On 4 Oct 2006 16:44:34 -0700, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

Every time I look at that video I wonder what kind of boat, if any,
could survive an encounter with a wave like that.

Almost any, up to the moment it began to break. It didn't seem
unworkably steep until it hit the backflow in the shallows near the
beach.

I think it depends where you are on the face of the wave. The top
portion gets incredibly steep even before it begins to break,
approaching vertical in my estimation. It is easy to picture a boat
falling off into a capsize or pitchpole before the crest actually
rolls over. Wave crests break in the open ocean all the time although
the vast majority are a lot less dramatic than this one.