The Rogue wave and the sailor

[Auklet]

Once again, a rogue wave is a wave traveling not in line with the wave train. That is, crossing the prevailing wave train at an angle—-traveling “Rogue.” A gigantic wave is a wave of enormous height due to the additive property of wave heights. When two crests of different heights coincide, the crests may add for a short period until separating due to different traveling speeds. Gigantic waves are typically formed by coincidence of wave crest traveling at different speeds in the same direction.

If lying to the prevailing sea, a rogue wave will arise off your beam and pass under if lucky. If it is also gigantic, and steep, it might roll you hard, maybe even over!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Auklet

Once again, a rogue wave is a wave traveling not in line with the wave train. That is, crossing the prevailing wave train at an angle—-traveling “Rogue.” A gigantic wave is a wave of enormous height due to the additive property of wave heights. When two crests of different heights coincide, the crests may add for a short period until separating due to different traveling speeds. Gigantic waves are typically formed by coincidence of wave crest traveling at different speeds in the same direction.

If lying to the prevailing sea, a rogue wave will arise off your beam and pass under if lucky. If it is also gigantic, and steep, it might roll you hard, maybe even over!

Rogues, called 'extreme storm waves' by scientists, are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves.

Often but not always some do travel with prevailing wave trains but are more than double the largest of a standard 3 set train . By double or even triple.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/...%20and%20waves.
Been through a few in my time at sea

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Rogues, called 'extreme storm waves' by scientists, are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves.

Often but not always some do travel with prevailing wave trains but are more than double the largest of a standard 3 set train . By double or even triple.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/...%20and%20waves.
Been through a few in my time at sea

Yes. During a storm that persists for a time very large waves will develop and most likely some of those waves will travel Rogue to the prevailing sea. They may actually travel some distance from the storm area. A friend of mine was sailing the Gulf coast of FL in fair weather when a 40-ft rogue wave suddenly arrived from the west. Upon seeing wave he turned into it and rose at a steep angle as the wave passed under. Compared to the sea height of the area the wave was a giant. Because it arrived from the west when the prevailing wind and sea was from NE, it was a rogue. It was a gigantic wave, perhaps storm generated, running rogue. A gigantic rogue wave. It’s easy to see how the terms might be conflated.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Auklet

Yes. During a storm that persists for a time very large waves will develop and most likely some of those waves will travel Rogue to the prevailing sea. They may actually travel some distance from the storm area. A friend of mine was sailing the Gulf coast of FL in fair weather when a 40-ft rogue wave suddenly arrived from the west. Upon seeing wave he turned into it and rose at a steep angle as the wave passed under. Compared to the sea height of the area the wave was a giant. Because it arrived from the west when the prevailing wind and sea was from NE, it was a rogue. It was a gigantic wave, perhaps storm generated, running rogue. A gigantic rogue wave. It’s easy to see how the terms might be conflated.

I lost one of my men in 1989 to a 50 ft rogue close to a thousand miles north of wake island. We were plowing through mere 12 ft seas .
Right off the side deck aft of the cwis on the uss carl vinson CVN 70

[Murky Dregs]

Originally Posted by mabowers

What ship ? In 89 on USS Carl Vinson we took one 70ft+, green water all the way back to the island. It stove in the 03 level above the focsle like God hit us with a ball peen hammer & a piece about the size of a billboard had to be cut out & replaced. I still remember how 100,000 tons of aircraft carrier rang like a tuning fork... Pacex89... good times.

I was in VF-111 at the time...good times!

[GordMay]

The most extreme rogue wave, ever recorded, has been documented off the Ucluelet Peninsula, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
While it was not the tallest recorded wave ever, its proportionate relative size, compared to the waves around it [nearly three times the size of its neighbours] was unprecedented.

The 57.7 -foot (17.6-meter) wave was measured, in November 2020, by MarineLabs Data Systems, and confirmed by an academic study[1], published in February 2022.
The probability of such an event occurring is once in 1,300 years.

Unfortunately, a 2020 study[2] predicted [of a 1 in 100-year significant wave height (Hs)] wave heights, in the North Pacific, are going to increase [≈ 5 ➛ 10%, and ≈ 5 ➛ 15% over the Southern Ocean], with climate change, which suggests the Ucluelet wave may not hold its record for long.
The North Atlantic shows a decrease, at low to mid latitudes [≈5 ➛ 15%], and an increase, at high latitudes [≈10%].

More about:
“Gigantic Wave in Pacific Ocean Was Most Extreme 'Rogue Wave' on Record”
➥ https://www.sciencealert.com/giganti...wave-on-record

[1] “Generation mechanism and prediction of an observed extreme rogue wave” ~ by Johannes Gemmrich & Leah Cicon
Open Access ➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...90a82b836#Sec2

[2] “Projected 21st century changes in extreme wind-wave events” ~ by Alberto Meucci et al
➥ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz7295

[Don C L]

I saw an article on that too. Fortunately it wasn’t breaking… or was it?

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by LongRange

Then again, I'm kinda scared of dying of a heart attack in the office, triggered by yet another corporate inanity, and in my case that is far, far more statistically probable than encountering 90' waves.

well sure .. but when you do encounter that 90' rogue wave .. those odds of a heart attack go up astronomically.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The most extreme rogue wave, ever recorded, has been documented off the Ucluelet Peninsula, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
While it was not the tallest recorded wave ever, its proportionate relative size, compared to the waves around it [nearly three times the size of its neighbours] was unprecedented.

