Boat going ashore (slideshow)

[rbgarr]

"There is a slide show posted on the SF Survey website of a Santana 22 riding a huge wave under Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - right up onto the beach. Happily, surfers came to the rescue, and saved the two sailors. Do yourself a favor and invest five minutes in this remarkable 113-image, photo essay by Wayne Lambright."

http://sfsurvey.com/photos/sail/imagepages/image1.htm

(clipped from Scuttlebutt.com)

[skuthorp]

Strewth! What was he thinking?
:eek:

[Hwyl]

It's amazing that the bow pulpit survived through alll that. Great pictures. I'm glad they're O.K.

I have to visit San Francisco

[Ian McColgin]

Back in the '70's I raced aboard a Santana in Oregon. Terrific little boat and tough as nails. It'd be interesting to know how they recovered the boat - move to deep water and use air to dewater the bow first or what?

Anyway, very gripping show on exactly how a broach to death roll works. Had they but gybed out of there some time before picture 1, though one wonders if they'd have cleared the abuttment. Once in there, I don't see how anything could have saved her, given the steepness of the wave and the nice match of boat length to wave.

Sometimes a boat like that can take surf like that right abeam. Did that in a similar design off Nantucket where the keel held us somewhat against the wave. Given no bouyancy on the leeward side, we believe we went past 90 degrees and had a hard time not falling out of the boat. The keel kept the boat from rolling right over. When the wave passed we wallowed back up and got sailing into the next wave. Looking at these pix confirms for me that we'd have had no chance trying to bear off.

[MJC]

Think I would've set the boat washing machine to a "gentle" cycle.

[Doug Wood]

Wow, awesome images! Glad those folks are okay.

I lived in the Bay area in the late 90's and raced aboard a friend's Merit 25 2-3 days a week. The bay can be a dangerous place. In the summer, thermals travel down from the Sacramento area and rush through the Gate around noonish/1:00 like clockwork, producing winds of 20-30 or so knots. We broke the stick once in a race on a spinnaker set but thankfully, that was the worst experience we had. These guy's must have been terrified.

[NormMessinger]

"Wow! What an exhilarating experience." As John Muir said after have ridden a snow avalanch into Yosemite Valley. Seemed relevant in this case, somehow.

[Wild Dingo]

Originally posted by Doug Wood:
These guy's must have been terrified.Understatement number 10000000671a of the understatement volume 7832b issue 3331tc of the book of understatement on the WBF :D

First thought...

CAPTION CONTEST!!!

Second thought...

"HEY DAD!! ITS A FLAMIN BOAT NOT A SURFBOARD!!!" "eh? whot? oh right cowabunga dudes! gnarly ride grommet"

Third thought...

1st surfer "Dude?" second surfer "yeah?" first surfer "Dude can those sail boat things surf?" "nah dude they sail dude" "yeah? you sure?" "yeah dude thats what them big white sheets are for dude" "yeah so whys that boat thing hangin 10 an going for a toob dude huh?"

Fouth thought...

"DAMNED FLASHBACKS!!! gotta get over the 60s an all that acid soon"

then the thought pattern went totally nuts :D

[ 04-04-2005, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: Wild Dingo ]

[Wild Wassa]

Did the Skipper think that he was sailing a Hobbie 16? Cool photos. The second hit rubbed it in.

Warren.

[dmede]

Wow, I was in the city saturday. It was blowing hard all over the place, and cold desptie the sun.

Sorry I missed the excitement, though not as sorry as they were it to be in it Im sure. Glad they were all ok.

Anybody know how the boat eventually sank? It looked to be afloat after the roll and with no apperant holes in the bottom.

dave

[dmede]

Brian, Ive always wondered about passage through the gate in small boats. I see old pictures of guys in 14' dingies off the cliff house headed back into the bay and wonder about what kind of boat can go out there. Seems like a crazy place for a small boat but then I'll be out on the coast on a nice sunny day and I cant get the image of putting under the bridge in a small boat out of my mind.

[brian.cunningham]

"note to self, water not that deep next to shore"

[Keith Wilson]

You don't want to mess with the South Tower Demon. :eek:

[John E Hardiman]

dmede;

There is no problem passing in or out the gate in a small boat except for the currents. If you can stem the tidal currents, the swell stackup is not that bad even against a gale in a outflow. The Carquinez Strait is much worse IMHO.

