Kayak and Cargo Ship

[KSanford33]

I was fishing from shore today on the Hudson River to scout out some places to take my kayak when I saw something concerning. The Hudson regularly has cargo ships going up and down the river and I noticed about 100ft behind the ship was this good sized wave. About 30ft before the wave got to me, the water level dropped like a stone (probably 4-5ft) then the wave came and crashed over the breakwall. It even sucked a ton of water out of the creek that feeds into the river. Pictures below. 
My concern is that would be potentially dangerous on a kayak. Has anyone experienced this and if so, how did you deal with it?

[cyclops2]

I call it the    " Tsunami effect ".  Very common in water with BIG freighters.  Very common all along the St. Lawrence River & in the Great Lakes near the shipping channels.   I had a near disaster from the unseen bow / hull pressure wave 1 mile away. NEVER be in shallow water where freighters go by.  Keep island between them & you for preventing silent " Blind sided".   By 8' & higher waves. Been there with wife in a deep hulled Chaparral 19' bow rider.   LUCK always beat skill again.   8' and foam breaking.  Spaced 20' apart will bury a little yak. 

My 19' was going straight down & took water up to top of the windshield.  Bow canvas covers held !!

[Koz]

That would be too risky for me.

 

We have a lot of forks in my lake that create some odd seawall angles and there's one stretch that I hate to traverse because of the boat wakes moving towards the seawall and the wakes rebounding off the seawall. I have a very stable kayak, but at times it feels like I'm stuck in a washing machine when I pass that spot.

[KSanford33]

1 hour ago, cyclops2 said:

I call it the    " Tsunami effect ".  Very common in water with BIG freighters.  Very common all along the St. Lawrence River & in the Great Lakes near the shipping channels.   I had a near disaster from the unseen bow / hull pressure wave 1 mile away. NEVER be in shallow water where freighters go by.  Keep island between them & you for preventing silent " Blind sided".   By 8' & higher waves. Been there with wife in a deep hulled Chaparral 19' bow rider.   LUCK always beat skill again.   8' and foam breaking.  Spaced 20' apart will bury a little yak. 

My 19' was going straight down & took water up to top of the windshield.  Bow canvas covers held !!

So places like the Hudson with freighters like this commonly going up and down the river isn’t the place for a kayak then. Crap, I was looking forward to the striper run in a couple months. 

[thediscochef]

I've only seen videos of this effect, but just based on those videos I wouldnt want to be in a yak sharing a waterway with a big ship. That displacement doesn't mess around.

 

 

Also, if the wake is crashing over a break wall there's a greater than zero chance those boats are going overspeed. If you can document it consistently, the coast guard takes that pretty seriously. Read the description of the video above for an example

[Choporoz]

11 hours ago, Koz said:

That would be too risky for me.

 

We have a lot of forks in my lake that create some odd seawall angles and there's one stretch that I hate to traverse because of the boat wakes moving towards the seawall and the wakes rebounding off the seawall. I have a very stable kayak, but at times it feels like I'm stuck in a washing machine when I pass that spot.

Wakeboats and seawalls are a bad combination.   The rebound is worse than the initial waves if you are too close

[KSanford33]

3 hours ago, thediscochef said:

I've only seen videos of this effect, but just based on those videos I wouldnt want to be in a yak sharing a waterway with a big ship. That displacement doesn't mess around.

 

 

Also, if the wake is crashing over a break wall there's a greater than zero chance those boats are going overspeed. If you can document it consistently, the coast guard takes that pretty seriously. Read the description of the video above for an example

That video is exactly what happened. It's a little unnerving to see in person.

[Dogface]

I fish the tidal Delaware. There are numerous big ships and the expected swells but the most deceiving are the swells from slow moving tug boats. The swells from the tugs seem to be closer together and higher. 

[TnRiver46]

Just ride it out with your life jacket on 

[Jleebesaw]

I have seen and experienced it many times on the st lawrance river in my bass boat. It's not a problem with the boat. I just make sure I'm not sitting on a deck seat when the big wave hits. Either standing on the deck or sitting in a console seat. Personally, I would not be out in the river channel of the st lawrance in a kayak. That would be pretty dangerous. I'm getting a kayak for the upcoming season. I will not be using it on big water though. 

[BrianMDTX]

Reminds me of a seiche. 

[Boomstick]

I had this on the St Lawrence. The water was fairly calm, then two Lakers passed by and the water got real choppy f9r the next 45 minutes at least before it began to calm down. I stayed near the shore, away from the ships and was in no danger of flipping.

 

Always wear a life vest.