28 foot yacht semi knock down by breaking wave in stormy seas

A rogue wave from a different direction to the general wave train hits my boat while hove to (not sailing) in a storm, 100 miles off the Australian coast on passage from New Caledonia to Brisbane in November 2017. This was during my single-handed sailing circumnavigation in Fathom, my Vancouver 28.

The tiller is not lashed completely to leeward as I was experimenting in keeping some way on. Conditions improved enough after 3 days that I was able to start sailing again and safely make landfall. If I had tried to close on the coast in these conditions it could have been a disaster in the shallow water and even bigger breaking waves found in the South Australian Current (another solo sailor was rescued at the time).

Check out a film about my solo sailing circumnavigation:

#broach #knockdown #bigwavesailing #sailingstorm #breakingwave #roguewave

[mulletover]

no intro music, no music, no talking, no bs. Thank you.

[itsumonihon]

Everyone says waves look bigger in real life than in the video. That wave looked right fuckin big. "Shit" is the understatement of the year. Cheers

[stevepeterson]

One thing I noticed is when they slam over, you dont hear a buch of loose items crashing, rolling, breaking all over the place. He's battened down ready for the conditions, well handled.

[garethdavies]

That wave was seriously huge, I love the calm "shit".

[AthelstanEngland]

The narrative during this video perfectly describes the situation!!!

[ashleighelizabeth]

What's scary is how quickly a rolling wave can turn into a breaking wave. During the day you had an instant to see it coming, at night you likely wouldn't until you felt the boat roll over and the wave come aboard.

[Englishsea]

And that was on a nice sunny day. Imagine having the dark clouds and stormy weather to go with it

[colinmontgomery]

That water is the most beautiful blue I have ever seen in my life.

[Davidhamnett]

Epic response, cool as cats, thank you for no music! That wave looked huge!

[stephenharris]

The Vancouver 28 is a capable yacht ⛵❤️

[grouse]

Happened to me in my 28' pearson triton, caught in a storm just outside the chesapeake, 30kn winds on the beam. Electrical was fried and I discovered my cockpit drains were too small. Bailing from the bilge into the sink, good memories

[cback]

You’re fortunate you were in the cockpit with eyes up and noticed it in time to take cover and brace. Had you been below, unsuspecting, and thrown about, you might have been badly insured. That Vancouver 28 seemed to recover very nicely. Impressive! Seeing how fast that came up on you might help convince others that they need to strap in more often.

[sullybiker]

My old man had a 274 in the 80s. I was in it in some hairy weather at times, but it's such a solid boat.

[TheBoatPirate]

good reaction. but question? why was the boat on that heading? shouldnt it have been heading up about 10 or more degrees higher? takin that on the starboard bow would have been easier, no?

[theogdirkdiggler]

Tough boat, she didnt so much as squeak.

[stephenstead]

You safe in a yacht it will up right mate nice video this will show a lot of people how thing can change at sea. Good luck sailing mate

[ericvigne]

Nice.Your boat Vancouver 28 look great to handle this big wave.👌

[twister]

I had something similar a few years ago which filled my cockpit and drenched me as I was steering at the time! My language was less civilised! 👍👍👍

[iainhunneybell]

That was a remarkably calm comment after than kind of event. Hard to make out, but did you get to about 60 degrees of heel? Must have felt like you were on your head.
You can see why so much effort goes into Category A yachts and you might curse bashing your shin on the companionway lip a little less for how these details help keep us all alive and safe. Rather you than me, and I am amazed at how calm you sound. Amazing control 😊

[pdutube]

That was one scary, but very pretty wave!