Container Ship Bow Wave

[westie]

Has anyone encounted a bow wave from on eof the monsters of the sea.
I was out on Wendsday with my daughter and as we were preparing for the trip home from Currimundi a Massive ship slipped past about 300mt away, not thinking much of it as it is common to see these in this area we continued to tidy up before lifting the pick. Then all of a sudden I could hear this whooosing sound getting closer, thinking it was whales looked up to find we had a set of 1.5 - 1.8 breakes bearing down on us side on, I ran to the controlls and started the motor and held the boat head on to them as they started to break I put the power down at the last minute due to the fact the pick was still down we took the first one Ok but the second just crashed down on the bow by this time I had the power down enough to take us through it on slack anchor praying to God it would not grab
. I have been fishing around here for some 20 years and have never seen a bow wave like this from a Container Ship, others had gone past that day without even rocking the boat so as a WARNING to you all be careful this may happen to you on over nighter while asleep or a day family outting .

This all happend in a matter of minitues and if I had of tried to float the pick up under power or got the knife to cut the anchor the risk of getting it caught and broaching side on to one of these dumpers it would have been ALL OVER RED ROVER and this is in a 485m boat and if I had have had been in a 6m and side on it would have been a heart stopper for the best of you.

This could have been a 1 in a 100 chance of happining, the seas were as flat as on the day and there were lots of Whales around so ALWAYS keep a Look & Listen out and DO NOT be complaisant out there. We were lucky and the WHAT If's and plans of attacks that went through my mind in a minute was amazing i never knew my mind could think that fast.

SAFE BOATING TO ALL ON THE WATER

[bigmack]

Hi Westie - were you over shallow ground? We fish a lot in this area and have never experienced this - yet.

We did have to wave a torch at the bridge of a container ship about two weeks ago because we thought he was not going to follow the channel and steam straight through us - he turned so no panic.

ANyway - thanks for the headsup - we will be out in the morning from Buddina ............17' centre console stessl. plain white

Might see you at the ramp.

[-spiro-]

When you fish the beccons for mac's, you have always got your eye's in the back of your head for this reasson. The amount of novice boatties that i have seen get pushed into beccons is amazzing. You don't realize how big these bow waves are until there on top of you.
Something to keep in mind this season........ 8-)

[westie]

Guys we were out side the normal shipping lanes but this guy picked his pilot up out wide and proceeded sth at a great rate of knots

We had others that day went a lot closer with min affect in 18-20 mt

[straddie]

You have to remember some of these ships are capable of going almost as fast as a speed boat and the shallower you are the more the waves will stand up. In tight waterways the suck and drag effect pulls the water from underneath you then sends it back, and if the distance is right and you get the push combining with bow wave then a nasty wave results. If you sit near the sunken wall in the Brissy river when a ship comes along you will see what I mean and thats without the bow wave.

Bigmack, don't waste your time shining a torch at ships, if they even see it, they just don't turn or stop very well :) If you think they are going to be a problem get out of their way quick because you won't even be a decent speed bump for them.

On a similar note, don't get caught in the bay either guys, there are a few tug and barge combos that cross the bay and they go a lot quicker than most people think. I have seen a few boats come very close to getting taken out because they thought they could cross in front of them, and were lucky enough to get away with just a change of undies :o If you think it will be close, run behind them, it will make very little time difference and might stop you becoming a statistic.

[Dug]

I copped one heading into Tangalooma from Redcliffe a clear calm day flat as a pond next thing a set of 1 to 2 m waves heading at the side of the boat!!!!

luckily I was under power and could turn into them but it was a quick reminder that a big boat had passed through a while before.

[rando]

I was racing on a 35 ft sailing cat acouple of years ago and it was blowing 35 kts and gusts to 50,
We were sailing close hauled and were closing on the coffee pots when "The Pearl River " the worlds biggest dredge came steaming at full speed out of the river. We crossed astern of her about 50 mts behind and got hit by two massive pressure waves with no backs to them. We flew out the back of the first and buried the bows then got hit by the second.I was by the stern rail and was in green water up to my hips. I didnt think she was coming back up for a few seconds.Then she shook herself off and popped up. but dead in the water with a fullmain and jib up. No steerage and 40 knot gust trying to slam dunk us. Fortunately I was in the hands of a very experienced skipper, or we would have been dismasted or worse. I reacon those waves were close to three metres.We were lucky to suffer no damagebut I know what you mean Westie, you sometimes cant pick how big those washes are till they are right on top of you.
Cheers
rando

[StevenM]

Yeah, its a strange one thats for sure. Have experienced lots in the bay in the same area and some push out big wakes and others nothing. Have never notice hull types on boats to see vhich is better or worse but always keep an eye out and definitly a great warning to those who have just purchased a boat.

