Wave 1 Trawler nil

This is the result of a south bound prawn trawler meeting a north bound rogue wave.Got a call from sea rescue this morning that they received a call from Aussar in Canberra that there was something wrong with a vessel 10nm west of the blowholes.When I got down to the rescue building I found out that the vessel was the same trawler my son Jeff[Deepwater] was crew on travelling down to Fremantle from Exmouth after the prawn season had finished.

We set off in the rescue boat towards their last reported position in pretty ordinary conditions,18-23 knots sw increasing to 20-30 later in the afternoon with seas getting up to 2 --2 1/2 metres.When we were approx 5nm from our destination we got an update that their position had changed to 11 nautical miles behind us meaning they were still moving and had travelled closer to shore than in the direct line we were taking.

Wew finally caught up to them near the end of the leads in to Carnarvon boat harbour and showed them the route in.

They had been steaming at 8-9 knots when they spotted the wave approaching,it was some 12-15 feet above the height of the bow which is 9 feet from the water line.Unable to slow down it smashed in to the front windows,cracking all the windows and pushing the top of the cabin some 6-9inches back dropping tonnes of water inside the wheelhouse.Both the crew, Jeff and Ben received electrical shocks from the 240 volt system as the water swept through down in to the galley below.

After they got off the boat they were taken to the hospital for health checks,both coming out with lots of bruises but luckily no abnormal heart readings.The boat is staying here untill major repairs are done.

Jeffo sends his thanks to Ads and Lucky Tim plus all the other well wishers who have called.


big john's picture

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Serious Impact

Sun, 2009-11-22 22:05

That must have been a serious impact.

Nice work on heading out in abysmal conditions Ray.

Glad to hear the guys are ok.

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Faulkner Family's picture

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not good mate. glad Geoff is

Sun, 2009-11-22 22:45

not good mate. glad Geoff is ok apart from a few bruises.the wave has done some serious damage to the boat, just goes to show how much force there is in those waves. going to cost a pretty penny to get that fixed

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

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jeezuz christ that must have

Mon, 2009-11-23 00:21

jeezuz christ that must have beena  big friggin wave!!!

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living is fishing

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Date Joined: 03/05/06

a frightening experience

Mon, 2009-11-23 01:46

never underestimate the power of the ocean.  Glad the guys are okay.

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Date Joined: 16/02/09

Good work M8. Boat took a

Mon, 2009-11-23 04:46

Good work M8. Boat took a serious beating.

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deepwater's picture

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Date Joined: 09/05/07

a little beaten up but all ok

Mon, 2009-11-23 07:27

thanks for all the well wishes, the wave was really big. the tip of the wave i couldnt see when i was sitting in the hot seat,it disappeared out the top of the wheel house and all we had time for was to put our hands up and try and stop every thing crashing in to us, the funny bit was we had been driving for 26h from exxy and it was blowing over 35knots all night and we were fine.  we changed course at about 730 and 800 we got the good 1 , the boat is tied up in canarvon untill we get it all sorted , a big thanks to all that were involved from canberra to my Dad sea rescue thank you all ,thanks to Ads and Lucky Tim
jeff

PilbaraBrad's picture

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ahhhhhhhh, hope all is well

Mon, 2009-11-23 07:46

ahhhhhhhh, hope all is well lads, as long as they are ok who cares about the boat in reality hey

HuggyB's picture

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Date Joined: 03/08/08

holy s**t

Mon, 2009-11-23 08:24

that boat took a beating.....glad you are all OK.

 

Just goes to show that even in a big boat, you are still at the oceans mercy in some cases.

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roberta's picture

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Thank goodness you are

Mon, 2009-11-23 10:34

all ok, thats the main thing, lives that are lost can't be replaced, but a boat can.  What a wave, yes have to agree never trust the sea, it can be a b^%#tch. 

What causes a rogue wave?  As I read that bad tsunami in Indonesia, the actual wave will circle the earth for 40yrs.

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just dhu it's picture

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all safe

Mon, 2009-11-23 12:39

Good to hear Jeff and crew got home in tact , does make you wonder why boats dissapear on the open ocean ,you wonder if it was a smaller yacht or pleasure boat what the outcome could have been.

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Date Joined: 30/12/06

I reckon they should have

Mon, 2009-11-23 12:59

I reckon they should have just toughened up and kept going :-)

carnarvonite's picture

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Electrics

Mon, 2009-11-23 14:44

Took out all the electrics,GPS,sounder,Vhf and Hf radios,radar and auto pilot.Everything paper in the wheelhouse has turned in to paper mache,charts books,log book.you name it.

PJAY's picture

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good to see all aboard safe

Mon, 2009-11-23 17:07

good to see all aboard safe and well!

that was one serious wave!

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gregk's picture

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powerfull

Mon, 2009-11-23 17:54

big bl##dy wave that glad everybody is ok a lot of damage lucky there wasnt more waves and got your rescue craft

wadetolley's picture

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Time

Mon, 2009-11-23 18:35

Time to fix the boat, and buy a new pair of undies. Glad to hear everyone is safe

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Date Joined: 30/12/08

Good to see all ok

Mon, 2009-11-23 22:47

A rouge wave is the creation of one wave catching up with another and then another forming a so called rouge wave. A old friend of mine loss his life out of Headland many years ago because of a rouge wave. Anyhow hope this helps.

Lucky Tim's picture

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Date Joined: 28/11/07

seeing this makes you

Tue, 2009-11-24 06:37

seeing this makes you rethink some of the conditions and spots you take far smaller boats out in. People can get pretty casual about the sea at times (not that it happened here).
I'll call you today Jeffo to catch up soon.

carnarvonite's picture

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Down

Tue, 2009-11-24 07:22

He's on his way down to Perth for 3 weeks this morning so He'll more than likely catch up with you then Tim.

Gully's picture

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Far out that is crazy, Well

Tue, 2009-11-24 08:51

Far out that is crazy,

Well done to everyone involved to keep all people safe and relativley unscathed.

Not what you really want to see happen as like other people have said - imagine what would have happened to a smaller vessel...

Gully

deepwater's picture

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Date Joined: 09/05/07

thank you all for the wishes

Wed, 2009-11-25 10:36

Afue days since the big one and all is good ,got our stuff together and the boat is still in canarvon,doing afue coures in perth and going back to exxy about the 14 th by CAR lol looking forward to getting back out there and having a fish with mates and getting back to it

thanks for all the wishes and safe boating

jeff

PJAY's picture

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onya Jeff!

Wed, 2009-11-25 16:54

onya Jeff!

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The Kimberley....perfect one day and more perfect the next!!!

kwozz's picture

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Date Joined: 03/11/09

trawler

Sat, 2010-01-09 14:26

i was working down at kailis in freo yesterday and saw this boat in getting fixed up. It must have been a huge wave coz the wheelhouse is a fair height! I was standing at the helm tryin to imagine the size of that thing comin towards ya, scary stuff.

You blokes are definately lucky its great to hear no one was injured

carnarvonite's picture

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Jitters

Sat, 2010-01-09 14:32

They both still have the jjjjitters and sssstutters nnn nnn nnnow fffrrom the electric ssshhocks but other than that they are all right

wide open's picture

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Date Joined: 24/12/09

where you

Sat, 2010-01-09 20:19

where you inside the area between bernier and dorre island and carnavon or just directly out off blowholes, how deep was the water when it happened

carnarvonite's picture

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Blowholes

Sun, 2010-01-10 10:16

They were about 10nm due west of the blowholes,not sure on the depth but would guess at 40-45 fathoms/70-80 metres