Ever experienced a rogue wave?

[MarieK]

Today I did!

I took my boat from Ardglass marina (east coast NI) to Ballycastle marina (north coast NI) today as I am going to keep her (10m Rodman) there for the winter. Its a 70 mile trip I have made quite a few times and usually takes 3 hrs. I have been waiting for a weather window for the last month or so and the perfect day just wasnt happening so having watched the forecast for the last few days I saw a small window of opportunity for today when wind and tides would be in my favour.

I got to Ardglass around 11am to be met by a stiff southerly breeze but I knew wind and tide would be in same direction so went for it. Due to last minute organizing I didnt have any crew, not a problem really as I single hand often. Headed out of the harbour and it was quite snotty, rain, mizzle, mist and rather bouncy. My passage plan took me well offshore initially to avoid any lobster pots which would be harder to spot in the conditions. As I turned NE to head up the coast I had the sea on my stbd beam and was able to get up to 18kts with relative comfort, autopilot tracking the route nicely, all gauges looked good, everything singing nicely in harmony, I allowed myself to go and have a pee! I dont know about the rest of you but I really enjoy single hand boating, I am certainly on edge when on my own in less than perfect conditions, I tune into every noise and have to convince myself its not a belt working loose or some such thing! I have the epirb, vhf, handheld gps all within grabbing distance should I need it, im probably much more safety conscious than when im with others and a beer in my hand!

So im about 15 miles into the passage, few degrees off northerly heading, settled into a nice rhythm, tide had started pushing me up the north channel and sea more or less on the stern, moderate sea at this stage with the odd hole to fall into but nothing too bad, I was starting to relax a bit, then.... out of absolutely NO WHERE a wave at least 3 times bigger than the others, slams into the stbd bow of the boat and runs down the length of the boat emptying into the cockpit, bow totally submerged, green water over top of windscreen, a proper scary one! I looked back and the cockpit was under maybe a foot of water, luckily sport fishers like the rodman are designed for "backing down" when fishing so they have lots of drainage and a tuna door meant water ran out virtually instantly. Autopilot got her back on course nicely and I throttled back to about 8 knots just to catch breath, at this stage aft bilge alarm went off which heightened anxiety level, bilge pump kicked in and sorted that out. Chartplotter alarm went off as it had lost fix, GPS receiver must have got whacked but I wasnt going to investigate that one yet! Assortment of scatter cushions lying on the deck and thing generally not where they should be. I ignore all non essential stuff and throttle back up, everything is fine so I continue knowing there will be calmer water soon I can sort things.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, certainly never calm but always manageable. As I neared Ballycastle I knew I had the hard part of the trip over and I allowed myself time to reflect on the boat. Recently I have been looking around at something bigger, something with a bit more luxury, more suited to the type of boating I enjoy now. I had kind of lost interest in the boat but its on days like today when a boat becomes more than the thing you throw money at, spend all your spare time maintaining or unblocking toilets!! Days like today make you realise why you love boating and love your own boat, she gets you home when maybe you are pushing things a little bit and the old adage, "look after your boat and she will look after you" seems very appropriate. There are things I dont like about her, things I would change but when it comes to handling a sea, she is a fine fine boat and I have a hell of a lot of confidence in the quality of build and engineering that has gone into her. She can hang around for a little while longer ;-)

Time for a beer!

 

[Kawasaki]

MarieK
Whoahh, good tale!
Check sumatt out however
There are 'overfalls' that happen where you were
Not tryin to get Grannie to suck eggs etc, tiss your Patch
Been there had the T shirt
Rogue waves do happen and it gets you without warning
I like the bit of the Tale when you say you gained confidence in Her
I had the same some years ago
I found myself in a place I didn't intend to be
In a 27ft Nimbus I had owned for years
It was rough
I slowed down
Wrong!
I went from 4 kts to 8
The 'Nimby' just plowed through
I ****e my self fer a bit but after a while I gained confidence in the vessel
I know where you are comin from ref your thoughts
Yep-- Have a Beer or two!!

Great Post

Cheers
K

 

[RobWales]

Wow scarey!
But come on MK the only reason that she has to hang around a little longer is to give you time to clean the sh*t off the helm!

