Calif Bill wrote:
"del cecchi" wrote in message
...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
rthlink.net...

snip

Well, to quote my school roommate. There was green water rolling down

the

deck of the ship. The ship was The CV Bonne Hoome Richard. And it is

a

smaller aircraft carrier. The DD and DE's were completely underwater

at

times. This during a typhoon off the Philipines. Which says to me

they

were a lot bigger than 30' waves. Maybe you ought to go see a large

surfing

break. Our local big break Mavericks will produce greater than 60' at

good

swell times.
Bill


I don't see those kind of waves here in Minnesota, but don't surfing
style waves depend on a bottom that slopes just right? I don't hear of
folks out surfing in the middle of the ocean....

I have been led to believe that even a tsunami is trivial in the open
sea, but a heck of a problem when the very long wavelength gets to
shore. But surely in this day and age there are satellite/airplane/bouy
measurements of wave height in open ocean. Or would that be too hard to
look up?

OK, looked at the navy wave height forcasts. Looks like they believe in
24-30 foot waves. Of course the wavelength and hence the steepness of
the wave isn't given. If it goes up 30 feet but the wavelength is 500
feet, then it wouldn't be a problem in a small boat. I presume that is
how people can fish on the west coast in 10 foot waves.

del cecchi

del cecchi




Mavericks is a reef break. The bottom comes up to 45' in a very short
distance. In July when the swell is nil, is some great fishing over the
reef. They do surf some offshore breaks. But they are pinnacles the come
to the surface. We have swells and waves. We fish 8' swells in my 21' boat
with no problem. Then in the afternoon the winds come up and we get wind
waves. 2-3'. Then things get wet and nasty. waves at different angles
than the swells, so you get beat up if having to run uphill into the slop.
Normally we try to be in by noon, when the slop arrives, but we go North and
then can come home with the wind, to ease the pain.
For a Mavericks video and the Mavericks web sites.
http://www.mavsurfer.com
http://www.maverickssurf.com/





So here you've explained exactly how you've been deceived.

The "wave" wasn't 60 ft it was a big swell (energy is moving NOT water)
that suddenly met a substantial obstruction (the bottom), the energy
then bounced up (it had knowhwere else to go at the time:-)) the water
now exceeded the allowable height for the base & it fell over so became
a breaking wave.

A big ship can have the same effect even on small waves & a genuinely
big wave say 20 or 30 ft will look huge once it's been stood up &
provoked to breaking point & even more if the observer has no idea at
what angle the boat is, usually ploughing bow well down into a trough
getting ready to go through the next crest.

K

"K. Smith" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:
"del cecchi" wrote in message
...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
rthlink.net...

snip

Well, to quote my school roommate. There was green water rolling down

the

deck of the ship. The ship was The CV Bonne Hoome Richard. And it is

a

smaller aircraft carrier. The DD and DE's were completely underwater

at

times. This during a typhoon off the Philipines. Which says to me

they

were a lot bigger than 30' waves. Maybe you ought to go see a large

surfing

break. Our local big break Mavericks will produce greater than 60' at

good

swell times.
Bill


I don't see those kind of waves here in Minnesota, but don't surfing
style waves depend on a bottom that slopes just right? I don't hear of
folks out surfing in the middle of the ocean....

I have been led to believe that even a tsunami is trivial in the open
sea, but a heck of a problem when the very long wavelength gets to
shore. But surely in this day and age there are satellite/airplane/bouy
measurements of wave height in open ocean. Or would that be too hard to
look up?

OK, looked at the navy wave height forcasts. Looks like they believe in
24-30 foot waves. Of course the wavelength and hence the steepness of
the wave isn't given. If it goes up 30 feet but the wavelength is 500
feet, then it wouldn't be a problem in a small boat. I presume that is
how people can fish on the west coast in 10 foot waves.

del cecchi

del cecchi




Mavericks is a reef break. The bottom comes up to 45' in a very short
distance. In July when the swell is nil, is some great fishing over the
reef. They do surf some offshore breaks. But they are pinnacles the
come
to the surface. We have swells and waves. We fish 8' swells in my 21'
boat
with no problem. Then in the afternoon the winds come up and we get
wind
waves. 2-3'. Then things get wet and nasty. waves at different angles
than the swells, so you get beat up if having to run uphill into the
slop.
Normally we try to be in by noon, when the slop arrives, but we go North
and
then can come home with the wind, to ease the pain.
For a Mavericks video and the Mavericks web sites.
http://www.mavsurfer.com
http://www.maverickssurf.com/





So here you've explained exactly how you've been deceived.

The "wave" wasn't 60 ft it was a big swell (energy is moving NOT water)
that suddenly met a substantial obstruction (the bottom), the energy
then bounced up (it had knowhwere else to go at the time:-)) the water
now exceeded the allowable height for the base & it fell over so became
a breaking wave.

A big ship can have the same effect even on small waves & a genuinely
big wave say 20 or 30 ft will look huge once it's been stood up &
provoked to breaking point & even more if the observer has no idea at
what angle the boat is, usually ploughing bow well down into a trough
getting ready to go through the next crest.

K


I have not been deceived! When we can get 20'+ tides, why you do not think
that a swell from wind blowing across 5000 miles (8000 kilometers) will not
be able to make a big swell? As my friend said, they had green water
rolling down the deck. It is 60' to the water and even if the boat went an
extra 30' under at the bow, there was still a 20'+ wave rolling down the
deck.

When was that, Doug?? I was on the Blandy DD943 in one of those North
Atlantic storms in '73 or 4. Another tin can in our group, the Effingham
lost her aft stack. I'm not sure how big the seas were but standing on
our signal bridge 8 stories up you lost sight of the other ships in the
squadron.

DSK wrote:
K. Smith wrote...

Before you knee jerk have a good look at the pics & you'll see that
there is not likely to be a 30ft wave there in any of them


Uh-huh. Please explain how a wave of less than 30 feet is going to roll
clear over the bow of a large ship with approx 60 feet of freeboard.


Well found properly handled small boats in open water have little the
fear from any of that.



Don White wrote:

You may have no problem, your derelict tub run aground in some backwoods
swamp on the Gold Coast.
People who get out on the real ocean say different.



Yes, it's pretty clear that "K. Smith" knows little about this. Maybe
it's wishful thinking?

I often hear the crab-crusher guys talking about their ideal of an
"All-weather go-anywhere" cruiser... and think about the North Atlantic
storm that a USN destroyer went through, while I was on it... caused a
couple million dollars of damage, ripping up 1 1/2" welded steel
fittings and sending water flooding in the forced-draft blower intakes
(among other things).... and I don't think any small boat is going to
survive that other than in pieces. Not to mention that the people in it
wold be pulped against the cabin sides.

Sorry, but reality is what it is, not what you wish it was.

Fresh Breezes
Doug King