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 Letter from survivor of Farralones Race		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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pfduffy
Captain

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USA
317 Posts
Initially Posted - 04/30/2012 :  07:49:41  Show Profile
http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2012-04-24#.T56djqvy9q1
Pat Duffy
1984 SK/SR #4113
Slàinte
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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts
Response Posted - 04/30/2012 :  10:10:47  Show Profile
Wow! What a story. It seems like ocean racers have unusual challenges we see in these 2 recent tragedies, namely, rogue waves and commercial shipping at night.

Even if there is a rogue-wave watch, looking astern, for example, there is not much that can be done to save the boat.

The commercial shipping danger could be handled these days with an AIS-linked GPS, and it's surprising that such electronic safety equipment is not required in ocean races in shipping lanes. I've looked out into the pitch black night to see barges, or tugs, or freighters coming close, but in my inland waters I have always had a clear idea of their course because it's on the chart. On the ocean, it's just you and them, and they move towards you at 20 knots or something like that! Scary!
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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5882 Posts
Response Posted - 04/30/2012 :  14:14:00  Show Profile
After watching the video and reading the account, it doesn't sound like they got hit by two successive rogue waves. It sounds much more likely that they got too close to shore and sailed over a shoaling bottom, which caused the seas to rise up as the bottom shoaled, creating huge breaking waves. You would think that you could see big waves like that as you approach, and tack away to avoid them, but you don't always see and hear them in advance. I sailed into monster breakers similar to that years ago, and didn't see them until they were staring me in the face. It might be that, if you're in a trough when the wave is rising, you can't see how big it is. I'm not sure how they can sneak up on you, but just looking at the video, all the competitiors appear to be sailing awfully close to shore in awfully big seas. In milder conditions, they could probably have sailed closer to shore without problems, but big waves become much bigger as the bottom shoals. The lesson I would take from this incident would be, "as the size of the seas grow bigger, stay further off of a lee shore."
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.