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So, there I was....

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/03/2007 : 21:32:33

Sailing on a very broad reach -- so broad in fact I was considering pulling the jib over to the other side and tying off the boom -- in about 10 feet of water at about 2.5 - 3 knots. Not bad considering very light winds. I nearly had the bay to myself, maybe 5 or 6 other vessels.

I noticed an inflatable off the port bow on a path that would cross mine well in front of me so, I though little of it. Until he stopped about a half mile right in front of me. I figured he was going to drop a line and fish a little. No problem, I had lots of room to maneuver.

He then got out of his boat and WALKED AROUND IN ANKLE DEEP WATER

trying to get un-stuck.

My broad reach became close hauled.

Quickly.

Then, I as regained speed, I was hit dead on the bow with 6 or 8 big rolling waves. Well, big for Sandusky Bay. Maybe 4 feet on an otherwise flat surface. Remember, the wind was very light < 5 knots. They stopped me cold. I'm just glad that I tacked cuz I imagine they would have pushed me right onto the mud had they hit me from behind.

These waves were much bigger than anything I've ever seen off the back of a powerboat and they didn't have that characteristic V shape of a wake. Besides, the nearest stinkpot was pretty far away. They were parallel, rolling waves. There was a coal ship heading out the channel but it was very far away and it was moving dead slow. Not making any bow wave really. The fetch from land was no more than another 2 miles. Any guesses what might have caused such a thing? The stinkpot had been travelling the channel in the other direction for a while and accelerated to leave the channel to the coal boat. Could his acceleration in the channel caused a wave that built when it left the channel and hit the relatively shallow water alongside? It goes from about 30 feet to about 10 pretty suddenly.

John Russell
1999 C250 SR/WK #410
Bay Village, Ohio
Sailing Lake Erie
Don't Postpone Joy!

Edited by - on

Chris Z
Captain

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452 Posts

Response Posted - 10/03/2007 : 21:47:05

I remember my brother's story about being out on the ocean with a friend on his 46 footer they were sailing in a calm afternoon when they found themselves in 15 to 25 footers. This was caused by a sudden change in depth from a couple hundred feet deep to just 30 feet. From what I understand the current or small waves motion is forced to the surface as it hits this wall. They lost his wife overboard and it took them over half of an hour to get her back on the boat in these sudden seas.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 06:37:14

Where in the bay were you?

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 07:28:25

About due north of Battery Park. Between the upper channel and the 60' Channel marker. If you're thinking about coming into the bay with Champipple, stay in the channel until you're well inside.

Edit: change west to north. I was thinking north but typed west.

Edited by - John Russell on 10/04/2007 09:06:20

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 07:57:51

The waves were probably a wake from far away... no apparent "V" because of the distance, and 6-8 waves (decreasing size) is about right for a stern wave--possibly from a powerboat that passed several minutes earlier and disappeared. That coal ship could have beem moving faster than it looked (they usually are), and drawing a stern-wake you couldn't see from there--or maybe it had slowed down recently. Whatever the source, a wake will travel a long distance, and as it enters shallow water, it'll turn from a long swell to a shorter, steeper one as it slows down. Eventually, as the water gets shallower, the waves break (always an important sign).

I assume you have a chart... How about a chartplotter (so you can see yourself heading toward skinny water)? In any case, your "local knowledge" is building.

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 09:21:31

Of course I had charts.

Of course, they were below on a shelf.

Of course, I had forgotten about the many times I've been told about the shifting sandbar near this point in the bay.

Of course, I didn't connect the evidence of lowered water level on the breakwall of my marina with lower water throughout. I even noticed the depth guage in the slip to be a bit shallower.

You're right about local knowldege. At least this lesson didn't cost a lot.

I think I'll talk with Santa about that chartplotter idea. Right after we discuss that C30 MkII.......

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 10:27:23

Well, John, I think I should suggest you work on the chartplotter and the local knowledge before you get the 30-footer...

(Pssst: The little Garmin 276C gives you nice color charts and routing on the boat, and street-level navigation with voice commands for your car.

)

Imagine 6.5' - 9' tides as we have on western Long Island Sound where I used to sail. Things change a lot--twice every day!

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 10/04/2007 10:31:28

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 11:52:38

I second the motion on the [url="http://www.edgegps.com/eCart/viewItem.html?idProduct=117"]Garmin GPSMap 276C[/url], I really like it, and even better, Rita likes it as well, we're probably going to get a second one for her car, she's a bit directionally challenged. We bought one a few weeks ago mostly for the anchor drag ability not realizing all the other capabilities it had. Only a couple of things have bothered me, the biggest of which is: in order to make it really useful, you'll have to buy extra charts or maps, which aren't cheap. I knew it only came with basic maps & charts, but was surprised at the lack of detail on the charts. It didn't even show the island where we anchored out a couple of weeks ago. It might be worth checking out the 476 instead, I think it comes with charts & road maps pre-installed. So far we've spent another $300 or so for the City Navigator road maps ($172 cheapest price I could find), and the charts for the Seattle area ($117 also the cheapest I could find). The other thing is that the battery would only take a half charge after about two weeks, but Garmin's replacing it on warranty.

We bought ours "recently overhauled" (read refurbished) at EdgeGPS.com for $380 delivered, see link above. If you're interested in the links to the Maps & Charts drop me a line, I couldn't find them easily just now (they were buried pretty deeply when I first searched them out).

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4300 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 11:59:58

My little Garmin GPSMAP 378 does all of the above plus has XM Satelitte Weather and Radio. It's nice having weather radar, marine warnings, wave heights and direction plus have road maps for every street in America.

Take a look! https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=148&pID=401

Here's what I want when I get rich! https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=148&pID=8114

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2007 : 14:42:49

Do you think I could convince the Admiral that I need the chartplotter with the C30 MkII optional component attached?

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/05/2007 : 06:26:40

I don't think the sand bar would have caused that crazy wave action on a day with the wind out of the South. The Lake was pretty flat that day - I'm at a loss for what would have caused it.

Edited by - on

Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 10/05/2007 : 07:17:58

That's the only thing I do not like about Garmin's GPS units. You have to buy charts for specific regions that cost an outrageous amount. I bought a Lowrance GPS and their NauticPath chart chip cost less than $60 at Defender and has very detailed nautical charts for all of the U.S. coast lines and Bahamas!

Edited by - on

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