I've run across this picture a couple places on the net and am
wondering if it is real or a digital paste up.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/...b__430x275.jpg

If real, it is very spooky because of the relatively benign conditions
around it. You would expect something like this in a well developed
major storm but not in the general sea state shown.

It doesn't look like a breaking shoal. If these things do exist, they
must be exceedingly rare and this must be one of the luckiest pictures
ever taken.

I'm guessing this is a digital fake.

--

Roger Long

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 01:46:33 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

I've run across this picture a couple places on the net and am
wondering if it is real or a digital paste up.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/...b__430x275.jpg

If real, it is very spooky because of the relatively benign conditions
around it. You would expect something like this in a well developed
major storm but not in the general sea state shown.

It doesn't look like a breaking shoal. If these things do exist, they
must be exceedingly rare and this must be one of the luckiest pictures
ever taken.

I'm guessing this is a digital fake.

If so, here's another one from today's NY Times:

http://travel.nytimes.com/pages/travel/index.html

The surrounding water looks even flatter.

Here's some mo

http://tinyurl.com/av3gv

http://tinyurl.com/8mb4e

But, those are shoreline breaks. One of the articles in which that
picture appeared indicated that it was occurring in deep water and
that this the kind of thing you could encounter offshore.

I've seen a 100 foot schooner stick her bow out into the trough in
front of a freak sea so there was air under the keel back to the
foremast. A few seconds later, only the two masts were above water as
she dove through the wave. I have some idea what can happen offshore
put proof (if indeed this is) that such waves can occur when there is
not already some pretty significant seas would be new to me.

--

Roger Long



"Wayne.B" wrote If so, here's
another one from today's NY Times:

http://travel.nytimes.com/pages/travel/index.html

The surrounding water looks even flatter.

Here's some mo

http://tinyurl.com/av3gv

http://tinyurl.com/8mb4e

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 02:40:36 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

But, those are shoreline breaks. One of the articles in which that
picture appeared indicated that it was occurring in deep water and
that this the kind of thing you could encounter offshore.

I'd take that with a grain of salt although it could happen with large
storm waves hitting an adverse current. Mavericks is somewhat off
shore however and in relatively deep water, it's just shallow compared
to the surrounding area. There are places like that on the east coast
but not as well known, such as Southwest Ledge at Block Island
(N41-07.08, W71-39.37, depth 21 to 35 feet, about 3 miles off shore).
It would probably be as well known as Mavericks if the North Atlantic
was consistently prone to the same sort of large swells that the
Pacific has. I have seen some very impressive swells near Block
Island and also on the coast of Maine after a hurricane has passed a
few hundred miles offshore.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message

It would probably be as well known as Mavericks if the North
Atlantic
was consistently prone to the same sort of large swells that the
Pacific has.

You're the wrong side of the Atlantic then!

I have seen some very impressive swells near Block
Island and also on the coast of Maine after a hurricane has
passed a
few hundred miles offshore.

The Bay of Biscay is notorious for amplifying big ground swells,
and during winter, these are frequent. The interesting spots are
the 8m deep banks 1 to 3nm off the entrance to A Coruna and other
harbours in NW Spain. Just a 1m ground swell creates 3m breaks,
and as the ground swell increases, so you'll see many examples
like this photo.

It's pretty daunting following the lead lines into A Coruna with a
big ground swell running, but they follow flattish water so
they're quite safe. It's the sight of the turmoil around you
that's scary.

Similar spots off Lisbon.

JimB

News f2s a écrit:

The Bay of Biscay is notorious for amplifying big ground swells,
and during winter, these are frequent.

Have a look at this :

http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Europe...ntry/belharra/

These waves, up to 20m (65') high, breake about 1 nM ashore over a reef
located close to Saint Jean de Luz harbour, France.

You can read : "It need at least 20 feets to start breaking at hight
tide. The bottom is 15m deep at low tide. Noone knows how big it can
be..."

--
Peio

Hi Roger,

I'm guessing its a fake photo......however, do a google search for
"Cortes Bank". Its an underwater ridge approx 100 mile offshore from
San Diego which rises to within a few feet of the surface at spots and
when the conditions are right produces really huge waves. In recent
years "extreme" surfers have organized trips to the site to ride the
waves, which move much faster than the surfers can paddle, so they use
jetskis to tow them up to speed necessary to catch the wave. It could
be the photo was taken at Cortes bank....anyway its an interesting
read.