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I don't know whether you could call it a rogue wave or not but we had a scary experience once coming back from Honfleur to the Solent in a Turbo 36. There was myself, my SWMBO, my stepson and stepdaughter on board. In truth we should never have set out because the forecast was F5-6 from NW but I had an important business meeting the following day and I wanted to get back to the UK. In addition, we had a tidal mooring on the River Itchen and I knew we had to maintain a minimum speed of 18kts to get back into our mooring if we left on the 1st lock from Honfleur. The conditions in the Seine estuary were atrocious and I soon retired to the lower helm with me steering and my stepson watching the radar which was mounted overhead in an aluminium casing. We considered diverting to Fecamp or even Brighton to ease the ride but I reasoned that conditions would improve in mid Channel only they didn't. I later realised that I hadn't taken account of the fact that the tide turning against the wind in mid Channel would make the conditions even worse. Anyway we ploughed on bashing through the waves as best we could; by this time there was no way we could maintain the required 18kts and we were mostly cruising at displacement speed. Then we came upon a wave that looked much bigger than the rest and I could see that even through the spray lashed windscreen. I backed off the throttle as we reached the crest and to my horror, I saw an enormous hole in the water in front of us. I shouted to the crew to hold on and gripped the steering wheel as hard as I could. The engine revs suddenly rose and for what felt like an eternity we dropped in freefall before hitting the bottom of the hole with an enormous crash. I heard a scream from both my stepdaughter and my stepson. Later it transpired that she had been sitting on the steps from the cockpit into the saloon and had been thrown down the steps into the aft cabin; she was heavily bruised and spent the rest of the trip on the aft cabin bed crying. My stepson meanwhile had smashed his head into the radar housing and was bleeding profusely over the helm seat. My SWMBO seemed OK but in shock and my back hurt like hell. Miraculously, the boat was still running and apart from the contents of most of the cupboards being strewn all over the floors, she seemed OK and we ploughed on at much reduced speed. My SWMBO patched up her son and daughter as best she could and it was well past sunset when we saw the NAB and pitch dark when we reached Southampton Water. We missed the tide for our mooring and spent several hours tied up at Shamrock waiting for the next tide. We eventually pulled into our home berth in the early hours of the morning and got home to London at 4am. 2 hours later, I was on the M4 driving to Cardiff for my business meeting.
My stepdaughter has since sailed from Australia to Scotland in her own boat and is presently on her way back to Australia doing the other half of the circumnavigation. She reckons the sea conditions that her stepfather put her through on that day were the worst she has experienced. For me, I learnt a lot about when it is wiser not to leave port, not planning important meetings for the day after a cruise is supposed to end and not giving yourself an unrealistic schedule. As for the boat, it was that day that I realised that the Turbo 36 was a superb boat

 

[piratos]

Like Deleted User it was more like a rougue hole, but it was one of those things I will never forget.
In 1987 I sold my Coronet, and bought a Sea Ray, and in july 1988 I was on my way to the swedish west coast for two weeks crusing with two friends. It was not the first time I took this trip and also not the last time (excelent cruising area !)
We arrived late in Grenaa on the east coast of Denmarks nose, refuled and stayed over night to have an early start next morning. At that time it was basic navigation, and no GPS and Plotter probably didnt exist, so we were to go east, south of Anholt (easy navigation) being well pass to turn NE and head for Varberg. So we left Grenaa, and yes weather was bad, but we were all confident that it was OK. We passed the island of Anholt after 3 to 4 hours and turned NE heading for Varberg in Sweden. This already gave an indication that the planned cruisingspeed of 20 knots was not possible. The sea became worse and worse, and we were already at the point where we were on full power going up the waves, slow down to idle going down - make a short S turn at the bottom of the wave to avoid going straight to the mackerells, but being now 2/3 through, and with still good mood until...
We reached the top of one wave and put back the throttle - but instead of heading down the wave it was all white foam around us, no grip at all no steering. The boat turned on the port side, then starting to slide down the wawe, still on port side and reached the bottom with full broadside. I had my right hand on the throttle, and left on the steering and by incident the crash made my right hand give full speed and I was thrown down to the feet of my friend at the port seat. Fortunately still helding the steering with my left hand, and probably also giving some rudder to port.
Anyway, I came on my feet again just as the boat reached the top of nxt wave - in time to get the throttle back again. It took us another two hours to reach Varberg (and by the way, Varberg marina has a Sauna !). It was our intention just to reach Varberg for fuel, and hear up north somewhere past Gothenburg, but we did not. We stayed over night in Varberg, had lots of beer, and two weeks great cruise in the archipelago.

