia may have hit a rogue wave.

 Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Shawn Eggert says that is possible, if the trawler hit a rogue wave at just the right angle.

Also missing are skipper Dave Nichols of Warrenton, deckhand Luke Jensen of Ilwaco, Wash., and NOAA Fisheries Service observer Chris Langel of Kaukauna, Wis.

It is certainly plausible that the cause was a freaque wave as the headline of this report declares "Boat sank so fast no time for distress call!"  What else can lead to this result?  The case inevitably reminds us of the loss of 70' longliner Andrea Gail during a Northeaster in North Atlantic in the fall of 1991 of the "Perfect Storm" fame. The size of the boats are similar, and the condition as another report indicates:

Conditions near where the fishermen went missing reached 46-degree water temperatures, 12-foot seas and winds up to 75 miles per hour . . .

so it may not be a raging storm but it was fairly rough nevertheless. Another time, another tragic, similar unfathomable condition.  Many questions, no answers possible.  There is nothing much we can do or say. Four fishermen lost at the sea, may they rest in peace.

Another swept off to sea -- this time from Malta Oawra coast

Here's a depressing news to report as reported by di-ve.com of Marsa, Malta:

A 69-year-old English man drowned this morning after being swept off the Qawra coast, di-ve.com has learnt.
 Eyewitnesses on the scene said that the man was on the shore watching the rough sea when a rogue wave dragged him into the foaming waters.

 Initially the person struggled against the currents while shouting for help but eventually drowned before rescuers could reach him.

 The body was recovered from the sea by the AFM using a helicopter and transferred to Mater Dei Hospital.

As I have blogged plenty of times before, same story line, different location.  This time at Marsa Oawra coast of Malta.  Pray for the lost soul, may he rest in peace and God's grace.  I guess watching waves is always interesting.  But if it's rough sea the best thing is staying at a safe distance away.  If too close to the sea, a freaque wave can easily swept you away any time, any place, and without any prior warning.  Enjoy the exciting beach scene but please, please beware!

Death wave!

I was a little unnerved in reading the title of this article a few days ago: "Death wave".  Here's the first part of the article:

A PICNIC party over the weekend turned into a nightmare when a 13-year old daughter drowned while swimming with a group of friends in the Sabeto River, Nadi, on Saturday.

The girl was swept away by a sudden surge of currents caused by heavy rains in the mountains.

Korobebe villager Ratu Apenisa Naikere said although it was not raining at Naidele where the girl was swimming, there was an unexpected wave of currents which swept down the river.

Police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri confirmed the incident happened at around 3pm on Saturday.

Insp Sokomuri said according to weather reports on that day, it had been raining at Nagado and Navilawa villages. "The heavy rains caused a sort of freak flood. That's why it was sudden."

Insp Sokomuri said several other swimmers at the popular swimming spot were also swept away.

Mr Naikere said a police search party located her body near Namasimasi Primary School at 5.30pm.

Not  familiar with the Fiji geography I can only surmise that it was a wave-like incidence happened in the high mountains. So it does not matter where, beach or mountain river bank "swept away by a sudden surge of currents", the tragedy resulted is all the same saddening.  Here's the last part of the article:

Police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said: "This is something that we want to prevent but despite our warnings, it seems that people are not listening.

"The drowning of the young girl on Saturday afternoon is one of the tragic consequences of people not listening to our advice."

He said they hoped the public, especially parents of young children to be more vigilant when out swimming in the sea or in rivers.

"Our advice to parents and to the general public is that they should be more careful. We urge them to take heed of weather reports and not take any chances when there is bad weather," he said.

Insp Sokomuri also urged teenagers not to succumb to peer pressure and follow their friends to the beach.

"Many of our young people today always listen to their friends more than they do to their parents. The incident over the weekend was the result of friends going out for a picnic without any adult supervision," he said.

Some well thought out advices and comments may be only parents can appreciate and understand.  Let's pray and hope that youngsters would also listen because their life may be depend on it!

