I find the story of Sir Francis Chichester inspiring and exhiarating. In his mid sixties, he successfully solo circumnavigated the globe in 1966-1967 for a 274 day voyage with 226 days in sailing in his Gipsy Moth IV. About waves, according to bbc.co.uk, he said:
"There is something nightmarish about deep breaking seas and screaming winds. I had a feeling of helplessness before the power of the waves came rolling down on top of me."
That's really from someone who knows what he's talking about. After rounding Cape Horn in huge waves, he said further:
"Wild horses could not drag me down to Cape Horn and that sinister Southern Ocean again in a small boat."
But he is already "been there, done that!" What a modern day Sir Francis Drake! As a matter of fact he was knighted by the Queen in 1967 - and she used the same sword that Queen Elizabeth I used to knight Sir Francis Drake.
I don't think I have an ambition to rounding Cape Horn even in a big boat. The Montreal Gazette yesterday reprinted a 2004 article by Ashley Ford described an experience of rounding Cape Horn on a big boat:
It's the deadliest tip of the world and, as we approach Cape Horn, it bares its fangs. Howling, savage 40-knot winds, gusting to 50 knots out of the west- northwest kick the sea into a boiling pot of 13-metre waves that pound themselves against our ship. And while equal to the task, Celebrity Cruise Lines' Infinity and all her 593 feet and 90,000 tonnes shudders, dips and spirals as the mighty southern sea sends out a not-so-gentle message of just who is in command down here. The ship's master, Captain Dimitrios Kefetzis, calmly breaks in to give the latest navigational report and ends with his usual cheerful "this is the captain . . . out!" Two hours later, he is on the blower again saying conditions have forced a course change to get into the Magellan Straits. An hour later at dinner we all get a personal message. A rogue wave smashes into us, sending food like missiles through the air -- food all over the place and some passengers literally under the table.
Here is another case of unrecorded freaque wave in 2004. May be 2003, as the reporter did not gave the size of the wave or exact date of its occurrence.
Anyway, that's enough for me just reading about it. At my age I have no desire of doing something to lay a claim on "been there, done that!" I am satisfied to bejust an admirer of other brave heroes who had "been there, done that!"
Shortly after I started this blog, I started to compile a list of known freaque wave encounters that can be found on record. That was a daunting task just trying to do it through surfing the internet. I managed to get to it as much as possible and it was published this year as a professional paper in Geofizika entitled "A chronology of freaque wave encounters."
One thing that any chronology compiler can not claim is completeness, no matter how much efforts one devoted. There were no encounter listed during the years 2003 and 2004. That certainly does not mean that there were no freaque wave occurrence in those years. Today I just came across a 2004 case that I missed. Here's part of the story from an article in the August 9, 2004 Telegraph.co.uk by Richard Alleyne:
Four British rowers rescued from a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic have described the moment a freak wave smashed their boat in two.
The men, 39 days into an attempt on the century-old record for a crossing from Newfoundland, Canada, to Falmouth, Cornwall, were 300 miles from home when they were caught by the tail end of Hurricane Alex yesterday.
They had abandoned rowing and battened down their vessel, the 30ft Pink Lady, hoping to ride out the 70mph winds and 45ft waves.
But just as it looked like they were over the worst, a huge wave hit the carbon fibre boat, splitting it in half and ripping out the back.
They were picked up by a container ship and are expected to be dropped off in Foynes, southern Ireland, today.
In other reports that huge wave had been described as 60 ft high freaque wave. They were poised to break the old crossing record of 55 days when the freaque wave hit. One of the crew, Jonathan Gornall, 48, a journalist from London said "We are all very grateful to be alive. It is a shame we didn't make it, but at least we can assure ourselves it wasn't anything we did wrong." He proceeded to say:
"We thought we were going to get through the night, the weather was going to moderate.
"We were in the rear cabin when this rogue wave struck us. We were trying to sleep and the next thing we knew we were under water and fighting to escape the rear of the vessel which had been smashed.
"When we surfaced we looked at the boat and it was obvious we had been hit by a tremendous wave. It was unlike anything we had experienced before.
"You take on nature and you take what she delivers - and on this occasion she dealt us a killer blow.
"I just remember hearing it coming - unlike anything we had experienced before."
Mark Stubbs, 40, a former Reyal Marine and skipper of the boat Pink Lady, said:
"I have never seen conditions like it. There was a force 11 wind and huge seas.
"We heard two cracks and then the boat sheared in half. There was a bit of a struggle getting out of the boat and into the life-raft and that was when we suffered the minor injuries.
"We climbed into the life-raft and got away. We had a bit of a heavy time in the raft because of the huge seas and screaming winds."
The four rowers were successfully rescued by the 400 ft Scandinavia Reefer, a container ship transporting bananas across the Atlantic. Probably the skipper Stubbs described their feelings best when he said:"We got out in one piece and that is the main thing. We are OK and we just want to get back to our loved ones."
Of course, this is one of the good stories to blog. Because, thank God, it's a happy ending and a happy story to tell for every one!
Now one of the crews, Peter Bray, is currently planning a new boat for a single-handed attempt on the North Atlantic route from Newfoundland to Britain according to this latest BYM Sailing ans Sports News.
I blogged last year in this post about the cargo ship Bencruachan that encountered a freaque wave off South Africa in 1973. Of all the infomations I can find, there was just no indication of the size of wave they encountered. I commented that I wish "to know how big was the freak wave that hit Bencruachan." I am thrilled to receive the following email from a Mr. Robert Hicklin of U.K. the last weekend:
Bencruachan. I was 2nd Radio Officer on this vessel at the time of the freak wave incident in 1973. If you wish to contact me I may be able to add to any info you may have. With regard to the size of the wave I do recall the officer of the watch commenting later the wave 'cleared over the top of the bridge'. The time was early A.M. if my memory serves me well. Fortunately there was no one on deck. I believe the speed we hit was 19.5 knots.(Service speed was 21 knots). As you will be aware this vessel is 'stern accommodation' so if the officers description is accurate the minimum wave height should be calculable. Of note is we were the first vessel to activate a radio auto alarm system that alerted the Coast Guard and Durban Life Boat. The station had only been commissioned the day before. The tug that came to our assistance was the 'Marjon 3' which was being delivered I believe to the Gulf. It was replaced by another tug several days later, as the harbourmaster would not let the vessel be towed into port as it may sink and block the channel. The Marjon 3 went on to be delivered. When the wave hit it stove in the forward hatch, and had sufficient force to fracture the bulkhead between No.1 and 2 hold. We lost the forward crane and some containers. The bow section folded and perforated. We finished down by the bow, the fore deck being awash. The salvage people were Schmitt’s of Holland, so they should be able to assist you with information. Durban lifeboat came to our assistance. Some of us became friends with two of the lifeboats crew during our subsequent stay. They were Johnnie Hemsley (Engineer - Kiwi), and Dougie Murphy. We stayed with their families occasionally whilst undergoing temporary repairs. Many years later the 'Durban Mercury' furnished me with copies of their pictures and stories, so they may also be able to assist you.
