Re: [Paddlewise] Rouge waves

From: Tord S. Eriksson <tord_at_mindless.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:17:40 +0100
Having spent some time at sea - sail boats, cruise liners
an semi-submersibles - and much in lakes rowing and sailing,
I think the existence of these rogue waves had been debated,
and after having reprogrammed some weather satellite to
scan a certain area for big waves over many months, they
have now been proved to exist!

About a hundred major commercial vessels disappear
annually, and while some might get diverted to other ports
by unknown agendas, or unknown pirates, many are just lost,
and as a few ships have met these mammoth waves out of nowhere,
and survived (the example I recall is QE II hitting a 100 ft wave in
WWII, barely surviving the ordeal, but it sure wasn't weather
for German U-boats)!

At one time the US released the number of aircraft that had been
lost in USSR airspace (800+) during the cold war - anyone knows 
how many ships that likewise have just vanished?! Many could have
been lost under similar circumstances as these 'rogue waves' create,
which easily could topple even quite major ships! 

Quite a few ships over 600 ft long have just gone missing - like the
Norwegian bulk carrier 'Berge Istra' (sp?) - some explaining it as
a spontaneous explosion, but a 'rogue wave' would fit just as well!
The ship just vanished in good weather somewhere in the Pacific -
leaving not a single piece of flotsam, nor any distress calls!

Quite a few sail boats have turned turtle during ocean crossings,
but I haven't heard any blaming 'rogue waves' :-)! If such a wave 
hits you during a storm, I don't think you'll be able to note it's 
immense size, it is just a wall of water, period.

The Estonia ferry, that killed about as many Swedes as the Tsunami,
or close to a thousand, also met a really big wave which ripped its 
bow off - could a rogue appear in a lake (very big, an inland sea)?!

Waves of this size (100 ft, and above) have been recorded from the 
Roaring Fourties, but there the waves are darn big any day!






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Received on Mon Aug 31 2009 - 15:17:47 PDT

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