Instruments went nuts for a minute or two

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FairweatherDave

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I have the depth sounder get a bit erratic at times but this was very different. Sailing on Saturday afternoon between Looe Channel and Nab tower in a gentle force 3 when we were hit by 50 knots of wind and the depth started oscillating between 14m and 3m. My hand held garmin didn't change but the depth and wind strength were obviously false readings. No ships close by. Was it a submarine? We hadn't moved anything about.
 
Yes. Seen the video too. No mention of what it did to the instruments. We saw nothing on the surface. If it was a sub I hope they saw us............
 
I am sure in this case that was not the cause. I have had that before. Here it coincided with the wind readings of 45-50 knots. And we did not experience that :)
 
Some years ago we were approaching Plymouth from the west and noted that there were a few naval ships in view, not unusual. Although we were in deep water (50m-ish?) the sounder showed us to be in shallowing water, down to a few metres, which rapidly returned to normal. This happened on a couple more occasions before we made it safely into port. The possibility of submarine activity crossed my mind at the time.
 
I'm glad I didn't think it was a submarine until afterwards. I think I would have freaked out given the depth dropped to 3m!
But it seemed to oscillate fast between 3 and 14.........
 
Years ago my digital log suddenly went up to 80 knots as a frigate went past. The log had a mechanical distance counter which clicked as it recorded each 1/10 mile. That went ballistic which is what first drew my attention to the log. It sounded like a hammer drill.
 
An innocuous dolphin? I met a fine and surprisingly large specimen in the Channel three weeks ago. I'm sure if he'd been playing beneath my keel the depth sounder (not to mention his hearing!) would have gone bonkers.
 
I wish!! Yes we were off Selsey in the only place I think I have seen a dolphin. But that would not explain the wind reading unless the dolphin had something strapped to its body.........
My wife has decided dolphins don't exist.
 
We were just off Felixstowe a few weeks back when for about 15 seconds the Depth and Log went crazy. From memory we were doing 14 knots with over 20m beneath us in a Leisure 23SL !

It then returned to 4 knots with 5m beneath us.
 
dolabriform said:
We were just off Felixstowe a few weeks back when for about 15 seconds the Depth and Log went crazy. From memory we were doing 14 knots with over 20m beneath us in a Leisure 23SL !

It then returned to 4 knots with 5m beneath us.
Click to expand...

Wow. Almost as fast as an Achilles!
 
FairweatherDave said:
I have the depth sounder get a bit erratic at times but this was very different. Sailing on Saturday afternoon between Looe Channel and Nab tower in a gentle force 3 when we were hit by 50 knots of wind and the depth started oscillating between 14m and 3m. My hand held garmin didn't change but the depth and wind strength were obviously false readings. No ships close by. Was it a submarine? We hadn't moved anything about.
Click to expand...

It got a bit windy for us in the Baltic:

P1130426a.jpg

We've had similar readings in the Solent and even seen 99 knots off Brittany!

It's very rare for this to happen as our instruments are usually reliable, but on each occasion there's been thunder and lightning either evident or in the forecast.
 
Houleaux said:
It got a bit windy for us in the Baltic:

View attachment 70715

We've had similar readings in the Solent and even seen 99 knots off Brittany!

It's very rare for this to happen as our instruments are usually reliable, but on each occasion there's been thunder and lightning either evident or in the forecast.
Click to expand...

Same for me a few times. Once we could 'feel' and hear the static. I was dreading the flash down the mast !
 
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