Even going between the South Tower and shore is doable and common, but you have to watch for the rocks and the south tower deamon. What this guy did is get into the surfline right off Ft Point. Not smart. Not only does it shelve quickly, but the bottom there is strewn with boulders.

http://www.virtuar.com/ysf2/img/sf/DSCN0994.JPG

For those who don't know the area, he attempted to between the near (south) tower and Ft Point as seen in the picture above. In fact he was much closer to Ft Point than to the tower. This was wholly preventable on his part and I wonder about his motives.

http://sfsurvey.com/photos/sail/images/WAL_5232.JPG

A better picture

[ 04-04-2005, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: John E Hardiman ]

[Hal Forsen]

That's one gnarly wipeout.Even on the rare calm day, you'd have to be some kind of hodaddy to even think of taking a boat with any kind of keel that close to Fort Point. They won't forget THAT ride.
HF

[Alan D. Hyde]

An illuminating post, rbgarr.

Thank you.

Alan

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by BrianM:
The velocities at max flood and max ebb are always highest nearest to the shore, since the golden gate narrows to 1 mile wide effectively forming a venturi.Ummm...that does not sound right to me on at least three counts:

1. As far as I know the "venturi effect" just means that fluids speed up if they are forced through a constriction and as a result the pressure exerted by the fluid on the walls of the constriction is reduced. It says nothing about the relative speed of different regions within the current in the constricted area.

2. It would be very odd if the current actually moved faster close to the shore given the drag exerted by the shore.

3. My experience with rivers and tidal currents is that leaving aside situations where obstructions or bends in the channel force the strongest current close to one shore or the other, the current is always fastest in the middle of the channel.

Certainly there will be more turbulance and breaking waves close to the shore because of the interactions with the shoreline and the bottom, but that is not the same as a faster current close to the shore.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

I was surfing that exact spot just before the Northridge earthquake 10 years ago. Gooood Surf I can't imagine ever sailing a boat through there though. :eek:

[John B]

Thanks for the post. we've just had 4 people sitting watching the slide show. Scary.

thanks also for the local insights to the area .

[CarlZog]

Below is the area around Fort Point.

http://www.imagebarrel.com/img/05/93/23/sfgate.jpg

Yachtsea was inbound, transiting south of the south tower, which took her through the surf zone.

According to SFPD, wind was 20 knots, gusting to 25 at 240° true. They're still conducting an accident report, and couldn't tell me why these guys chose this disasterous course through the Golden Gate.

One of the two sailors was treated for hypothermia, and the boat was retrieved by a commercial salvor.

Carl

[ 04-04-2005, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: CarlZog ]

[rbgarr]

I imagine it may turn out that they were simply inexperienced, didn't know the area, didn't realize the size and danger of the surf from the windward side, or if they did, found it too late or were too scared to get themselves out of the situation.

[ 04-04-2005, 07:04 PM: Message edited by: rbgarr ]

[John B]

what's that chart marked in Carl. feet/ fathoms ? metres?

[Bruce Hooke]

That chart has got to be in feet. The bridge information and suchlike is listed in feet so that almost certainly rules meters out for the water depths and there's no way it's over 300 fathoms deep at the center of the channel...

[Bruce Hooke]

That's a cool tidal current plot, Brian. At the moment (1800 local) I think it's approaching the peak of the flood but not yet there, and the strongers current is at the north end of the bridge. At the south end of the bridge, in the area of the incident, the current is flowing pretty much due north ACROSS the channel and it is weaker than at the north end or in the middle. What appears to be happening is that the geometry of the area outside the actual choke point is forcing water towards the north side of the channel, thus creating stronger current on that side.

In a uniform channel (such as a straight river or channel) the shallower bottom near the edges does not speed up the current near the shore because you've got the same shallow water above and below the measurement location. Thus, in a uniform channel, even one that is deep in the center and shallow at the edges, the water at the edges will move slower because of drag.

In a complex channel like the Golden Gate it does all come down to details of the topography of the bottom.

Whirlpools such as what you describe are usually a sign that the net current is slower in that area than it is slightly further from shore where the flow likely looks much less impressive because whirlpools, impressive as they are, disapate a lot of energy. They are basically drag at work slowing down the movement of the water. That's why you don't want to see lots of little whirlpools behind a moving boat...

