On Thu, 4 Jan 2007 11:24:19 -0500, Ellen MacArthur wrote
(in article ews.net):


"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote
Ive read a few accounts, mainly from around 1900, of people using oil to
calm the seas.
Has anyone ever seen or heard of this being done in modern times? I really
cant understand the logic behind it or see
what it would to so calm seas.... any enlightenment welcomed ;-)

They made it illegal in the United States. You can't have even a sheen
on the water without
violating some law. That being said, it doesn't work anyway. It's an old salt

urban legend. You
can see for yourself it doesn't work. Next time it's really windy and there's

a lot of fetch and
there are giant seas built up put some oil out. Plain old diesel fuel works
just fine. You'll see
all it does is remove the small ripples and feathering on the surface. It
does nothing to reduce
the overall size of the waves. It's a local surface effect only.
It's just another example showing people don't think things out for
themselves. They'd
rather listen to stuff that makes no sense at all. Duh!

Cheers,
Ellen

Cheers,
Ellen



Actually it does work. We are not talking about pouring oil over the side by
the gallon either. When I fished commercially there where times, because we
were at sea for weeks at a time, that we ended up in adverse weather.
Although this is not something that was done to intentionally stop waves from
breaking there was that occasional bilge letting that would give the same
result. The boat adrift generally outpaced the slick and we would observe a
noticeable difference of a lack of peaks inside the slick. The other times I
have observed the same effect where as a kid working on my dads boat and
chumming with ground up bunkers for bluefish. The fish oil was always nice
and smooth regardless of the surrounding areas.

--
Mundo, The Captain who is a bully and an ass