USCG Boat Capsizes in the Columbia

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

https://www.dailyastorian.com/news/...l&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

 

[GFC]

Yeah, those damn rogue waves. From the looks of the waves in the photo it's only about a 1'-2' wind chop. Nothing extreme for a 26' boat unless the person at the helm was hot dogging it.

 

[psneeld]

From article.

"The vessel reportedly encountered a series of heavy wakes that came over the bow, which resulted in an unrecoverable starboard list that capsized the board."

 

[GFC]

I saw that but still have a hard time getting my head around why a skipper of a boat that size with 3 others on board wouldn't have seen those waves coming and taken some action to prevent what happened.

 

[FlyWright]

I know of a 34 foot trawler with 3 old timers aboard and a friend in his ~25 footer who capsized in rogue wave experiences near Bodega Bay within the past few years. For lack of a better term and with no disrespect intended, sometimes sh1t just happens.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

This is "inside" the Columbia so rouge wave? The only wave that size would be a wake from a ship.

I call it BS from this chair arm expert!! LOL

 

[psneeld]

They were an ATON unit...if they were tied up working ATON who knows why they got caught.

Sure it could have been inexperience or bad judgement...but by a trained, qualified person. Who here is? Lots but not most I bet.

I have been caught by ship wakes working lighthouses on the Delaware River in a converted 46 foot fishing boat that was out and out scary....a small boat would have been swamped or been holed on the rocks.

I reread that article three times and I don't think I saw the words "rogue wave" however "ships wake" was.

Plus who knows what the seas were like where the incident happened, not a picture taken who know where or when.

 

[JLD]

I believe this is type of vessel that capsized:

Jim

 

[gsholz]

Some freighters produce huge wakes. We were going downstream in a 60 footer staying at the edge of the channel near Cathlamet when we met a freighter coming up the channel at full clip. The wake must have been 10+ feet. Things went flying through the cabin. Got my attention. Some freighters produce gentle wakes, others not so much.

 

[MurrayM]

Wakes would steepen significantly against a river current.

Someone lost situational awareness...probably got narrowly focused on the task at hand and didn't keep an eye, or ear, out for approaching threats.

 

[MurrayM]

Also...if they didn’t see a wake coming and were very close or tied off to the buoy, there would be a deep trough, or hole, near the buoy when the wake broke over or around the buoy. Things would get very chaotic very fast. That would be covered in day one of training.

 

[twistedtree]

Thanks for the picture of the boat type. I was wondering just that. Around here the buoy tenders are 150’ boats, so quite different.

 

[FlyWright]

I had friends who were in a 6-7 boat overnight raft in a lazy slough off the San Joaquin River in a commonly used anchorage. They were bow anchored in the tule reeds with stern anchors on every other boat. One morning at first light before many were awake, a freighter passed nearby in the adjacent SJ River and caused a huge rush of water to flow through their side slough.

Without notice the boats rocked wildly, anchors dragged, lines and cleats snapped. There was 5 minutes of mayhem as the boats banged together in the confused waters while the owners tried to deal with it all.

Like I said....sometimes sh1t just happens.

 

[GFC]

Someone lost situational awareness.

Bingo

 

[ctjstr]

This is "inside" the Columbia so rouge wave? The only wave that size would be a wake from a ship.

I call it BS from this chair arm expert!! LOL

This will make you laugh..sort of.
I was involved in legal case a few
years ago where a 28' boat got slammed by a "wave" down in Sourth PUget Sound....near Olympia. A woman was quite seriously injured.
the defense case, in its entirety, was to produce an "expert witness" who testified under oath, that the cause of the incident was a Rogue Wave that came from no where and nearly capsized the boat.

Jury didn't buy it for a second....too many fisherman on the jury.

I suppose One person's "rogue wave" is another person's boat wake coming off a container ship.

 

[BDofMSP]

BTW, who claimed it was a rogue wave? I didn't see that in the story yet it keeps being mentioned.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

This will make you laugh..sort of.
I was involved in legal case a few
years ago where a 28' boat got slammed by a "wave" down in Sourth PUget Sound....near Olympia. A woman was quite seriously injured.
the defense case, in its entirety, was to produce an "expert witness" who testified under oath, that the cause of the incident was a Rogue Wave that came from no where and nearly capsized the boat.

Jury didn't buy it for a second....too many fisherman on the jury.

I suppose One person's "rogue wave" is another person's boat wake coming off a container ship.

When we were heading to Seattle last summer there were 3 ships en route to Tacoma going 20kts. Created a huge huge wake. VTS called them and told them to slow down they were in a "No Wake" zone. Scared the crap outta us and dang near rolled several other boats.

 

[MurrayM]

While sea kayaking south around Cape Caution, we met two large tugs with no tows racing north. Their combined wakes on top of 6' swell was 'entertaining'

 

[markpierce]

Ten-knot ships don't make wakes.

 

[psneeld]

Ten-knot ships don't make wakes.

Maybe 10 knot ships (whatever they are) don't but depending on the large commercial ship...I have seen 8-10 foot wakes with very short periods MANY times....


And thus the problem...up over the first but getting the bow to get over the second is often a crap shoot.


I now have read several articles...all quoted the Coasties as saying ship wakes, not a rogue wave....

 

[Airstream345]

When we were heading to Seattle last summer there were 3 ships en route to Tacoma going 20kts. Created a huge huge wake. VTS called them and told them to slow down they were in a "No Wake" zone. Scared the crap outta us and dang near rolled several other boats.

