"Capt. Neal®" wrote in message

Not so! Those huge waves have little effect upon a small
yacht under a reasonable press of sail to keep her stable.

This statement clearly demonstrates that you've never been in much of a
seaway in a small vessel, despite what you claim. Roll, controlled by sail
pressure, has very little to do with it. Pitch is the problem. It's like
riding a roller coaster--if one isn't belted in to a coaster, the odds of
flying out of the car are good. Same with a small vessel cresting waves and
then plummeting into the trough of steep, tall waves. And if the sea is
confused, no amount of wind pressure on the sails will stop a vessel from
rolling violently as well. Add that to the roller coaster effect and you've
got your basic Maytag dryer set on high.

Of course, in those conditions, the yacht will be sailing
off the wind so the period of the waves becomes longer.

The vessel will be sailing off the wind only if she is not attempting to
claw off and away from a lee shore. Of course then the issue of broaching
comes to the fore. Most yachts do best when running with steep waves while
towing lines or a sea anchor. Screaming into a trough on the diagonal is a
quick and dirty recipe for a broach.

The properly sailed small yacht will only be bothered
but the breakers atop those huge waves.

LOL. You really haven't been there, have you?

Those breakers
tend to slosh green water into the cockpit, I have found.
One must always keep the washboard in and battened
down.


Those idiot motorvessels seem to be pounding straight
into the waves which seems stupid to me. Why don't they
fall off a bit and take the waves diagonally. They would
have a smoother ride and might even be able to make
some headway.

Primarily because steeply-pitched waves can roll a planing craft over on its
beam ends just after cresting a steep wave, especially if the boat is either
relatively short in length or narrow of beam though longer. Of course
running with the sea or heading into it can pitchpole a small planing vessel
as well. Frankly big, steep waves are no place to be in a smallish
powerboat.

Max