Tag Archives: Laboe

Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 2, where we look at sandbanks around Kiel

Sailing out of the Kiel fjord on a large ferry changes the whole perspective on the coastline. For example below, we see the lighthouse Friedrichsort which is located at the end of a headland and which is always an interesting spot for wave watching.

Or on the other side of Kiel fjord, Laboe is very popular with kite surfers. There are sand banks quite far out in the fjord and a very shallow area connecting the sand banks and the beach, so the water is usually calm and warm there.

It’s very interesting to see this not from sea level, but from higher up!

More wave watching, this time in Kiel

Beautiful morning arriving back in Kiel… Looking downwind, the weather might seem pleasant (especially when focussing on the sunrise).

But looking upwind however, the wind rows on the water as well as the white caps on the waves indicate that it’s quite windy!

Very cool: the turbulent wake of a ship interrupts the wave field and therefore, with its different surface roughness, is clearly visible!

And below you see so many things: The sand bank running from the lighthouse towards the next headland becomes visible as waves are breaking  on it. The turbulent wake of that blue ship we saw above already is still clearly visible, as is its V-shaped wake. And you see our own wake as the feathery pattern that runs all the way from the bottom edge of the picture to way behind the blue ship!

And here our own wake becomes even more prominent as we turn. Laboe in the background…

Here is another ship, waiting to enter the locks of the Kiel canal. It’s moving only very slowly (so hardly any wake visible), but you see how it’s sheltering the water from the wind so the downwind water appears completely smooth right at the ship!

And here are some more wakes and sheltered spots of water surfaces. Locks of the Kiel canal in the background!

And another look at the locks. Do you notice how the wind rows still indicate that it’s quite windy, but how it’s a lot less windy than it was further out?

And then we are in the Kiel fjord. This is the upwind shore — see how waves are only slowly forming and building up with longer and longer fetch?

And then in the sheltered port a different kind of waves: Our bow propellers mixing the inner Kiel fjord!

Shallow water waves

Have you ever noticed how, if you are at a shallow beach, no matter how choppy waves are further offshore, everything becomes nice and orderly on the beach?

Below you see where the water depth suddenly increases, both from the color of the water and from the wave pattern. While in deeper water waves propagate at all kinds of speeds depending on their wavelength, the moment the water becomes shallow enough, all waves propagate at the same speed (except for the really short waves for which the water is still deep, but let’s forget about those). If all waves propagate at the same speed, it means that the form of the wave that we observe stays constant over time and just moves as a whole. Hence it looks a lot more tidy than the choppy waves further out.

Funny that in all these years of wave watching, I have never thought about that before!

Watch the movie below to see for yourself