Has anyone had any experience with encountering water spouts. I almost ran in to one last week. It was beautiful, perfectly formed funnel of the Southwest coast of Florida. I was close to shore, so when I saw it, I did an abrupt about face and sped to shore. I was wondering if anyone has any experience or advice as to evasive action to take in the event or a water spout. PS. I'm new to this list. I used to post to Wavelength years ago. Phares M. Heindl Phares M. Heindl P. A. Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer Phone: 407-865-5700 Fax: 407-865-5758 Email: injurylaw_at_afo.net Web: www.heindllaw.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I have a degree in metrology. A water spout is a tornado which forms over or has traveled from land onto water. In general, once the convection cell which has spawned the water spout gets over a largish area of water it will rapidly lose it's energy and the spout will dissipate. Like tornadoes water spouts (generally) have smallish diameters and the chance of being run down by the funnel is not very great. I do not know of any observations respect the volume of water in the spout. I suspect it's mostly highly aerated spray. Since the spout follows a rather non predictable path there is little you can do to avoid it if you are on open water and cannot get to land. If you have self rescuing skills I would be inclined to lash my self to the kayak and get in the water (if I was in the path). The chances of electrocution are small and you and your partially water filled boat stand little risk of injury from flying debris or being sucked up and deposited god knows where! In general the entire event should be passed within 20 to 30 (long) minutes. Remember that spouts are frequently found within the heavy precipitation associated with a convention cell and cannot be seen. A few years ago I got caught (in a sailboat) in such an event. Although I could hear the roaring of the spout I never saw it. I saw the radar plot later and I estimated the spout was about a 1/4 mile away. Remember that violent winds always surround the funnel and you will be at greater risk from these winds then from being run down by the spout. Richard Smith *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
RE/ >Has anyone had any experience with encountering water spouts. I almost ran >in to one last week. It was beautiful, perfectly formed funnel of the >Southwest coast of Florida. I was close to shore, so when I saw it, I did an >abrupt about face and sped to shore. I was in one once....Down in Duck, North Carolina on the Outer Banks. Beautiful day, windsurfing on the sound.... Some guy on the shore was honking his horn and flashing his headlights. Since I was the closest one to him, I figured he was trying to tell me something. Started in towards shore. When I got into earshot, he yelled "Get in here fast, and take down your sail!". His eyes were sticking out like golfballs, so I just did it. When I got everything stowed, I said "OK, now I've done it, howcome?". Turns out the guy was a meteorologist. He pointed to a cloud coming across the cound that looked like the prow of a big ship. Said "that's called an anvil cloud and it often preceeds a tornado."... then he continued by saying that pretty soon the air temp would drop about fifteen degrees very suddenly and we'd likely get a waterspout. Sure 'nuff, temp dropped and here comes the waterspout. We ran for our cars and started to peel out of the parking area for the road. Too late! Everything turned beige from the flying sand and visibility was zero. Car rocked and rolled for awhile and then it was a beautiful day again. If I were out on the water in a kayak, I think I'd be inclined to swamp the boat and take to the water...hoping that the wind wouldn't be enough to make the swamped boat a danger to my melon. But I paddle a surf ski now....so I think I'd be SOL. ----------------------- Pete Cresswell *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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