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30 Dec 01 - 06:37 PM (#618694) Subject: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: Charley Noble The other night on CNN-ABC AU, 12/27/01, I saw some chilling vidio of a giant waterspout coming toward one of the racing yachts, the Nicorette. They tried to evade the waterspout to no avail. Then took down all their sails, battened down what they could, and it came right over them. They seem to have survived, losing their mailsail, but continuing on with a replacement one. Anyone else have any details on this? I've never seen anything so chilling. |
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30 Dec 01 - 07:10 PM (#618706) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: SINSULL I saw the same film footage. The Captain said that he was so shaken that had his crew suggested pulling out of the race and heading for shore, he would have been all for it. It did look as if the spout had singled them out and was chasing them. Frightening stuff. |
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30 Dec 01 - 07:14 PM (#618708) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: Amos I've navigated through clumps of smaller ones, and they move in such unpredictable patterns that they do look as though they are being driven by some destructive willpower. But I suspect its no more malevolent than the inside of your washing machine -- kinda random, but still very mechanical. A |
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30 Dec 01 - 08:12 PM (#618738) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: catspaw49 A freind called and asked if I'd seen it, but I hadn't. Water Spouts are more common than you'd think and they sem to have a homing instinct for sailboats. The Great Lakes sailors have seen plenty over the years and Bill and I encountered one in '87 on Erie. It missed us but the storm that spawned it was pretty fierce in and of itself......it had about blown out when the spout appeared and we were both kinda' feeling, ""What next?" The boat in the Hobart race is an 80 foot Maxi with a veteran ocean racing crew and from all reports they were pretty shaken......I can believe it. All sailing is about 95% boredom and 5% sheer terror. Encountering bad weather is a part of the sport....after all, who wants to go out on a sunny, hot, and cloudless day? Yacht racing is the only sport ever cancelled because of beautiful weather! Spaw |
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30 Dec 01 - 08:25 PM (#618747) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: Charley Noble If anyone can patch in a link to an image of the approaching water spout the Nicorette encountered, I would be greatly in your debt. All I've been able to find are more tepid images, not what I was seeing on the CNN vidio. This water spout has to be SEEN to be appreciated. Last year's race was, I believe, the most disastrous ever with over half the yachts disabled in major storms. |
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30 Dec 01 - 08:33 PM (#618755) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: catspaw49 True Charley, it was. Even so the scale still wasn't on the level of the '79 Fastnet. Spaw |
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30 Dec 01 - 09:58 PM (#618802) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: katlaughing Charley, you may be able to find footage at this site: 57th Sydney to Hobart 2001. That link takes you to the video archives. That must've been incredible. kat |
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31 Dec 01 - 09:21 AM (#618972) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: Charley Noble Thanks, Kat. That's the site I had found but I couldn't come up with the image I was looking for. Apparently, Nicorette came in 2nd in spite of the damage. |
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01 Jan 02 - 12:13 AM (#619309) Subject: RE: BS: Sydney/Hobart Sail Race Water Spout From: Bob Bolton G'day Charley, I did hear that the total retirement from waterspout damage was 11 yachts - mostly from dismasting ... or destruction of sails - despite them being furled and covered. The winds managed to whip out an end - and then draw out enough canvas to tear the sail to shreds! (Keep in mind these are racing sails, not not round-the-Horn heavy canvas rig from a square-rigger.) I'm not sure what the total race field was ... around the mid 80 mark, I think - so we had something like a 20% retirement rate from that single catastrophic event. Regards, Bob Bolton |