[sawcutmill]

iF ONE LOOKS IN THE BACK GROUND OF FIRST FEW SHOTS- THERE IS A COAST GUARD 40 FOOTER, HEADING IN! GREAT PICS!

[Hal Forsen]

The boat you are refering to is actually the California Fish and Game Patrol Vessel "Marlin" which operates out of S.F..
HF

[CarlZog]

Yes, that chart is in feet.

As for the tidal currents, I'm still waiting to find out what time that incident occurred to see what if anything the current was doing at the time.

Carl

[Alan D. Hyde]

What could that skipper possibly have been thinking?

Alan

[Concordia..41]

It's hard to say what he was thinking initially, but it's safe to say that by picture 6 or 7 what he was thinking isn't printable!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Inexperienced skipper looks at breakers from seaward...

[gert]

lots of observations here, but this particular inexperienced skipper is confused...

What should he have done?

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by gert:
lots of observations here, but this particular inexperienced skipper is confused...

What should he have done?One thing he should have done is stay much further from the shore. Further out there would likely not have been any breakers at all. As Andrew noted, it is not easy to judge the size of breaking waves when you are seaward of them and this is likely what got him into trouble, but it was most unwise to come so close to the shore.

Once the wave started to build into a breaking wave behind him I'm not sure there was anything he could have done to save himself. If he could have turned the boat so that the bow was pointed straight into the wave he might have saved the boat, but I don't think there was time to turn.

[John E Hardiman]

Originally posted by gert:
What should he have done?It is always prudent to stay seaward of the channel marks...but that presupposes that he had looked at the chart...and understood it.

[Doug Wood]

here's what he's thinking now...

tennis...yeah, tennis would be a good sport

[dmede]

The thing that I find so incredible about that first shot is that he is sitting right on the foam from the last break.

You don't need much familiarity with the sea to know your too close at that point. Anybody who has been out on a board knows that line between green water and white foam.

Forget about consulting your chart or failing to spot the breakers from seaward. The white wash should have been all he needed to see to know he was headed for trouble.

[Bruce Hooke]

The question is, at the time the first photo was taken, could he, if he had recognized the danger at that moment, have escaped by heading up until he was close hauled and sailing back out? I'm not sure he could have. Of course he should have been able to see that foam line before he got to it.

Is that a rock between him and the shore in the second picture (and a few after that)? If it is that gives you a sense for how close he was to simply running aground!

[Phillip Allen]

I looked at the first few slids and can't see that anyone is at the helm...?

[Alan D. Hyde]

I don't know the area, and can only judge the wind direction from the photos, but couldn't he have put his tiller handle hard a starboard in the first photo, and then reached out of there, or would the wind and current have put him into that concrete by then?

Alan

[Keith Wilson]

Wind is always from offshore there on summer afternoons. It looks like a minute or two previously he could have just gone to port and gotten out of danger, but by time the first picture was taken it was probably too late. I wouldn't relish being broadside to that surf, but it would be better than going ashore like he did. I'm not that familiar with Santana 22s, but it looks to me like he's got too much sail up for the conditions. I never used the genoa on the T-bird in summer, and usually had a reef in by the time the sea breeze really got going, but I'm pretty conservative in that respect.

[ 04-06-2005, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[Bruce Hooke]

I don't know the area any better than you do Alan, but it looks to me like the basic issue is at what point was it too late for him to turn back and not get caught by the breaking wave? Assuming he could stay clear of the breakers he ought to have been able to tack back out if he could not clear the tower in one tack. I'm guessing that the first picture was just a little before the point of no return. It appears that the photographer did not move between the first and second pictures so it looks like the boat only moves about 3 boat lengths in that time, and by the second photograph things are going downhill very fast.

[John B]

Keith, Is there anyone with any experience at all who would sail in there close to Fort point in any conditions?
I mean,is it known as a way to slip through against the tide( I assume from the set that its a wind against tide situation). I can imagine from the chart that the racers would perhaps slip through on the pylon side.

[Keith Wilson]

Keith, Is there anyone with any experience at all who would sail in there close to Fort Point in any conditions?
Well, you can go through between the South Tower and the Fort Point safely if you stay far enough away from shore. I have no idea why he tried to do that. :rolleyes: I don't know if that's a good way to sail in against the ebb. I always timed my trips outside so that I'd come back in with the flood or at slack water; wind against tide gets pretty unpleasant. Anyway, from the way the sunken boat was carried, it seems like the flood was running pretty strong; he could have sailed in anywhere.

