Gwynnie is up in Eastport, Maine and learning about the Old Sow whirlpool. According to Wikipedia, Old Sow is the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, located off the southwestern shore of Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada, and Moose Island, the principal island of Eastport, Maine.
According to popular etymology the name "Old Sow" is derived from "pig-like" noises the whirlpool makes when churning; however, a more likely origin is the word "sough" (pronounced "suff"), defined as a "drain," or a "sucking sound." Early settlers to the area may easily have mispronounced "sough," as "sow," due to its similar spelling to other words with "sow-sound" endings, such as "plough."
The whirlpool is caused by local bathymetry and extreme tidal range where waters exchange between Passamaquoddy Bay and the Bay of Fundy, combined with the unusual topography of the location's sea floor at the confluence of the numerous local currents.
Old Sow is one of five significant whirlpools worldwide (Corryvreckan, Scotland; Saltstraumen, Norway; Moskstraumen, Norway; and Naruto, Japan are the others). Although the tidal currents within Western Passage surrounding Old Sow compare with faster whirlpools elsewhere, the speed of Old Sow's vortex is considerably slower than Moskstraumen, the world's most powerful whirlpool.
Tremendous water turbulence occurs locally in the greater Old Sow area, but it does not usually constitute a navigation hazard for motorized vessels with experienced operators at the helm; however, small craft — especially vessels with keels (sailboats) and human-powered vessels — are warned to avoid these waters when the tide is running.
Besides Old Sow and its numerous "piglets" (small and medium whirlpools surrounding Old Sow), other area phenomena include standing waves, upwellings (that on rare occasion may even spout several feet into the air), and 10- to 17-foot-deep or more, non-vortexing depressions in the water.
Robert Godfrey writes in Smithsonian Magazine: “The reasons for the Old Sow are several. To begin with, some 40 billion cubic feet of water floods into Passamaquoddy Bay with each incoming tide and mixes with the countercurrents from the St. Croix River to the north of the bay. There's a 400-foot-deep trench to the southwest of New Brunswick's Deer Island Point that continues as a 327-foot trench to the northwest. Bisecting the trench is a 281-foot undersea mountain. All that water flooding into the bay has to negotiate a right-angle turn to get around Deer Island Point, and then it slams into that undersea mountain. When heavy winds coincide with especially high tides, it becomes liquid chaos and disaster for the unwitting seafarer.”
See also It’ll Thrill Y, It’ll Kill Ya in WIRED Magazine... "Chaos isn't just a theory in the Passamaquoddy Bay. Here in the waters off of Eastport, Maine, lurks the Old Sow, the western hemisphere's biggest whirlpool. She shows up wherever and whenever the spirit and tides move her, occasionally opening her maw suddenly in the form of a madly spinning, 40-foot-deep hole in the ocean, several hundred feet wide. Sometimes she's more subdued, creating a funnel-shaped hole roughly 12 feet wide and 12 feet deep.
"'A local fisherman summed it up pretty well when he said, 'I didn't
mind so much getting caught in it. But I did resent having to row uphill
to get out,'" said Robert Godfrey, the self-appointed president for
life of the Old Sow Whirlpool Survivors' Association. Godfrey, a website
designer and photographer, figures about 100 people who have lived to
tell of their experience with the whirlpool belong to the association.
Some members have even been through the whirlpool more than once.
"Riding the Sow is fun," said survivor John Charlton. "But I have to
admit that it's more fun after you're out of it than it is when it's
actually happening."
"The Old Sow is a tidal whirlpool, and so opens up at a location
determined by each day's currents and tide height. New and full-moon
high tides almost always bring Old Sow roaring out of her sty. Locals
usually have a good sense of when and where the Sow will be spinning.
Charlton once went out looking for the Old Sow with his wife, Terry. The
couple searched in all the usual places with no success. They were
about to give up the hunt when they suddenly realized they were
surrounded by 12-foot-high walls of water. The whirlpool had opened up
right beneath their 13-foot whaler.