 

[pan]

We were doing a delivery trip with our new Princess 388 from Plymouth to the balearics, quite a few years ago! As usual we had followed the weather situation carefully, but of course it never works out that way..
On the day from Le Sables 05.00 to Santander (Biscay) with a forecast of 2-3, about 3 hours out the weather turned really nasty, descending into storms with 6-7 & very rough seas, the boat was coping reasonably well, but at a reduced 12kt speed, plenty of water over the bow/flybridge & aft deck, but the sea state determined we continue (frankly no where else to go!) after another 2 hours of being pounded we were suddenly hit on the starboard bow by a huge wave, the boat shuddered to almost dead in the water..immediately sent someone to check all the hull port holes were secure, we were sure something must have given with such a big hit, remarkably everything was secure except our nerves! The only words said were 'she won't take many more of those' from one of the 'helpful' crew, greeted by silence of course.
Finally limped into Santander at about 21.30, amid torrential rain & wind, aided by a very helpful cargo boat skipper (Santander CG did not want to know, as they were dealing with a large ship sinking in Biscay at the time!).... the crew? we finished all the booze we had on board that night... the boat? pretty battered, but we did find all the leaks, clean up & off in the morning for Gijon.. what a boat!
Pan..

 

[oceanfroggie]

Today I did!

I took my boat from Ardglass marina (east coast NI) to Ballycastle marina (north coast NI) today as I am going to keep her (10m Rodman) there for the winter. Its a 70 mile trip I have made quite a few times and usually takes 3 hrs. I have been waiting for a weather window for the last month or so and the perfect day just wasnt happening so having watched the forecast for the last few days I saw a small window of opportunity for today when wind and tides would be in my favour.

I got to Ardglass around 11am to be met by a stiff southerly breeze but I knew wind and tide would be in same direction so went for it. Due to last minute organizing I didnt have any crew, not a problem really as I single hand often. Headed out of the harbour and it was quite snotty, rain, mizzle, mist and rather bouncy. My passage plan took me well offshore initially to avoid any lobster pots which would be harder to spot in the conditions. As I turned NE to head up the coast I had the sea on my stbd beam and was able to get up to 18kts with relative comfort, autopilot tracking the route nicely, all gauges looked good, everything singing nicely in harmony, I allowed myself to go and have a pee! I dont know about the rest of you but I really enjoy single hand boating, I am certainly on edge when on my own in less than perfect conditions, I tune into every noise and have to convince myself its not a belt working loose or some such thing! I have the epirb, vhf, handheld gps all within grabbing distance should I need it, im probably much more safety conscious than when im with others and a beer in my hand!

So im about 15 miles into the passage, few degrees off northerly heading, settled into a nice rhythm, tide had started pushing me up the north channel and sea more or less on the stern, moderate sea at this stage with the odd hole to fall into but nothing too bad, I was starting to relax a bit, then.... out of absolutely NO WHERE a wave at least 3 times bigger than the others, slams into the stbd bow of the boat and runs down the length of the boat emptying into the cockpit, bow totally submerged, green water over top of windscreen, a proper scary one! I looked back and the cockpit was under maybe a foot of water, luckily sport fishers like the rodman are designed for "backing down" when fishing so they have lots of drainage and a tuna door meant water ran out virtually instantly. Autopilot got her back on course nicely and I throttled back to about 8 knots just to catch breath, at this stage aft bilge alarm went off which heightened anxiety level, bilge pump kicked in and sorted that out. Chartplotter alarm went off as it had lost fix, GPS receiver must have got whacked but I wasnt going to investigate that one yet! Assortment of scatter cushions lying on the deck and thing generally not where they should be. I ignore all non essential stuff and throttle back up, everything is fine so I continue knowing there will be calmer water soon I can sort things.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, certainly never calm but always manageable. As I neared Ballycastle I knew I had the hard part of the trip over and I allowed myself time to reflect on the boat. Recently I have been looking around at something bigger, something with a bit more luxury, more suited to the type of boating I enjoy now. I had kind of lost interest in the boat but its on days like today when a boat becomes more than the thing you throw money at, spend all your spare time maintaining or unblocking toilets!! Days like today make you realise why you love boating and love your own boat, she gets you home when maybe you are pushing things a little bit and the old adage, "look after your boat and she will look after you" seems very appropriate. There are things I dont like about her, things I would change but when it comes to handling a sea, she is a fine fine boat and I have a hell of a lot of confidence in the quality of build and engineering that has gone into her. She can hang around for a little while longer ;-)

Time for a beer!

Thanks for a great read and good story

As a frequent single hander on the Atlantic SW coast of Ireland I can identify with your sentiments on "tune into every noise . . .", wearing a PLB with grab bag at the ready when solo, etc, but the adventure of some long single handed passages is awesome.