The 57.7 -foot (17.6-meter) wave was measured, in November 2020, by MarineLabs Data Systems, and confirmed by an academic study[1], published in February 2022.
The probability of such an event occurring is once in 1,300 years.

Unfortunately, a 2020 study[2] predicted [of a 1 in 100-year significant wave height (Hs)] wave heights, in the North Pacific, are going to increase [≈ 5 ➛ 10%, and ≈ 5 ➛ 15% over the Southern Ocean], with climate change, which suggests the Ucluelet wave may not hold its record for long.
The North Atlantic shows a decrease, at low to mid latitudes [≈5 ➛ 15%], and an increase, at high latitudes [≈10%].

More about:
“Gigantic Wave in Pacific Ocean Was Most Extreme 'Rogue Wave' on Record”
➥ https://www.sciencealert.com/giganti...wave-on-record

[1] “Generation mechanism and prediction of an observed extreme rogue wave” ~ by Johannes Gemmrich & Leah Cicon
Open Access ➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...90a82b836#Sec2

[2] “Projected 21st century changes in extreme wind-wave events” ~ by Alberto Meucci et al
➥ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz7295

One minor issue I see is the studies all deal with larger than average waves are all traveling with the prevailing wave train.
Rogue waves to my experience and understanding appear out of basicly nowhere and do not travel in the same direction as the prevailing waves.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by gonesail

well sure .. but when you do encounter that 90' rogue wave .. those odds of a heart attack go up astronomically.

No thanks a 50 ft one was plenty .
1989 USS Carl Vinson CVN 70.

Remember the wave heights are calculated based on sea level in calm seas so a 50 ft wave also has a 50 ft trough or a base to break of about 100 ft.
A 90 ft one would be almost 200 ft from trough to peak.

[jeanathon]

Just read this which I think has been posted. https://www.sciencealert.com/giganti...wave-on-record
The two things that stood out to me was that one scientists denied the existence of rogue waves until 1995, and still do not know what causes them.
But yet they assert this wave height happens only every 1300 years.
Well Sh*t I just want a definitive answer on whether eggs are good for me or not. And what causes rogue waves...

[Greatest Lakes]

I know we get them on the great lakes fairly often. Largest I've ridden was above the spreaders. I'm lucky it wasn't breaking. Boat went right up and over. Was not in the same direction as most of the other waves. It was off a bit.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by newhaul

One minor issue I see is the studies all deal with larger than average waves are all traveling with the prevailing wave train.
Rogue waves to my experience[2] and understanding appear out of basicly nowhere and do not travel in the same direction as the prevailing waves.

Originally Posted by newhaul

No thanks a 50 ft one was plenty .
1989 USS Carl Vinson CVN 70.

Remember the wave heights are calculated based on sea level in calm seas [1] so a 50 ft wave also has a 50 ft trough or a base to break of about 100 ft.
A 90 ft one would be almost 200 ft from trough to peak.

According to the National Ocean Service:

Rogue waves [AKA: 'extreme storm waves'] are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves [significant wave height], and most often come unexpectedly, from directions other than prevailing wind and wave direction.
Therefore, a rogue wave is very large, in relation to the sea state, but not necessarily the biggest wave you will encounter at sea.

Wave Height [amplitude] is measured from trough to crest [2], and Wave Length [frequency] is measured from crest to crest, or trough to trough, and Wave Period is the Time it takes for consecutive crests, or troughs, to pass a given point.
The significant wave height is the average, of the highest one-third of waves, that occur over a given period.

Therefore, a rogue wave is very large in relation to the sea state, but not necessarily the biggest wave you will encounter at sea.
Most reports of extreme storm waves say they look like "walls of water." They are often steep-sided with unusually deep troughs.

Exactly how and when rogue waves form, is still under investigation, but there are several known causes:

Constructive interference [wind against current].
Extreme waves often form because swells, while traveling across the ocean, do so at different speeds and directions. As these swells pass through one another, their crests, troughs, and lengths sometimes coincide, and reinforce each other. This process can form unusually large, towering waves, that quickly disappear. If the swells are travelling in the same direction, these mountainous waves may last for several minutes, before subsiding.

Focusing of wave energy [random reinforcement].
When waves formed by a storm develop in a water current against the normal wave direction, an interaction can take place which results in a shortening of the wave frequency. This can cause the waves to dynamically join together, forming very big 'rogue' waves. The currents where these are sometimes seen are the Gulf Stream and Agulhas current. Extreme waves developed in this fashion tend to be longer lived.

When rouge waves come ashore, they are sometimes referred to as ‘sneaker waves’.

[1] One’s “experience”, with a a sample size [‘n’] of one, is unlikely to be statistically significant [beyond mere chance].

[Bowdrie]

Interesting vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzo5-WYpZEo

[slugsgomoo]

There's a good story about a nasty one off Cape Horn that actually hit the same boat (Tzu Hang, Miles & Beryl Smeeton) on two separate occasions, both times it was pitchpoled and dismasted. It's in John Guzwell's book "Trekka Round the World", which is well worth the read, even without the rogue wave discussion