The closed-circuit cameras on a yacht in Portosole, Sanremo, Italy captured the moment when on Jan. 23, 2013 a wave crashed over the sea wall, sending a motorcyclist, his bike and a car into the marina. It is believed the motorcyclist was not seriously injured.The video ia also available here:
THE HAND of God delivered two Nova Scotia fishermen from the deep earlier this month, says a Woods Harbour skipper.This story was given by Woods Harbour fisherman Capt. Sandy Stoddard when he talked with reporters outside of the Woods Harbour Community Centre in Woods Harbour on Feb. 23, 2013. Thanks to Brian Medel for recording this great story. One just can not quarrel with the skipper about' "The hand of God" behind all these! We just wish to thank the Good Lord Who does allow such a nice story be actually happen and be told. Deo Gratias!
Sandy Stoddard, captain of the Logan & Morgan, spoke Monday about a miracle at sea two weeks ago, when two young men who were tossed overboard after a violent rogue wave slammed into their boat were returned from almost certain death.
Just 16 days after the entire crew of the Miss Ally was lost, Stoddard went to sea. It was the halibut fisherman’s first trip since that tragedy.
March 5 was a dark night.
“We were off Canso … probably 75 miles,” Stoddard said. “We were hauling our gear when it happened. A huge wave came out of nowhere.”
Winds were gusting 75 to 90 kilometres per hour.
“In 40-some years … I’ve never seen nothing like that,” 56-year-old Stoddard said with a note of disbelief in his voice.
SEE ALSO: Investigation into sinking of Miss Ally ends
“It just came out of nowhere and just picked us right up and threw us down. And when it threw us down, it threw two men overboard.”
The small group of fishermen working aft were in their oil gear work clothes. They had no time to don survival suits.
Stoddard, the fifth man on board, was in the wheelhouse.
Wind screeched through cables and deck gear banged together hard as the boat slammed back down into the trough behind the wave.
The four crew members straining to hold on suddenly became two. The men on deck looked around frantically and screamed to Stoddard at the helm, “They’re gone!”
How in the world did the crew get their friends back, people have asked.
“Listen,” said Stoddard, speaking deliberately.
“I’m telling you right now … it’s only by the grace of God that we got ’em back. That’s the only way.
“One guy we got back … it’s hard to explain where this guy went. He told me he stood on something and it threw him back aboard the boat.
“We’re Christian people. It was God’s hand that he stood on, and God flipped him back aboard the boat.
“He didn’t get wet. He was to his neck in the water and he was still dry when he came back aboard the boat.”
That man was Gordie Rhyno, Stoddard said.
When he dropped on deck, he ran to the stern, where the other missing man — Gregory Nickerson — would suddenly surface.
“He just knew,” Stoddard said. “Gordie was on the stern hollering for Gregory and then Gregory answered him.”
Nickerson appeared under a 1.6-metre aluminum overhang, a platform supported by braces.
“He came up underneath there and he was panicking and his hand hit one of the braces and he grabbed the brace,” Stoddard said. “He only called out the once. We (didn’t) hear him no more.”
The men threw a lifesaver to where Nickerson’s voice was last heard.
“On the fourth throw … Gordie said, ‘I got him,’” Stoddard said.
Readings on board showed the water temperature was 2.2 C.
The men worked on Nickerson because he had swallowed a lot of water.
“It took us an hour before we got Gregory back,” Stoddard said.
An emergency call was never made.
“It happened so fast. It was over and there was nothing to call in.”
Nickerson said Monday that he is feeling better and will probably head back to sea soon.
“We was all there joking and laughing, then it was just, bang,” he told CBC News. “Nobody knew nothing. Nobody seen it coming.”
Some have asked why the outcome with the Miss Ally was so different. Both had crews of five men. Both sought halibut in much the same area of ocean.
“We cannot and will not and do not have the answers to the things that we … know nothing about,” Stoddard said.
And while the community grieves for the five lost from the Miss Ally, Stoddard said he’s thankful his men were saved.
