How common do you think rogue waves are?

[nimblemotors]

I think they are very common.

As they are not predictable, what can you do about them?

Have a boat that can roll and survive?

Seems from my limited exposure, a lot of boats get rolled by unexpected waves, it doesn't take much hitting you broadside to roll a boat.
Maybe not have a long skinny boat, but a 'square' one,
say something 40ft long and 40ft wide?

[hellosailor]

"If its on the internet it must be true. "
Actually a posting on the BBC claims some doctors in the UK have found about 90% of the medical articles on the Wikipedia to be in substantial rror, often because they are using outdated information.
But then again "garbage in garbage out" you have to know the credibility of the sources you are looking at, and there are many credible sources for many topics.

Drilling down through NASA's web sites to find their ocean sensing information firsthand might be a chore.

"Perhaps one of the practical and economic reasons government agencies are vague about counting the frequency of rogue waves is because like lightning strikes....... Nothing you can do about it."
Pelagic, there IS something to be done about it, but you hit the magic word "economic". To get data either you need $atellite remote $en$ng program$, which ain't cheap, or you need to deploy lots of deep ocean buoy$, not cheap either.
But the data did show where rogues can be expected most frequently, and that's valuable because you can often route shipping around those areas. Avoid the rough spots, avoid the damage from them.
IIRC there's an area off the Ivory Coast where toxic volcanic gasses from seafloor eruptions are an issue...or rogue waves...or similar "can't do anything" applies. Just knowing "Here Be Dragons" can be enough to avoid them though.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Tomi

anybody experience one on the great lakes? I can see how the wakes from ship traffic combined with winds could create one, but I haven't seen it....yet!

Sailed the Mac in 81. 7 hours storm with continuous N wind in excess of 70 knots. Several boats dismasted and at least one rudder lost. We estimated rollers running 30 feet crest to tough and 120 feet crest to crest with a 6-foot wave train on the whole. Never a rogue wave, just continuous krud. We were on a Heritage One-Ton full of puke.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"If its on the internet it must be true. "
Actually a posting on the BBC claims some doctors in the UK have found about 90% of the medical articles on the Wikipedia to be in substantial rror, often because they are using outdated information.
But then again "garbage in garbage out" you have to know the credibility of the sources you are looking at, and there are many credible sources for many topics.

True. Is it an urban myth that certain people with certain views are "altering history" by selectively editing Wikipedia entries? Or am I just getting older???

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

True. Is it an urban myth that certain people with certain views are "altering history" by selectively editing Wikipedia entries? Or am I just getting older???

Cynics get Dementia. Remember that!


http://www.newsweek.com/cynicism-lin...y-finds-252593

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/05...tudy-suggests/

[robert sailor]

****, now I'm screwed

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

True. Is it an urban myth that certain people with certain views are "altering history" by selectively editing Wikipedia entries? Or am I just getting older???

Why bother with Wikipedia when Hollywood is doing a supremely good job of altering history!

[IdoraKeeper]

The same people who are falsifying Wikipedia are responsible for rogue waves? Where is my tinfoil hat when I need it? Lalalala I hear nothing.
A friend of mine encountered a rogue wave off Cape Medecino. It entirely engulfed a 60 foot Hatteras for long enough that "water was coming in through the bridge door locks like horse piss". The vessel was entirely under water. Then they emerged and fell off the back face. Apparently the entry was smooth with no effect but the exit smashed things throughout the boat and filled the lazarette with water. It took a while to assess the damage but they made into SFO without further incident.

[Ryan H]

Originally Posted by Cavalier

Why bother with Wikipedia when Hollywood is doing a supremely good job of altering history!

You mean Brad Pitt didn't really kill Hither!? That's it! I'll never believe in the absolute historical truth of movies again.......

Next you'll tell me that David Bowie wasn't really a child stealing king of the goblins back in the 80s ....

Sent from my SGPT12 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by Ryan H

Next you'll tell me that David Bowie wasn't really a child stealing king of the goblins back in the 80s ....

Sent from my SGPT12 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

I have a feeling, that one might actually be true...




Sent from my LG-E980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by Ryan H

Next you'll tell me that David Bowie wasn't really a child stealing king of the goblins back in the 80s

..He still is!

[theaton]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

The same people who are falsifying Wikipedia are responsible for rogue waves? Where is my tinfoil hat when I need it? Lalalala I hear nothing.

http://silverunderground.com/2013/10...e-radio-waves/

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

SNIP

Where is my tinfoil hat when I need it?

SNIP

You are not getting mine.

[St. Elsewhere]

There is a fairly good discussion of rogue ocean waves in this book: The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean: Susan Casey: 9780767928854: Amazon.com: Books.

It also covers Laird Hamilton and other giant wave surfers. I read it several years ago, and recall that ocean rogue waves do occur more frequently in certain areas where waves combine from different directions and occasionally produce a huge one from a field of large ones.

[PanzerOfDoom]

Not sure how common they are but they are out there.

Was hit by one on a surfaced submarine that destroyed our bridge and injured both watch standers that were there at the time. It was large enough to submerge us for a bit which is usually not a big deal for us but at the time we had both bridge hatches open; it became a big deal very rapidly. Had to make port to MEDEVAC one of the injured.

South end of The English Channel