Passengers Injured as Norwegian Escape Hit by ‘100 Knot Wind Gust’ Off U.S. East Coast
Several passengers aboard the cruise ship Norwegian Escape were reported injured after freak gust of wind reportedly caused the ship to list as much of 45 degrees, causing chairs, tables and pretty much anything unsecured to go flying.
I’m a bit skeptical about this, be good to see some collaborating information.
I put in a tip to gcaptain based on this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/03/06/freak-thing-mph-extreme-gust-rattles-bahamas-bound-cruise-ship-injuring-passengers/?utm_term=.18672ba819db
Looks like a typical winter north of cape hatteras. Why do people keep taking these winter cruises out of New York? This seems to be happening every year and the media keeps acting surprised like it has never happened before.
Untrained human eye is very bad at estimating pitch/roll angles without reference point; the same applies to airplane motions (ask a random passenger how steep the climb or bank was…). While the list may have been significant and people were injured, I doubt it was 45 degrees.
Helps if you divide down from a quadrant; but that’s a learned technique.
Agreed. 45 degree rolls would have had everything and everybody in that lounge area thrown from one side to the other.
Connected?
Stabilizer
An unexpected 15 degree roll will cause trouble if it catches the crew by surprise, 45 degrees doesn’t seem plausible.
A 100 kt gust seems far more likely than the 45 degree roll but I’d have my doubts there as well. It was at night as was called an estimate, it is a nice round number.
Rule of thumb is wind gust are 50% of wind speed, of course a lot of weird things happen at sea so it’s very possible but I wonder how the estimate was made at night.
Perhaps their anemometer worked? And perhaps they compensated for the vessel’s motion – or not?
Don’t know, technically (fwiw in this case) by anemometer would be more properly called a measurement. Of course both measurements and estimates are subject to errors.
Kennebec Capt - thanks for “Anemometer”. BTW, for news outlets & land-lubbers: The ship did not LIST, TILT, or LEAN. An external force - wind - causes the ship to HEEL. Smooth Sailing.
I have read a couple of “news” reports of passengers being in fear of the ship capsizing. I just shake my head at all the hoo-ha. I also find it annoying people that go on cruises begin to think of themselves as “sailors”.
What? Is that a statement, a question, or just word vomit from your keyboard?
That front created havoc in the Midwest before slamming through the central outer banks with 40+ knot gusty winds. At this time of year it’s common as lows form just offshore before heading north. When they reach open water and the Gulf Stream, things can get sporty.
Stabilizers have been known to deploy on one side only…causing a severe list to us but to an average passenger it would be a “rogue wave” or “apocalypse” or “sea monster”. Perhaps some deflection on the part of the company.
Do you consider yourself a stable person? Just a little guy, I imagine.
Brings to mind Joseph Conrad and his complaints about the reporters and newspapers who used the phrase “cast anchor”
I remember a coasting pilot of my early acquaintance (he used to read the papers assiduously) who, to define the utmost degree of lubberliness in a landsman, used to say, “He’s one of them poor, miserable ‘cast-anchor’ devils.”
Another good one is “anchors away”.
I stand corrected (and plead English as a third language).
Yes, there are many trick phrases out there. My wife has a tendency to win cruises, which always require my presence. Hearing the seagulls talk about anything maritime usually adds volumes to my ‘cast-anchor’ dictionary.