80 to 100 foot Freak Waves

[tartansailor]

I thought that ride was a bit bumpy.

BBC NEWS
Freak waves spotted from space
The shady phenomenon of freak waves as tall as 10 storey buildings has finally been proved, the European Space Agency (Esa) said on Wednesday.

Sailors often whisper of monster waves when ships sink mysteriously but, until now, no one quite believed them.

As part of a project called MaxWave - which was set up to test the rumours - two Esa satellites surveyed the oceans.

During a three week period they detected 10 giant waves, all of which were over 25m (81ft) high.

Strange disappearances

Over the last two decades more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long - have been lost at sea. Eyewitness reports suggest many were sunk by high and violent walls of water that rose up out of calm seas.

But for years these tales of towering beasts were written off as fantasy; and many marine scientists clung to statistical models stating monstrous deviations from the normal sea state occur once every 1,000 years.

“ The waves exist in higher numbers than anyone expected â€

[Neil Gordon]

There goes my "Giant Squid Theory" of mysterious sinkings.

[marv brinn]

How do you manage large 8-10 ft waves? do you run with them ? take them on the quarter..etc...assume you have a cd27 or so? with a drouge chute and plenty of distance between you and the land..

[tartansailor]

Trail Warps, and bare pole before the wind.
Recommend Heavy Weather Sailing by K Allard Coles

[Steve Laume]

How do you manage large 8-10 ft waves? do you run with them ? take them on the quarter..etc...assume you have a cd27 or so? with a drouge chute and plenty of distance between you and the land..

It is not the waves in the 8 to 10 foot range that would give you much trouble. It would depend a lot more on the wind strength.

Back when we were sailing the Typhoon there was an offshore storm event and it generated very large swells. We sailed out past the shelter of Fishers Island and played in them a bit. It was great fun and not any problem for the TY at all.

Now if we had the accompanying winds that had generated those waves in the first place it would have been a whole different story, Steve.

[Amgine]

It's not that comfortable, but anywhere aft they can be managed. If you're traveling with them, the period is usually not painful. Going against... well, I lasted an hour or two (or maybe it just seemed that long) before deciding I really didn't need to go that way. It could be done, but it wouldn't be fun.

[John Vigor]

This is an old story, resurrected from the BBC news archives of more than five years ago.

Freak waves is actually a misnomer. Freak waves are as common as freak troughs but neither condition is really freakish because sea systems are composed of many different wave trains, each with its own speed and height.

At random intervals wave trains can fall in step with one another, literally riding on one another's backs, to form an exceptionally high waves, usually preceded by exceptionally deep troughs.

It's not an old wives' tale that every fifth, or seventh, or ninth wave is larger than the others.

Laurence Draper of the National Institute of Oceanography says one wave in 23 is over twice the height of the average wave. One in 1,175 is more than three times the average.

Most small boats will not be affected by these waves (large swells, actually) unless they're actively breaking. You'll just ride up one side and down the other, just as you would not be likely to notice a tsunami passing underneath you. But big ships all too often dip their bows deeply into the trough of a "freak wave" and are overwhelmed by the ensuing monster wave.

John V.