Big Waves along California coast

Wow! We have watched the C.G. off the Oregon coast in huge waves, but those pics were amazing. Those folks sure are professionals with a huge dolop of brave thrown in. Thanks for putting up the site.
 
I am amazed the mast and antennas were not torn off. The 8th photo shows two people on the flying bridge. Don’t know how much time elapsed between the 7th and 8th photo, but it appears they came out before the boat was fully up-righted.

Great sequence of photos. Thanks for the link.
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Dave dlt.gif
 
Thanks for posting that. It is incredible.

So now I have a question. If the forward hatch, and widows are all latched, and the cabin door is closed, would my C-22 cruiser do that? Not that I want to go and try it, but would it even come out the other side still floating? I can't think that it would right itself, so if you could keep it rightside up, what are the chances?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
hardee":30h3uwkn said:
Thanks for posting that. It is incredible.

So now I have a question. If the forward hatch, and widows are all latched, and the cabin door is closed, would my C-22 cruiser do that? Not that I want to go and try it, but would it even come out the other side still floating? I can't think that it would right itself, so if you could keep it rightside up, what are the chances?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
Click to expand...

Harvey-

For one thing, the cockpit of your 22 would probably be full of water, changing the center of buoyancy of the boat. (The surf boats have closed over or sealed off aft decks and cockpits to prevent this.)

Only a few photos exist of capsized/flooded C-Dorys. I'm not sure whether those photos represent a flooded cabin, or not, but the general tendency shown is for the boat to roll over upside down with the underside of the bow facing upward, and the stern deep under water. This is understandable considering the weight of the motor(s) resting down on the flooded cockpit's stern, and the buoyancy provided by the flotation chamber under the v-berth forward.

I'm not sure if a closed up intact cabin would make the boat float upright initially or not, but the cabin is certainly not watertight with the anchor locker inlets, the big hole in the cabin bulkhead under the starboard gunnel (which allows all the wiring and control lines to be lead aft), the forward hatch (which is watertight to spray when upright, but may well not be totally sealed off to air and water when underwater or when serving as an air outlet so that water may enter elsewhere), and the rear door, which would allow both air and water to flow into and out of the cabin. Clearly, with the stern awash, the cabin will soon be flooded thereafter, be the boat upright or inverted.

To my knowledge, no buoyancy tests have been performed on any of the C-Dorys, but it would be nice to know what happens. Would you like to bring your boat to Seattle in January for the SBS/CBGT where the whole gang could witness some tests with your baby serving as the test subject? We could test Mustang Survival Suits at the same time! What size to you take, sm, med, lg, x-lg, etc.?

Joe. :wink
 
A wave that big hitting head on to the cabin would most likly rip the cabin off a c-dory. Needless to say the window's would be pushed in. Someone would be safer grabbing a life jacket and jumping out.
 
The only way we and I think the rest of us are going to be involved in a wave like that is a tsunami and with as many c-brats as there are now on all coast that's an actual possibility.

Jay
 
oldgrowth":1wia54yz said:
I am amazed the mast and antennas were not torn off. The 8th photo shows two people on the flying bridge. Don’t know how much time elapsed between the 7th and 8th photo, but it appears they came out before the boat was fully up-righted.

Great sequence of photos. Thanks for the link.
________
Dave dlt.gif
Click to expand...

Check out the 2nd photo. Looks to me like they were out on the flying bridge going in and through the wave. Anyone else see it the same.

Jay
 
That is some wild water....

I think a classic statement would apply here....'use your superior judgement to avoid a situation requiring your superior skills' or something like that. I think there were a lot of "Uh Oh" moments as captioned in the pictures.
 
appears to me they where on the fly bridge the whole time!
must of been strapped in very well, that has got to be hair raising to be under water strapped in like that.....


James
 
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