Tsunami- Head Out To Sea?

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Insurance? Wouldn't a tsunami be an "act of god"? I would head out of Hardy Bay but I don't know if Queen Charlotte Strait would be big or deep enough and open ocean is too far to go in a 39' sailboat. (another aftershock was just reported... 6.3) We have insurance but I doubt a tsunami would be covered. I would rather try to save her though.

[Astrid]

I don't know if Queen Charlotte Strait would be big or deep enough and open ocean is too far to go in a 39' sailboat.

Hecate strait is too shallow for comfort in case of a tsunami, and from Skidegate Inlet, the closest point where water is at least 100 fathoms is about 58nm ESE.

[Sir Rondo Normal]

The quakes are still happening eh. I checked out the list of fore and after shocks of the Japanese 2011 quake. One of the foreshocks was 7.2. Makes one wonder eh?

Time for bed. Maybe it'll all be over when I wake up... muhahaha

[rebel heart]

I think a tough part for a cruiser is you might not even know a tsunami is happening. You could have an earthquake a thousand miles away at the same time you're hopping in the dinghy to go to the beach to go hiking for a few hours. New area, might be hard to notice the difference between a neap tide and a pre-tsunami suck out of water. Wired to a cell phone in an urban area it's cake, but I've spent a good couple of days sometimes just relaxing.

[donradcliffe]

Based on my friends experience in Thailand, being anchored in 30 ft of water was plenty deep enough to avoid damage in that tsunami. However, if you are near a harbor, you might get smacked by docks and/or boats which have broken loose.

[DumnMad]

After the Samoa tsunami I worked on a wharf replacement that was paid for by insurance. Maybe its only yachts that have 'Acts of God'. (They only had 10 to 15 minutes from earthquake to the wave. The warning signal was the water receding.)

[Auzzee]

A cruising friend and his family had left Reebak Marina in Langkawi for a day's sailing on the day the asian tsunami struck. He says he was probably 6-8 miles offshore when the tsunami struck land killing thousands and destroying hundreds of boats. He had no idea there had been any event until he heard it on the radio. He felt nothing pass beneath his boat. He returned to the location of the marina to find it largely missing and totally devastated.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day All,

After the Boxing day tsunami I talked to many of our friends who were in SE Asia at the time. Their stories were very convincing and changed my attitude towards these events.

So, since then we have twice been in an area where a warning was announced, and we indeed left the anchorages and went to what seemed like safer water. Once was in Noumea, once in the Pittwater (near Sydney, Oz), and there were heaps of other boats with folks aboard them in both locations. In Noumea, ONE other boat went to the trouble of gettin' outta Dodge, and ONE commercial vessel declined to enter the pass until the all clear was sounded. In Pittwater, NONE did. I was fairly amazed !

But turns out that they were all right, for nothing happened in either case, and there were a few comments about cowardly Yanks, etc. But I saw the devastation in SE Asia, and the next time a warning sounds I'll up anchor again and get out to safety. Let them laugh...

Cheers,

Jim

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Captain Jeffry

Just a wee bit curious why you wouldn't want to protect your boat even if you had insurance. Maybe really good insurance ~

I can't speak for Bash, but for me it would be a question of risk of life versus insured property. I wouldn't take even a fairly small risk of life to protect insured property. And I wouldn't have significant property (like a boat or a house) exposed to such risks without insurance. Good insurance.

So net-net, if I were on land and a tsunami were on the way, as much as I love my boat, I doubt I would drop everything and run to the shore -- where all the danger is in a tsunami -- that is, run deliberately into the danger zone, in order to get the boat out to sea. I would say a prayer and let insurance sort it out, if my boat gets whacked.

If I were on the boat, however, I would slip lines, clip on in the cockpit, and head out. I don't think you need such tremendously deep water to be safe. I think you just need to far enough away from the shore to avoid the breaking tsunami waves.

