The Last Word: Terrors of the Sea

[shipofools]

The last word: Terrors of the sea
Are "rogue waves" responsible for the disappearance of dozens of ships every year?
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2010, AT 10:05 AM
THE CLOCK READ midnight when the 100-foot wave hit the ship, rising from the North Atlantic out of the darkness. Among the ocean’s terrors, a wave this size was the most feared and the least understood, more myth than reality—or so people had thought. This giant was certainly real. As the RRS Discovery plunged down into the wave’s deep trough, it heeled 28 degrees to port, rolled 30 degrees back to starboard, then recovered to face the incoming seas.

rest here:
The last word: Terrors of the sea - The Week

[MarkJ]

I think rouge waves are another fear enhancing piece of balderdash. If they exist at all in any real sense then they are combined waves where you get a doppler effect working on waves from 2 directions. The chance of being hit at that precise moment when the 2 waves are shooting skywards would be infinitesimally remote... but could happen.

If those things occur then they would be down in the deep high latitudes above +- 40 degrees or more.

One of the reasons why I know this is that I lived on the beach front of a 1 km beach for 5 years. I never saw a wave, or evidence of a wave, hitting the back wall.
But I often saw the increased effect when 2 waves of different directions would hit. That went vertically upwards, not laterally.

Stcik to sailing in season and you will be all right

The article said:

A series of storms had trapped them 250 miles off the coast of Northern Ireland... late January i.e winter

Well, I say he who cruisers there is a ding-bat... or Evans Starzinger.....
LOL

[anjou]

Rogue waves have been proven off South Africa.

What about the monster in 'The perfect storm'?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by anjou

Rogue waves have been proven off South Africa.

What about the monster in 'The perfect storm'?

Both those locations are + or - 40 degrees.

Except Cape of Storms could be 35+ degrees but they called it Cape of Storms for a reason.

Further in both cases you have the worlds 2 worst wind against current storm waves. Get 2 waves from different directions superimposed over the Aghulus or Gulf Stream and I am sure you will get some interesting chances of the biggest waves on earth.

Neither place should one be sailing in winter! Sure the 1991 storm that was written as "The Perfect Storm" was on October 28th to November 1st, but I think that far north October 28th is getting where I would be calling it as winter.

Is anyone really crackers enough to go cruising up there, then?

[roverhi]

The 'monster' in the perfect storm is purely a creation of a Hollywood special effects studio. The fishing boat sank without any communication with anyone and the wreck has not been found or inspected. Could have been any one of a hundred things go wrong in those terrible condition. The only that is certain is that the boat disappeared and it was in absolutely the worst wrong place at the right time.

[MarkJ]

I just found this cool write up on it in Wikipaedia.

It was a perfect storm. An extra tropical hurricane hit and absorbed a tropical hurricane!

The highest wave is interesting, but for me the AVERAGE waves and the sustained winds

Canadian buoy 44137 located at 42°16′N 62°00′W / 42.26°N 62.0°W / 42.26; -62.0 reported a wave height of 100.7 feet (30.7 m) at 03:20 UTC on October 30.[4] NOAA buoy 44011 located at 41°06′N 66°36′W / 41.1°N 66.6°W / 41.1; -66.6 reported maximum sustained winds of 49 knots (91 km/h) with gusts to 65 kt (120 km/h) and a significant wave height (average height of the highest waves) of 39 feet (12 m) near 15:00 UTC. Buoy 44008 located at 40°30′N 69°30′W / 40.5°N 69.5°W / 40.5; -69.5 reported maximum sustained winds of 53 kt with gusts to 63 kt (117 km/h) and a significant wave height of 31 ft (9 m) near 00:00 UTC on October 31.[5]

1991 Perfect Storm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[GordMay]

As Mark previously suggested, rogue waves form when strong winds beat against an opposing ocean current, when waves from different storms join forces, or when swells interact in strange ways with a particular seafloor.

[sailorboy1]

For us sailor types it would seem whether these 100 foot waves doesn't really matter all that much. Wouldn't it be like taking more posion than needed to kill yourself?

Maybe they occur when the Gods release the Kracken.

[markpierce]

...the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn almost became the Norwegian Dusk.

Norwegian Dawn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Pete7]

What would you give to be on the North Sea oil platform with a camera when this little 26m wave struck on New Years day 1995

Draupner wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Pete7

What would you give to be on the North Sea oil platform with a camera when this little 26m wave struck on New Years day 1995

Draupner wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You'll enjoy this ..... http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post524763

I'm glad I was not on that boat...

[Pete7]

So how does the chef cook fried eggs in that

[David M]

They exist. Satellites with radar that study the oceans detect them frequently. The reality is that you need to be in just the right place at the wrong time when the amplitudes of two or more large waves combine to make one enormous wave.

I kinda think you need to worry more about lightning.

[Southern Star]

Roverhi, the monster wave in 'The Perfect Storm' was, of course, a Hollywood creation. However, as I recall, waves during that storm in excess of 100 feet were measured by sensors near that area. As to saling in the North Atlantic in late October, early November - that is, in fact, the typical departure date for boats leaving NE Canada and the United States for an offshore passage down to the Caribbean.

Do I think we need to panic about the possibility of being struck by a monster rogue wave? Absolutely not. But recent science certainly seems to be suggesting that they may be more common than at first thought.

Brad

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Southern Star

Do I think we need to panic about the possibility of being struck by a monster rogue wave? Absolutely not. But recent science certainly seems to be suggesting that they may be more common than at first thought.

Brad

the 2 examples we are looking at here, one was in 1991 and one in 1995.

Using my fingers and toes to count, its a lot of years.
Why arn't these weather bouys and their Big Brother Controller finding more? Like enough to eat those "dozens of ships per year"?

2 waves in 20 years does not make a it a credible threat, imho.