200226 Yacht Endangered

Yacht Endangered
Report No. 200226

After ascertaining that the traffic control lights were green, indicating that I could leave, my yacht sailed from Oostende harbour. On clearing the harbour approaches, two commercial ferries were sighted at a distance of about 2½ miles on a projected course for the harbour entrance. With one hour of strong southerly ebb tide to run plus a head wind and as I was heading for Felixstowe, I decided to steer a course to the North of both ferries. One of the ferries appeared to be approaching at speed. Once she had passed, the resulting series of bow waves could only be described as horrendous, exceedingly dangerous and life threatening. They took the form of two exceptionally high waves, in very close formation and breaking at their crests along their full length, from the moment of parting from the ferry. The resultant lift to my yacht, and subsequent fall into the trough, imparted the most colossal impact that was in itself life-threatening. Local pilotage information, as supplied in Marine Almanacs, draws attention to the presence of "High Speed Ferries" but with no particular danger warning. At the time of departure, my VHF radio was tuned to Ch 16 and the appropriate Harbour Channel. No warning was given to me. In my opinion, I should not have been given permission to leave. My home port is Harwich, where strict controls on the speed of the HSS ferry are imposed.

I subsequently wrote to the Harbour Master who replied that I had misjudged the situation and that, as the ferry was in shallow water, the squat effect would produce "rather impressive stern waves".

My sole purpose in raising this issue is to try to understand and interpret what action needs to be taken by ALL parties, in order to be of assistance to ALL users of these waters, so that such a potentially dangerous situation can be avoided in the future. There is clearly a "need to know factor" that is not published or broadcast to date.