That was quite the sequence of photos of a sailboat capsizing in the surf under the Golden Gate Bridge. I am curious to know what causes this particular surf break. Any locals who can shed some light on this? Is the water shallow right there, and deeper further out in the middle, where vessels of this sort would normally travel? How shallow is it? Or is it a standing wave effect, due to a tidal stream? One reason I would like to know is because it helps to understand this sort of thing, so I can really READ a chart, not just look at the pretty lines and markings. There is a story of a similar size vessel being knocked over on beam ends going to windward at the mouth of False Creek, in Vancouver, B.C.'s harbour, and sinking like that one did when pooped and capsized. Just like on a kayak, it helps if the hatches are in place when the water comes from above! Rob. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Thursday 07 April 2005 00.48, you wrote: > That was quite the sequence of photos of a sailboat capsizing in the surf > under the Golden Gate Bridge. I am curious to know what causes this > particular surf break. Any locals who can shed some light on this? Is the > water shallow right there, and deeper further out in the middle, where > vessels of this sort would normally travel? How shallow is it? On the Boatdesign list there have been a lot of discussion about it. Bruce Hallman there gave this comment: "Also, it is common knowledge to avoid the passage between the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point, though obviously not common knowledge enough. http://tinyurl.com/5pj3r shows an aerial photo of the spot." Someone there told us that the depth is somewhere around 10-20 feet, at best (high tide). Naturally, it is never the recommended path under the Golden Gate Bridge, and that there were lots of surfers in the area should tell any boater that it is an area to avoid. Passing an isthmus that close in heavy seas is never a sane thing to do! And sailing at almost right angles to big waves is always tricky, much more so when there is a surf, like in this case! Otherwise the boat designers couldn't agree about much, other than closing the hatches and backing through the danger zone is better! If another type of boat would have passed under without damage is uncertain, except with your sails down and a motor running at full speed! > Or is it a > standing wave effect, due to a tidal stream? One reason I would like to > know is because it helps to understand this sort of thing, so I can really > READ a chart, not just look at the pretty lines and markings. > > There is a story of a similar size vessel being knocked over on beam ends > going to windward at the mouth of False Creek, in Vancouver, B.C.'s > harbour, and sinking like that one did when pooped and capsized. Just like > on a kayak, it helps if the hatches are in place when the water comes from > above! A kayak could possibly have fared better, but that is not certain either! Such big waves breaking usually results in a capsize, no matter what vessel you have, unless it is very big, and then it would have struck bottom! Tord, Sweden *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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