On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 18:57:23 -0500, "Bruce on horizon"
wrote:

Check out some real waves
http://seriesdrogue.com/stormyseas/

There was one tanker shot there I thought she was going straight to
the bottom. My father was in the British Merchant Marine and said the
worst part of a storm was when the wave period was rapid enough to
produce crests shorter than the ship's length. More than once during
the war, large frieghters snapped in half because they spanned two
crests, he's said.

Everything's relative. You wouldn't notice a bad day on Lake Erie at
sea (unless you were on a rapidly shoaling inlet, I suppose).

The thing about Great Lakes waves is their very short period and
irregular presentation, usually called "heavy chop" or "square waves".
If five midgets are rapidly pummeling a heavyweight fighter with
short, sharp blows, he'll feel it and he'll eventually go down. Same
on the Great Lakes, with the caveat that the small-boat crew in a blow
can become physically exhausted by the whipping motion before the boat
fails them in any serious way. You see this at C&C regattas in heavy
air, where people come back from a day's racing with busted arms,
sprains and smacked heads, because the motion can get so violent in
those three-to-five foot "square waves".

The Great Lakes have a pretty good record of taking down big, capable
ships. Learn to sail them in horrible weather on a lightweight boat
and I have heard it said you will be well on the way to mastering
offshore heavy weather.