Rich A.
Roger Long wrote:
I've run across this picture a couple places on the net and am
wondering if it is real or a digital paste up.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/...b__430x275.jpg

looks fake, but of course there are places away from "shore" that are
very shallow and can cause a wave to break, but everybody already knew
that. i know there is one of those places miles off of the hawaiian
islands, i remember seeing it on a surfing special where the surfers
take boats way out into the ocean to get to this break. anyway ... i'm
confident that there are freak waves out in the ocean sometimes too, it
just makes sense that there would be. waves are passing in different
directions all the time, causing interference with one another,
diminishing each other's power, and then sometimes increasing it. it
just makes sense that occasionally by chance and fate you would get a
few waves that had bounced off of the coasts or come from far off
storms that would just suddenly come upon each other and be in phase
and spring up as a giant breaking peak, maybe even exploding under a
boat, then disappear just as suddenly into the relative calm. hey, if
you splash around in the hot tub it happens, and that seems like an ok
testing ground to me lol.

Hi:

There is no such thing as a freak, sneaker, rogue, or maverick wave.

Waves come and go because of several factors that influence crest,
trough, length etc. Wayne B. has the right idea. Why would a monster
wave appear out of nowhere 100 miles off the Oregon coast? Gee, maybe
Cobb Sea Mount?! Water depth is about 12 fathoms at the top of the sea
mount and just a few feet later you're looking down at 2,500 feet of
deep blue sea. Gee, why would a long sea swell traveling 1000s of
uninterrupted miles randomly, an possibly sneaky, break there?

The problem is knowing enough to be prepared and knowing that really
weird stuff happens for a reason. Conditions and events are predictable
or at least to be expected. Do not blaming the sea when you get caught
with your pants down.

The latest boat deaths on the Oregon coast were caused by Richard J.
Oba, a licensed charterboat operator with 30 years of maritime
experience. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of seaman's
manslaughter in the Sept. 19 deaths.

He was a charterboat operator who failed to follow USCG and other
charterboat operators advice to not enter the closed bar at Winchester
Bay, OR. What part of, "the bar is closed" that is so confusing? He
drowned 3 passengers. Interesting, the indictment states that Oba never
conducted a safety briefing for his passengers as required by law;
never told them where the life jackets were on the boat; and was the
only one wearing a life jacket when the boat was swamped. Interviewed
by the Oregonian newspaper he was quoted saying that a sneaker wave
came out of nowhere and capsized his boat. The same story happened a
couple years ago on another charter boat called the Taki-Too.

Taki-Too, a 35 charter boat capsized with 19 on board. Eleven people
including, the captain, died in similar conditions as the above boat.
That day the Coast Guard issued a warning of high surf and rough bar
conditions that morning and declared the Tillamook Bay bar closed to
all recreational boaters as well as to charter boats that had not been
inspected and approved for heavy surf conditions. The Taki-Too was
inspected and approved for heavy surf conditions. Again another
"sneaker wave" came out of nowhere and swamped the boat according
to a crewmember.

There is no such thing as a freak, sneaker, rogue, or maverick wave.
Granted there are some that are bigger than the rest. But they are that
way for a reason.
Read, learn, and watch the ocean. Watch the ocean a lot. Unusually
large waves are rather predictable.
Bob

Bob wrote:
Hi:

There is no such thing as a freak, sneaker, rogue, or maverick wave.

Waves come and go because of several factors that influence crest,
trough, length etc. Wayne B. has the right idea. Why would a monster
wave appear out of nowhere 100 miles off the Oregon coast? Gee, maybe
Cobb Sea Mount?! Water depth is about 12 fathoms at the top of the sea
mount and just a few feet later you're looking down at 2,500 feet of
deep blue sea. Gee, why would a long sea swell traveling 1000s of
uninterrupted miles randomly, an possibly sneaky, break there?


There is no such thing as a freak, sneaker, rogue, or maverick wave.
Granted there are some that are bigger than the rest. But they are that
way for a reason.
Read, learn, and watch the ocean. Watch the ocean a lot. Unusually
large waves are rather predictable.
Bob

Bob,
When we call them "freak" or "rogue" waves, it is not because we don't
know where they come from. It is because they are out of character with
the other waves around at a given time. They do exist and are well
documented. We are even able to spot them from space using synthetic
aperture radar now.

Check this website:

http://www.math.uio.no/~karstent/waves/index_en.html

While watching the ocean, those waves that are significantly bigger
than the rest are freaks. We know why.

Gary