BajaNomad

Rogue wave sinks boat

twogringos - 3-31-2007 at 10:17 AM

At 11 am on Wednesday, 3/28/07 a wave swamped and sink a private fishing boat at the north end of Cerralvo island. The three Americans were fishing in a 24 ft outboard at Punta Norte in moderate to heavy winds when the wave overtook them. They managed to swim to shore and were rescued on Friday morning. The skipper is very experienced in these waters. Because of the winds, they were the only boat fishing that morning and no boats fished there on Thursday. A private search was started on Friday when it was realized they had not returned. I know no details of there ordeal, but they were resting at their home on Friday afternoon.

Interesting that there was a 5.0 earthquake at 7:30 am that morning located 37 miles south of Los Mochis or 87 miles north of their position.

Crusoe - 3-31-2007 at 10:30 AM

Too bad for the fisherman and their vessel.Very glad they made it ashore unscathed. Happens more often than we always here of. That channel is a real blow hole. Although the timing of the sinking and earth quake event and the distance invloved from where the center was recorded doesn't quite add up......no one could say for certain that the wave was related ......but based on logic(and not personaly seeing the rogue wave) I would bet it was and most likely probable.

bancoduo - 3-31-2007 at 10:50 AM

ROGUE WAVE!:lol::lol::lol: Read the details closely. Any REAL mariner would know this was caused by a lack of common sense. No sympathy here.:yawn:

David K - 3-31-2007 at 10:57 AM

Important line in the opening post: "Because of the winds, they were the only boat fishing that morning ..."

Diver - 3-31-2007 at 10:58 AM

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007...

Here is another one that sunk recently.
Lucky guys !!

.

BajaBruno - 3-31-2007 at 11:17 AM

Bancoduo, do they still have internet service at the Mazatlan jail?

Buddha knows, I've been out racing small sailboats, or fishing in any boat I could find, in winds that no prudent person would go out in. The reason I'm not a statistic is probably just pure dumb luck. My theory is that one can never know their limitations until they exceed them.

Rogue waves do exist and they have victimized more than these unfortunate fellows.

Minnow - 3-31-2007 at 11:30 AM

Well said Bruno!!!!!!!!!!!! :yes:

Sharksbaja - 3-31-2007 at 11:32 AM

:lol:
Nobody deserves that kind of experience. Carelessor not.

bancoduo - 3-31-2007 at 02:30 PM

TOO! All the good people out there who put their life on the line rescuing both the deserving and the FOOLS. Some marooons never learn their lesson.:mad:

bancoduo - 3-31-2007 at 02:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBruno
Bancoduo, do they still have internet service at the Mazatlan jail?

Buddha knows, I've been out racing small sailboats, or fishing in any boat I could find, in winds that no prudent person would go out in. The reason I'm not a statistic is probably just pure dumb luck. My theory is that one can never know their limitations until they exceed them.

Rogue waves do exist and they have victimized more than these unfortunate fellows.
You might want to put your name on the USCG don't rescue me I can take care of myself list.:tumble:

Bajafun777 - 3-31-2007 at 03:19 PM

Well, I have been out with some experienced captains that sometimes take on what most of us would call rough waters, however, they call them a small wind blow. I guess it just means some captains handle the seas better than others. I personally do not like rough seas and have never been sea sick(thank the man upstairs) but have been so close and only in rough waters. I believe you should never take the ocean for granted. I would never go out now if I know there are possible high winds or possible rough waters, as more than likely the ocean water will be rough. Now that is never fun no matter how much "macho" you have. If I want to be taken up high on a wave and slammed back down when the wave drops I will just go back to diving off high boards:no:.

twogringos - 3-31-2007 at 05:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Crusoe
... Although the timing of the sinking and earth quake event and the distance invloved from where the center was recorded doesn't quite add up......no one could say for certain that the wave was related ......but based on logic(and not personaly seeing the rogue wave) I would bet it was and most likely probable.

