On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:25:33 -0800, Jessica B
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:50:52 +0700, Bruce
wrote:


Actually in my case it was the trough that was the most noticeable. I
was sitting on the cockpit combing and watching a catamaran and a mono
hull, both headed toward Phi Phi and discussing, with my wife, which
one would get there first when suddenly the horizon was only a very
short distance away, perhaps 50 - 100 meters. By the time I could say,
"What the...." the horizon was back to normal and we saw the wave hit
an island some 3 miles east of us.

So, nothing much happened on your boat. You noticed it, but that was
about it.

Jesus, what did you expect? Had the wave arrived an hour earlier it
would have crushed the boat against an island and neither I or my wife
would be here to talk about it.

The discussion started with your talk about being "prepared" for
calamities at sea. I was simply trying to demonstrate that not
everything can be prepared for.

I recall hearing? reading? about people in
their sailboat in the harbor who rode it out by getting going, then
rescued a bunch of people. Seems to me you're safer moving and away
from the marina, which was my point.

Yes, we had some friends anchored in a bay on the S.W. side of Phuket
and when the water suddenly went away, as they described it, they, a
bloke and his wife, started the engine and knocked the lock off the
anchor winch and ran the chain overboard and headed for the ocean.
They said that they got far enough off shore by the time the crest got
there that they just bounced up and down a bit.

Sounds like they were prepared and did the right thing...?

Nope. In the first place they didn't know what was happening when it
occurred. All they knew was that "the water went away", as they said.
Their reaction was simply to get into more water so if it continued to
"go away" they would still be floating. Starting the engine... well
you turn the key, so perhaps leaving the key in the switch (as nearly
all Yachties do) is being prepared. Running the anchor chain out to
get free of the anchor is actually being un-prepared as most people
advocate tying a rope to the last link in the anchor chain so if you
do run the chain all the way out you don't lose it.

In the situation I described it will knock your boat down - lay it
over on its side - which by itself is not particularly hazardous in a
well found sloop (single masted boat), but will certainly make you sit
up and take notice.

Well, hang on a sec... I don't know what reef pulled in means, but
when the wind blows against the sail, the boat leans over... knocks
down? Ok. Then what? It comes back up or does it keep going? What
happens if you release all the sails? If it happens at night, then ok,
you got hit the first time, but then.... ?

A knock down occurs when the wind against the sail comes from, broadly
speaking, either side of the boat. If the wind suddenly blows hard
enough to overcome the weight of the boat, the boat tips over.
However, as the boat tips over (heels) the grip of the rudder on the
water diminishes and there is less force holding the boat on its
heading.

What happens is that the wind forces the boat over on its side, but
then the ruder is not holding the boat on its course so it turns into
the wind, which decreases the wind pressure on the sails and allows
the boat to right itself.

We released all the ropes when we brought them down at the end of the
day... the sails and ropes just flapped around a lot and the boat
stopped moving.

Yes, because you released the "sheets" the ropes that hold the sail
against the wind pressure and allot it to just flap - like a flag.

In the book the Perfect Storm, the sailboat seems to take it long
enough for the people to be rescued, and it seems like the winds in
that storm are much higher than in a squall.

I think that you are a bit confused as "The Perfect Storm" is a book
about the swordfishing boa, the Andrea Gail, out of Gloucester,
Massachusetts, that sank in 1991, in a large storm in the N. Atlantic.
Cheers,

Bruce