Huge whirlpool in the Brisbane river.

[Gon Fishun]

G'day guys.
The wife arrived back last sat morning from a cruise to Vanuatu.
They were on the upper deck of the Pacific Dawn travelling up the Brisbane river under the Gateway bridge at about 5am when they noticed a whirlpool at about the 3 rd pylon from the north side. She reckons it was about 20 mts across and 6 feet deep and looked pretty scary.
Anybody heard or seen any of these as it sounds like a recipe for disaster if your out early having a fish.
Cheers.
PS. She was sober and not hullicinating

[tunaticer]

Was the ship about to dock and using its side thrusters??

AFAIK there is only one pair of bridge pilons in the water on each side of the river. Makes me thing she was talking about the wharf they were trying to dock to, hence using the thrusters.

[Gon Fishun]

Was the ship about to dock and using its side thrusters??

AFAIK there is only one pair of bridge pilons in the water on each side of the river. Makes me thing she was talking about the wharf they were trying to dock to, hence using the thrusters.

Just had another yack at her and we have confirmed what you said about the pylons and looked on Google Earth.
Yes the whirlpool was near the north side pylons of the Gateway bridge. I to thought thrusters. Reverse engines. ??????????

[finga]

Could you ask her if the swirl was going clockwise or anti-clockwise please?

Cheers Scott

[Muddy Toes]

Could you ask her if the swirl was going clockwise or anti-clockwise please?

Cheers Scott

Are you still thinking about Coriolis effected ducks mate?

[Mike Delisser]

Could you ask her if the swirl was going clockwise or anti-clockwise please?

Cheers Scott

Priceless.

[WalrusLike]

...... noticed a whirlpool at about the 3 rd pylon from the north side. She reckons it was about 20 mts across and 6 feet deep and looked pretty scary.
Anybody heard or seen any of these as it sounds like a recipe for disaster if your out early having a fish......

Yeah that would ruin your fishing trip hitting that..... Buggered if I know why people throw their old white goods in the river.... Let alone giant ones....

[marto78]

Those big ships move a hell of a lot of water when they have the power down.

We were fishing about 5m of the point of Fishermens Island about 5 years back when we watched 3 dolphins come flying out of the river and around the point followed by a heap of fish, then the water level dropped about 2 foot and we could see it all rushing into the river from around the point. We didnt know what to make of it until we saw a big tanker heading out of the river at full noise and realised that the water was being sucked back up the river by the ships propellors as it accelerated. After the ship left the river returned to its normal level.

The point of my story is that the whirlpool is most likely caused by the ships propellar as it steams up river, they have to push a hell of a lot of water to move those big ships in any kind of forward direction.

[Dignity]

Yeah that would ruin your fishing trip hitting that..... Buggered if I know why people throw their old white goods in the river.... Let alone giant ones....

Yeah, a couple of them have been dumped in the pelican waters canals and I know a bloke who knows where they are and pulls a few good bream out of them. Not sure though if they are the same brand.

[Dignity]

I was on a cruise ship a couple of weeks ago and yes, the side thrusters draw a lot of water but not 20m x 6 m, the ones I saw were probably 4 m wide but no depth in them other than disturbed top water as they generally use them very gingerly, not sure about the props drawing water in to the same depth as have never seen it and what I saw on the cruise ship, I spent a lot of time on deck watching the surronds when docking and leaving, was nothing that would cause any danger as these babys do get up and go when clear of any restrictions. Not to say that larger vessels might cause these whirlpools though it seems unlikely, probably some hyrologists (hope that is the right terminology) can explain what happens when side thruster or propellors are engaged to shift a lot of water.

[Gon Fishun]

She's ok now that all the information has been collected and sorted. She has stopped pestering me to ask the people in the know on AU and has gone back to kiiiiiiiiiitchen. shit.got sprung.

[Gon Fishun]

Yeah, a couple of them have been dumped in the pelican waters canals and I know a bloke who knows where they are and pulls a few good bream out of them. Not sure though if they are the same brand.

They would have to be LG. lifes good.

[marto78]

They would have to be LG. lifes good.

Untill the warranty runs out

[WalrusLike]

Sure it's not a Fisher and Pikel?

[duncdiver]

Yeh that is pretty much what happens, it is the speed of a large vessel that creates a suction effect as it displaces the water in front of it as it is steaming along in confined waters. If you have a large box 30Mt X 30MT x 175Mt being pushed through a channel all the water at the front of it will compress and has to go somewhere and hence speeds up under and around the vessel then creates a suction effect behind it. We tie up on a large vessel in the brisbane river and when ever another large vessel comes past us we get berth surge so initially pulls us towards the passing vessel then as it passes wants to take us with it.
Devonport is worse, when the SPOT leaves it sucks the water out of the basin and is really noticeable.
As for the whirlpool, not sure but most likely thrusters in use.