Now my wish has been answered along with many more details about the encounter from one who was really there! The eyewitness account of "the wave 'cleared over the top of the bridge'" is certainly providing a valuable indication of the size of the wave height. Not knowing the measurements of Bencruachan and not a sea-going person in general myself, I am not in position to make an accurate estimate of the wave height. But at any rate from Mr. Hicklin's description I surmise that the wave height is probably around 35 m or more. (Please correct me if I am off base on this guesswork.) That's a big wave for certain, but it should not be surprising especially considering the encounter took place near the renown Agulhas current.
This is an exceedingly sad story but it is also an extraordinarily beautiful story. I first read about it from the transcript of a TV tabloid program through Google Alert. My first reaction was "Please, not again!" Then I tried to discount it because the tabloid neglect to tell when and where. I need further confirmation. My fellow blogger Rob Stormer kindly sent me five different news reports about the case completed with pictures and all who, what, where, and when. There's no more doubt, it is true and it really happened!
The center of this story is this picture: As this article in ZanesvilleTimeRecorder, by L. B. Whyde, tells:
The candid photo, taken Sept. 27, reveals her standing on a rocky cliff in front of maddening white surf, the wind blowing her hair as she points with one hand toward something she sees.
In that frozen moment, Sarah Scherer had been doing what her husband, Christopher, knows she did best: pointing out the beauty in her surroundings.
"She was in her element when we took that picture," Christopher said of the image taken only seconds before Scherer, 28, a 1997 Newark High School graduate, was swept by a large wave into the Mediterranean Sea, unable to be rescued despite efforts Christopher and others made to save her. "Her head and her arms were above water. She had a lot of blood flowing down her head," he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "She was struggling to stay afloat, and she started to do the backstroke."
Christopher Scherer, who had just taken her picture, tried to help her but was pulled in himself; another wave threw him back ashore. He somehow managed to end up back on the rocks, breaking a rib and cutting his arms and hands.
Now, Christopher's last photograph of his wife standing on the rocky cliffs is a bittersweet reminder, he said.
"It's difficult (to look at) because the images of what happened after are so vivid ... In the same sense, when I look at the picture, she is so full of life she's doing what she always wanted to do."
It is that beautiful rocky shore. Don't we all eager to have a picture taken there? Do we ever think for a moment about the possible danger lurking behind it? The ZanesvilleTimesRecorder calls it an accident as they report: "The accident occurred September 27th along the Cinque Terre coast." I tend to think it's more than an accident, but I don't think our language has a term for what happened there yet. I said it's also a beautiful story just let this Newhouse News Service report, by Jesse Tinsley, tells it
The best day of Sarah Scherer's life was her last.
On some steps overlooking the Mediterranean in northern Italy, she posed as her husband took a snapshot.
It was Sept. 27, the second day of the Madison, Ohio, couple's trip to Cinque Terre, or five villages, famous for Via dell' Amore — a Lover's Lane that winds through the villages.
Vineyards and olive groves stretch from the hillsides to the sea. And Mediterranean sunsets, charming seaside villages and small-town hospitality draw lovers from all over to this slice of paradise.
"It was a trip she always wanted to take," her husband, Christopher, said. "She always wanted to walk the Cinque Terre."
But as he snapped another photo, a huge wave rose from the sea and swept her away.
"I started screaming and ran to where she went in," said Christopher. "The water just pulled her down, back into the sea ..."
A second wave hit Christopher, crashing him into the rocks and taking him under.
A third wave tossed him out of the water and onto the rocks, breaking a rib and cutting up his hands and arms.
Scherer followed his wife along the coastline, yelling for help.
One of those who joined him threw a life preserver, but she was too far out, he said.
"I saw her head bleeding, blood washing down her face," he recalled. "She was struggling to stay afloat and she started to do the backstroke." Then she disappeared beneath the waves.
Both 28, they met six years ago at a mutual friend's home.
Christopher worked as a team leader for Avery Dennison in Lake County. Sarah was working on her master's degree in art therapy and community counseling at Ursuline College.
Their two-week European vacation was long overdue. The Scherers had visited Paris, Venice and other cities before taking a train to Cinque Terre.
At one point, they stopped at a path with paved steps that led down to the rocks. She took his photo, and she stood at the same spot so that he could take hers.
"I took one picture and the second one that I have is her getting struck by the wave," Christopher said.
My sincere sympathy goes to Christopher and their family. Words are no longer adequate. The only question in the back of my mind is what if -- what if they could all have a life vest on?!
Update
A further development and some further words reported in the News-Herald by Jason Lea:
The president of Cinque Terre State Park is setting up two plaques in memory of Sarah, Christopher said. One will be the picture of her pointing to the sea.
Sarah's mother said: "Sarah was a romantic. If she had to die, being taken out to sea ... she would approve."
"I don't take anything for granted anymore," Christopher said. "Any of the time we ever wasted, I wish I could have just a minute of it back. All my friends who have spouses, I'm going to remind them to treasure them and love them while they still can."
Update September 12, 2008
In about two weeksitwill be one year anniversary of the happening of this sad beautiful story -- the lost of Sarah Scherer at the Cinque Terre coast on September 27, 2007. Christine, Sarah's Mom, recent emailed me some detailed information about the event beyond those reported in the newspaper:
We spoke with many of the sailors in Manarola-some who witnessed the whole ordeal there. They called it a rogue wave that hit her. It was at least a 30 foot wave. I did take pictures of the cliff from the side view and will include it here. The sailors also talked of the time of the day they were there that the currents change right around noon. Chris had been where Sarah was before she was standing there for her to take pictures of him. The sailors said that the sea probably looked quite ok when they first got there, even though it was a rough sea that day and then when the current changed-the waves came in 3-the first one took her. She did not drown—but died of the head injuries that came from being smashed on the very rough rocks there and was probably dead in 3-5 minutes. If she wouldn’t have hit the rocks-she may have made it as she was an expert swimmer-and life guard and swim instructor. Chris dropped the camera after taking the picture of the wave hitting her---you could see that it was over her head in the picture. He was taken by the next wave, but had run to the edge of the rocks so didn’t get smashed on them…then the 3rd wave threw him back onto the rocks—and before this happened-he thought he was also dead as was under awhile. Once he hit the rocks, he hung on and then crawled out and up the walk and summoned help from an American woman and her daughter---but Sarah was probably already or close to death—they threw out a life preserver to her and she didn’t respond.
Christine and Christopher, Sarah's loving husband, attended a ceremony in July organized by local Cinque Terre to remember Sarah's case "because of a fierce wave in Manarola last year" with details and a video here.
What struck me was the fact that Sarah was not drown but "died of the head injuries that came from being smashed on the very rough rocks there." My general reaction that they may need wearing a life vest while out there should be revised. In addition to a life vest, may be a helmet should also be wearing while out on those rocky shores.
