Not a night to be at sea

[Sailfree]

Sad.

The Atlantic coast of Portugal, France and Spain can all suffer from waves and swell both during and after storms.

I have berthed in Peniche and I am surprised they left in the conditions.

I have been stuck in Porto for 4 days which the maritime Police banning any boat leaving due to the conditions.

One of the reasons for my staying in Nazare even though Peniche is nearer to our new residence is that Nazare is a 24/7 port and has only been "closed" about 3 or 4 days in last 10yrs and its a Port of Haven in bad weather. The marina is also well protected from waves. I am aware of boats being damaged inside Peniche marina due to waves. Wonder if that was a factor in their decision to depart.


I received an e mail from Nszare Marina warning me of the recent forecast bad weather and winds advising me to check my shore lines. As I'm currently in UK it's reassuring to know the marina staff double check all lines.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Viewer discretion advised!!

Possibly the scariest boat video I have ever seen, the yacht just disappears. What were they doing so close to shore in those conditions?

 

[14K478]

Viewer discretion advised!!

Possibly the scariest boat video I have ever seen, the yacht just disappears. What were they doing so close to shore in those conditions?

Thanks for posting that. When posted before it could only be viewed once. Having watched it again a couple of times, I have to agree - they were FAR too close inshore. That was no rogue wave, it was an ordinary breaker, just a big one. They seem to have been edging inshore over the duration of the video, and they may not have been aware of this.

They were almost certainly unaware of the danger that they were in.

 

[RupertW]

Thanks for posting that. When posted before it could only be viewed once. Having watched it again a couple of times, I have to agree - they were FAR too close inshore. That was no rogue wave, it was an ordinary breaker, just a big one. They seem to have been edging inshore over the duration of the video, and they may not have been aware of this.

They were almost certainly unaware of the danger that they were in.

Most likely hugging the 20m or less route to avoid orcas, and just didn’t appreciate the madness of following their long planned route given the swell forecast.

 

[Stemar]

Were they even at 20m? Pure speculation, but looking at the shore, I'd expect more like 10m or so where they were. Yes, it was a decent sized wave, but I don't think it would have reared up and broken in 20m of water. IIRC, the rule of thumb is that a wave "feels" the bottom in a depth of 3/4 of the wave height.

 

[dunedin]

Were they even at 20m? Pure speculation, but looking at the shore, I'd expect more like 10m or so where they were. Yes, it was a decent sized wave, but I don't think it would have reared up and broken in 20m of water. IIRC, the rule of thumb is that a wave "feels" the bottom in a depth of 3/4 of the wave height.

Think you might have the last point the wrong way round - waves liable to break when height of wave circa 3/4 of depth - eg Why and How Waves Break

The wave forecasts had been 6-7m for a bit further out, but there will be occasional bigger waves. Plus other effects can increase the risk, such as a strong back flow.
So a bigger than normal 7.5m wave in 10m depth would be liable to break.

 

[Stemar]

Think you might have the last point the wrong way round - waves liable to break when height of wave circa 3/4 of depth - eg Why and How Waves Break

The wave forecasts had been 6-7m for a bit further out, but there will be occasional bigger waves. Plus other effects can increase the risk, such as a strong back flow.
So a bigger than normal 7.5m wave in 10m depth would be liable to break.

Thank you for correcting my error.

Your last line backs up my speculation that the water was a good bit less than 20m deep.

Whatever, being tired and disoriented (more speculation, obviously) shouldn't carry the death penalty. Unfortunately, in this case it did. RIP.

 

[Graham376]

No doubt fear of Orcas clouded their judgment. General rule for Portugal west coast is to stay well offshore when high swell and closed ports but they were no doubt aware of warnings to stay inshore to avoid Orca attacks. Peniche is a popular surfing area so large waves are to be expected.

 

[14K478]

Thank you for correcting my error.

Your last line backs up my speculation that the water was a good bit less than 20m deep.

Whatever, being tired and disoriented (more speculation, obviously) shouldn't carry the death penalty. Unfortunately, in this case it did. RIP.

The crew ought not to have been tired - they had set out that morning - but clearly they were lacking situational awareness, as the MAIB might put it. They were much too close in. They may have been navigating by eye rather than following a course. As I said above, lee shores can be very deceptive. You don’t see or hear the breakers.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Thank you for correcting my error.

Your last line backs up my speculation that the water was a good bit less than 20m deep.

Whatever, being tired and disoriented (more speculation, obviously) shouldn't carry the death penalty. Unfortunately, in this case it did. RIP.

Being tired and disoriented often causes death, and indeed is a primary cause in many situation, at sea, in mountains and elsewhere.

Jared Diamond declares that human beings are often rubbish at evaluating risk - fearing nuclear weapons or even nuclear power when clearly its motor vehicles that cause the greatest reduction in lifespan in many societies. He states that the New Guinea folk are less protective of their children so that they will learn fire is hot and knives cut etc, thus approach the world with caution. I dont know if his observation of New Guinea is correct but certainly young folk in the West seem to enter the adult world with understandable ignorance but remarkable naivety.

Only proper training formal or otherwise can teach how to manage crises

 

[14K478]

De mortuiis nihil nisi bonum.

We don’t know if they were tired from the journey to the boat. Certainly I think they were unaware of the danger.


Off topic, but I remember chatting to the Irish engineer superintendent of Steamships Trading in Port Moresby and asking him how he turned people who had grown up in a Stone Age culture into ships’ engine room staff. “It’s easy”, he said. “They are illiterate but their visual memory is four times better than yours or mine. I show them how to strip a generator and they will remember every part, torque wrench and micrometer setting and every feeler gauge, if they see them once.”

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I wish I could wake up tomorrow to find I have never sailed before.

Would be great to start it all over again.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Shocking and disturbing video. They were way to far inshore for these conditions. The only thing I can think of that led them into believing things weren't as bad as it was is the fact that the swells and breaking waves don't look so dangerous from the back. In the video we can see how steep the front face of the waves are and the breaking crests, they probably could not.
Sad outcome.