Water Safety, anyone? -- A prudent view from Tuman Bay, Guam.

Here's an article just published at Guampdn.com in the U.S.Territory in the Western Pacific Ocean, where America's Day begins!  The article is entitled "Awareness of water safety is critical" written by Roman Dela Cruz, a resident of Tumon Bay, Guam.

Let me start by saying that I consider myself forever a student in the water and though I feel I'm not anyone to say, I'm going to say it anyways. In a 32-mile long island where the beach is inevitable and never more than 30 minutes away, it's in our island's best favor to make a harder push for improved water safety awareness and water safety education.

Aside from bodyboarding for the past 25 years, I have been standup paddling Tumon Bay the past five just as often if not more than anybody else and after seeing a growing interest, I just wanted to give some proper caution to folks possibly looking into surfing those waters and also for some insight on that reefline in general.

I was paddle surfing over the reef at Tumon Bay (recently) and had to run the risk of spoiling what might've been some serious fun when aggressively advising three younger paddlers to leave and to go back toward shore. I don't really care to yell at anyone and generally hate aggression toward people but I had to take drastic action because of a drastic situation.

They were heading toward the real impact zone, en route to freak sets that were much bigger than they might have appeared from shore. Maybe they could've landed a backflip gloriously for a photo finish and story of a lifetime, or they could've been en route to a violent thrashing between coral heads. The kayak they capsized would've been a hundred times more difficult to turnover in the whitewash. Even if they could've held on to it, the tide was fast pulling out and there was less than an hour left of sunlight.

I'm not sure if it was the same bunch that came back out or if it was a different one, but though they did catch some nice waves, they were extremely lucky that the bigger ones had backed off because the waves they caught and the place they were waiting were in the danger zone.

As inviting as the waves might look and as sunny as the sky might've be, it's a real bad call to chance those waves unless you are fully prepared for the dangers that come with them.

Undercurrents most aren't aware of, a razor-sharp coral reef, and the unbelievable power of sizeable surf can turn a moment of paradise into a state of panic and disaster in a second. The reef we're dealing with has already scarred countless strips of human flesh (including mine) and is just yards away from another surf spot on the reef that unfortunately claimed the lives of two young paddlers barely a year ago.

It has been more than a year since this tragedy and unfortunately, many of us haven't learned from a mistake too often made -- the underestimation of our surrounding reefs and waters. Almost a year to the date, our papers almost had to write the headlines of another two tragedies in Tumon Bay, this time with two standup paddlers. Had it not been for the fine work of our Department of Parks and Recreation lifeguards, we might've been starting the new year with another hard lesson in water safety.

Launching off the same beach on the first weekend of the new year, with waves double overhead over the reef and the tide outgoing, without the sensibility to at least have a leash to your board, is an extremely bad decision. Obviously, we all still need a lot of work.

The dangers of the reefline at Tumon Bay are no joke. In the midst of enjoying the paradise of where America's Day begins, we've got to try to remember to not allow alcohol and the spirit of adventure to cloud the air of common sense. Death-defying acts don't always defy death, but if adventure must be our pursuit, then we should at least go to far measures to be prepared.

When approaching water, remember that we are dealing with something very much alive. It moves in many ways, and what works for us can just as easily work against us. To arrive properly into its dynamics, it's always best to have a good understanding and/or to get a qualifiable opinion of current conditions.

If you're planning a day at the beach, at least understand what the tides are doing. It's on Page 6 of the PDN. Or keep a tide chart handy. Know what time the sun is setting so you're not venturing into the darkness and always, always keep an eye on the kids. It's not much, but it's definitely a start.

Tumon Bay seems to be more active than ever. The paddlers are blazing up and down the coast, as they avoid swimmers, while skimboarders slide along the beach where friends and families might be barbecuing. The hotels are having their dinner shows, the tourists are taking their photos, while a growing amount of runners enjoy the view as standup paddlers happily enjoy the best seat in the house.