"'There was absolutely no sensation of dropping or falling," said
Terry Charlton. "All of a sudden we were just inside a deep hole in the
ocean, surrounded by water, right inside Old Whirly." She added that the
only time she calls the whirlpool the Old Whirly is when she happens to
be inside it. "Your vocabulary sure changes when you're in the
whirlpool," John Charlton said. "You use language you'd never even think
of saying at other times, but mostly the words you use aren't as benign
as 'Old Whirly.'"
"Even when the Sow isn't present in all her glory, smaller whirlpools
referred to as "piglets" often can be seen swirling in the bay. There
are also 100-foot-long trenches that suddenly open in the ocean. And
there are the "boils," circular sections of water that rise like a giant
zit and sometimes explode into fountains that spew water up to 20 feet
high. …
"David and Ruth Sousa, residents of nearby Calais, Maine, saw the
chaos up close and personal three years ago. Out for a sail on the bay
with his sister and her two children, David Sousa spotted the Old Sow,
spinning madly and full of debris. Logs, sheets of plywood and wooden
shipping containers, among other things, were circling in the vortex.
"I'd never seen the whirlpool as big and as full of junk as she was that
day," he recalled. \
"An experienced sailor, Sousa decided it would be fun to give the
kids a taste of Mother Nature's own amusement-park ride, and nosed his
19-foot boat just barely into the whirlpool. The result should have been
just a bit of a controlled spin around the Sow, but the boat's engine
suddenly stalled. The boat was pulled right into the maelstrom. "We went
around and around at least a hundred times," said Sousa. "Tell you the
truth, I didn't think we'd be able to get out. But then my sister looked
at the kids and said, 'Don't worry, Uncle Dave will handle this,' so I
knew I had to stay calm and get the motor started." But during one of
the many rotations around the Sow a piece of wood had gotten stuck in
the boat's propeller. Due to the action of the whirlpool, the boat's bow
was sticking 30 degrees in the air. Sousa's family had to dangle him
over the stern by his ankles so he could clear the propeller. "It's not
an experience I plan to repeat," he said.
"Local sailors advise those who get caught in the Old Sow to simply
go with the flow. Keep the boat from getting swamped, and eventually the
Sow will throw you up and out of her maw. But maintaining control of
the boat isn't always an easy task, especially without a motor. Lack of
engine power puts you almost totally at Old Sow's mercy, and she's not
known for showing pity.
"Several years ago, Eastport resident Barbara Barrett was out fishing
with her friend's two young daughters. Barrett saw that a big storm was
forming directly in front of them. The only way to get home was to pass
right through Old Sow. Barrett steered her 20-foot boat into the Sow
and was doing just fine until her engine stalled. She managed to start
it up, but had blown the forward gear and was only able to go in
reverse. So she backed up the boat through the vortex.
"'The kids were laughing the whole time. It was a very interesting
mix of happy and hysterical laughter," recalls Barrett. "But the really
funny thing is, the storm we were trying to escape quickly changed
course and blew out to sea, so as it turned out there was no reason at
all for us to go through the whirlpool."\
"All the members of the survivors' group laugh as they recount their
experiences with the whirlpool. But they are also very aware of how
lucky they are to have survived their encounter with Old Sow. Godfrey
figures the whirlpool has been responsible for at least a dozen deaths,
along with scores of sunken or wrecked vessels. "But even though the Old
Sow has brought death and grief, it's also heart-stoppingly beautiful,"
said Eastport resident Sarah Graves, who has had brief encounters with
the whirlpool. "It is a magnificent thing to see."
"'Watching the whirlpool also is the best way to truly understand
chaos theory," adds Godfrey. "You never know what the Old Sow will do
next. It's chaos in its purest form." Godfrey encourages the curious to
visit Eastport and go out on the bay with an experienced local captain
to see the action firsthand. Afterward, the shaken and stirred visitors
can apply for membership in the Old Sow survivors' association."
