How common do you think rogue waves are?

[tomfl]

I started this thread in response to a post in another thread about off shore boats breaking up and the crews being lost. Some folks mentioned rogue waves may have contributed to these disasters.

First of all we may need to try and define what a rogue wave is. One suggestion was 80% greater than the predicted wave height, but I can't recall ever seeing a definition of a rogue wave. If the truth be known I can't recall ever seeing a rogue wave when I was in a boat. There are places on land where it is claimed rogue waves occur.

What I am most interested in is folks who have experienced a rogue wave, or what they define as a rogue wave at sea. How common are they. How destructive are they. Is there anything that would lessen the damage of a rogue wave.

I would like this thread to be open ended; as long as there are no anchor arguments.

[SaltyMonkey]

Why don't you first decide a definition of how one is made? By that alone, I think you have seen many but never recognized it.

[Spleen]

You know, I'm a motorboater and we were in Lake Pontchartrain (New Orleans) once with 4 of us in the boat and literally out of no where, this wave came and went right over the bow and all 4 of us were then soaking wet and it took a few minutes for the boat to drain it all out. No other boats around us; not a wake from another boat...

Once we realized it was only one wave, we all laughed it off as "wow, wasn't that strange?" And "how refreshing" etc. We continued boating and there were no other incidents.

Not an ocean size rogue wave, but we called it a "rogue wave". I have no idea what it was in terms of defining it.

You tube has some videos if I remember right of ships in "rogue waves"...

[weavis]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

I would like this thread to be open ended; as long as there are no anchor arguments

Why don't you first decide a definition of how one is made? By that alone, I think you have seen many but never recognized it.

Well.. its a piece of metal with hooks in it... and bits of rope and chain and stuff....

[highseas]

A rouge wave can be created by the wash of a ship combined with wind generated waves.

[colemj]

We experienced a wave that was much larger than the others - 15' short and breaking (over us) in nominally 6-8' long smooth seas. While a one-time, odd wave, I still think it fits in the category of normal for those conditions even though it was 100% higher than the rest.

Mark

[Capt Phil]

Spent many years commercial fishing and towing log booms and barges from the Queen Charlottes down to the lower mainland back in the 50's, 60's and 70's. One winter there was an unseasonable low developed off the the northern BC coast. There are a set of islands on the west coast of the Charlottes' dotted with protected inlets that were frequented by fisherman and the locals to hide from weather. The outer land mass is about 30 feet high and 30-50 feet across and provides good protection from the north Pacific swells and storm surge. We snuck in to hide out in one of these sancuaries one afternoon and found a half sunk 30 foot gillnetter with a log about 60 feet long and 2-3 feet across the butt laying athwartships through the wheel house. It had evidently been thrown OVER the protective western boundary of the cove and landed right on top of the fishboat! Now that was a rogue wave that we never saw but witnessed the aftermath! No one was hurt that we could find but it destroyed a family's livelihood in a second! So, I guess they are out there... Phil

[SaltyMonkey]

Rogue wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

[SaltyMonkey]

meow

Fastnet Lighthouse Struck by 48 m (157 ft) wave in 1985

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Rogue wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Draupner wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Stu Jackson]

Common and rogue???

[Cheechako]

I think the bouy off the north end of Vancouver Island records one or more waves in excess of the devices measuring capability ....something like 100 feet.... each winter.

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Rogue wave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Rogue waves are more precisely defined as waves whose height is more than twice the significant wave height (Hs or SWH), which is itself defined as the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record.

..well done Salty, now that we have a definition we can progress.. however, note that the article appears to cite many as occurring in areas of rapid shoaling from ocean depths, which makes sense!

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

meow

Fastnet Lighthouse Struck by 48 m (157 ft) wave in 1985

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 – North Atlantic, September 1995, 29 metres (95 ft), during Hurricane Luis: The Master said it "came out of the darkness" and "looked like the White Cliffs of Dover." Newspaper reports at the time described the cruise liner as attempting to "surf" the near-vertical wave in order not to be sunk.

Were people high-fiving the Captain before or after they spilled their champagne while their monocles popped out !?

[hellosailor]

Cool, let's debate and conjecture what's already been scientifically defined and measured. Hmmm....

Although some years ago, after using orbiting radar to measure the ocean surface and wave heights, as I recall NASA figured out that ooops, rogue waves were about 100x more common than previously thought.

And the one that smashed bridge windows on one of the Queens (Queen Mary II?) wasn't extraordinary.

Its a shame there's no way to access such great bodies of information, like, using a computer.