[sunny]

The worst is that sometimes you don't see the wave until you're almost on it.

I was with a mate a while ago and we were crossing the bay on one of those glassed out days and of course doing a fair number of knots when we hit one of these waves. Instant lift-off.

The ship that caused it was quite a way in front of us, so we didn't think twice about it. Definitely needed a change of clothes afterwards.

[bidkev]

<snip>

and this is in a 485m boat

<snip>
SAFE BOATING TO ALL ON THE WATER # #

You're a dark horse Westie. I didn't know you had a boat that big? ;) ;D

Seroiusly, the one to look out for is that bloody tangalooma ferry. She doesn't give a sh!t!


cheers

kev

[longtail]

hi guys , last sun i had just left the 4 beacons when i spotted a container ship heading straight at me . the swell was already 1.5m but with the wake this bloke threw it turned into close to 3.5m :o, can be very scary if your not paying attention
gotta have eyes in the back of your head down here >:(
didn't have this problem back in hervey bay ;D

cheers
jason

[westie]

kev .... we are talking about lives here not a bloody dot >:( .Opp's.....Sorry come to think of it,... we are just dots, and that is what we are to these monster of the water ways.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention Kev it puts it all into perspective now.

I could have been that dot missing and only 1 guy noticed... Kev Thanks Mate :-* it is nice to know someone cares!!!!

[TonyM]

Yep thank goodness we don't have container ships this side of Fraser Island :D Although the Kingfisher did it's damdest to take me out twice when it sneaks inside Big Woody >:( That happened when I used to have a 13' Tinny. The first time his bow wave actually came up over the transom, I'd say it was about 15cm that gushed over. Luckily tinny was in full survey and the flotation worked a treat ;) However this shouldn't have happened. Even though there's not an official channel through there they treat it as their own personal channel and don;t seem to give a fig about basic boating rules...

Quick thinking there Westie! Well done mate! :) Could have ended up very differently :-?

Just had a look at my new Poly at the dealers, those high sides looked very nice 8-)

[robersl]

heading home from mud 1 night mate and i in a centre console water was flat as tack dark night all of a sudden we had 1m waves no lights in sight from a boat we jokingly said it must of been a sub
not funny at night
shane

[bidkev]

kev .... we are talking about lives here not a bloody dot >:( ......Sorry come to think of it we are, and that is was we are to these monster of the water ways.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention it puts it all into perspective now

I could have been that dot missing and only 1 guy noticed #Thanks Mate :-*

Westie mate, I didn't mean to minimise your predicament. Well, I suppose in a way, I did. :( Some of the stuff boaties have to put up with doesn't bear thinking about so I tend to do a "Monty Python".

Sorry if I offended mate. It wasn't intended.

cheers

kev

[chanquetas]

You have to remember some of these ships are capable of going almost as fast as a speed boat
Container vessels can do 30knots + some of them, although they tend to keep it a little slower in port.

Your humble tanker, general cargo, bulk carrier usually tops out at about 13 knots.

And as for Rando's dredge the Pearl River, yep, she is a beauty. Shes not as big as most container boats but a lot of the effect will come from the draught of the veesel, not just the speed, although the speed is naturally a large contributor.
But you get a large bulky drawing 15m and the effect will be tremendous.

Although slightly off-topic, and apologies to Westie who had a nasty experience through no fault of his own, I would recommend keeping out of the way of ANY large vessel for several reasons, some of which may have already been stated.

1. They may not see you.
2. In the case of some foreign vessels, and its sad to say, they may not care!
3. They have minimal ability to manoeuver
4. They may be "constrained by draught". ie they may not be ABLE to deviate from their path due to the depth or width of navigable water.
5. Their ability to stop is woeful, and usually involves turning, which may not be possible.
6. The navigators on the Bridge of a large vessel usually keep a good lookout for other vessel, particuarly in confined waters, but when they see a "leisure craft" in front of them there is usually a bit of panic, "what will it do?" "where will it go?" kind of thing. So when a tinnie decides at the last minute to just scoot out of the way, he probably has no idea the sweaty palms that he has just induced on the Bridge of the ship.

