Waterspout

[Ixneigh]

Got a pretty up close but thankfully not too personal view of one of these, from start to finish. I was at anchor, so not much time to take evasive action but after watching for a moment it appeared to be moving roughly across my stern. It started as a just a small area of spray on the waters surface, and then the “spout” soon became visible. I sold the clip to a news place for 50 dollars. Getting hit by one of these at night is one of my pet phobias since I’ve had another close encounter years ago. At night. In a much much heavier keel boat.

Here’s a picture after it had fully formed and was well past the boat. This particular one was moving obliquely to the wind.

Ix

[Jimmyt]

Yikes!

[Be Free]

They are impressive and fun to watch (at a distance). The last time I was offshore in the Keys we saw three of them simultaneously.

Here is a great video of one going through a mooring field.

[Russ]

Here is a great video of one going through a mooring field.

Amazing the power that just ripped biminis off the boats.

Geniuses following the thing in a Jetski. What could go wrong?

[NiceAft]

It was amazing how stable that catamaran was.

[Russ]

It was amazing how stable that catamaran was.

I was thinking that also. Looks like maybe it passed just to the starboard of the cat.

[Herschel]

How it rocked the larger keel boats was a powerful demonstration of its force. And seeing the wake it left in the water as it moved at about the same speed as the jetski's. Amazing video.

[Ixneigh]

It would def knock a Mac on her proverbial bum.

[Be Free]

It would def knock a Mac on her proverbial bum.

Been there. Done that. In my case it was probably a microburst. It laid me on my side and spun me around 360 degrees but the boat popped right back up. I had a scared crew (both were in the cabin when it hit) as well as a mess to clean up but the boat was unharmed.