The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean

[SaltyMonkey]

Just finished reading "The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean" - by Susan Casey.

If you like to read about the dynamics of these deep blue monster waves and also quite a bit about surfers, please enjoy. I had a fun time.

Amazon.com: The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean (9780767928847): Susan Casey: Books: Reviews, Prices & more

The weather changes out there are concerning...

[SurferShane]

Thanks for the tip; it seems like a very interesting book written from a couple of different perspectives. I have read another couple of late about the “ultimate wave” or “perfect storm”.

Force Nine and More, http://www.amazon.com/More-High-Seas-Stories-Australians-ThemSurvived/dp/B0049ER8U8/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288215440&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Storm-Inside-Tragic-Sydney-Hobart/dp/0071487700/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288215539&sr=1-2

The first back in 1969 first postulates the theory of the “ultimate wave”. This is that wall of water the trawler Andrea Gail faces in the movie the “Perfect Storm”. For Hollywood this movie is a lot more realist than the average viewer would realise. I was lucky enough to go see it at the cinema with a female Navy Officer. It was “nice” the way she needed to grab my knee and comfort me due the fact the helicopter ditching and other scenes were reminding her of her military training. The second book is just a good illustration of how vulnerable any yacht is in massive seas.

Myself, I am sure I faced one of these things in the last of my teens surfing. It was just one of those things that happened. Something lured me outside further and further until I was facing the ultimate set waves. I was actually going to paddle 20 kilometres down the coast to safety after the air being displaced by the first one I tried to take off on sent me cart wheeling over its back; it was onshore! It just got bigger and further to sea I met my fate.

To me it was like some sort of spiritual right of passage. Only two people where watching and one went to get help. I am sure I met at least watermen of past on that wave. Since, I have never thought I needed to do anything at sea to prove myself to anyone; kind of like I had already “Met my Maker”?

[zeehag]

at latitude 38 there was an excellent discourse between max ebb and lee helm about wave shape and action an the physics of waves. i forget which year this was done--but was excellent . should be in latitude 38 archives.

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by zeehag

at latitude 38 there was an excellent discourse between max ebb and lee helm about wave shape and action an the physics of waves. i forget which year this was done--but was excellent . should be in latitude 38 archives.

I checked latitude 38 and there was this good article about a storm of New Zealand and the loss of a number of cruising boats in the 1990’s. I can still vividly remember the 1993 Queens Birthday weekend swell we got over here. I was in the Snowy McAlister long board competition and this mountainous southerly groundswell arrived on the Monday. It was that big that a freighter going into Sydney Harbour miss-judged it strength and nearly ended up on Manly beach. It had to drop anchor a bit too close for comfort and let the bow straighten into the seas before it steamed back out to sea.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric and there were some guys out riding Queenscliff bombora. Some identified as Barton Lynch took off on one of the meanest lefts I have ever seen ridden. He did a vertical snap under the lip and let the mountain explode on him. When he came out of the explosion the crowd went insane yelling and cheering. So he goes vertical again and does the same thing but even harder. The crowd just went silent. Next second he appears again and there were no less than a thousand people on the promenade jumping up and down yelling and cheering.

Luckily the judges still watched some of the competition and I got through to the final of the old mal. It was almost as mad riding a 1960’s thirty plus pound board with no leash in those swells. I was glad to place second. One thing I might not have been so happy about would have having been out on a boat at the opposite side of the Tasman battling that storm front.

(Photo of Scott Dillon Queenscliff Bombora Sydney NSW 25th April 1963)