The waters of Tumon Bay are truly a place to be, but like anywhere else, are to be done with extreme caution. From the reef, the lifeguard towers are a lot further than they look and people can't necessarily recognize your screams of help if a situation over the reef goes bad.

When in doubt, don't go out. You'll live to ride another day.

I'm not going to lie. I'm the guiltiest of going over that reef when it's cranking, but I'm putting in a ton of work and preparation before doing so, and still I'm just as vulnerable. I'm super stoked on Tumon Bay and its waters, and know for sure that they are best enjoyed when done responsibly, preparedly and truly respectfully.

Let's not wait for another tragedy. Progressively exercise better awareness in water safety to pave the way for less tragedies in the future and work hard to develop the tools and skills for a better chance to turn the monster into majesty, for a better understanding of what to do when a situation goes bad, and for the humility and sensibility to sometimes just sit back, watch and appreciate.

This article is presumably written for Tumon Bay tourists or visitors but the sagacious advises can be applied any nearshore beach areas anywhere in the world.  No one can predict or anticipate what might be happening out there, so an awareness of what might have happen before it's too late is definitely needed.  I am sure many tourist beach area and coast guard authorities have similar advises somewhere, but the problem is clearly how to make it aware to all the visitors -- before any tragic happenings might have happened.  It really can not be over emphasized to reminded everyone that "When approaching water, remember that we are dealing with something very much alive. It moves in many ways, and what works for us can just as easily work against us." Life is too precious to be lost unnecessarily on taking chances!

An encounter in the northeast part of Pacific Ocean

The Vancouver Sun just posted this detailed report "Huge cargo ship limps into Victoria after giant rogue-wave hit: Log-bearing vessel was walloped by wave as high as 15 metres." The report was written by Sandra McCulloch of Timescolonist.com :

The 186-metre cargo ship Dry Beam is moored at Ogden Point, its massive vertical support beams bent like matchsticks and its load of logs shoved askew by a rogue wave on the North Pacific.

The vessel was en route to Japan from Longview, Washington, when it ran into trouble, lost some logs and issued a mayday call Thursday night about 480 kilometres off northern Vancouver Island.

A rogue wave had pummelled the ship's left, or port, side and caused many of the raw logs on the deck to shift toward the starboard side.

None of the 23 Filipino crew aboard the 26,000-ton vessel was hurt. The damaged vessel limped into port at Ogden Point in Victoria on Sunday, escorted from the high seas by U.S. and Canadian coast guard vessels.

The wave that slammed into the port side was 10-to-15 metres high, said Capt. Jostein Hoddevik, principal surveyor with IMS Marine Surveyors of Burnaby.

"It would have a lot of water behind it, a lot of force," Hoddevik said at Ogden Point on Monday.

He was aboard the vessel to assess the damage and review the incident on behalf of the ship's insurers.

A qualified captain with experience crossing the Atlantic, Hoddevik said there is little the crew could have done to avoid the wave.

The incident occurred in an area of the north Pacific that's notorious for monstrous waves and punishing seas, he said.

The currents and wave patterns combine to make this a highly dangerous area.

"Several of the accidents I've been investigating have come from the same general location — a small area."
The vessel was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said. "The timing of the wave would be crucial."

Cargo vessels are damaged by waves like this off the West Coast once or twice a year, he said. Sometimes the damage is relatively minor and the vessel can continue on to its destination.

At times, the vessel must return to port for repairs.

The cargo ship lost a few of its logs and others were dangling off the starboard side as it arrived in Victoria.

The vessel will need extensive repairs before it is seaworthy again, Hoddevik added.

The bent stanchions on the port side will be cut off, and the logs removed and put on another ship or barge.

