Re: [Paddlewise] Rogue Waves

Latitude 38, the SF Bay Sailing Magazine that goes wherever the wind blows,
has had some interesting bits about the rouge wave notion in the past, so I
thought I'd look them up. This one post is pretty much what they all say:
We were hit by a rogue wave in the middle of the storm, which knocked us
down and broke the rudder.

I thought there had been more scientific coverage but apparently not. One of
the more interesting, which does sound like what we describe as a rogue wave
is here:

http://www.latitude38.com/letters/200802.html

scroll down to read the letter titled
I COULD TASTE THE ADRENALIN IN MY MOUTH
*
*
*and the next*
IT SWEPT THEM OVERBOARD AND WAS GONE
*
*
*This pretty much sums up the SF reporting, though there are many individual
reports.*

But, i have my own story! The day I had my surf zone class at Bolinas,
Duxbury Reef had about 4' seas, excellent for learning. Nearing the end of
the session, we were sitting out in the calm area behind the crashing surf
discussing going over to the mouth of Bolinas Lagoon to check out the action
there. Forgetting to heed the Hawaiian wisdom of never turning your back on
the sea, I was facing the others, and the beach, when suddenly out of
nowhere came a rogue wave that turned me over before I knew what was
happening. I am sure if I had a rudder it would have broken, and I could
sure taste the adrenaline. Miraculously, no one else was lost, a wet exit
and an assisted rescue and we were on our way.

and that's the way it was

Mike
San Rafael
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