A bad day on the water for some... Naval Ship wake damages 40+ boats

[ruztew]

Just a little wake? =(

http://wbay.com/2015/09/08/naval-ship-damages-more-than-40-boats-over-labor-day-weekend/

 

[ncnmra]

Not sure I'd be standing BEHIND my boat with a large wave coming from the front....but I'd sure be PO'd

 

[Glassman]

A follow up report by the Dept. of Inland Waterways indicates that there were over 4700 beers spilled when the huge wake came through, adding to the loss. Marinette Marine has responded accordingly and said they will be launching kegs from the ship next weekend when it makes another pass!

 

[subysti]

I guess it all comes down to the legality of the claims. If the area isn't marked as a no wake zone or no speed limits posted then technically they are not at fault. All the boats were just anchored up on a island beach not a dock so really they probably didn't do anything wrong from a legal standpoint.

 

[4x15mph]

It says that the naval ship can go upwards of 46+ MPH. I always thought you might have an option of running away from their waves but at that speed, it would be hard to get away.

 

[Trm1765]

boats are responsible for their wakes..no wake zone or not.

 

[BigN8]

My ship ran high speed down the Chesapeake Bay one time and we were receiving pissed off radio communications from tug boat captains towing barges. The ship was 600' long with a 70' beam. I think our draft was something like 25'. I was told when you run at higher speed in a shallow Chanel that a phenomenon happens between the ships keel and the river bottom that creates a suction effect, thereby pulling the ship down more and increasing the draft which exaggerates the swell coming off the ship.

 

[rkluck]

I think it was lucky nobody was hurt. Trying to keep boats in place or hitting each other is not easy to do with 5 foot waves.

 

[Jim Robeson]

Quick...someone get a surfboard behind that bad boy!!

 

[Big Shasta]

It says that the naval ship can go upwards of 46+ MPH. I always thought you might have an option of running away from their waves but at that speed, it would be hard to get away.

Likely the real top speed is classified. I bet it would outrun all the yamaha's on here. That's some horsepower!!

Looks like it was still under the control of the contractors and not yet turned over to the Navy. The problem will be getting money out of that private company. On second thought, that's probably easier than the Navy red tape.

 

[Noko]

I guess tying your boat to another one might not be a good idea. This same event could happen from a thunderstorm coming through. The waves didn't look that big though. I think if I tied my boat to another, I'd have the big black fenders that I have between the two boats.

 

[Eurocat]

Quick...someone get a surfboard behind that bad boy!!

LOL, now that would be an awesome vid. You would probably get shot at for coming too close, but might be worth the images.

 

[Wayloncle]

LOL, now that would be an awesome vid. You would probably get shot at for coming too close, but might be worth the images.

Looks like people do it with cargo ships!

 

[GTBRMC]

I've anchored right there.

Background: Chambers Island is right in the middle of Green Bay which is a huge section of Lake Michigan, it is over 1,600 square miles, over 1,000,000 acres! Chambers is a popular rec boating anchorage, particularly the long, straight south shore and the n-nw facing small bay where this incident apparently occurred.

This little bay has a fairly deep hole right in front of the anchoring beach (shows a 46' sounding on the chart, below middle) with a scoop shaped shoreline facing out into Green Bay. These features could combine easily (and predictably) to kick a large wave up from a higher energy inbound swell, with zero warning on an otherwise calm day.

The island is the only prominent island in that area and is within sight from Marinette on a clear day... I saw Chambers from right by Marinette as I towed my Yammie through there about a month ago on my way to northern Michigan.

Those cowboys from the boatyard damn well should be held accountable for this. They know damn well about Chambers and its popularity with rec boaters, it was a nice holiday weekend, and they certainly know Green Bay and its geography very, very well.

Very, very irresponsible! There is plenty of big water available nearby for testing and lots of days in the calendar that are not holiday weekends. They are very lucky someone wasn't seriously hurt or killed.




Note that Marinette is in the SW corner of this (lower) chart and Chambers Island is almost due NE of Marinette

 

[RiverRat]

Come on @Glassman this was in Wisconsin. Don't forget about the 200 bottles of brandy and 2200 lbs of bratwurst tragically lost in the bay.

But seriously, what a bad move on Marinette Marine's part.