On 6 Aug 2004 07:27:56 -0700, (Bryan Glover)
wrote:
There is very compelling evidence to show that while
a well found boat will survive a storm in non-breaking waves, none of
the above tactics will prevent capsize in a breaking wave
strike.”
U.S. Coast Guard Report CG-D-20-87 sec1-1

=============================================

Sounds reasonable to me. Watch some of the extreme surfing movies on
the cable channels, some of which were filmed on offshore sea mounts
off San Diego. The waves are in the 50 to 60 foot range with huge
overhanging crests. It doesn't take much imagination to realize that
a wave that size and shape could tumble a 70 foot boat like a toy.

The next question is if a wave like that could form in the open ocean?
Probably not very often it seems but who knows... Given the right
combination of multiple wave trains in different directions, wind,
current, etc., almost anything is possible. So called "freak waves"
in the 100 foot wave are apparently showing up on the weather
satellites much more often than previously suspected. If a 100 foot
wave breaks just a little bit, that's still an awesome force to be
reckoned with.

The next question is if a wave like that could form in the open ocean?

it is unusual, and takes unusual conditions. by far, most waves break because
the water is too shallow for the wave height, as bottom friction slows the
bottom of the wave (water in a waves turns in large circles at the top of the
wave, and ever smaller circles as water depth increases) and the top of the
wave simply gets ahead of the bottom and falls over.