“That makes five men I’ve lost,” said Stoddard, who was a captain at 19.
He lost three in the 1980s.
“I got em all back.”
Stoddard hasn’t been on the ocean since the harrowing incident. But soon, maybe this week, he will head out.
“We’re facing, for some reason, way more rogue waves today than we ever faced before. I don’t remember ’em being like this.”
People need to be ready, Stoddard said, because the end may be closer than they realize.
A Polish man who had been living in Ireland for a number of years died after being hit by a freak wave on a fishing trip with friends.The report also included this tidbit:
The 55-year-old fisherman, who was married and had been living in Co Kildare, drowned when he fell off rocks into the sea at Mullaghmore Head, Co Sligo.
The incident happened in an area notorious for freak waves. Local anglers tend to avoid the area.So two points here should be of particular note: first the area where the tragedy happened is known to be "an area notorious for freaque waves". And further "Local angelers tend to avoid the area!" Therefore when visiting some fishing place it is clearly advisible to seek local informations to learn the local experiences and for safety! By all means avoid any place local people are known to have avoiding!
A giant wave is being blamed for the death of an elderly woman who was walking with a companion on a beach in Mexico when it broke on the shoreline, sucking her and a companion out to sea.
Local officials indicated that the deadly wave broke on shore as the pair of U.S. tourists was walking on the beach close to the famous stone arch in the Pacific resort of Cabo San Lucas. A 65-year-old woman was killed in the unusual event, while her 70-year-old partner was listed in serious condition at an area hospital.
Giant ice boulders line the shore of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. While ice does break off from floes on Lake Michigan, residents say they've never seen anything like this.
Glaciers in the tropical Andes have been retreating at increasing rate since the 1970s, scientists write in the most comprehensive review to date of Andean glacier observations. The researchers blame the melting on rising temperatures as the region has warmed about 0.7°C over the past 50 years (1950-1994). This unprecedented retreat could affect water supply to Andean populations in the near future. These conclusions are published today in The Cryosphere, an Open Access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).O.K. for a lay person like me I have only one stupid question: If there is such thing as "rising temperatures" why are we still having the kind of cold winter we have. Where is global warming?
Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes, had emitted signs of an imminent paroxysm in recent weeks. On Jan. 22, lava and strong flashes in the volcano's New Southeast Crater were clearly visible from the Sicilian foothills; these often herald a new paroxysm: short, violent eruptive bursts.
Dorschfeldt said he knew Mount Etna's recent signals could precede new activity. "[I've] followed the activity of Etna for many years, and with time you learnto know it as if it were your friend," he said in an email interview. "Following it constantly [you] learn to be a keen observer and a minor change can lead to something important," he told OurAmazingPlanet.
The tallest volcano in Europe, Mount Etna is almost constantly spewing gas or lava. Its Bocca Nuova crater also erupted earlier this year, from Jan. 10 to Jan. 20. In 2011, Etna's violent bursts were spotted from space.I got it from Sigma Xi's Science Smart Brief this morning.
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Daredevil Chuck Patterson found a novel way to tackle the waves off the coast of Hawaii – on skis!
It looks like another big wave riding hero but look a little closer and you can see that the man at bottom of the wall of water is not on a board but skis. Look a little closer still and the mental wave rider has two ski poles in his hands as well.
Chuck is a ‘driven by his passion for snow’. He grew up skiing in Lake Tahoe California as a young man but has made the transition to water, now.
He obviously gets a little snow-sick for the slopes though and decided to give himself a little reminder as his ski-surf YouTube video above shows.
1. The first step that SIMA recommends is not letting snow build up for long. If you regularly go out when there are a few inches of snow on the ground versus waiting until 2 feet have piled up, you'll be working with more manageable weights.
2. Their second tip is to wear breathable layers. Your body can still heat up quickly doing manual work outside in the cold. Layering is important to help you keep from overheating in your warm winter clothes. You could end up dehydrated if you get too hot and start to sweat. Opt for fabrics made from cotton or silk that allow more evaporation than wool or man-made materials.
