Re: [Paddlewise] Rogue Waves

I think the last time you were in California Craig, visiting with Mark by 
the beach and a pretty 20-something blond bombshell went by, you waved 
unabashedly at her. That was a rogue wave, and you were it - or at least a 
rogue of significant stature. So at least Mark has certainly witnessed 
Washingtonian State "rogue waves" even as far down as So Cal :-)

Seriously though, real rogue waves do exist; we even have the science to 
prove it (William's quotes were a bit of a Red Herring but did stir the 
anecdotal tempest a bit). And better yet, we have the myth. Myths are 
usually based on some type of reality, especially when myth refuses to be 
disproved scientifically as millennia flow by, and in actuality, recently 
science proves their occurrence  --  even as highlighted and discussed here 
on Paddlewise a while ago regarding the ESA's MaxWave Project evidence.

I do think the rogue waves that get blamed for sweeping sightseers/tourists 
and hikers off coastal rocks are often just a bigger set of waves coming in, 
though I have experienced a limited number of sudden, single, wave faces 
rear up semi-nearshore over the years, but wander if they were latent 
escapees from some distant event.. We lost our kayak association secretary a 
few years ago, mid 80's while she was hiking the West Coast Trail. She was 
pretty water savvy too. Many west coast locations now post rogue wave 
warnings and even corresponding threat levels at appropriate times.

Deep water, threatening rogue waves do exist. Our univers -- our planet 
would be bereft of further mystery and awe if it were not so. Longtime 
mariners may have not encountered significant examples in the locations 
traveled, but they are out there.

And there are rogue waves, then there are Rogue Waves; then there are the 
really rogue, Rogue Waves. But don't subdue their significance. Mariners 
don't when they do finally encounter them.

Doug Lloyd (who dreams about rogue waves equally, if not more than blond 
bombshells)


> I've been sitting here this morning thinking over how many years I've 
> spent
> at sea..... not just as a "mariner" but actually "at sea" and it amounts 
> to
> a fair number of years. Between running a salmon troller, working on the
> Hughes Glomar Explorer (my first job on a "ship"), working for several
> drilling ship outfits (28 days on and 28 days off for 7 years), and 
> finally
> on tankers for Sun, Exxon and Chevron it amounts to about a full decade
> actually at sea. I'm not counting the 5 years we spent cruising the 
> sailboat
> because even though we always slept on the boat, we were at anchor 90% of
> the time so maybe another six months underway time.
>
> I know that compared to the "real sailors" back in the days when sailors
> would spend 40 years of their lives at sea it's not that much but hey, 
> times
> have changed.
>
> A fair bit of this has been in nasty places. The Davis Strait off the west
> coast of Greenland, offshore of Newfoundland (where the Ocean Ranger went
> down shortly after I left the area), the west coast of Ireland (nastiest
> summer I've ever spent... not counting San Francisco), numerous trips from
> Houston, TX through the Panama Canal to Valdez, AK and return, and a 
> regular
> route from SFO to Valdez to Anchorage to Kenai to Honolulu to SFO. Plus 
> two
> memorable trips across the north Atlantic in a semi-submersible drill rig.
>
> And in all that time I've never seen a "rogue wave". Mind you, I've seen
> some big seas (70-foot as measure by a wave-rider buoy on that semi) but 
> no
> actual rogue waves. I'm thinking about this because of a tv program which
> alleges that there are lots more rogue waves than we have thought. That's
> not too surprising because up until recently lots of people thought "rogue
> waves" were the sorts of things incompetent captains made up to explain 
> the
> screw ups that sank their ships.
>
> We're not talking about boomers on the coast where a submerged rock might
> be. Nor is a rogue wave any type of tsunami; a tsunami in the open ocean 
> is
> so deep that the wave itself may not even be noticed. A "rogue wave" has 
> to
> be a wave in the open ocean that is so out of character with the 
> prevailing
> sea by its height that it's unexplainable. Normally they occur alone and
> suddenly and, if the stories are to be believed, can reach heights of over
> 100 feet with 50 to 60 foot not unusual (well... unusual for a "rogue 
> wave"
> at least). One of the photos on the tv program showed the bow of a ship
> headed into a sea dotted with whitecaps with a huge wave breaking along 
> the
> starboard side of the ship at a 45-degree angle.
>
> So... my question is... anyone ever encounter a rogue wave and what were 
> the
> circumstances. Anyone have any thoughts?
>
>
> Craig Jungers
> Moses Lake, WA
> www.nwkayaking.net
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