Not many of us would ever see genuine huge breaking seas , but this man talks about them not once but three times in his double handed race around Australia.
and once again it is mentioned some of the worst seas are off the east coast of Australia.
Lin and Larry Pardey said there worst storm was off Fraser Island.
Sir Peter Blake 500,000 miles at sea. This is a great read, and if you haven't read the files on this site it is well worth having a look .
dragdevicedb.com/drogues-on-trimarans/dt-1-trimaran-steinlager

Good read cheers.

Thanks Zzzz,
That was really interesting!

Thanks Zzzz!
Interesting that speed of deployment was raised as a big safety factor. You always imagine you'll get a bit of time to sort out your shiz while the conditions deteriorate which happened on the rare occasions I copped truly crappy conditions.

So valuable to get info from someone who has personally seen and survived some of the worst of what's out there.

From now on the drogue, warp and chain will be stowed a lot closer to the cockpit!

Thanks guys interesting Peter Blake was also interviewed by Lin and Larry before he passed away and he said oh before I go I just want to say when you go out to sea even on a coastal hope you must be prepared to head way out to sea , for things can change anytime.
So many of us take it for granted that we will be at the next port of call in so many hours.

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Zzzzzz said..
Thanks guys interesting Peter Blake was also interviewed by Lin and Larry before he passed away and he said oh before I go I just want to say when you go out to sea even on a coastal hope you must be prepared to head way out to sea , for things can change anytime.
So many of us take it for granted that we will be at the next port of call in so many hours.

Indeed, I reckon people think "oh even if the weather turn sh!t I know how to handle this" we are all guilty of this aren't we. Well have a look at these confronting images of wave rider buoy data. This was recorded only a couple miles out from point lookout. These numbers are in metres




Yes I am burgling the Tugs wifi . As their is no coverage here apparently.
Regards,
Mick

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Shanty said..

Zzzzzz said..
Thanks guys interesting Peter Blake was also interviewed by Lin and Larry before he passed away and he said oh before I go I just want to say when you go out to sea even on a coastal hope you must be prepared to head way out to sea , for things can change anytime.
So many of us take it for granted that we will be at the next port of call in so many hours.

Indeed, I reckon people think "oh even if the weather turn sh!t I know how to handle this" we are all guilty of this aren't we. Well have a look at these confronting images of wave rider buoy data. This was recorded only a couple miles out from point lookout. These numbers are in metres




Yes I am burgling the Tugs wifi . As their is no coverage here apparently.
Regards,
Mick

Wow Mick they are pretty impressive numbers it looked bad enough in that video of the poor guy just rescued up north of there

Having done a bit of boating both power and sail , for me I am going with
a. biggest seas, south Tasmania
b. worst seas from top of Fraser Island to Noosa

The second is more relevant to people here but what makes this worst in my book is that the sett is irregular but fast flowing and also changes depth and an irregular bottom against a big southerly breeze but swell direction often has a lot of east in it and so gives rise to very irregular big seas.
That seems to be consistent with the Lin and Larry Pardley experience of the same area.

I could write a book on the experiences my dad had trawling. Here's part of one.

After "A few" drinks at the bundy tavern. My dad comes home pretty drunk, I was asleep and was woken by his yelling I was probably 14 at the time. He yells "f_ck this Why the f_ck do I have to have such useless f_cking people want to work with me." ( this time he had been at the pub to come and meet a deckie who was supposed to be working with him the next day and had failed to turn up) He yells again "Mick I'm leaving at 6am meet you there" I just pretended I was asleep. I didn't think he would leave by himself.

The next morning I was woken by mum asking where dad was. I just thought sh!t.
Hes taken off in the boat.

Fast forward three days. He pulls up to the jetty I help him tie up. He was very embarrassed about his actions he told me. He reckons that's the last f_cking time he goes out their.

He was trawling by himself into about 1.5-2 knots of tide. He reckons when the wind blew up to 20-25 knots the waves were just massive. 4-5 metres he says . Wind against tide. He looked shattered. Usually when I was with him we would alternate in the day on wheel watch 4 hours on 4 hours sleep. He reckons he just idled into the seas with the autopilot and slept for an hour at a time.

After a 2 nights out their the first night in 10 knots of SW. The second night of 20-25 SE he came back in with 600 pound of prawn. Mainly massive Ocean kings.

For 3 days work the Old 12 cylinder Detroit burnt 6500 litres. About 85 litres an hour.

That was in 2012. For the record he went back out there with me a couple weeks later. There is indeed a current out there now that I look on windyty.



Always be prepared is the moral of the story. Be prepared when you drink can be another if you want.

Regards
Mick

The pic illustrates perfectly what I mean about the current.