The Investigating Subcommittee was later to express its surprise that Captain Hewitt had left the Plas Newydd mooring without a weather forecast, and "had no knowledge of the stormy conditions prevailing at sea at the time Conway was to make the passage" since it was local knowledge that in such weather "abnormal conditions might be encountered." In addition to the tide generated streams in the Menai Strait there is also a non-tidal current, the Southwest Residual, a dynamic reaction which directly reflects wind stress in the Irish Sea. The north-westerly mean wind speed of 16 meters per second at sea that day would enhance the Residual by 15 cm per second, increasing the strength of the southwest-going ebb at Plas Newydd by as much as 3 knots.