Waterspouts

[martin]

Hi,

As we are off to seaside again soon wife decided to boost my confidence (sic) and reminded me of something strange that hapend last year ... when we were anchored off studland bay poole, took family in dinghy to beach and lay back to enjoy my day in the sun just like the brochure. Keepin a good eye on the boat so as to make sure it wasn't movin anywhere, I noticed what i thought was a waterspout on the horizon.

Now, stupidly, I snatch up the bins and had a very fidgety look at it... corse she woz onto me strate away.. wot is it...wot shal we do.. with as much composure as poss I ignored it and held out for a few more hours until the it clouded over and we decided to pack up and hot tailed it back to marina...

My question is... Does this happen a lot down there?...what is the best course of action..do they ever come in land?

 

[ArthurWood]

A waterspout is a tornado over water. You do not want to be in its path.
AW/Florida

 

[martin]

Yes...I lived in the states for a couple of years and thats where I first saw one..didn't think we had them here though....

 

[ArthurWood]

Saw them once or twice off Lyme Regis when I was a kiddywink(many, many years ago) and we used to go there for our summer hols.

 

[martin]

re: not going mad

Yes.. didn't get many reply's on this so to make sure i wasn't going mad I checked out the Met Office site and did a search...there was one reported in Brighton in Sept of that year but not the one in Poole that i saw.. Apparently there are two types of waterspout one is a Tornado on water the other is more of a cloud formation that, by all accounts, is less violent that the Tornado... Still wouldn't want to go near it though.. anyway seem to have answered my own question... No not very common...yes they can come inland ..best course of action run like hell unless its in your way in which case run other way.

 

[Guest]

Re: re: not going mad

Wrong! Take a look at the following site www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/may01/may_feature_twisters.shtml - here it states that "Though America's tornadoes are the most destructive in the world, the country that experiences the most tornadoes is, surprisingly, the UK. " !! I have heard that statement before specifically about waterspouts... But another site I found on the subject said that spouts are less violent than tornadoes and may damage/overturn a small boat?

Amazed? I was ....

 

[martin]

Re: Amazed

Not as amazed as I was to see one while sitting on a hot sunny beech in the UK for the first time.. It drew quite a crowd at one point and of course having arrived on the beach by dinghy from the motor boat anchored in the bay everyone seemed to think I should be some kind of expert on the subject and wanted to know what to do.. I was slightly stunned for a while (one of those strange moments in life when you have mixed emotions) as heading back to the marina meant heading out to sea where matey was performing...and I couldn't judge where it was in relation to me and the boats exit route so I just sat there and watched it..

In the end I decided that if it came into the bay I would be happier to sacrifice the boat and run for cover on land with everyone else than up anchor and try to get round it.

I am surprised that none of the other salty sea dogs on this BB has seen them though...

 

[Dave_Seager]

Re: Amazed

We were hit by a miniature whirlwind or waterspout a couple of weeks ago. However, ours was not at sea but on the River Thames at Walton-on-Thames.

Our boat is "Albina", an Albin 25. It was about 4 p.m. on a very hot, still day. I first noticed spray coming off the surface at about 45 degrees between us and the river bank. After a few seconds it formed into a column about 10' tall and moved rapidly towards us. The Albin has a centre cockpit and open-backed wheelhouse, with a canvas roof which was open at the time. The whole boat was doused with spray, leaving us soaked and all the windows wet. A large fender was lifted from its hanging position at the bow onto the fore deck. the fore hatch was opened, a mooring line was unhooked and dropped overboard and a boathook was rolled across the cabin top. All loose items were blown off the chart table and through the cockpit, most of them going overboard. The cockpit seat cushions were also flipped over.

The spout then veered across the river towards another boat but died out before reaching it.


Dave Seager
Weybridge UK