Re: [Paddlewise] Rogue Waves

Will,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I anticipated this and had wanted a 
bit more of an explanation, though I could have just asked you directly. :-)

I guess a red herring typically implies a deliberate attempt by the writer 
at diverting an argument, etc.; I wasn't using it in a pejorative sense 
towards you but, rather making the observation that during a rough seas 
incident, where there are larger sets of waves that by context already have 
a preponderance of destructive force, those wave are not the true rogue 
waves Craig was asking about and obfuscate the question at hand. So, I think 
that is what you were actually saying too. Most of us seem to agree "rogue 
wave" gets overused, misapplied, and misunderstood. But, real Rogue Waves 
are out there and do cause maritime mayhem, perhaps less frequently than 
blamed for but nevertheless, these events do take place.

Certainly, the study of waves, including general surface wave propagation 
all the way to anomalous wave patters/probabilities is a 
mathematical/physics knowledge base and application that from what I've been 
exposed to in peripheral peeping suggests a taxing subject with years of 
research still ahead.

Doug Lloyd

> My comments may be digressive, but they are not a 'red herring.'
>
> "Rogue wave" is a term seeing increased usage by different people to 
> describe both experience & phenomena.
>
> The scientific community is studying naturally occurring sea states,  in 
> part, because of anecdotal accounts.
>
> The scientific, empiric approach to defining 'rogue wave' may or may  not 
> guide, inform, modify the anecdotal
> usage.
>
> When a well-respected, highly experienced, significantly accomplished  sea 
> going professional (the Captain and owner
> of Pictou Castle) uses the term 'rogue wave' to assign causation to a 
> fatality at sea, we're seeing the anecdotal
> cross over into 'findings of fact'.   It's the Captain of Pictou  Castle 
> who is guilty of employing a 'red herring'
> to deflect attention away from human failing and toward natural events.
>
> Sneaker waves are only 'sneakers' because people are not paying 
> attention, or they are not in a position from which the event can be 
> observed.
> Rogue waves may only be rogue because we cannot predict the pattern or 
> overlay a pattern that explains their occurrence.
> Having just spent some time on the Bay of Fundy, I heard all manner of 
> localized stories concerning people who presumed the
> dramatic tides rose with uniformity...and in acting on such  presumption, 
> found themselves stranded or in significant danger.
> This does not make for a "Killer Tide."
>
> Descriptive terms such as 'sneaker' and 'rogue' attribute human 
> characteristics to naturally occurring events.
> Sorry. Nature doesn't sneak, nor is nature capable of 'going rogue'. 
> Nature is indifferent.
> People can chase tornadoes. Tornadoes cannot 'chase' people.
>
> I find it interesting that ocean scientists are using the term, 'rogue 
> wave'.
> It certainly sells their study much more effectively than "Anomalous  Wave 
> Pattern Studies",
> at least to the general public.  Imagine meteorologists using the  terms, 
> "Assassin Tornados."
>
> -Will
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