Quake and Tsunami hit northern Japan

[mustkillmulloway]

dear japan

suxed in

signed

the whales

[Trev]

dear japan

suxed in

signed

the whales

Oh dear. I'm laughing..........

[Skipper]

what the heck.... but just a wry from me

aah, fong. the ricky gervais of realsurf.

wouldnt expect any less

[Spoon]

If you are sitting on your board and suddenly the water starts to recede do you think you have time to get in, get to your car and get to higher ground which could be a fair way away depending on the location or do you go out with it and hope it hasn't broken when it passes you. Just a thought that came to me at 2am.

[WANDERER]

I wonder how former RS correspondent "Stuey" who went to Shiba is coping

probably okay, to the best of my knowledge he lives near Currumbin.

[alakaboo]

If you are sitting on your board and suddenly the water starts to recede do you think you have time to get in, get to your car and get to higher ground which could be a fair way away depending on the location or do you go out with it and hope it hasn't broken when it passes you. Just a thought that came to me at 2am.

it will almost always have broken long before it gets to you, because of the wavelength of the tsunami, and it could be up to 15 minutes between the water receding and the wave arriving.
Better off getting out, if you can paddle against the current.

unless you are at a deepwater reef pass, in which case you can head for the channel/horizon, so that you are away from all the debris.

If you can't get to higher ground, get to the higher levels of a substantial building. Particularly one with an open lower level or parking garage. They have stronger foundations and let the wave pass by better.

[baddy]

dear japan

suxed in

signed

the whales

Shallow feeble minded miserable sort of person aren't you mate .
only the lowest arsehole would attempt humor in the face of such a catastrophe.

[Trev]

If you are sitting on your board and suddenly the water starts to recede do you think you have time to get in, get to your car and get to higher ground which could be a fair way away depending on the location or do you go out with it and hope it hasn't broken when it passes you. Just a thought that came to me at 2am.

It may have been an urban myth but I seem to remember hearing a story when I was much younger about a group of Hawaiian watermen who, faced with the prospect of a tsunami - somewhere way back in the middle of last century - who paddled well out to sea to wait for the wave. Only to be stranded just like this when the water sucked away, leaving them on dry(ish) land. The story went that they immediately saw the error of their ways, abandoned their boards and headed for the hills.
Legend doesn't say if they made it.

[chrisb]

I must say that some of those Japanese waves looked nice (if you can ignore the death and devastation they caused).
So, are there any documented, ideally photographed, cases of anyone successfully riding a tsunami

[oldman]

because of the wavelength of the tsunami, and it could be up to 15 minutes between the water receding and the wave arriving.
Better off getting out, if you can paddle against the current.

OK 'boo, I'm going to challenge you here. You're a freaking hydrologist of sorts aren't you???

Say I'm 100 metres out to sea, and surfing, and the water starts to recede.

Regardless of how quickly the water moves out, I will only ever have 100 metres to paddle in. There will be no current pulling me out relative to the receding shoreline. The entire body of water will move out relatively, and only local bathymetry that modifies the general movement of water would cause any particular currents in some areas more than others.

So in a general sense, you would only ever have to paddle in the distance that you were out from the shore.

But then you might have a bit of a walk to where the shoreline used to be.

I've got you there, haven't I!

I heard an early report that the period of the tsunami was in the vicinity of 72 minutes. That seemed a bit long from what I know, and I haven't heard anything since on that subject. But if the water is receding first, effectively you will have the duration of half the wave period to get to higher ground.

I know where the highest ground is in my area. Might seem a little paranoid, but if you have had as many tsunami nightmares as I have, you would know too.

[Damage]

So in other words you're thinking the paddle-in wouldn't be that bad?

[Damage]

Fake?

[Damage]

Also thought I saw a shot of some pretty massive caverns as it was hitting the beach at that poor little fishing village. Looked like a pretty clean set of waves.

[matt...]

not fake. looks consistent with the aerial video footage. very clean waves. 5 big ones in one video shot.

ah, olds at it again. creating an atmoshphere of illusion & delusion before blurbing out his misaligned theories.
he is a theoretical girl living in his own thoeretical world.

bottom contours would create undertows & currents, pulling & sweeping. you might even be sucked under & held under wilst being sucked out to sea!
don't fall for it, 'boo...

