DSK wrote:
K. Smith wrote...

Before you knee jerk have a good look at the pics & you'll see that
there is not likely to be a 30ft wave there in any of them


Uh-huh. Please explain how a wave of less than 30 feet is going to roll
clear over the bow of a large ship with approx 60 feet of freeboard.

The boat displaced 10s of thousands of tons. it actually is traveling
downhill on the back of the last wave & rather than the wave being
bigger (higher) than the bow the ship's just ploughs through it. Even in
almost flat water is a big boat is going straight into the swell it goes
through it rather than over it.


Well found properly handled small boats in open water have little the
fear from any of that.



Don White wrote:

You may have no problem, your derelict tub run aground in some backwoods
swamp on the Gold Coast.
People who get out on the real ocean say different.



Yes, it's pretty clear that "K. Smith" knows little about this. Maybe
it's wishful thinking?

Not wishful thinking but plenty of time on yachts in my younger days &
always amazed at how it can blow hard for 3 days yet no huge waves,
why?? because the higher a wave the longer the distance between crests,
so even a large swell is no worry to smallcraft, the wind waves on top
can be nasty but again well found & handled not dangerous.


I often hear the crab-crusher guys talking about their ideal of an
"All-weather go-anywhere" cruiser... and think about the North Atlantic
storm that a USN destroyer went through, while I was on it... caused a
couple million dollars of damage, ripping up 1 1/2" welded steel
fittings and sending water flooding in the forced-draft blower intakes
(among other things).... and I don't think any small boat is going to
survive that other than in pieces. Not to mention that the people in it
wold be pulped against the cabin sides.

Yes they "drove" the boat into the waves with endless HP so what???
Those same apparently breaking waves would have just melted under a
small craft, again look closely at the pics & wonder why ANY with an
horizon in them suddenly show what's really happening.

Sorry, but reality is what it is, not what you wish it was.

I'm happy to explain how the stories get created by people who have no
understanding of how on a wave the acceleration is in many directions up
& at an angle at once, this means unless you have a clear view of a hard
horizon you cannot in any circumstances estimate the height of the waves
& in storms you will not see a hard horizon even from a ship, just
spray, much less seeing an horizon from a small craft.

As for Rick he's just a liar like Harry been shown here often enough;
he's full of BS nothing more.

K

Fresh Breezes
Doug King