Speeding Boats Again? - Not This Time

[lydfordcastle]

Following my experience of being thrown off my feet while standing in the loo, by a passing kayak a few weeks ago, I was again ready to run upstairs and shout at whoever had caused my boat to buck like a bronco yesterday afternoon. But there was nobody there! True, there was a boat about 300 yards away doing noisy things with his bow thrusters and another approaching from the other direction but he was still a good two hundred yards off and nobody, not even a tiny kayak was in my immediate vicinity or moving away from it. The disturbance had been very violent but more of a forward and backward movement than the sideways movement caused by the kayak and a few seconds later the surface of the water was still very choppy but there wasn't a breath of wind. Neither of my neighbours were 'in' so I couldn't check with them and I was beginning to feel that I could have imagined it when a thought struck me. 24 years ago when working in a lightly constructed first floor office in Rugby, I experienced an earthquake which it later transpired had been centred on Stoke Upon Trent. At that time no-one on the ground floor felt anything and neither did anyone in the factory building to which the office was attached but the event was reported later in the local press.

So did we have another mini earthquake yesterday? How do I find out? Has anyone else experienced an eathquake while being in a boat on a canal?

[RLWP]

How is your sense of balance? An inner ear infection could cause something like that

 

Richard

[Delta9]

There were no quakes above 0.5 in the UK yesterday, but I have wondered what would happen if we had a large one...

 

[TheBiscuits]

So did we have another mini earthquake yesterday? How do I find out?

 

No, we did not.

 

Try this if you like earthquakes: http://earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_uk_events.html

 

Maybe you owe that poor kayaker an apology :-D

[tree monkey]

Following my experience of being thrown off my feet while standing in the loo, by a passing kayak a few weeks ago, I was again ready to run upstairs and shout at whoever had caused my boat to buck like a bronco yesterday afternoon. But there was nobody there! True, there was a boat about 300 yards away doing noisy things with his bow thrusters and another approaching from the other direction but he was still a good two hundred yards off and nobody, not even a tiny kayak was in my immediate vicinity or moving away from it. The disturbance had been very violent but more of a forward and backward movement than the sideways movement caused by the kayak and a few seconds later the surface of the water was still very choppy but there wasn't a breath of wind. Neither of my neighbours were 'in' so I couldn't check with them and I was beginning to feel that I could have imagined it when a thought struck me. 24 years ago when working in a lightly constructed first floor office in Rugby, I experienced an earthquake which it later transpired had been centred on Stoke Upon Trent. At that time no-one on the ground floor felt anything and neither did anyone in the factory building to which the office was attached but the event was reported later in the local press.

So did we have another mini earthquake yesterday? How do I find out? Has anyone else experienced an eathquake while being in a boat on a canal?

Where do you Moor? by the bottom of a lock by any chance?

[Cleyley Bob]

Hello Lydfordcastle

 

"Has anyone else experienced an earthquake while being in a boat on a canal?"

 

Well - yes and no....more of that in a moment.

 

Have a look at the following link to the British Geological Survey.

http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/home.html
This gives details of all the earthquakes recorded in the last 50 days.

Click on the yellow symbol and the details of the individual quakes are given.

 

Most recent one listed was on 9th September - centred at Walsall, with a magnitude of 1.1.

 

Now to your question - has anyone experienced an earthquake while on a boat?

 

My bro in law is a science teacher in a school in Wiltshire - who have a seismometer set up in their school lab.

Back in April 2012, there was a reasonable size earthquake centred near Warwick and my bro in law emailed me to ask if I had felt it.

Checking back through my diary, - at the exact time and date - we were in Blisworth Tunnel - so never felt a thing......

Though looking back - had it been a bigger termor and the tunnel hadn't been partially re-constructed in 1984 - it might just have been a different story.

[carlt]

Has anyone else experienced an eathquake while being in a boat on a canal?

Yes I was woken up by the Dudley earthquake in 2002.I rushed to the hatch to remonstrate with the boater who obviously had no regard for others but found nobody there.

 

I returned to bed puzzled at why the boat was still violently bashing against the bank and it was only when I heard the news in the morning that I realised it was the bank bashing against the boat.

 

The OH slept through the lot but I suspect she would sleep through a nuclear holocaust.

Edited September 18, 2014 by carlt

[Athy]

I experienced an earthquake which it later transpired had been centred on Stoke Upon Trent.

It didn't do its job very well. Stoke is still standing.

 

Could we arrange one for Milton Keynes?

[carlt]

Could we arrange one for Milton Keynes?

Didn't they have a big one in the late 60s, explaining its appearance today?

[Paul G2]

Earthquakes can't be felt on lakes or the ocean. Even a tsunami is just a swell when it's out at sea. I would imagine how much influence it would have on the cut would depend on the direction of the forces in relation to the sides.

 

I was in one earthquake where the water from the neighbor's pool came sloshing over a 6' high block wall. One time, at my mother's home, a bunch of us were having dinner when the light fixture, which was hanging on a chain, started swaying and the water in the pool out back started moving. None of us had felt a thing. As we puzzling over why no one had noticed a quake strong enough to move the light fixture, the fixture, and the water in the pool, both started moving even more. Still none of us felt the quake. I guess the quake was gentle enough not to feel it, but it moved the ground, and hence the house and pool, enough to get the water and light fixture moving.

 

I was about five miles from the epicenter of a shallow 5.9 magnitude blind thrust earthquake one time and that was something. The asphalt road and concrete curbs and sidewalks were bending from the shock waves, but not breaking. Imagine the force it must take to bend 2' thick concrete. The shock waves looked like swells in the ocean as they moved down the street.

[Mike Tee]

It didn't do its job very well. Stoke is still standing.

 

Could we arrange one for Milton Keynes?

Thats awful, I may not sleep tonight.

[muddywaters]

_{Can't remember the size of the earth quake or what year, but it was memorable because of what I was doing at the time.}

_{Lets just say the earth literally did move for my ex lol.}

[Mark & Michelle]

Maybe it was the Kraken?

[Up-Side-Down]

Following my experience of being thrown off my feet while standing in the loo, by a passing kayak a few weeks ago, I was again ready to run upstairs and shout at whoever had caused my boat to buck like a bronco yesterday afternoon. But there was nobody there! True, there was a boat about 300 yards away doing noisy things with his bow thrusters and another approaching from the other direction but he was still a good two hundred yards off and nobody, not even a tiny kayak was in my immediate vicinity or moving away from it. The disturbance had been very violent but more of a forward and backward movement than the sideways movement caused by the kayak and a few seconds later the surface of the water was still very choppy but there wasn't a breath of wind. Neither of my neighbours were 'in' so I couldn't check with them and I was beginning to feel that I could have imagined it when a thought struck me. 24 years ago when working in a lightly constructed first floor office in Rugby, I experienced an earthquake which it later transpired had been centred on Stoke Upon Trent. At that time no-one on the ground floor felt anything and neither did anyone in the factory building to which the office was attached but the event was reported later in the local press.

So did we have another mini earthquake yesterday? How do I find out? Has anyone else experienced an eathquake while being in a boat on a canal?

 

This has has the modus operandi of a Soliton, or solitary wave. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton

[Emerald Fox]

Hey up, boaty folk! There was an earthquake in Sweden a couple of days ago - maybe 3 - centred around Mora. Magnitude 5-ish. Maybe it just took its time to sneak up on your boat. Try going to the loo sitting down in future!??!

[rubblequeen]

What magnitude does it have to be to for one to realise what is happening? Looking at the last 50 days recoded most in England are about 1. and no one seems have noticed.