I have been alluded frequently that we don't know how, where, or why those fierce freaque waves happen and there are different kinds of freaque waves depends on where it happens: deep sea freaque waves, nearshore freaque waves, and onshore freaquer waves. For the onshore freaque waves, there must be distinctions between sandy shore and rocky shore. All these phenomena happen out there all the time we don't really know much about them. We only heard them when there are trigedies or disasters occur.
I have a proposal for the academic world: give the onshore freaque waves hitting a rocky shore a new designation: call it the Sarah wave!
I came across this Youtube video which did not indicate where it took place. It is not the same as Cinque Terre coast, but I think it would be a good example of a Sarah wave at the end!
Trials of a unique Irish ocean wave energy converter, the Wavebob, yielded exciting results this week with Wavebob Ltd's announcement that it's prototype device is now producing electricity
I found the above news form here mildly exciting. I have never heard the company Wavebob before. I salute them! I think they are doing a very commendable effort. There are waves all over the globe. It's about time someone trying to harness and make good use of them.
For those chicken-little scientists only trying to imply larger wave height measurements in recent years are results of global warming -- shame on you!
I always admire the weather forecasters for the service they provide and often not being duly appreciated. Making a forecast is a risky thing, because there is always the chance that it does not come through. But I really did not know much about the history of weather forecasting and how risky it can be when I read the story told in this Timesonline article earlier this week:
Ever since Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy set up the world’s first national meteorological office in England in 1854 forecasters have been blamed for getting the weather wrong. In fact, FitzRoy was so widely ridiculed whenever he made a wrong forecast that he committed suicide.
It's been over 150 year since then. With the advances of science and technology, I am sure Admiral FtizRoy would enjoy the many accomplishments of the profession he started and probably will not take his own life again. Of course perils remain. As reported in this same article:
So you have to feel sorry for Michael Fish. Every anniversary of the Great Storm of October 1987, out trot the repeats of his legendary forecast about “don’t worry, there is no hurricane on the way”, just hours before the big storm struck. Actually he meant a hurricane in Florida, and added it would be windy in England that night. But everyone went to bed thinking there was nothing to worry about. So there was national horror when 100mph winds felled 15 million trees, power and transport links collapsed and 19 people died, the most devastating storm in England for more than 250 years.
The Met Office was roasted. It had forecast the storm, but thought it would largely miss England. Crucial weather observations were missing after weather ships had been withdrawn as part of financial cutbacks. Though its big weather forecasting computer was not up to tracking highly explosive storms, the human forecasters were too enthralled by it to question its results.
Things changed afterwards. Satellites beamed down more information, a bigger computer was bought and run on better models, and forecasters dissected the 1987 storm to learn every lesson. Only three years later the Met Office correctly forecast the huge Burns Day storm that battered the country with even greater devastation.
Forecasts are now better, and we are told another 1987-type fiasco is highly unlikely. But blunders still happen. In January 2003 the Midlands was brought to its knees when the Met Office predicted snow and councils gritted their roads.
Then unexpected rains washed away the grit and a cold snap froze the roads into sheets of ice. In 2004 seaside resorts were left seething on May Bank Holiday when heavy rain was predicted, only to see glorious sunshine but no visitors.
The list can go on and, of course, the forecasts that go wrong are more memorable than the majority that are right. But the Met Office is now entering some murky waters with its seasonal forecasts made months in advance. Last winter was billed as milder than average but colder than in recent years, which led some media to conclude that we were heading for an Arctic freeze with icebergs floating down the North Sea. And what happened to predictions back in May that this summer’s temperatures would be above average, with “70 per cent certainty”? As it turned out, temperatures were just below average, but that was the least of our worries when the rains crashed down.
It is a very informative and educational Times article well worth a detail read. With this being the 20th anniversary of the 1987 storm, it is probably a hard time period for the famous Michaeel Fish. An article entitled "A storm in a teacup" by U.K.'s Channel 4 News has this to say:
Twenty years ago, on the eve of the big storm of 1987 which killed 18 people, Michael Fish, BBC weatherman, said these immortal words: "Earlier on today apparently a lady rang the BBC and said she heard that there was a hurricane on the way. Well don't worry if you're watching, there isn't". Not long after, the storm hit - and Fish was left with egg on his face. 20 years on, he's still trying to wipe it off. The clip's played over and over on YouTube, adding to his misery. The name of the woman who rang in was even an answer in Trivial Pursuit.
Fish, now retired, has just published a book "Storm Force -- Britain's Wildest Weather" presumably trying to clarify things. Reading this Channel 4 article it does not seem that's very successful. Being the most famous weatherman in Britain and two songs written about him, I think Channel 4 think Mr. Fish should be satisfied and get on with it.
Twenty years ago this time U.K. had their great storm, this side of Atlantic in U.S. a different kind of storm was brewing -- the October 19, 1987 Black Monday stock market crash. With the resilience of U.S. economy in the last two decades that essentially rendered that '87 crash insignificant, not too many people are likely to pay attention to that date any more. One thing I remember about it was a Dr. someone, his name escaped me, who claimed that he predicted that crash and probably got his instant fame. He was a perpetual pessimist, his bleak forecast came through for that day. At least I was not aware that anyone had ever characterized that crash as a freak wave!
At any rate this post today was inspired from being amused by the charming title "A storm in a teacup."
Update:
On this day, October 19, 2007, a good commemorate of the day may be the comment given by Andy McCarthy on the Corner on National Review Online: "When the Dow closes down 367 points and everyone yawns?" with the title "How bad can it be?"
From the Chinese news site, epochtimes, there's a report of up-side-down rainbow happened in the Yangku County of Shangtung Province in the afternoon of October 14: It is indeed an unusual phenomenon but it is not a rainbow! It is a beautiful halo, called the "circumzenithal arc" (CZA), caused by sunlight shining through a thin, invisible screen of tiny ice crystals high in the sky. There was a good article about it by David Perlman in San Francisco Chronicle earlier this year. Wikipedia also has a good article with pictures. More detail pictures here.
CZA is generally considered a rare phenomenon, superstitious Chinese tend to regard this kind of rare happenings may be harbinger of some impending events. As the concave up arc sometimes resembles a grin in the sky, but why would the sky grining over a country being oppressed by a tyrannical, totalitarain, commie regime for nearly six decades, with more than 80 million of its own people being killed throughout the years, and catastrophic persecutions continued daily? Well, on the day before the opening of the 17th commie party kingpin's national congress, the grin in the sky is clearly not a random thing. It is in fact telling the long suffered Chinese people that up above there the sky is seeing the coming demise of the commie regime, a free democratic country with liberty and justice for all will not far behind. That's why the sky is smiling!