This report carries unusually detailed and fairly complete informations about the freaque wave encounter.  The article also included 7 photographs by Darren Stone , the following is one of them showing the clear effects of the freaque wave hit:

And in case it is not obvious, here's a picture (from National Post) before the hit:

Clearly a freaque wave carries some utmost force -- a fact made unquestionably clear in this case and the fact did not seem to have attract much discussion or interest in the research community!  Another point made by the "principal surveyor" that "there is little the crew could have done to avoid the wave" is also of interest and that, of course, is a clear symptom of a freaque wave encounter.  No freaque wave has been or can be predicted and therefore can be avoided.  Could the local count that "Cargo vessels are damaged by waves like this off the West Coast once or twice a year" be justified for more wave measurement and research?   Perhaps the best part of reading this case is that only some damages for the insurance company to worry no one injured or lost: Thanks be to God!

Dashed Atlantic Odyssey

I find it is refreshing to read the following words:

“I believe there is some kind of adventurer is all of us.  My dream is to share expeditions that push the boundaries of physical and mental capability with the world.  Questioning what is possible is the key to success in every walk of life.”

After read these words my only immediately reaction is to say “Amen”!  Isn't doing scientific research a kind of adventure for the scientists? The person who said these words is a 28-year old young man, Mark Beaumont.  Mr. Beaumont’s latest adventure is to start the New Year in early January 2012 with a team of six to break the mid-Atlantic ocean rowing record – to row from Morocco to Barbados in less than 30 days. They call their adventure the “Atlantic Odyssey”.

Well, their Odyssey had just been dashed by a freaque wave.  Here’s one of the news:

PERTHSHIRE adventurer Mark Beaumont is homeward bound after a dramatic and near-tragic end to his ocean-crossing bid.

On Monday afternoon the 29-year-old was plucked to safety along with his five crew mates after their boat capsized in a freak wave 520 miles from their destination.

Serial extreme challenge seeker Mark and the crew were on board the Sara G, attempting to row across the Atlantic when they were battered by the elements, leaving them clinging on in a life raft with just the minimum of clothes and kit.

They were picked up after 14 hours by a passing tanker, the Nord Taipai, which is ferrying them to land, as part of an international rescue effort which was partly co-ordinated by coastguards in Cornwall.

Speaking en-route to Gibraltar, where he is expected to arrive on Thursday, Beaumont said: “We have been through an incredible ordeal.

“We are physically very battered – but we are alive and now in recovery.

“Emotionally, when this kind of thing happens, you just have to deal with it.”

Still the admirable positive attitude!  I guess it's just happened out of nowhere and hit their boat.  Here are some details from their website:

On 30 January 2012 at 11.00 am the crew of Sara G who were taking part in the Atlantic Odyssey challenge to row from Morocco in North Africa to Barbados in the Caribbean capsized.

Its crew included Captain Matthew Craughwell, Ian Rowe, Aodhan Kelly, Simon Brown, Yaacov Mutnikas and Mark Beaumont – all six members were safely evacuated.

The crew were 27 days into their journey when the 36ft (11.1m) vessel overturned just 520 miles from the destination port of St Charles.

Sara G was hit by a large wave 1.5 minutes before the rowers completed their shift change which was performed on a two hours on – two hours off basis. The wave rotated the vessel 180 degrees causing it to immediately take on water causing it to capsize within ten seconds.

In the next fifteen minutes the crew secured the life raft and attached it to the boat. They set-off their alerting alarms which initiated a response from Falmouth Coast Guard.

The crew did try to recover the vessel but due to the speed of the water retention, this proved unsuccessful.

The crew spent approximately three hours recovering on the raft before Matthew Craughwell and Mark Beaumont returned to the vessel to recover equipment to aid the rescue attempt.

At 1.10am, the crew were rescued by the Nord Taipei, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship and are proceeding to Gibraltar where they are due to arrive on February 9.

So they did not call the wave that hit them "freaque" -- that's reporter's interpretation for media sensationalism.  Of course the wave must be something they did not expected or just something a little large than they expected.  At any rate it's a larger than usual wave that was enough to dash their dream of record breaking Atlantic Odyssey.

Sara-G

Now a question from me:  when making statistics by compiling records of freaque wave happenings in the ocean, is this, or is this not, a case of freaque wave occurrence in the Atlantic? 

Will Pierson, the early giant of ocean waves research!