We just experienced this ourselves a week ago while heading south between Marrowstone Island and Whidbey Island.

We got pinched between a fast moving freighter going 18 knots in the southbound traffic separation lane and the west side of Marrowstone Island.

Fortunately we had plenty of situational awareness (AIS, Radar, visual) so I could turn into her wake but the steepness and short period of that wake meant the second wave broke over our anchors (we have 9’ of freeboard on the bow)

It was a scary moment as stuff went flying (including my daughter who unbeknownst to us was hanging out in the forward cabin). No injuries and the only casualties were a broken HDMI cable from a monitor the fell over and a ceramic crab that fell off the wall (I hated that crab so it worked out). [emoji6]

I called it our “Deadliest Catch” scene given how far out of the water we got our bow on that first wave and how much water we moved plowing through the second.

I can’t imagine taking it on the beam. I’m sure it could’ve easily capsized a smaller, lighter, open boat.

 

[Portage_Bay]

BTW, who claimed it was a rogue wave? I didn't see that in the story yet it keeps being mentioned.

The rogue wave stuff started with post #2 by GFC.

Yeah, those damn rogue waves. From the looks of the waves in the photo it's only about a 1'-2' wind chop. Nothing extreme for a 26' boat unless the person at the helm was hot dogging it.

I don't think it was a serious claim of a rogue wave. Seems to me it was a tongue in cheek statement. You'd have to ask GFC to know or sure.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
There is also no mention of what the crew were doing or how and with what the boat was loaded with at the time of the incident. Perhaps they had a load of chain on board or some such other heavy piece(s) of equipment and were near the maximum load carrying capacity.


I wouldn't be so quick to question the professionalism of the crew. These guys do this for a living and work in all kinds of weather and sea conditions trying to keep us all safe. No lives were lost so it's simply an "oopsie" IMO.

 

[psneeld]

Greetings,
There is also no mention of what the crew were doing or how and with what the boat was loaded with at the time of the incident. Perhaps they had a load of chain on board or some such other heavy piece(s) of equipment and were near the maximum load carrying capacity.


I wouldn't be so quick to question the professionalism of the crew. These guys do this for a living and work in all kinds of weather and sea conditions trying to keep us all safe. No lives were lost so it's simply an "oopsie" IMO.

RTF...one article said they were enroute to home base and not far away.


They took the wakes that ether shifted cargo or put enough water aboard to produce an unrecoverable list (as reported)....or a combo of both (typical in small vessel operations).


We did see small wavelets in the photo...but not sure what yhey were at the time and place of the capsize.


We also don't know if the wakes by themselves may have been treacherous...we also do know it they were worsened by reflected wakes off a shoreline/seawall that can make them harder to predict by the average, even trained skipper.


I am pretty sure they will get grilled and properly investigated....however possible the "correction" will defy some outsiders opinion.

 

[MurrayM]

Ten-knot ships don't make wakes.

That ship is empty...when full it looks like it would be about 12 feet lower in the water which is a heck of a lot more water to displace and shrug aside.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. MM. VERY astute of you to pick up on the loading or lack thereof and a very valid point regarding wake.

Poor angle but I suspect the wake from this vessel is a tad more than a ripple.

 

[gsholz]

The wakes in the Columbia channel are nothing like the ones you'd see out on the ocean. The fluid dynamics are very different. The channel is relatively narrow compared to the length of the freighters and dredged to only 43 feet up to Portland. Loaded cargo vessels draw up to 40+ feet. There is a lot of water displaced from the channel when one of the larger loaded freighters goes up the channel at speed.

 

[GFC]

The rogue wave stuff started with post #2 by GFC.


I don't think it was a serious claim of a rogue wave. Seems to me it was a tongue in cheek statement. You'd have to ask GFC to know or sure.

Tongue was very firmly planted in my cheek.

Many years ago we chartered a 4588 Bayliner to cruise the San Juans. We ended up in Victoria for a couple of days and, as we were coming out of their long harbor we heard a Notice To Mariners about a large Navy ship steaming at full speed out of Bremerton and headed out the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We thought it would be fun to watch so we just idled around waiting for the ship to pass. It did, and man was it ever moving. We were a couple of miles from it when it went by but could see the wake coming.

YIKES. The first wave we rode up and over with no problem. The second wave we rode up and up and up and when we reached the crest it looked like we were going to head into a canyon. The bow stuffed itself into the face of the third wave. Water came over the bow, up over the fly bridge and washed everything off the boat. Towels, magazines, books, everything that wasn't tied down went overboard.

I thought for a few seconds that the boat was going to not be able to recover but it did and bobbed up to the surface as the third wave went under us.

Scared the CRAP right out of us.

 

[tozz]

We just experienced this ourselves a week ago while heading south between Marrowstone Island and Whidbey Island.

We got pinched between a fast moving freighter going 18 knots in the southbound traffic separation lane and the west side of Marrowstone Island.

That was the Cosco Europe was flying down the sound kicking up a huge wake. He didn't slow down until he reached Shilshole. He was still going 15+ around West Point.

I darted in towards the eastern shore just to take a better angle and allow more energy to dissipate. Maybe he was way behind schedule!

-tozz

 

[AlaskaProf]

No excuse for that. The decision to violate local norms was made with the connivance of a Sound pilot who should be held accountable.