Update
I mentioned above the 17th commie party kingpin's national congress, it is going on right now. There's very little about it being reported by our media. Here I would like to show two tidbits:
First, here are two pictures: The country is called the "Pe0ple's Republic." This is the big 17th people's congress being held in the People's Congress building shown in the background of the first picture. But where are the people? Well, people are the real enemy of the regime so real Chinese people need to be firmly kept away by these thugs and beasts shown here. Military in the second picture is preparing for war against people!
Another amusing point is that Chinese people, generally passive, tend to vent off their frustrations through playing with words. Here's a latest: The top line says "Chinese Communists' 17th big congress." The lower line actually phonetically sounds exactly the same as the top line, but it means "Communist is terminated and its death moment is arrived!" Isn't this another good reason that the sky is smiling?
I found this following story from here, complete with this nice nearshore wave picture: Here's the story:
Standing near the edge of his boat that was gently rocking with the waves, Greg Hartley made the final adjustments to his scuba gear. Satisfied all his equipment was just right, he stepped off into the frigid waters of Queen Charlotte Strait. Queen Charlotte Strait is a long deep channel of water that runs between the northern part of Vancouver Island and Canada. Greg's co-workers on the boat watched his trail of air bubbles for a few moments before they resumed working on other duties.
With a series of kicks with his flippers and a sweep of his hands, Greg propelled himself to the bottom of the strait. The amount of life he saw during these dives never ceased to amaze him. Through his mask he saw red rockfish, green ling cod, multitudes of starfish, crabs and eels. On the floor of the strait he was looking for sea urchins.
Whenever he would see one, he would grab the spiny little creature in his hand and then drop it in a bag made out of netting tied to his belt. Sea urchins were a favorite food of sea otters. Many people considered them a delicacy also, and Greg made his living by diving for them.
Once His dive went well and bag was bulging with the red and sometimes purple little urchins. He checked his watch, it was time to surface. Upwards he swam, when he broke the surface, he did a 360 degree turn looking for the boat. It was nowhere in sight. Slowly it dawned on him that the tidal current had swept him along while he was diving and now his boat was nowhere near. The current moving as fast as a man might jog had been carrying him out to sea. What a fool he had been for diving when the tide was rushing out!
He must do everything possible to stay afloat until someone spotted him. He knew he couldn�t swim long with the heavy equipment so he undid the latches and the belt and let his expensive equipment slip from him and sink into the depths. After treading water for what seemed a long time he saw a log and swam to it. He pulled himself up and straddled it like a horse. The log would keep him floating but he wasn't out of danger for the relentless current was still carrying him out to sea.
The hours passed and the sun dipped beneath the horizon. By the light of the moon and the stars overhead, Greg could barely see the faint outlines of the waves as they washed up against the log.
This reminds me the movie I once watched about a couple went on a diving trip on a commercial boat. The couple lost track of time while underwater and the boat lost count of total passengers. When they surfaced, their boat had already left without them. In the movie the couple were never rescued. I did not expect an ending like that and I was very dismayed by it. But in this story Greg was luckier:
Greg didn’t perish in the water that night. Through out the long hours of darkness he sang songs like “Home on the Range” to keep himself awake. Then out of the darkness of the night he was startled to see a giant freight ship bearing down on him. The prow of the ship was slicing through the water like a giant knife. Huge waves of foaming white water curled up its sides. To his dismay the ship was headed directly towards him. It would crush him and snap the log to pieces as easily as if it was a toothpick. Wildly Greg waved his arms and yelled with all his might. Just when all seemed lost, the boat turned slightly to the side and slowed to a stop. The captain hearing that a man had been lost at sea had prudently placed a sailor to act as lookout on the bow of the ship. He had seen Greg and notified the captain with just enough time to avoid hitting him. They picked him up out of the water and Greg was saved. It was a night he will never forget.
It was a night he will never forget! You can certainly say that again, and again. This is a better story than the Hollywood movie I wasted my time to watch!
On the day when all the drive-by media in U.S. are bent forward and backward hyperventilating about a washed out politician winning an award that put him in the same company as Yasi Arafat and Jimmy Carter, the real climate/meteorology authority of the world, Dr. William Gray, gave a lecture at the University of North Carolina telling the audience that humans were not responsible for the warming of the earth. We have to go all the way to Australia to read about the news of Gray's lecture. I guess the words of an authoritative scientist means nothing to the drive-by gang.
ONE of the world's foremost meteorologists has called the theory that helped Al Gore share the Nobel Peace Prize "ridiculous" and the product of "people who don't understand how the atmosphere works".
Dr William Gray, a pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts, told a packed lecture hall at the University of North Carolina that humans were not responsible for the warming of the earth.
His comments came on the same day that the Nobel committee honoured Mr Gore for his work in support of the link between humans and global warming.
"We're brainwashing our children," said Dr Gray, 78, a long-time professor at Colorado State University. "They're going to the Gore movie [An Inconvenient Truth] and being fed all this. It's ridiculous."
His speech was given to "a crowd of about 300 that included meteorology students and a host of professional meteorologists" by telling them
. . . a natural cycle of ocean water temperatures - related to the amount of salt in ocean water - was responsible for the global warming that he acknowledges has taken place.
However, he said, that same cycle meant a period of cooling would begin soon and last for several years.
"We'll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realise how foolish it was," Dr Gray said.
And
"The human impact on the atmosphere is simply too small to have a major effect on global temperatures," Dr Gray said.
He said his beliefs had made him an outsider in popular science.
"It bothers me that my fellow scientists are not speaking out against something they know is wrong," he said. "But they also know that they'd never get any grants if they spoke out. I don't care about grants."
These opinions of a real working scientist is clearly politically incorrect. The last comment is especially a sad fact well-known among the science community today. Grants, or fundings, dictate everything and it can make or break a career. At the end of the day, however, it's neither how much grants you have, nor how popular you are, nor whether or not you are an insider or outsider. It is still the truth of the knowledge that is really what science is all about.
Update:
I have been using the term "drive-by" media in the sense that's the kind of so-called "main-stream" media reporting driven by their own agenda without much concern of the truth or accuracy of their contents. They can ignore important happenings if it does not fit in with their agenda -- such as not reporting Dr. Gray's lecture. And they can make up things to fit their agenda. Strangely they really do believe "fake but true" can be justified. Dan Rather is gone, but his former comrades kept his spirit alive and well. The original use of the term "drive-by" media can be found here.
The freaque waves news front has returned to quiescent once again, the occurrences of the freaque waves in the open ocean, nearshore, and onshore regions have thankfully not interfering with human lives as we hope where it should always stay.
Today I would like to call attention to two recent news items That has strangely been ignored by the "drive-by" main stream media.
The first one was in the October 7, 2007 Washington Post, Page B01, an article entitled "Chill out" written by the Danish Economist Bjorn Lomborg, in which he reported the case which a new study shown that the Kangerlussuaq glacier of Greenland is growing.