[alakaboo]

alakaboo wrote: because of the wavelength of the tsunami, and it could be up to 15 minutes between the water receding and the wave arriving.
Better off getting out, if you can paddle against the current.

OK 'boo, I'm going to challenge you here. You're a freaking hydrologist of sorts aren't you???

Not really, but I know a little bit about tsunamis.

Say I'm 100 metres out to sea, and surfing, and the water starts to recede.
Regardless of how quickly the water moves out, I will only ever have 100 metres to paddle in. There will be no current pulling me out relative to the receding shoreline. The entire body of water will move out relatively, and only local bathymetry that modifies the general movement of water would cause any particular currents in some areas more than others.
So in a general sense, you would only ever have to paddle in the distance that you were out from the shore.
But then you might have a bit of a walk to where the shoreline used to be.
I've got you there, haven't I!

well, if you want to surf in a place with a uniform shoreline and no bottom contours, go ahead
the water level doesn't just drop in a vertical sense. The bottom profile will make a huge difference, so in some places it might recede 10m, in others it might be 500m.
Currents are not insignificant, when local bathymetry comes into play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CDbsxf170Y

I heard an early report that the period of the tsunami was in the vicinity of 72 minutes. That seemed a bit long from what I know, and I haven't heard anything since on that subject.

The highest recorded by ocean buoys for this event was 88 minutes, at Yap in the Caroline Islands. Off Japan it was in the 12-30 minute range, but much higher amplitude.

But if the water is receding first, effectively you will have the duration of half the wave period to get to higher ground.

Technically correct, but those observations are in deep water (i.e. 400m+). By the time it reaches the coast all bets are off. As far as I am aware there is noone in the world who has managed to model the way a tsunami operates in water depth of less than 50m. So you wouldn't know the speed of the wave on the shallower margin.
The general advice is get away from the area as quickly as possible.

If you want to sit on the beach with a calculator and play silly buggers, go ahead

[chrisb]

Fake?

So how big are those waves
They don't look huge so probably wouldn't need a tow-in.
Could one flick off the back and paddle back through or duckdive the whitewater
Riding a tsunami - the last unconquered frontier ........ or has someone done it already

[alakaboo]

Could one flick off the back and paddle back through or duckdive the whitewater

the same whitewater that carried houses up to 6kms inland?
Yeah, piece of cake.

Might want to use your foot on the back rather than your knee, just to make sure you get deep enough.

There is no way of knowing how a tsunami will break, but if you're willing to risk possible oblivion you might get a decent ride. You'd probably still need tow assist though, they were moving at up to 40km on land and are faster in deeper water.


Some amazing pictures here...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan ... eafter.htm

[oldman]

If you want to sit on the beach with a calculator and play silly buggers, go ahead

No need to get snippy just because I totally pwned you.

So in other words you're thinking the paddle-in wouldn't be that bad?

It is certainly the most likely event. In the first instance, the swell that you were out there surfing will still be in the water before the tsunami hits, so just catch the first wave that comes through. It's not as though the sea goes quiet before the tsunami hits.

While bathymetry will play a part in accentuating rips and currents, most local beaches do not have so much variation over the first 100-150 metres from shore to make a significant difference. The angle in which the tsunami is coming is a big factor, but still, the most likely event from a standard east coast beach break is a moderately orderly retreat.

But the walk in might be a lot longer than you remember.

If you are surfing in the middle of Sydney Heads, different story (and what are you doing there?), as there are kilometres of upstream water that are going to take you out. Maybe if you are surfing a rivermouth you will have to battle that slipstream.

But as a surfer, your knowledge of rips and currents should be working for you in this situation.

...you might even be sucked under & held under wilst being sucked out to sea...

Whilst! And don't forget that the boogie man could come and get you too matt! And what about the deep sea monsters.

On another matter, I think as members of the surfing community, we owe it to our fellow citizens to inform them that all tsunamis are zero foot, because they have no backs to them, and everyone knows that he-men measure a wave from the back. :?