Here's an old obituary I just by chance came across:

Willard J. Pierson Jr. (1922–2003)

Willard J. Pierson Jr. (1922–2003)

Mark A. Donelan, University of Miami, Fla.

Vincent J. Cardone, Oceanweather Inc., Cos Cob, Conn.

Willard J. Pierson, Jr., retired professor of oceanography at New York University and City College of New York (CCNY), an AGU Fellow, and past president (1974–1977) of its Ocean Sciences Section, died on 7 June 2003. He had been an AGU member since 1948.

His death marked the close of an important chapter in oceanography. Pierson was a true pioneer in many aspects of oceanography, especially wave dynamics and remote sensing. His immense contributions to these fields are complemented by his legacy of a generation of scientists who successfully completed their doctoral training under his guidance to go on to productive and distinguished careers themselves. Pierson was the consummate teacher, always willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to see the light of understanding appear in his students' eyes. He was an effective mentor to many students and younger colleagues; he led by inspiration and by example; he guided with firmness and kindness.

It was published in  Eos Trans. AGU, 84(42), 443, doi:10.1029/2003EO420005.  I am very happy to see this.  Because I have been lamenting in my mind about the lack of memorial activity for Pierson.  It is fitting that finally there is a remembrance written jointly by one of his younger colleagues and one of his students.

When I started as a young scientist going to my first AGU Spring Conference in the latter part of the 1960's, I made my first presentation in a session that was chaired by Pierson.  He made a comment on one of my slides which he thought there's mistake, but I was actually right -- only I was too nervous to make my point clear. From that time on I always tried to stay away from him when we usually go to the same conferences.  For one who learned ocean waves from Kinsman's book, Pierson is one of Kinsman's heros, I have always convinced that Pierson is a giant and pioneer of modern ocean wave studies, especially the spectrum analysis of ocean waves.  As times go by, I started calling him Will, but I don't think he had ever impressed with my works.

Last time I saw him was at the Symposium celebrating Mark Donelan's 60th birthday in 2002.  It was there during a session break, I remembered clearly that Pierson made a loud comment: "There is NO such thing as freak waves!"  No one around there at the time responded to him.  I was in another part of the room and I was very much a tyro myself.  I often wondered had he lived longer, would he be persuaded to change his mind about freaque waves?  It would be of interest to hear his viewpoint as an old master, even he did not agree with its existence.  Oh well!

When I first saw him in that AGU session, he was a handsome bald headed guy.  This was presumably his preferred image in his latter life.  Will, enjoy your after life, R.I.P.

Thanks for dropping by!

Somewhere within the last half hour or so, there is a milepost of sorts for this blog has just passed over.  I checked the number of the blog’s “Pageviews all time history” -- it was 99,915 then, just about 30 minutes later, it is now 100,057.  So since May, 2009 when the Blogspot started counting, up to just now today, there are more than 100,000 visitors visited this blog.  To some of the popular blogs that usually expect millions visitors per day, the 100,000 is much too insignificant a number to be bothered.  But for this personal blog that was started with my daughter’s suggestion, I only expect her as a probable visitor, to have other visitors at all is beyond my wildest dream.  Anyway, for anyone who kind enough to read this, please accept my sincere appreciation.  Mega thanks for dropping by!

Happened in Scarbotough beach near Perth, Australia.

As the first World War song title says: "It's a long way to Tipperary",  a sad tragic case just happened a few days ago in Perth, Australia, where a 28 year old Irish young man from Tipperary lost his life to a freaque wave at Scarborough beach there.  As this Independent.ie news reports:

A 28-year-old Irishman who was on a working holiday with his brother in Australia drowned yesterday following a freak accident.

Martin Costigan, from Templetuohy, Co Tipperary, was in the sea with his brother and friends at lunchtime yesterday at Scarborough beach near Perth when a freak wave swept him away.

Mr Costigan, who was a non-swimmer, was from a large farming family of eight children and played hurley and gaelic for his local club, Moyne Templetuohy.