3. You should also wear good boots. Good snow boots will be warm, waterproof and have good traction. Slipping on snow and ice can lead to a lot of unnecessary injuries, so be sure to move carefully and wear the right gear for your feet.
4. Like any other strenuous physical activity, you should take the time to properly stretchbefore you head outside to shovel. This is especially important considering you will be "working out" in cold weather. This will help prevent pulled muscles.
5. You'll put less stress on your body if you focus on pushing and not lifting snow out of the way. This will use less energy to help you stave off fatigue and will also be easier on your back and shoulders.
6. Staying hydrated is essential for preventing dehydration. Take water breaks, as you would if you were working out in a gym or playing a sport.
7. Working on driveways and sidewalks can put you dangerously close to traffic, so be sure topay attention to your surroundings. Cars can lose control on snowy roads and end up leaving the pavement. Be aware of the traffic around you when you are near the street.
8. Finally, you should be sure to have your phone on you in case something does go wrong. Being able to call for help at the first sign of an emergency could make a big difference.
ACTION man Mark Beaumont last night described the terrifying moment his tiny rowing boat was flipped over by a massive wave.
Mark, 29, and five crewmates came close to death when their vessel capsized in the Atlantic last month.
The Scot told how he he was left trapped upside down in the boat.
He said: “It pitched up without warning. I was upside down and fighting to get my shoes out of the rowing straps. They were stuck.
“I managed to pull my feet free and kicked for the surface.”
The crew were trying to break the 30-day record for rowing across the Atlantic. They were 520 miles from the finish in Barbados on day 27.
Mark, from Newburgh, Fife, added: “We survived so ultimately the expedition was a success.”
SCOTS ADVENTURER Mark Beaumont’s ill-fated record attempt boat has been salvaged after floating at sea for a full year, he revealed today.
• Boat found with currency and equipment still on board
• Vessel ran aground on the Florida shoreline
• ‘Sarah G’ was adrift at sea for a year
The £70,000 vessel capsized after being hit by a massive wave during the the trans-Atlantic mission, forcing the six-strong British and Irish crew to escape into a lifecraft.
Mark made several dives into the depths of the freezing ocean to retrieve vital life-saving equipment but the rest of the cargo of the 36ft fibreglass craft, named Sara G, was thought to be lost.
The Perthshire 30-year-old, who has just returned from a cycling trip in Malaysia, said the boat’s recovery was “incredible”.
It had been spotted drifting in the Carribean several times in the past 12 months by the US coastguard but it had been deemed too expensive and complicated to recover.
However it finally ran aground on the Florida shoreline at the weekend.
It still contains wallets, food and hundreds of dollars and pounds abandoned when the men had to flee for their safety.
US salvage expert Mark Hutchings, owner of TowBoatUS on Key Largo, Florida, told how he spied upturned The Sara G which is covered in what looks like bullet holes.
He said: “We salvage boats every few days but this one is unique. I’ve never seen one like it.
“Sitting there, it looked like an upside down sailboat.
“I’ve seen some boats come apart after just a few days on the water. This was was out there for a year so its a pretty substantial boat. Some stuff on board was destroyed but other things were totally intact.”
He added: “It still smells pretty bad in there.”
He said personal items would be returned to the rowers as soon as possible.
The boat itself has suffered substantial damage, including several suspected gun shot holes where people have tried to sink it, fearing it was a shipping hazard.
The state-of-the-art craft was on-course to break the 32-day east to west cross-Atlantic rowing record in January last year.
Mark and his crew, rowing in two-hour shifts, had covered more than 2,000 miles in 27 days when the freak waves picked the boat up by the stern, rotated it and capsized it.
The men endured a terrifying three-hour wait on the lifecraft before being picked up by a passing ship and brought to safety.
Another Perthshire adventurer, Benno Rawlinson from Abernethy is now trying to smash the rowing record.
