BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - Miami Passage - Day 6, completed

Marty[_2_]

wrote:
... Of
course thay are not nice long rollers like on the ocean, 50 or 60 feet
crest to crest. Makes life really uncomfortable, the autopilot gets
totally bent out of shape when the boat rolls a lot and just gives up....

I remember those boxy Lake Ontario waves well. The only time I've
been full on seasick was running home in a following sea on that lake
-- my folks sent my brother and me below and the bugger blew chunks
all over me. It was a bad scene. I was 9ish and I remember it with
terrible clarity. However, just for the record, the oceans can create
similarly ugly seas even in deep, unobstructed waters when conditions
are right (or wrong as may be). Don't go to sea on the assumption
that all you will see is big round swells...

I am well aware of this Tom, my personal experience is we on Lake
Ontario occasionally get nice long rollers,, just as the ocean will
occasionally dish up some nasty square waves, (particularly common if
there is a large current involved, a la Gulf Stream). But more often
than not we get those nasty short waves, and most ocean sailors, more
often than not, get longer rolling waves.

Cheers
Martin