The other one was an ESA (European Space Agency) news release on october 3, 2007 reporting that "The ozone hole over Antarctica has shrunk 30 percent as compared to last year's record size." Both cases are exciting scientific results, but unless you are closely following and searching the news on the internet, you are unlikely to be informed by the "usual suspects" of your news sources. That is unfortunate. In Lomborg's article he has this to say:
We have to rediscover the middle ground, where we can have a sensible conversation. We shouldn't ignore climate change or the policies that could attack it. But we should be honest about the shortcomings and costs of those policies, as well as the benefits.
I boldfaced the one beautiful English word, honest, that seems to have been missing from our news source for some time now. What a pity! Not only the word has not been used positively from the news media or understandably the political arena, the word has not been quit popular among the main stream scientists either. Who cares about honesty as long as fundings can continue to pouring in!
It is of interest, may be just poetic justice, that this two piece of important happenings preceedes today's announcement of Nobel Peace prize to IPCC and Albert Arnold Gore Jr.
"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".
What they failed to mention is the measures their experts laid out to counteract the changes are not working, and the nature quietly reduced the ozone hole by 30 percent and no one knows why! It can't be happening!
A final point, in the Nobel foundation announcement the peace prize is awarded to IPCC first and Albert Arnold Gore Jr. second. You may think that's a mistake, because what your favorate MSM reporter have told you was the other way round.
I am wondering what Dr. Alfred Nobel might think about all these!
Regarding what Dr. Nobel might think, this article in Unionleader.com have shed some light:
Alfred Nobel felt horrible about the uses to which his invention -- dynamite -- was put. So he endowed the Nobel Peace Prize and instructed that it go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
Al Gore has done exactly none of those things.
Gore, however, did write a book and make a film about global warming. He has become the second environmental activist to win the peace prize in the past four years. Wangari Muta Maathai won it in 2004 for planting trees.
Thus we have indisputable confirmation that the Nobel Peace Prize is no longer a serious international award. In 1994 the five Norwegian politicians who award the prize gave it to the murdering thug Yasser Arafat. Two years before that they gave it to literary fraud Rigoberta Menchu, whose autobiography was largely fabricated. (An example: The brother she supposedly watched die of malnutrition was later found by a New York Times reporter to be very much alive and well.)
On Friday the prize was given to Al Gore and the International Panel on Climate Change. Two days before, a British judge ruled that Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth," contained so many errors (read: lies) that it could be shown in British public schools only if accompanied by a fact sheet correcting the errors.
The Nobel Peace Prize is worse than a joke. It's a fraud. It is such a transparent fraud that the five Norwegian politicians who award it have been reduced to defending their decision by concocting elaborate rationalizations. This year they laughably claimed that Gore deserves the prize because, well, global climate change" may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the Earth's resources," and "there may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars."
It is sad to think the Nobel Peace Prize is "worse than a joke." But I really don't think Dr. Nobel have any strong ground to disagree. Especially when a British judge considers that Gore's film is full of errors. By the way, that's another news item the drive-by media did not allow American to hear or read -- by not reporting it.
. . . over in the UK, a judge criticised Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth for a series of inaccuracies. The ruling concludes a case brought to the UK High Court by Stuart Dimmock, a parent of two who was concerned to find that the UK Department for Education and Skills had distributed a copy of Gore's film to every state secondary school in the UK.
He argued that the film was political material, had no place in the classroom, and that its distribution to schools should be made illegal. Moreover, his legal team pointed out a list of alleged scientifically inaccuracies in the film.
The judge, Justice Burton, declined to make it illegal. In his ruling, however, he says Gore committed nine counts of scientific inaccuracy.
That's one impressive judge. Read all the details in the article. Note that the title of the article has a question mark on "unscientific". The author, Catherine Brahic, will not provide an answer. In the sea of political correctness, and probably being brain-washed by Algore's "overwhelming number of scientists," may be it's clever for New Scientist not to take a position.
I was a little dejected yesterday by the first trasgedy in a while caused by a neashore freaque wave, I did not feel like to go into the details in the blog. Today another local article provided some further information about the lost of two good friends: David Gwyn Richards and Paul Meredith died when their 14ft sea angling vessel, Shane, was hit by a freak wave, which knocked the crew overboard. As the skipper of Shane, Chris Williams was, plucked from the sea near Gower's Whitford Lighthouse by the crew of fishing vessel the Stargazer. The bodies of Richards and Meredith were found two-and-a-half hour after the first emergency call. According to the local coastguard:
It is thought a freak wave breaking over the side of the vessel caused it to capsize in the Loughor Estuary.
A coastguard spokesman said: "They did have safety jackets on board, but were not wearing them."
Spencer Davies, operations manager of the Burry Port inshore lifeboat, which took part in the rescue, said the area where the accident happened was notorious for big swells.
He said: "The waves go over a sand bank, which leads to swells and, occasionally, a really big one breaks over the bank."
I guess the most upsetting part of the whole story is that "They did have safety jackets on board, but were not wearing them." That is a giant lesson to be learn. Echoing what I commented yesterday, there is just no excuse whatsoever for not wearing safety jackets, especially when they have them onboard. Hopefully we can all learn a lesson from this case and never ever to let it happen again!
The tranquility of no freaque wave this summer, which I talked about a few days ago, momentarily desisted this morning with the appearance of two tragic news from U.K.: The first one "Two sea-anglers drawned" happened off the Welsh coast, and the second news was about the inquest of a case that was actually happened on New Years eve.
These stories are really not new. I have blogged quite a few cases here over the past year about similar kind of happenings in nearshore area around the world. So I'll spare the details of these two cases this time and leave them to their original articles.
I just wish to reiterate some of my personal thoughts that I have alluded to times and again: the ocean beach nearshore area is really one of the most hazardous places in life, it can be deceiving with its natural attractiveness and charm and easily for us to temporarily lose sight of the possible danger, but dangers really can happen without prior notice and then it's too late!
Another of my repeating mantra is that no tangible research has yet done to alleviate this particular hazard that so deeply connected to our pursue of happiness. Yes, there are academic departments doing nearshore researches. But that's only those can be neatly put together in a set of equations, solved by computer and results conveniently plotted as impressive animations. After all have said and done, we still have not the slightest idea on what's going on with those onshore and nearshore freaque waves.
I have one other sincere hope for the naval architecture academia. I think their researches are mostly aimed at giant ships, large, larger, and largest. I hope someone can also willing to pay attention to improve the safe design of smaller boats, those have size 100 feet or smaller where most of the pleasure boats and fishing vessels lie. They are the kind of widely accessible boats most vulnerable to unexpected or even expected storm waves.
I have other thoughts about the political hindrance toward solving this hazardous problem people face daily all around the world. I better keep them to myself. Suffice to say, I think the one single, best advise I have seen and would readily advice my family is simply wearing a life vest or life jacket whenever and wherever near the shore and beach area! This is not an advertisement for life vests. Just wish every one can do it for their own safety and the safety of their love ones. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone not to wear a life vest or life jacket on a boat, especially those smaller ones.
