Tofino, British Colombia Boat capsize - 5 dead, but odd story behind it - Rogue Wave

Ok, so a boat capsizing is not what is odd about this. What is odd, is that one of the survivors said it was a "sudden wave" that capsized the boat. Now this is a 65 foot motor boat. That is fairly large, and large enough that life jackets are not mandatory on them, as in they don't typically get bowled over by a sudden wave. I have been sailing numerous times in very rough seas on a 71 foot boat, and the only time I was scared was when a sudden wind came and we couldn't drop the sails before it blew through and the tip of the mast touched the water.

So I would think this would have had to have been a pretty large wave.

It occurred of the coast of Tofino, but the pics show there is land nearby. If this wave were large enough to roll a 65 foot boat without notice, wouldn't it have hit shore as well?

I am wondering if there was a large quake out at sea or something that caused this.

TOFINO, British Columbia – A sudden wave capsized a whale watching boat with 27 people on board off Vancouver Island on Sunday, according to a fisherman who spoke with a survivor of the sinking.

Five British nationals are dead and one Australian man is still missing after the 65-foot Leviathan II capsized in seemingly calm weather about eight nautical miles off Tofino, a popular destination for whale watchers.

"The lady was saying that a wave just capsized them," said Clarence Smith, a local fisherman who was among the first rescuers on the scene. "That's why there weren't any communications on the radio, no mayday."

Anywho, on to my other oddity about this story. In 1998, this same whale watching company had another boat capsize, and oddly, the same excuse was given:

It wasn't the first fatal accident on the whale watching company's record. In 1998 one of its vessels capsized during an excursion, sending all four people on board into the water. The operator and a passenger died. Bray said that vessel was struck by a rogue wave but said the latest incident involved a much larger boat.

So is there a history of earthquake activity in the area that would cause these? And why only this boat that got hit? I would think this area would be swarming with boats in general.

Source

a reply to: Vasa Croe

There are many quakes in the area as its located over the marianas trench. Lately there has been many small quakes around the island (vancouver island). There are many little islands in that area aswell.

That part of the stretch is notorious for having rough seas. There are times where the fairies wont sail because the waves are too rough.

I know this as i live in the area

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I've been surfing up there a few times and "sudden waves" are quite common and would appear out of place to those who don't understand those waters. The tourists observations do not indicate anything out of the normal IMO.

When I was visiting the Island they had a saying:

"If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes"

I doubt it was eq related.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

No quakes reported near that time not for the 23rd, 24th or 25th. Nothing that might cause a rouge wave over there. For the other articles I had to look up the boat tipped over on Sunday 10/25/2015. Took a bit of looking around to find the date it happened.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I thought it was odd too! My first thought was a whale jumped out of the water and accidently landed on the deck of the boat.

originally posted by: snypwsd
a reply to: Vasa Croe

There are many quakes in the area as its located over the marianas trench.

The Marianas Trench is located in the Western Pacific, south of Japan - not really near this event at all.

I have heard stories about waves like that happening in lakes in the middle of the nite. No ryme or reason just smooth as glass empty water then all the sudden here comes a giant wave that is too big to be made by ships even though the lake had no boats big enough to cause the wave. No other waves just one rouge killer..

This story seems to be the highlight all over the news up here in Canada. I've seen the footage of the boat, and the interviews with some of those first on scene. Apparently it was calm waters, no earthquake activity, however they were in an area that was rocky and had some reefs. I would assume because this was a tour company that they knew the area well enough to avoid running aground but perhaps not. There is wide speculation about how it all happened, and it seems nobody is really saying anything. If I had to throw my theory out there, I'd say maybe a whale got too close or even under the boat ( can happen) and flipped them. If that were the case, of course they would keep it hush hush. Just like here in Nova Scotia, if the tourists think there is a chance they might get thrown into the drink by the thing they will pay top dollar to photograph, there goes an entire tourist industry. Tofino, being the small destination it is...likely needs the whale tours as a large tourist draw.

originally posted by: AccessDenied
This story seems to be the highlight all over the news up here in Canada. I've seen the footage of the boat, and the interviews with some of those first on scene. Apparently it was calm waters, no earthquake activity, however they were in an area that was rocky and had some reefs. I would assume because this was a tour company that they knew the area well enough to avoid running aground but perhaps not. There is wide speculation about how it all happened, and it seems nobody is really saying anything. If I had to throw my theory out there, I'd say maybe a whale got too close or even under the boat ( can happen) and flipped them. If that were the case, of course they would keep it hush hush. Just like here in Nova Scotia, if the tourists think there is a chance they might get thrown into the drink by the thing they will pay top dollar to photograph, there goes an entire tourist industry. Tofino, being the small destination it is...likely needs the whale tours as a large tourist draw.

This seems quite plausible. I live on the island just a couple hours drive from Tofino and it was a lovely warm day with no wind. Not that it won't be windier on the west coast but they are very used to it. Strange sad story. The stories of rogue waves are the reason I am a landlubber, lol. Almost all earthquake activity in the are comes from the fault off the west coast where this happened but I guess that got ruled out.