 

[oceanfroggie]

I don't know whether you could call it a rogue wave or not but we had a scary experience once coming back from Honfleur to the Solent in a Turbo 36. There was myself, my SWMBO, my stepson and stepdaughter on board. In truth we should never have set out because the forecast was F5-6 from NW but I had an important business meeting the following day and I wanted to get back to the UK. In addition, we had a tidal mooring on the River Itchen and I knew we had to maintain a minimum speed of 18kts to get back into our mooring if we left on the 1st lock from Honfleur. The conditions in the Seine estuary were atrocious and I soon retired to the lower helm with me steering and my stepson watching the radar which was mounted overhead in an aluminium casing. We considered diverting to Fecamp or even Brighton to ease the ride but I reasoned that conditions would improve in mid Channel only they didn't. I later realised that I hadn't taken account of the fact that the tide turning against the wind in mid Channel would make the conditions even worse. Anyway we ploughed on bashing through the waves as best we could; by this time there was no way we could maintain the required 18kts and we were mostly cruising at displacement speed. Then we came upon a wave that looked much bigger than the rest and I could see that even through the spray lashed windscreen. I backed off the throttle as we reached the crest and to my horror, I saw an enormous hole in the water in front of us. I shouted to the crew to hold on and gripped the steering wheel as hard as I could. The engine revs suddenly rose and for what felt like an eternity we dropped in freefall before hitting the bottom of the hole with an enormous crash. I heard a scream from both my stepdaughter and my stepson. Later it transpired that she had been sitting on the steps from the cockpit into the saloon and had been thrown down the steps into the aft cabin; she was heavily bruised and spent the rest of the trip on the aft cabin bed crying. My stepson meanwhile had smashed his head into the radar housing and was bleeding profusely over the helm seat. My SWMBO seemed OK but in shock and my back hurt like hell. Miraculously, the boat was still running and apart from the contents of most of the cupboards being strewn all over the floors, she seemed OK and we ploughed on at much reduced speed. My SWMBO patched up her son and daughter as best she could and it was well past sunset when we saw the NAB and pitch dark when we reached Southampton Water. We missed the tide for our mooring and spent several hours tied up at Shamrock waiting for the next tide. We eventually pulled into our home berth in the early hours of the morning and got home to London at 4am. 2 hours later, I was on the M4 driving to Cardiff for my business meeting.
My stepdaughter has since sailed from Australia to Scotland in her own boat and is presently on her way back to Australia doing the other half of the circumnavigation. She reckons the sea conditions that her stepfather put her through on that day were the worst she has experienced. For me, I learnt a lot about when it is wiser not to leave port, not planning important meetings for the day after a cruise is supposed to end and not giving yourself an unrealistic schedule. As for the boat, it was that day that I realised that the Turbo 36 was a superb boat

Another great story. Thanks for being so frank about it. I've been there too.

 

[fisherman]

A friend was driving one of these:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=...0.0....0...1ac.1.29.img..0.14.754.gwPDhS--shU

Coming down to Hayle from off Newquay with a charter job, chaps from the Water authority I think. NE, only 6 ish, quartering sea, no problem you would think. He was overtaking the seas at about 18 kts. Went through a trough stbd list and then up the back of the wave and over to port, off the top of the wave and kept going over to port, landed in the water perpendicularly on its side, everyone on deck standing inside the bulwarks and leaning on the deck, helmsman walked out on the inside of the wheelhouse windows. She hung there, he said, for about a week then fell back upright. Not a rogue wave by any means, designer said down to 'dynamic forces'. I had one of these and they are super stable, made us think a bit.

 

[Tender_aft]

Assortment of scatter cushions lying on the deck and thing generally not where they should be.

Great tale, great idea for a thread and now I finally know why they are called scatter cushions

 

[spannerman]

I took my 24ft powerboat down to Dartmouth Regatta one year and took 3 girls and a mate out on the river. we decided to go out to sea for a blast and on the way back we were doing about 25kts surfing over the waves which were running into the estuary, when suddenly there was no water in front of the boat.
The sea just fell into a deep trough, the boat surfed down and buried the bow in the back of the preceding wave, I actually thought we were going to submarine as a wall of green water surged over the deck toward the wind shield. I saw it coming and ducked and it went straight over me, the 3 babes on the back seat weren't so lucky as they took it in the face, fortunately they laughed but not as much as me when I saw I had an impromptu wet T shirt completion with 3 clear winners and 6 new places to hang my coat...!