I consider myself easily get excited, but I have not gotten excited for quite some time. I think I am just now getting excited on reading this brief UPI Science news yesterday:
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Everyone knows big waves in fierce storms are dangerous, but now U.S. scientists are discovering smaller waves might be just as threatening.
University of Michigan researchers have developed a computer program and method of analysis that makes it easier to understand how a series of smaller waves -- a situation much more likely to occur than the development of monster waves -- might be just as dangerous.
"Like the Edmund Fitzgerald that sank (on Lake Superior) in 1975, many of the casualties that happen occur in circumstances that aren't completely understood, and therefore they are difficult to design for," Professor Armin Troesch said. "This analysis method and program gives ship designers a clearer picture of what they're up against."
Troesch and doctoral candidate Laura Alford presented their findings Tuesday in Houston during the International Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures, also known as PRADS 2007.
The idea that "a series of smaller waves . . . might be just as dangerous" is what refreshingly new, no one has ever considered and paid attention, and could be leading to exciting new researches that has not come to light for a long time. Some further introduction of their method can be found in this U. Mich. Press Release:
Today's ship design computer modeling programs are a lot like real life, in that they go from cause to effect. A scientist tells the computer what type of environmental conditions to simulate, asking, in essence, "What would waves like this do to this ship?" The computer answers with how the boat is likely to perform.
Alford and Troesch's method goes backwards, from effect to cause. To use their program, a scientist enters a particular ship response, perhaps the worst case scenario. The question this time is more like, "What are the possible wave configurations that could make this ship experience the worst case scenario?" The computer answers with a list of water conditions.
What struck the researchers when they performed their analysis was that quite often, the biggest ship response is not caused by the biggest waves. Wave height is only one contributing factor. Others are wave grouping, wave period (the amount of time between wave crests), and wave direction. "In a lot of cases, you could have a rare response, but when we looked at just the wave heights that caused that response, we found they're not so rare," Alford said. "This is about operational conditions and what you can be safely sailing in. The safe wave height might be lower than we thought."
In this era of faster and faster computers with larger and larger storages, computer modeling is relatively easy and convenient to do. But good new ideas even in the academe are considerably rare and hard to come by. I congratulate Prof. Troesch and his students for this new endeavor. As indicated in their press release, it is expected to help spur innovation. I think that's what most certainly will leading to. I don't think their new approach will nullify freaque wave as we know it, especially the freaque waves that happen during calm conditions. But I think they may provide alternate viewpoints regarding whether or not the claim of freaque waves during storm conditions is veracious. Ever since the discovery of the recording of a freaque wave on the North Sea Draupner Platform on 1995 New Year's day, the freaque wave community and the media at large have been all but predetermined most of the ship sinking disasters were resulted from large monster waves, mostly unknown and without substantiation. Now for the first time we have seen creditable indications that those are not necessarily only because of the largest waves.
Bangladesh's meteorological department said in a special weather bulletin that the monsoonal deep depression, which hit the Bay of Bengal on Thursday (September 20) night, was moving north-north-west and had reached India's eastern coastal state of Orissa.
The latest bulletin said the monsoonal low had crossed the Indian coast near Paradeep on Sunday and the weather system was now over Orissa and adjoining areas.
It said squally weather might affect the ports of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Mongla.
Flooding was reported in Orissa and the neighbouring state of West Bengal, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people living in low-lying areas, including in the city of Kolkata.
Heavy seas were preventing rescue operations, but authorities said they would start a search as soon as the stormy weather subsided.
Surviving fishermen said they saw several boats sink. In Cox's Bazar, about 10 fishing boats with nearly 100 fishermen capsized. About 80 fishermen made it back to shore.
Officials also warned of flooding, with low-lying areas of several coastal districts, including Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and their offshore islands, likely to be inundated by water surges up to 4 feet (1.2 metres) high, driven by high winds.
Hundreds of Bangladeshi fishermen die and many go missing in storms in the Bay of Bengal every year.
A loss of 100 fishermen is certainly shocking, but two days later the number doubled in this local report as:
Around 200 fishermen on 15 fishing boats that went down in the turbulent Bay of Bengal last Thursday are still missing. Rough weather has made rescue efforts impossible and loading and unloading of goods the country's southwestern Mongla Port remain suspended for two days due to bad weather.
Luckily, another later news from Indo-Asian News Service on September 25th, entitled "700 Bangladesh fisherman take shelter in India" may provide some hope that those missing fishermen are just missing, may be sheltered somewhere, but not lost. Let's hope and pray that all of them can eventually be rescued and return to their love ones!
It has been said that the job of Alaska fishermen is known as the "most dangerous job in the world." I think fishermen's life anywhere in the world should all be considered as dangerous. They are all at the mercy of the nature that conducts all the uncontrollable storms. Most of us have been taught to remember and respect the hard-working farmers that brought us the food we eat when we were young. For us sea-food lovers, however, we certainly should also never forget the dangers the fishermen face everyday in order to bring us our culinarily favorites.
As we are just starting the 2007 autumn season, if I may borrow a partial expression that was made legendary by Charles Dickens, I would like to say that in my mind the summer of 2007 we've just gone through could be considered as the "best of times!" My reasons are fairly simple, let me count the ways:
There has not been a real freaque wave case reported anywhere most of this summer.
There's only one named tropical storm in North Atlantic so far became a hurricane. (Tropical storm Dean was upgraded to the first hurricane of the 2007 season on August 16.)
A number of large damaging earthquakes ran off Indonesian island of Sumatra. Tsunami warnings were triggered all over -- but no tsunami was really actualized.
We are winning the counterinsurgency war in Iraq.
I guess for someone who regards half-full as half-empty may feel differently. Anyway the summer of 2007 on the planet earth is certainly not at all ordinary -- plenty of challenges for scientists and whoever it may concern. I think the no tsunami earthquake cases are especially challenging to the geophysists to find out how and why to avoid headlines such as: "Tsunami alerts quickly followed Indonesian quakes, though some sparked panic" in the International Herald Tribune, September 13, 2007 or as this kind of news questions: "Were tsunami alerts necessary?" in the Sunday Times online of Sri lanka.
In the June 2005 issue of 'Physics Today," six month after the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, a posted question was "What is the appropriate scientific response to a human tragedy?" That's too big an issue to dwell upon here. Until scientist can provide tangible answers beyond pitiful personal interests, I suggest everyone can take a look at this advice I found from this National Geographic News
Use your common sense. If you feel or hear of a strong earthquake do not wait for an official tsunami warning. Tell your family and friends to join you in leaving for high ground.
I don't think the current crop of tsunami warning systems can do that much better than this common sense one. But, alas! we just can't make similar kind of common sense advice to anyone who might otherwise concern about freaque waves!
