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. . . winds SW 5 to 10 kts, waves 2 feet . . . .

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5396 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/08/2010 : 19:04:48

As the weather radio droned on with its feminine synthesized voice, I noticed the winds seemed a little stronger than the reported 10 kts. Spot reports came back with numbers like 8kts, 5 kts, 10 kts and 4 kts. Given these reports, the Admiral and I went down and out of the river.

At the mouth of the river, waves seemed a little bigger than usual, but this could have been due to the action of wind versus current.

We got around the breakwater and the waves only picked up all the more. In a following sea, in spite of the seasick straps, she started yawning - the first signs!

We continued along, and we were looking at crests above the transom from within the troughs. The good news was that the waves were not breaking.

On a broad reach we ran down about 2.5 miles to a "near shore" island and its protected bay in Milford Harbor.

We chilled there for a long while waiting for the wind and waves to dissipate. Ginger Ale is a great antidote for seasickness! The winds never did abate, so we faced a rough beat to windward on the way back. Instead, we turned on the old "iron genny". We took a pummeling from continuous 3-4 footers to the bow quarter, with several larger waves that almost jumped the rail.

We pressed on for what seemed like an eternity, and then got back to the river. At that point, depths go from 25 to 10 feet. This caused large breakers.

As we swung around, we surfed up the river on an incoming tide. Once we were safely up the river, we checked the conditions on NWS/NOAA radio, and still no indication anything was wrong or extreme.

Afterward, we heard a report on Ch 16 that further east on LI Sound, a 19 foot power boat with seven occupants was literally capsized by a rogue wave. Granted, the boat was overloaded (should have been no more than 5 people in the boat), but conditions were pretty rough.

I really think that we were misled by weather reports, and somebody somewhere was asleep at the switch. Of course, we could have turned around at the mouth of the river, but what fun would that have been?

Cathy said there were times she was a little scared. I said that this was as bad as it gets. If conditions worsened, I would have turned tail and would not have gone out.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Edited by - on

hinmo
Navigator

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USA
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Response Posted - 08/09/2010 : 03:33:48

Bruce - I presume you are talking about yesterday. I checked the NWS marine forecast in the morning, nice....5-10 SW predicted all day. So around noon, a couple hrs before I was to go for a <u>leisurely </u>sail, I was upset to see large branches swaying in the brisk wind. By the time I did get out (around 4p), it was blowing enough that I did not have the energy to reef everything down. I checked the Buzzards Bay data, and it was 17/18kts. Hardly 5-10. And honestly, it seemed like it was every bit 20kts.

I took the power boat over to the lee cove of the harbor and swam.

Edited by - hinmo on 08/09/2010 09:22:44

bigelowp
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Response Posted - 08/09/2010 : 09:54:46

Bruce -- at least on Western Long Island Sound the NOAA weather forcast is just about ALWAYS either "5-10k with seas of 1 foot" or the same plus "with chance of late afternoon thunderstorms that may bring locally strong winds up to 30k . . ." Sailflow is far worse for forecasts and now no longer shows "current" detailed conditions (they have a @five hour lag). I have wondered if NOAA has changed in the last two years methodology/technology for developing marine forecasts. Whatever, the result is that NOAA is far less useful than it once was. I end up going down to the boat and then looking around, turn my wind speed on and take it from their. Finally, down in the Norwalk area the weekend wake action from all the power boats magnifies the wave action -- especially near Greens Ledge and in the popular routes between LI and CT. Sailing mid week is THE way to really enjoy a restful sail!

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Voyager
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Response Posted - 08/09/2010 : 10:50:08

Peter,
Similar situation happened on Friday afternoon with the wind shift.
The first front passed early in the day and the winds were SW 5-10, more or less flat.
Then a few puffy clouds came by signaling the main front, and the wind shifted to NW.
I got hit with one blast and quickly dropped all canvas.
A few minutes later I was measuring 20 kt continuous with 33 kts peak on my handheld wind guage.
Not a complete surprise, but not predicted nor reported by the NWS.