He and his team have so-far rowed almost 1,500 miles after setting off from Gran Canaria on January 18.
Mark Beaumont became famous in 2008 after breaking the record for cycling around the world - completing his 18,297 miles in 194 days and 17 hoursSo it's a story with a happy ending after all! And the mighty ocean is certainly not grasping or greedy like some government we know!!!
This is a clear cut case of wrong place, wrong time. A motorcyclist was riding along the docks of a harbor wave in Portosole, Sanremo, Italy. A security camera on a yacht happened to catch this intense moment. A rogue wave came over the wall and was so strong it took out not only the motorcyclist, but also the cars that were parked near there.
It was filmed by Australian Astrophotographer Mark Gee, who was sweet enough to share it with NASA, who was awesome enough to post it as their Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).It is a real treat in life to be able to watch a full moon moonrise like this one. This is the same moon, the last one of the year of Dragon this year which I took a shot with my personal point-and-click camera two days ago, but please do go there and enjoy this rare video of moonrise!
LIHUE, Hawaii — Two California men who drowned off Kauai were best friends who shared a love of music, were attracted to the water and often took trips together, according to loved ones remembering Brian Baker and Adam Griffiths.
The two men from the San Francisco area were exploring the rocky coast of Hawaii's Kauai island on Friday with several friends when a rogue wave knocked down Baker, 47, and dragged him out to sea. He was swept into the water off South Kalihiwai Point.
Griffiths, 46, jumped into the choppy waters to save his friend but also drowned. Griffiths' body was found Saturday.
On Monday, the Kauai Fire Department conducted aerial searches for Baker's body. Fire personnel also were positioned along the coastline, but the search was unsuccessful.
Officials said Tuesday that after three days of looking they were suspending the search because of extremely hazardous ocean conditions. Kauai remained under a high surf warning for north- and west-facing shores until 6 p.m.Please click to read the further details of the tragic lost of these two close, inseparable comrades who even go into eternity together. Pray for their souls.
A woman has drowned after a freak wave swept her out to sea as she walked on a northern California beach with her boyfriend and dog.
Susan Archer, 32, of Shelter Cove, was on the rocky shore near her home when she was pulled into the ocean.
Her body was found after a 45-minute search by rescue boats and a helicopter.
Ms Archer's boyfriend was injured when the wave threw him against rocks. The dog was pulled into the water but was able to swim to safety.
Officials in the area have been warning beach-goers to keep their distance from the water's edge and watch out for so-called sneaker waves that suddenly rush ashore.
It is the third such tragedy in California in recent months after a man was killed near Point Reyes, north of San Francisco, on New Year's Day while he and his wife were trying to rescue his dog.An all too familiar occurrence that happens again and again all around the world oceans. We don't know where, when, how or why. But it just repeatedly happening all over, again and again. When can we prevent it from happening and save lives???
Modern flood warning systems did not exist and there was no way the emergency alert could be sounded.
Today there would be phone calls, TV and radio warnings, phone messages, internet warnings, social networking. The Environment Agency has direct contact with thousands of people living in flood zones.
On January 31, 1953, it was in most places a policeman on a bike – cycling round communities to knock on doors or shout a warning.
Those officers did reach some people in the nick of time, but many were sleeping in their beds when the floodwaters swept into their homes and streets.
The depression spotted off Iceland had started deepening at an alarming rate on January 30.
It was still hundreds of miles north-west of the Hebrides but Scotland was already feeling its gale force winds.
As the hours wore on, the met men watched the depression move east and then swing south into the North Sea.
With winds gusting up to 140mph, 15 billion cubic feet of water was sucked from the Atlantic into the North Sea to be driven south as a “sea surge”, a ten feet wall of water ahead of the incoming tide – and set for a head-on collision with the tide from the other direction.
With nowhere else to go in the narrow funnel of the North Sea, the enormous wall of water came thundering ashore.
It was unseen, unheard and unexpected – millions of gallons of water pouring inland in just a few hours.