Where this occurred the sea bottom rises abruptly from a 1000 ft to 60 ft at the shelf of the island. On calm, windless days the outgoing tide causes a line of white caps to appear at the shoulder. ( Of course, that's why the fishing is good there.) I too think the timing is bad for a mini-tsunami, but it would not take too much water movement for a big wave to popup from nowhere.
For the critics, the winds had been light for 4 days and were light in the morning.

bancoduo - 3-31-2007 at 06:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by twogringos
Quote:
Originally posted by Crusoe
... Although the timing of the sinking and earth quake event and the distance invloved from where the center was recorded doesn't quite add up......no one could say for certain that the wave was related ......but based on logic(and not personaly seeing the rogue wave) I would bet it was and most likely probable.

Where this occurred the sea bottom rises abruptly from a 1000 ft to 60 ft at the shelf of the island. On calm, windless days the outgoing tide causes a line of white caps to appear at the shoulder. ( Of course, that's why the fishing is good there.) I too think the timing is bad for a mini-tsunami, but it would not take too much water movement for a big wave to popup from nowhere.
For the critics, the winds had been light for 4 days and were light in the morning.
OK folks. The facts are changing. This one's going south.:lol::lol::lol:

Don Alley - 3-31-2007 at 08:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by twogringos
For the critics, the winds had been light for 4 days and were light in the morning.


Count me among the critics. I fished south of Loreto the day before on glassy calm water, but I checked weather reports from several sources that without any ambiguity showed the nortes would blow and the waves would rise the following day. And apparently, from the original post, these people were pretty much alone in doubting that. I have a hard time apportioning all the blame on a rogue wave when they were fishing in rough and dangerous waters.

BajaBruno - 4-1-2007 at 01:33 AM

I don’t want to get into a duel here, because in the end I think it just revolves around what you are accustomed to. In the San Francisco Bay, where I spent my formative boating years, if you wouldn’t go out in 20 knots of wind and lumpy seas, then you might as well just sell your boat or move, because it’s blowing that every day, all summer. 20 knots is normal and 30 knots is considered marginal for boating.

I routinely took a 24’ boat 20 miles offshore to the Farallon Islands, and yeah, we would see good waves on the run home, but that wasn’t being macho, that was just reality. I can understand a San Diego/LA boater thinking we were crazy, because those aren’t typical conditions in San Diego, but you also don’t see many guys in San Diego suited up in foul weather gear just to get out of the harbor.

I spent a lot of time working with and around the Coasties in SFBay and none of them would think it was foolhardy for an experienced boater to go out in a sound boat on a windy, lumpy day. Even so, sometimes bad things happen to good people, and sometimes experience comes with a bit of tragedy, but hopefully, we all live to learn a little from both our own mistakes and those of others. I won't be the one to throw rocks at these guys, because my house has just as many windows in it as most people's do.

Talk about going south

twogringos - 4-1-2007 at 07:57 AM

Talk about going south, this post was about a rogue wave, not whether it was wise to go fishing on a windy day!
With out the wave, it would have been a bumpy fishing trip and no more. If they hadn't gone fishing, the rogue wave would not have mattered.
What I hoped to learn was whether anyone else heard of an unusual wave and if it could have been connected to the earthquake.

Don Alley - 4-1-2007 at 09:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by twogringos
Talk about going south, this post was about a rogue wave, not whether it was wise to go fishing on a windy day!
With out the wave, it would have been a bumpy fishing trip and no more. If they hadn't gone fishing, the rogue wave would not have mattered.
What I hoped to learn was whether anyone else heard of an unusual wave and if it could have been connected to the earthquake.


There is no Coast Guard in the SOC. If you chose to go fishing on a day that is windy enough to keep virtually everyone ashore, if you have trouble you rely on the help of civilians who must go out in conditions they would normally avoid. Whether the problem is a rogue wave, broken down engine, leaking hull, man lost overboard, fire aboard, or whatever. You will wait longer for rescue, and you may be harder to find. I think this incident clearly relates to the increased danger to boating on marginal weather days. I think they made a mistake going out that day. jmo

Another possible issue is some may not buy the rogue wave story.

Skipjack Joe - 4-2-2007 at 01:14 PM

A friend of mine was fishing a submerged reef at the entrance to Half Moon Bay in a boston whaler, the one between the red and green buoys. I have fished it many times over the years, as did he.