My friend Rob Stormer has a much wider information source for his blog than ordinary people. I am obliged to him for alerting me this news item (see here) about a giant wave impact on the state Orissa, India -- a littoral state with a long coast line situated on the east coast of India. The news starts with:
At least 13 houses were washed away and three more houses damaged under the impact of high tidal waves in Podampeta, a sea-side village under Palibandha gram panchayat in Ganjam district, official sources said here on Monday. The powerful waves lashed the village inhabited mostly by fishermen during the last three days. Alarmed over another depression formed over the Bay of Bengal, the district administration apprehended more tidal waves and asked the fishermen families residing very close to the sea to shift to the nearby cyclone shelter.
Later on it reports:
The sea, which was about one km from the village, is now flooding it. Meanwhile, the huge waves which have been bothering the administration caused more damage to the coastline at Puri and Gopalpur, two of Orissa's finest beach resorts. The waves also washed away a portion of the newly-built marine drive at Puri on Sunday paralysing traffic.
As it is basically confined to the local concerns, understandably it did not receive wider media attention. For the local fishermen who only wish to cast their net in the Bay of Bengal peacefully, this unwelcome, unfriendly, natural phenomenon can be very devastating.What it struck me, however, was their use of the term "tidal wave" which is somewhat uncustomary to me, because it is clearly unrelated to tide. According to Wikipedia, the term "tidal wave" can customarily refer to a tidal bore, a tsunami, or the crest of a tide as it moves around the earth. In this case the phenomenon they called "tidal wave" does not fit into any of the three indications the Wikipedia classified. I think based on the description given in the article and the fact that they are worrying about the depression formed in the Bay of Bengal, the more customary term to use could be the "storm surge" which is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically a tropical cyclone according to Wikipedia. Clearly they have been vexed by storm surges in the region as they have already built "cyclone shelter" to cope with it. So "storm surge is not tidal wave" may be just minor semantics squabbles, but customary use of proper terminology can certainly minimize unnecessary confusions in the long run. That's why we prefer to use the term "freaque wave" for the sudden onset of an unexplainable, unusually large wave come out of nowhere in the open ocean instead of a host of the currently available terms: rogue wave, freak wave, giant wave, monster wave, sleeper wave, sneaker wave, killer wave, or even mad-dog wave, and others.
I was talked about "halfway through the 2007 hurricane season" yesterday based on my instinctive thinking. A different way of thinking, as given in this article by the Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Anthony R. Wood, in which he declared this morning that
"The 2007 hurricane season is just approaching its climatological peak, but already it has made history."
Whether or not we are half way through or approaching climatological peak, Wood's statement that this hurricane year has already made history is somewhat surprising to me. What was history making was that out of the seven named tropical storms so far this year:
"Two of them, Dean and Felix, mutated into Category 5 hurricanes, terrorized the Caribbean, and generated ferocious 160 m.p.h. winds."
Because
"Both made landfall as Cat 5's. As far as anyone knows, in 121 years of recordkeeping that's the first time two storms have reached land at that awesome strength in the same season."
So in spite of massive loss of lives in both cases, 40 by Dean and nearly 100 by Felix, the facts are "passed beneath the public radar screen" as Wood puts it. His article is the result of interviewing hurricanes experts to explore the reason for this query. What he found out was rather interesting. According to Lynn "Nick" Shay of University of Miami Rosensteil School:
"Hurricanes tend to pick on different regions from season to season. Florida and the northern Gulf Coast had their catastrophic turns a few years back. North Carolina was a favored target a decade ago."
Obviously hurricanes don't follow the "affirmative action" principle. They choose different preferential targets to picking on from year to year, couldn't care less if it is politically correct or not. Scott Kiser of the National Weather Service's Tropical Cyclone Program explains it as by subtropical ridge with its heavier air tends to repel clouds and rain -- the prime hurricane-steering force. But
"For reasons that defy explanation and prediction, the ridge waxes and wanes and migrates over short- and long-term periods. All that waxing and waning is tied to imponderable global patterns."
So in a nutshell, the hurricane experts don't know much about the "why" either.
So with all the sophisticated gadgets, instruments, measurements, and whatever that's available, physically or politically, plus 121 years of record keeping at their disposal, the hurricane experts still don't really know much about what is really happening out there. May be this is an unfair characterization. But at any rate, it may be somehow comforting to the freaque waves researchers, who got none of hurricane scientists' apparatus except some satellite pictures, if they can not definitively talk about understanding and prediction in any substantive fashion. Similarly to hear any of the freaque wave experts talk about freaque wave prediction glowingly would not necessarily inspire any credence. This is not to seek excuse for the ineptness of freaque waves research, only to underscore the sad facts of lacking or voiding of real freaque wave measurements -- but no one seemed to be perturbed about it.
It is just about halfway through the 2007 hurricane season now, hurricanes have so far basically spared most of the U.S. states from their paths. But the hurricanes are certainly no less ferocious by any standard. The recent Felix that rampaged Central American turned out to be one of the devastating Catagory 5 hurricanes. This morning an AP article by Olga R. Rodriguez entitled "Hurricane survivors recount days at sea" tells a few terrifying stories from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. For instance, this one:
Cecil Clark and Manuel Vendless could see the lights from land, could see safety, when Hurricane Felix's waves picked up their boat, slammed it deep into the ocean and spit it out into the darkness again.
Still alive, Vendless clung to a rope and Clark somehow crawled onto what remained of their simple fishing vessel. But it wasn't long before Vendless looked up at his friend, his face flashing before Clark in the lightning that crashed overhead, and said simply: "I'm not going to make it."
After he died, Clark lashed the body to the boat, and assumed he was next.
Clark had perhaps one of the most amazing stories of the storm. He bobbed in the ocean for more than three days until relatives of his dead friend, Vendless, found him in the water near the Honduran coast.
His body was covered with open wounds from exposure to the sun and sea, and he was burned by boat fuel and a rope that he had used to tie himself to his sinking vessel. He was delusional, unable to explain what happened or recognize his friends.
Later, on land, he sat on his couch in Puerto Cabezas, still shocked nearly speechless. When Vendless' mother, Rosa Miller, came to see him, he told her through tears that he held on to her son's body until Thursday, when the stench became too much to bear and he let his friend sink.
Miller broke down crying with him, kissing him on the forehead and reassuring him that they would try to find Vendless' remains.
"We are going to go again tomorrow with a diver to look for my son because even if they find his bones, I want to bring him to me," she said.
And this:
In bustling Maras Cay, 39-year-old Aurora Prada was selling snacks and soda to fishermen and collecting lobster for sale on the mainland when she noticed the darkening sky and the waves tumbling onto land, rising along the beach in a way she had never seen before. She and nine others to rush to a nearby house, seeking refuge.
The wind peeled away the home's simple, wooden walls, lifted the roof and tossed it into the air like a sheet of paper.
With waters rising all around them, the group found a small motor boat and headed toward a relatively protected swampy area, but the winds were so strong it took them two hours to move 50 yards.
"I thought of my children and how I was probably going to leave them orphans," said the single mother of five, all of whom who were safe on the mainland.