I dont do "big" ships anymore, preferring to drive little ones (65-70m) around, and the problem is not so bad for me, however you'd be surprised at how much we can be effected by a large vessel going past, even though we are half its size.

So Westie, glad you and your daughter made it ok, I wouldnt wish that on anyone mate. Your post is a good heads-up to all, and sorry for rambling....
Jake

[DaMaGe]

Thanks for the heads up. I have not yet had any good or bad experience with large vessels. They have always been over 1klm away and have never noticed any wake.

Can never be to cautious int he Bay.

[pegasus]

Hi, yep had that experience in front of Tangalooma resort last week- pulled up -anchored in about 4 feet of water and took the better half and little lad in for a play on the beach and a feed. Look out to see some sizeable waves coming from nowhere - hit the poly 4.55m side on- rocked her- glad they finished when they did- it would have been a risky foley to attempt anything as the boat would lift and shift a great distance on the rope and trying to get aboard could well have resulted in in a serious whack. there was also a 5.8 haines anchored 60 m away to she too. felt the effect.Also believe caused a bit of damage to tinnie anchored there by throwing her up against a pylon

[saphire]

Westie,

What a horrible thing to happen. #Scarey stuff.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put in a marine safety incident report about what happened.

The data from the incident reports are collated and used in making future planning decisions for the waterways.

http://www.msq.qld.gov.au/qt/msq.nsf/index/marine_incidents

Cheers,
saphire

[westie]

I never got the boat name as I was to busy and it was moving at a great rate of knots, but worth thinking about though. I know my daughter will be on the look out next time on goes by. the seat she was hanging onto pulled out of it's sharft and managed to just hold in there or she would have been tossed over the back.

It amazed me to hear it has happened to so many others, I hope it is like forgetting the bungs........ You hope it only happens once ::)

[NeilD]

Even though these ships are displacement hulls they are designed to operate at specific speeds for maximum efficiency. At certain velocities their wave drag can be much greater and their wake is much bigger. You must have caught it at a bad moment. A couple of miles further along and the wake would probably have been much less. Lucky you responded quickly.

Neil

[familyman]

This is a true story lifted from Cruising World (yachting ) about 1998...I cant remember exactly.
There was a cruising ketch with a family aboard ,mum ,dad and son and daughter of about 8 and 11 at the time.They were cruising in the gulf of mexico with the wife on watch at night when they were run down by a panamanian registered freighter showing no lights .The ship hit the port bow of the boat where the kids were asleep,only the daughter got out to the deck of the yacht with her father.The three of them were dumped into the sea in the dark and the father and daughter then later drowned after being seperated from the mother.The mother was rescued after 7 hours in the water ,the ship was later tracked down with impact marks on the bow .Crew records showed that the ship was on auto pilot with no one on watch.The captain was charged with negligence and fined about $10,000us ,the company was fined some amount that I cant remember ,insignificant if I recall correctly.
The name of the ship has since been changed.
Makes you wonder how many times this has happened wiht NO survivors to tell the story.
Considering the above you guys are VERY lucky.
Sorry to all for the downer .
cheers jon

[first_mate]

This was on the ABC News website today - A wave from a cruise liner capsized a tourist boat possibly drowning 21.

hasn't ben a good news weekend really.

:'(


US tourist boat accident leaves 21 dead
Twenty-one people have been killed when a tour boat capsized on a lake in northern New York state, according to local police.

"The unofficial number right now that we have on board is 49 people," Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said.

"Of those 49 people, we do know that 21 people have perished."

He said an initial investigation suggested that the boat on Lake George, a popular vacation spot in northern New York, was hit by the wake of a larger cruise boat.

"It overturned and upset the boat and threw the passengers into the water," he said.

The 12-metre glass-enclosed Ethan Allen, operated by Shoreline Cruises, was carrying mostly senior citizens.

The weather at the time of the accident was described as sunny and calm.

-AFP/Reuters

[Fishin_Dan]

Had a little fun with one on Friday night in the pitch black... Thought the gates of hell had opened underneath us... ;D

[sunny]

Had a little fun with one on Friday night in the pitch black... Thought the gates of hell had opened underneath us... ;D

Not once but three times ;D

It was a good reminder that even if you've been through one of these monsters before, it won't stop it happening again. Never underestimate how far away or how big the wave will be.