His boat boat was on the outside of the reef with him facing and casting to the reef. "I knew I was in trouble when I saw the reef emerge above the water line. Suddenly it was all dry next to me". Once he saw the wall of water there was no time to reach the controls or do anything. It just picked him up and threw the boat down on the rocks below smashing it into several parts.

It was at the harbor entrance so help came quickly. The whaler is unsinkable so he held on in the cold waters (in the 40's). But he was really shook up. I could tell. This guys used to take his whaler to the Farallones and sleep on board to catch rockfish at first light.

It can happen to anyone.

P.S. I agree with BajaBruno. If you want to fish in glass calm waters in this part of the coast you may as well not fish at all.

Cypress - 4-2-2007 at 01:26 PM

Only three people know for certain what sank that boat and I wasn't one of 'em.:o

Phil S - 4-2-2007 at 01:28 PM

Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cypress.

bancoduo - 4-2-2007 at 04:40 PM

From the mouths of survivors. It wasn't the ill advised boat trip into rough seas, but the 455' monster wave that hit us. In other words cover your ass so you don't look like a fool. MACHO MUNCHO!:lol::lol::lol:

[Edited on 4-2-2007 by bancoduo]

riiiiight

k1w1 - 4-2-2007 at 04:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bancoduo
From the mouths of survivors. It wasn't the ill advised boat trip into rough seas, but the 455' monster wave that hit us. In other words cover your burro so you don't look like a fool. MACHO MUNCHO!:lol::lol::lol:

[Edited on 4-2-2007 by bancoduo]


yea like you really know the full story. such a dufus.

Peloncito - 4-2-2007 at 10:11 PM

I am not familiar with the facts of this particular story but I am very familiar fishing around Cerralvo Island. Did the 24' boat actually sink or capsize? I routinely fish in that area and have been out there in all kinds of conditions. My boating experience has always prompted me to head straight up swell and then straight down swell when the seas are up and the wind is blowing. I have seen larger set waves (rogues?) created by a combination of swell and wind gusts coming together but as long as I am headed into them or traveling down swell slower than the moving swells so they can go under me, I have never had a problem. But I have to agree with others that the ocean can be capable of amazing things in a very short matter of time. I can see how someone could get caught side saddle in a trough when I large wave crests and that's all it takes if you are not expecting it. To get back to the original question of the post, fishing on a windy day is pretty common. You just have to be a little more alert.

The good part about this story, going south or not, is that our fellow fishermen are home safe. Simple as that!

BTW, a recent 8.0 earthquake just caused a 10'-0" mini Tsunami in the south pacific..... Of course a rogue wave is possible from that kind of natural occurence.

[Edited on 4-3-2007 by Peloncito]

marv sherrill - 4-3-2007 at 05:13 PM

Good judgement comes from experience, unfortunately most experiences are the result of bad judgement.....

comitan - 4-3-2007 at 05:30 PM

Since this is still going on I'll have to add, the north end of Cerralvo has many submerged and not so submerged rocks depending on the tide that could do any boat in if they were lifted and dropped on one, it could happen to anyone.

Wave turns on Acapulco

twogringos - 4-12-2007 at 12:35 PM

Rogue waves are trying for bigger and better things. Six people rescued on a sunny day after being swept off the sidewalk. A large wave warning was reported to be posted by the Mexican government for all of the Pacific coast until April 13.

See Acapulco story: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/travel/freak-wave-hits-...

Cypress - 4-12-2007 at 12:46 PM

Waved at a young lady and she accused me of being a rogue!:?:Does that make me a "rogue wave"?:?::biggrin:

bancoduo - 4-12-2007 at 02:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by twogringos
Rogue waves are trying for bigger and better things. Six people rescued on a sunny day after being swept off the sidewalk. A large wave warning was reported to be posted by the Mexican government for all of the Pacific coast until April 13.

See Acapulco story: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/travel/freak-wave-hits-...
You should take a remedial english class, so you can tell the difference between a sidewalk and a beach.

the only thing unusual about this is that it usually happens later in the season. Must be a slow news day down-under.:no::P

twogringos - 4-12-2007 at 06:04 PM

Bancoduo, sorry to mislead you. Please move quickly from the sidewalk to the beach.