[atoll]

we were about 1/2 miles off shore in 12meters of water off of koh lanta during the tsunami,never felt a thing apart from the depth increasing to 15m,and some confused currents,but could see the wave breaking on the beach and boats getting trashed.
wind dropped soon afterwards from 25 knots to nothing,and soon started to find a lot of debris floating around as we carried on north to koh pi pi.
where we anchored off for the night in 27 m about a mile off shore,wind came back that evening.

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I think a tough part for a cruiser is you might not even know a tsunami is happening. You could have an earthquake a thousand miles away at the same time you're hopping in the dinghy to go to the beach to go hiking for a few hours. New area, might be hard to notice the difference between a neap tide and a pre-tsunami suck out of water. Wired to a cell phone in an urban area it's cake, but I've spent a good couple of days sometimes just relaxing.

Yes as I said in a former post... we had no warning. None, nada, zip. The entire marina next to ours was on alert and fishing boats left the dock to run for safe water while emergency crews ran around low-lying areas evacuating everyone in danger to higher ground... except us. We slept through the entire thing. Thankfully nothing happened. And then our Premiere had the audacity to say that a 42 minute response by the province was fine and "the system worked". Ya right! The system didn't work... nothing happened. BIG DIFFERENCE!!!
Obviously her system is based on luck eh!

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Originally Posted by atoll

as we carried on north to koh pi pi.
where we anchored off for the night in 27 m about a mile off shore,wind came back that evening.

Good on ya! You remained composed enough to 'go pee pee' after the tsunami

[jeremiason]

We were in Bandaras Bay (Puerto Vallarta) Mexico when the Japan Tsunami hit. We had well over 6 hours warning and saw the damamges in Crecent City and Santa Cruz. The Mexican Government "Red Flagged" (Closed) every Pacific Coast Marina in Mexico.

We were in La Cruz Marina in the north end of the Bay. We had about 15 feet of water under our boat in the marina and I decided to head out. We sailed into about 300 feet of water and hung out for the day.

The first, of five or six surges hit at about 1330 hrs local and the last came in about 1730 local. The biggest surge was about 8 feet inside the marina.

The real broblem came because the docks rose and fell so quickly, they bound on the Pilings and broke free from their own weight. Four cement dock fingers were destroyed and several other damaged.

Also several of the Channel Marker Buoys were drug way off station from the tidal changes and current flow.

In the 300 feet of water we were sailing in, we never felt the Tsunami waves entering the Bay.

Tusnamis are strange animals and everyone is going to be different, based on a number of factors.

In my opinion, if it is possible, get into deep water and be far enough away to avoid the debris flows that will follow.

[rtbates]

Have you seen film of what happens near shore when they hit?

YES, get out to sea. Even a mile or so helps ...

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by jeremiason

We were in Bandaras Bay (Puerto Vallarta) Mexico when the Japan Tsunami hit. We had well over 6 hours warning and saw the damamges in Crecent City and Santa Cruz. The Mexican Government "Red Flagged" (Closed) every Pacific Coast Marina in Mexico.

We were in La Cruz Marina in the north end of the Bay. We had about 15 feet of water under our boat in the marina and I decided to head out. We sailed into about 300 feet of water and hung out for the day.

The first, of five or six surges hit at about 1330 hrs local and the last came in about 1730 local. The biggest surge was about 8 feet inside the marina.

The real broblem came because the docks rose and fell so quickly, they bound on the Pilings and broke free from their own weight. Four cement dock fingers were destroyed and several other damaged.

Also several of the Channel Marker Buoys were drug way off station from the tidal changes and current flow.

In the 300 feet of water we were sailing in, we never felt the Tsunami waves entering the Bay.

Tusnamis are strange animals and everyone is going to be different, based on a number of factors.

In my opinion, if it is possible, get into deep water and be far enough away to avoid the debris flows that will follow.

Terrific first hand account with detail, thanks man.