His body was later recovered from the bottom of the ocean near the Perth coastline.

It's a familiar storyline again -- a freaque wave swept him away -- but no less tragic, especially to his family and friends and he is a long way from home.  May the Lord help him rest in peace, all the prayers to his family and friends.

The beach picture at the top of this post, which is accompanied one of the news article, is presumably where the tragedy occurred.  How can anyone be expecting a freaque wave encounter in some place like that?

Faster FFT !?

The above is a graph accompanied an article in SciTechDaily a few days ago entitled  "New Algorithm Faster Than Fourier Transform."  It is a picture I believe all wave aficionados are familiar with.  The article attracted my attention because I think the title should be more accurately stated as "Faster than Fast Fourier Transform".  As one who was around as a bystander at the beginning of the FFT algorithm in the late 1960's and FFT became an integral part of wave data analysis -- long before the present day super computer / faster PC era.  Since everything is getting faster and faster noadays, it is really not surprising to see a Faster FFT -- will that be FFFT?!  But what going through my mind is what difference would that be made to our data analysis or daily life?  Can we really notice the difference in speed by any chance?  Or in other words, hasn't our technology advancement reached the stage of irrelevance?

John Tukey (1915-2000)

I still remember the excitement of FFT's early days, wall to wall papers about it in every conference, and the new household name of Cooley-Tukey -- even though no one knew or cared who Cooley really is!  Now after nearly 5 decades, it is just made faster! So?  It is going to be presented in Association for Computing Machinery’s Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA) this week.  Again, So?  I would be more interested in hearing what John Tukey (1915-2000) thinks about it.  Would he be excited?

A happy rescue story.

Here's a freaque wave encounter case with happy ending:

Marine Area Command rescue nine men - Broken Bay

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 05:46:45 PM

Nine men have been rescued after a rogue wave capsizing a diving vessel on the state’s Central Coast this afternoon.

About 1.30pm, (Wednesday 18 January, 2012), the men were travelling about one nautical mile offshore near East Reef, Broken Bay, when the incident occurred.

The crew activated an EPIRB emergency beacon immediately and emergency services responded.

Officers attached to the NSW Marine Area Command at Broken Bay attended the scene and all nine crew were rescued. The men were transported to Careel Bay.

As a result of the incident no one was injured and medical assistance was not required.

This case clearly underlines the importance of having EPIRB and super quick responsive emergency services. Thanks God that they have them.  By the way this news is reported by Australia NSW Police Force. Good news and good works certainly deserve to be widely publicized!

Convenient conclusion from inconvenience facts.

I saw this quote from a political blog:

People in politics, like people everywhere, often choose to believe conclusions that are convenient or reassuring and tend to ignore inconvenient facts and harder truths.

Strangely I find this quote is particularly applicable to today's science world.  Examples abound, I don't think I need to convince any one that this is the case nowadays.

It somehow also reminded me of a true story.  There was once a well-known young Ph.D. from a prestige university who was a rising star in the 1960/1970's.  The reason that he became well-known in his early career was because his Ph.D. research was doing wind waves experiments in a laboratory wave tank that were successfully verfied the theory of Miles and Phillips.  That's all fine and dandy of course.  What's not well-known is how he obtained those experimental results.  No one asked, probably not even his own mentor.  But one of his fellow graduate student had the same mentor from that same university at the same time told me his personal, first hand eye-witness account of this well-known scientist's secret of success.  It happened that he was truly a deligent worker, spent all his time in the lab, performed hundreds upon hundreds of experiments, as it can be expected, most of the results did not fit the theories, only a few have.  So he only brought those few "good" experiments to his professor and together they verified the theories.  Did they really?  So even in the science world, if one can conveniently provide favorable results no one really would fussy about how the results were obtained.  (May be that's why we have the "hide the decline" gangs in the climate world.)

So really, the important thing is a "convenient conclusion."  Once that is surfaced, who cares about the " inconvenient facts and harder truths" that are only minor annoyances to the convenient main issue?!