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islander
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4024 Posts

Response Posted - 08/09/2010 : 14:11:34

Friday after 3pm was ridiculous. Came out of the protected channel just to get blasted by waves, Whitecaps and a very strong NW wind. Turned right around and went back to the slip. Sunday was a very nice leisurely sail starting from 10am till around 3pm then the wind really started to pump from the SW. We were lucky enough to be fairly close to port so we called it a day. The SW wind on Sunday probably pumped up the waves on your side of the pond Bruce, Same as I had on this side on Friday with the NW wind. When the Sound gets like that I start to think " I need a bigger boat! " I keep the NOAA buoys in my cell phone and call them . Just punch in the buoy # and it will give the latest report. When we returned to the dock on Friday I called up Execution Rocks, It said 21K gusts to 29K. I think that NOAA on the radio doesn't update very fast.

Edited by - islander on 08/09/2010 14:20:40

piseas
Former Treasurer

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2017 Posts

Response Posted - 08/09/2010 : 14:42:59

Bruce, I too listen to several weather reports including NOAA. But if I have a bad sense upon either boarding or heading out, I immediately head back in. Sometimes you have to use your common sense. After all, the weather can change in an instant. I play on the side of cautiousness whether alone or with others.
I recall one such time as I was heading out from our bay to the ocean, I saw several boats coming in early. I yelled out at several who said the weather had turned and that it very choppy and the winds kicking up. I could see looking out past the harbor entrance and beyond the jetties looked rather suspicious if not ominous. I turned around back to my slip as these boats were much bigger than mine. No report of such change was heard on my radio.
Bottom line, you know the area you sail in. Trust your instincts. There is always tomorrow.
Steve A

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Voyager
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5396 Posts

Response Posted - 08/09/2010 : 19:51:29

Steve,
I hear you. We all know "when in doubt, don't"

Funny, however, the mouth of the river is a known "chop zone" where wind and currents frequently turn the area into a washing machine.

I looked out past the mouth and I saw what I thought were two footers with a few white-caps. According to the Beaufort scale, this corresponds to force 3 or force 4 (at most). It was only once we were out in it, did we "get it".

Making a broad reach, the wind seemed light and the waves were only a little squirrelly. We just rode it out.

Got worse over time. Way back was BUMPY!

Turned out there were not one, but two motor-boat capsizes in LI Sound (no fatalities) and two flips on the south shore of Long Island.

Roughest day I've seen in a while. Thank the gods the water is in the mid-70s. Hypothermia takes more than 5 hours....

Edited by - on

ruachwrights
Captain

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Response Posted - 08/10/2010 : 05:24:07

I too have noticed that forecasts tend to be more like guidelines and not necessarily good ones. If your an i-phone or probably blackberry/droid user there is an app for weather buoy, which gives you current wind speeds at actual locations. You may be able to just google actual wind-speeds from internet. In any case, our boats can handle the conditions you were in Bruce. The real test is if you think and most of the people on that day believe that NOAA should have posted a small craft advisory and did not. It seems like some of the truly smaller craft were in actual danger (though would they have been in danger if they had not been overloaded?)

This is a good topic for sure

Vern

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bigelowp
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Response Posted - 08/14/2010 : 17:47:56

If you folks were out today (8/14) -- the forecast was 5-10 from the NE-- we experienced 12-20 from the East -- great sail despite the swells that built up in the western sound. Reefed the main for a while but covered alot of distance in short time . . .

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Voyager
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USA
5396 Posts

Response Posted - 08/14/2010 : 19:50:13

Peter,
We had our US Power Squadron raft up at Charles Island today - we got an early start at 10, when the winds and sea conditions were still quite calm. Thin cirrus clouds, low humidity and brilliant sunshine all day.

Through lunch, then afterward as the gathering broke up, the winds and seas had filled in well. We tacked up to New Haven harbor at 5 knots, heeled to 15-20 for coffee. Then we took a broad reach back to the Housatonic and the winds were just a delight.

On the way back, my dockmate happened by. He reported winds of 12-14 with gusts up to 16 on his instruments. Cannot remember having a better time. I think tomorrow will be a repeat of today.

Edited by - Voyager on 08/14/2010 19:51:48

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