[MIKOS]

[quote author=kingtin link=1128037679/0#9 date=1128060972][quote author=Westie CALOUNDRA link=1128037679/0#0 date=1128037678]<snip>

Kingtin said,

Seroiusly, the one to look out for is that bloody tangalooma ferry. She doesn't give a sh!t!

Too Bloody right Kingtin,that tangalooma ferry has got one of the biggest wakes I have come up against from another craft.It comes up that fast on you :oand you have to get off the plane very quick.I have changed my undies a couple of times now when this thing goes past ;D

MIKOS

[Bosunsmate]

The Magnetic Island ferries are the same, they are all twin hulls and put out a wake you could surf as they come into the Ross Creek. Even after they slow to the 6 kt/no wake limit they still put out a wake thats close toa metre high. So much for the NO WAKE ruling.

I won't launch at the Coast Guard ramps here because the wake has caught me one and threw the boat into the tail end of the car smashing tailights etc....I have reported the matter several times to the local Harbour Master and the companies involved to no avail.

As usual money outweighs safety in the eyes of these people.

[Billo]

Would anyone here like to be in control of a 50,000 tonne vessel that is over 100 metres long and holds $100,000,000 + of cargo on it ?

Sorry guys , i understand what your saying , but being in shipping , i know the other side aswell .
These vessels can take 5 minutes to pull up to a stop ....if they turn out of their piloted route , they risk hitting banks and that can mean undelievable consequences .
even if they turn to try and avoid other boats , it makes no difference with the bow waves .

Depending on the vessel trade , it can make a HUGE difference .
It is not the hull shape , but the size and load that will give you a bow wave the size you speak of .
Some of our European services can carry in excess of 80,000 tonne of cargo , combined with the ship weight itself , just a slow movement of 5 knotts would be enough to create displacement waves of 2 metres ...and these are only the ships that come south ...you should see the super freighters around the mediteranean ...DAMN !!!!!

The captains of these ships get furious at the amount of boaties that believe they can do as they please and cross in front and sit right on the channels etc .....they don't want to see people hurt , but at the same time they are powerless to do anything ...they can not just slow up and turn or anything like that , and they have a schedule to meet , and believe it or not , that schedule is pretty much depicted by us the consumers ....we want stuff , and we want it NOW !
We all complain when something is late ....if these guys 'slow down ' for us , ironically it is us that get peeved when our stuff arrives at store late and they end up getting the ass for not meeting schedule ...


I am neutral , as i know both sides very well .........Very tough to criticise them ....just as it is to criticise you the boaty ....we both have a right and reason to be there and doing what we are doing


If you are planning on hanging in the area of shipping channels , and indeed having an overnighter ....why not check the arrivals and departures so you can see what times you 'need to be on lookout '
These cover a 48 hour range as the schedule constantly changes

website - http://www.smd4.transport.qld.gov.au
go down the page and click on ' public access '

top of the page you can select the port - Brisbane , and arrivals / departures for today and tomorrow etc ...

Anything over 50,000 gross tonnage will have some serious waves pushing out ...usually only 1 a day that size between cargo ships and tankers .
The smaller vessels that are filled to capacity giving them a deeper dead rise and hence more displacement can whip up a hell of a swell.....but the biggens are the main offenders.

hope this may assist some of you ....i do not intend on criticising ,,...just throwing some facts around .

[westie]

Ok just off the Ph to Port Of Brisbane on 33051700, regarding my experiance as I was amazed as to how many this has happen to in the past.

Now Containers Etc. at open sea can do Sea Speed that is, so long as they can navigate safely. This includes the Bay & channles

The Tangalooma Jet has had several warnings with speed and wake isues. They now have some strict restrictions in place, so to you that did report them, and they did mention the boat ramp at Pinkinbar where several complaints come from, have had your voice listened to, so some good did come from your complaint. :)

Now if anyone sees anything like this, you can ring the Port Of Brisbane on 33051700, I have this in my phone now so that if, and I hope it won't, happen again I will notify them with the time, place and name of the offending vessel 24/7

[Mantaray]

I would have thought 1.5 -1.8m bow wave for a ship would have been the norm for a ship and probably not travelling all that fast either to push that. What else would one expect from a barn door being pushed through the water sideways.

So what does everybody expect from big ships in shipping channels?

[MIKOS]

Mantaray,

Dont know what a barn door does in the rate of knots. :-/I suppose you have to let us know how much horsepower it is running ;D
Maybe the barn door idea would be a good one for mythbusters ::)

MIKOS ;)