Narciso Omeli, 36, was in his stilt home on Maras Cay when suddenly the ocean swallowed the island, leaving Omeli in open sea. He grabbed a piece of driftwood and was tossed about. Soon, he was surrounded by others just like him, survivors who were caught helplessly in the storm's strong currents, none knowing where they would end up or if they would live.
Off Maras Cay, Rogel Calero had to wait for two lobster divers to surface before he could turn his simple, wooden sailboat toward shore. By that time, pounding rain began filling his boat with water. It wasn't long before a wave capsized the group.
He, his wife, his 21-year-old son, and four other relatives were tossed into the sea, clinging to debris. Calero watched as, one by one, the others disappeared into the water.
He floated for hours, clinging to a tree trunk. He stopped thinking, stopped believing he would survive, even after the storm passed and the sun came out.
And back on the mainland,
. . . the storm wiped out jungle hamlets and crops, but villagers emerged with few reported deaths. Immediately they began searching for the hundreds they knew were missing at sea.
A few survivors washed ashore, as did bodies, their bloated arms stretched toward the sky. Death toll estimated ranged from dozens to more than 100. An exact count will likely never be known.
Wives and mothers packed a pier and the beach at Puerto Cabezas, crying and waiting for word of those lost. Helicopters clattered overhead, while villagers paddled hollowed out canoes through water littered with broken trees, searching for signs of life — or death.
A private boat found Prada. She and the others were still frantically scooping water from their disabled motorboat, floating amid a few remaining trees that stuck up from the flooded Maras Island.
"As soon as day broke, calm returned and I knew I was going to live," she said.
Back on land, many grew frustrated with the rescue effort. Zacarias Loren, 48, begged a government official in broken Spanish for scarce fuel for his boat so he could search for his 19-year-old son, who was with a group of 18 people diving for lobster off a distant cay when the storm hit.
"These lives are important, too," Loren said after he failed to get the gas. "They might be floating alive, but they are out there alone."
Word came of many survivors who had washed ashore or been plucked from the sea along the most remote section of Honduras' coast. But no one, not even the Honduran government, knew exactly who they were.
One of the first to arrive in Honduras was Calero, who was found Wednesday, more than 30 hours after the hurricane hit. Miskito Indians searching the sea for relatives found him instead, pulling his battered and sunburned body from the water. They then took him back to Puerto Cabezas.
But dozens were still stranded in Honduras.
On Saturday morning, 38 men stumbled off a boat and onto the pier at Puerto Cabezas and were immediately surrounded by people desperate to find their loved ones among them. Cries rang out as wives and children recognized husbands, sons and fathers.
Loren spotted his missing, 19-year-old son, Angel, and wrapped him in his arms. Both cried in joy.
For us who are lucky not to be stuck on the Felix's path, we just have to count our blessings and pray for those who were affected. Hope someday ocean science research can develop some tangible advances to help people to effectively cope and survive this kind of calamities better. I hope it will not happen, but I will not at all be surprised if some clever soul still going to make the wize comment: "It probably has something to do with global warming!"
"Stronger hurricanes means whopper waves" is the title of an article from the Discovery Channel which my friend Rob posted in his blog "Robin Storm" this morning without his own comment-- except adding a fabulous ocean wave picture taken from a ship. My immediate reaction to this title was in part what I've used for the title of this post: Wow! Stronger hurricanes means whopper waves. What else is new? Does anyone ever doubt a Category 5 hurricane generates much higher waves than a Category 1 hurricane?
I guess I am not very impressed with the connotation this title is trying to convey. To be fair, the author did making the disclamer that it is a subject of "intense controversy." What I am even less impressed is the sad fact that academic scientists rushing to jump on the global warming bandwagon and dragging ocean waves along with them -- without any solid scientific evidence only personal speculations. Any one who has ever really worked or looked at those cited buoy data objectively will not likely to dispute my contention. That reminds me this very amusing B.C. comic yesterday: I would like to suggest to the author of this comic strip: It may even be more amusing if he could replace the words in the second panel with "It probably has something to do with global warming!"
I came across this very interesting article entitled "What the most dangerous job in the world taught me about coping with stress" by Kevin Thompson, from all internet places, the naturalhealthweb. I guess the article may be aiming at coping with stress, but what he told of his story as one time Alaska fisherman is real and very much of interest to me. Here's his story:
I began working as an Alaska fisherman in 1988. My main motivation for doing this was the money. Quite honestly, that’s the only reason I took the job.
And if you’ve ever seen that movie “The Perfect Storm” or watched those shows on the discovery channel, you have an idea of what it’s like to fish in Alaska. My own story isn’t much different and it taught me why being an Alaska Fisherman is know as “The Most Dangerous Job In The World”. The winter of 1995 had been an especially bad winter in Alaska. Fishing boats and fishermen's lives were being claimed by the Bering Sea almost weekly. I was working on the outside deck after dark and we were in an unbelievable storm. It was the worst I'd seen in my 7 years of fishing.
The kind of thing you only see in the movies. I was scared to death! But I had my own way of dealing with my fears. I'd never look out at the horizon when we were in a storm like this because I didn't want to see the big picture. I didn't want to know how high the waves really were. So I'd just concentrate on my job, which was to get all the fish onto the boat. As long as I did my job, and didn't look up, I could almost convince myself that the storm wasn't that bad. While this certainly wasn’t the best way to deal with stress, at the time, it was the only way I knew how. As always, the captain was in the wheelhouse driving the boat.
His job was to keep an eye on me and watch for the dangerous rogue waves that would come out of nowhere and slam into us broadside. He'd tell me if I was in any real danger. And then it happened! I heard the captain's thundering voice over the intercom system. Kevin! Hit the deck! Before I could react, I was buried under a wall of water that hurled me all the way across the deck of the boat, face first into the railing on the other side. When the water settled, and I realized what had happened, my immediate thought was, "Thank God I'm still on the boat" The impact had knocked out my front teeth and caused serious facial damage, but at least I was still alive, and on the boat. If that wave would have lifted me just a few inches higher, I would have been thrown right over the top of the railing into the freezing waters of the Bering Sea.
And there's one thing I knew for sure. In a storm like that, there's no way in hell the captain would have got that boat turned around in time to save me. I would have died right then and there. It was at that moment I decided my life as an Alaska Fisherman was over. While it was a great experience, I’ve never regretted my decision to leave the fishing industry.
They were in a bad storm, but it appears that they had also encountered a real freaque wave. That's certainly not an uncommon occurrence. It happens all the time and that's why they are in the most dangerous job of the world. I don't think anyone would second guess his decision to quit. Watching the Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch" would certainly convince anyone that's most definitely not a job for everyone. At any rate it's of interest for me to have another real life eyewitness account of an encountering with the potential deadly freaque waves. We still have no idea how frequent or not frequent or where those kind of things happen. A real life experience is always helpful!