He may not have looked at the chart and thought the water was deep enough close in; it is in a lot of places around there, particularly on the other side of the Golden Gate. A bit too much sail, making it more problematic to turn upwind - the sea breeze comes up very suddenly sometimes, although anyone who sails on the Bay at all knows that - and not recognizing breaking waves from seaward, plus a moment or two of indecision (Holy ****, what do we do now?!?), and we have a very instructive sequence of cautionary pictures for the rest of us. I'm just glad they're OK.

[ 04-06-2005, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[Alan D. Hyde]

Has anyone seen any "after" photos of the salvaged boat?

Just how badly was she hurt, I wonder?

Alan

[Paul Scheuer]

When I first saw the sequence I thought that it looked like a "hold my beer and watch this" episode that turned into an "Oh S**t! " moment.

There were surfers in the area, and it might have seemed like a good idea at the time.

It looks like he was heading square into the waves, with plenty of oportunity to head up, maybe even tack away for a better shot to go north of the south pier.

I can't really tell the timing from the still shots, so I could be all wrong. It loos like he almost made it untill he lost steerage or tried to head back out after it was too late.

Was the an interview with the skipper ?

[Stu Fyfe]

Just a thought....... The bottom of the boat looks like it hasn't been painted in years. The boat does not look cared for. How much do you think he was insured for?????? Could we be seeing a real lame attempt at scuttling a boat for profit?

[martin schulz]

Originally posted by Stu Fyfe:
Just a thought....... The bottom of the boat looks like it hasn't been painted in years. The boat does not look cared for. How much do you think he was insured for?????? Could we be seeing a real lame attempt at scuttling a boat for profit?Right! Is it just a coincidence that there were divers in the water, the camera (or more - there are 3 different angles) at hand and the coastguiard on the way :confused:

I had the feeling that this was a showing off with an old neglected boat and a camera ready.

[Ian McColgin]

Not divers. Surfers in wet suits.

It could easily be that the owners had just scrubbed down the bottom. When I raced a Santana we used to do that so much that the bottom got that Air Induced Decay Syndrom look by late August.

It's really hard to see breaking surf from seaward. I think they just wandered in too close and mistakenly tried to sail down the wave rather than risk taking it broadside or gybe into it.

[Keith Wilson]

The water there is around 55 degrees F (12C) year round. Surfing without a wet suit is not a good idea. Fort Point is fairly popular with surfers, not because the surf is particularly good, but becuse it's very convenient to the city.

I think it's highly unlikely anyone would do that on purpose. The insurance value on a Santana 22 wouldn't be much, certainly not enough to get me to go into that surf. There's a coast guard station right on the other side of the Golden Gate, so it wouldn't take them long to get a boat across.

[ 04-07-2005, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[CarlZog]

According to one of the marine patrol officers who responded, this was a simple case of disasterously bad judgment.

The boat is berthed locally and the skipper told the marine patrol he'd been through this gap many times in the past with no problem.

They had decided to go for a daysail, but got outside and decided the seas were too heavy. On the return through the Golden Gate, he chose to sail south of the south tower. Marine Patrol said he had no real explanation for this decision. (Current was near slack at the time.)

They didn't realize they weren't going to make it until the wave broke over them.

As a sidenote, one of the men was wearing an inflatable pfd that failed to inflate, because the cartridge had not been inspected in a long time.

Carl

[Bruce Hooke]

This picture, posted earlier by John E. Hardiman makes it pretty clear how calm the area south of the south pillar can be under other conditions.

http://www.virtuar.com/ysf2/img/sf/DSCN0994.JPG

It is easy for me to see how someone could get used to such conditions. You'd think they would have heard the surf and been warned off, or seen the foam and been warned off, but having missed those warnings, it is easy to see how, since they were probably looking ahead as the wave came up behind them, they would fail to see what was coming until half a second or so before the wave broke over them.

A cautionary reminder to always pay attention to what is going on around you on the water...

[Peter Kalshoven]

The strange thing is, the guys hanging around on toothpicks IN the water are the sane ones.

OY! :D