During the week of October 27, 2025 the Washington Coast experienced extreme wave heights. Both the Quileute Tribe and Quinault Indian Nation’s Backyard Buoys reported wave heights topping 24 feet!
In these extreme wave conditions the Quinault Middle buoy mooring broke free from its anchor and drifted north. The Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), Backyard Buoys, and our Quinault Indian Nation partner Joe Schumacker extend a sincere THANK YOU to the US Coast Guard Station Quillayute River for swiftly rescuing this buoy, and to Jennifer Hagen, a Backyard Buoys partner with the Quileute Tribe, for her coordination of the rescue mission.
Diagnosing why a mooring fails is critical. During this event, the swivel connecting the buoy and float to the anchor had failed. This connection point will be swapped for a stronger swivel in future deployments. Many thanks to John Mickett and Ali Jones at University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory for bringing their technical and engineering expertise to Backyard Buoys.
Middle Photo: Location where the Quinault Middle buoy was rescued after breaking free
Left Photo: Failed swivel connecting the buoy and float to the anchor.