Big Wave - tragic

[Danny_Labrador]

Some wave to have that effect on a tanker

 

[Blueboatman]

Pentland firth..f8-10...60kn and seas to match...working on the foredeck on a laden boat,no thankyou .

 

[Danny_Labrador]

But have you seen the size of the bow? you would have thought yourself safe

 

[landaftaf]

loaded the bow is much lower in the water

what (probably) happened was that it cleared the lee of the land before the boys on deck had finished securing for sea, and in the aftermath of a storm 11, hit big seas of 10 m +.

seamanship .......... or lack of it /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif IMO of course

 

[tugboat]

Many years ago I was driving a supply boat through the Pentland Firth westwards to meet a drillship that was coming up the Minch. Our normal top speed was about 11 knots, but we were doing over 20 knots over the ground. Blimey, the old girl nearly wet herself with excitement! Mind you, so did I , I wasn't used to seeing the scenery change that fast! It was first light and the forecast was SW'lies up ahead. Never been in that situation before but figured there might be trouble ahead. As we got towards the west end of the Firth I spotted a huge standing wave ahead. I slowed right down to just steerage way (still doing 10 knots with the tide) and we hit a 20foot wave with a real bump. Those boats had a fairly low foc'sle so a lot of solid water landed vertically on the foc'sle head. Being a supply boat, the bridge is for'd so always a worry about wheelhouse windows in that sort of situation but we were OK. If I hadn't been able to slow down it could have been a different story. Fortunately on those types of vessel we have instant speed control, 2 props and rudders etc. On tankers, once they are on passage they can't slow down at short notice or the engineers throw a wobbler, so suspect this was a similar instance of weather against a strong tide. Nasty!

 

[landaftaf]

entirely predictable - especially with the prevailing wx

they should have read the pilot book and heeded local knowledge.

not even looking at the 'merry men of mey' /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[bilbobaggins]

I seem to recall that the Admiralty North Coast of Scotland Pilot - usually renowned for terse and understated language - warned "In situations of a westerly gale and a weather-going tide, sea conditions simply have to be seen to be believed."

There is also a documented tale of a heavy cruiser heading north up past Wick one winter's night during WW1, and turning west through the Pentland Firth, doing about 16 knots, in conditions as described above.

About 10 minutes after settling on the new course, the bows plunged deep under. When she arose again, the bridge team were horrified to see that the Number One Gun Turret was completely missing.

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Porthandbuoy]

My father, ex RN, always maintained that the Pentland Firth was the most treacherous stretch of water in the northern hemisphere. Seems he wasn't far short of the mark.

 

[snowleopard]

I recall discussions on sailing 'round Britain' and whether using the canal counted. I've done it twice via the canal and said that I prefer it that way as I'd rather steer clear of the Pentland Firth. I was told It was a harmless bit of water but I prefer not to find out!

 

[kengill]

There was a case a few years ago where a catamaran on a record attempt was capsized in the firth. When the helo arrived it had to wait for the 30 metre waves to reduce to 20 metre waves until they could rescue the unfortunate yachtsman.

The thought of a tanker working up to speed and hitting a 30 metre waven with a combined speed of possibly 25 knots makes one wonder how anyone survived .

 

[ROSSCO]

I note that the BBC have lifted the inaccurate description of the ship as a 'VLCC' from the MCGA press release - Would have thought the Coastguard Agency ought to know one type of ship from another - A VLCC is 3-4 times larger than the FR8 Venture which is a Product Carrier (although carrying crude oil). I guess describing her as a 'VLCC' or ' Supertanker ' makes more of a story of it, something you would think the MCGA Press Department shouldnt be doing.

 

[Hyperborean]

Alan Villiers described the waters of the Pentland Firth as , "The other Cape Horn." My father, who served in destroyers during ww2, claimed that he saw an accompanying sister ship lose a funnel which he reckoned was simply rolled out of the vessel by the sea conditions. There used to be car bumper sticker up here which read, "I crossed the Pentland Firth and lived."
The thing is that whilst it can be a pussy cat on nice days it doesn't just turn into a raging lion it turns into a whole pride of them when wind and tide combine.

 

[landaftaf]

It is considered to be the most dangerous waters on the globe by most mariners - when a westerly gale/storm combine with a westerly tide .......

as I said earlier - read the 'sailing directions' /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif