
When Good Waves Go Rogue (2014) - dnetesn
http://oceans.nautil.us/article/547/when-good-waves-go-rogue
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kls
I was once in 10-15 ft seas, not really a big deal but we got hit by a three
sisters event and I will say that was the scariest event I have ever seen.
Basically it's a set of 3 rouge waves these where about 20-30 ft. We where in
a small craft but nothing that could not navigate a single 30 ft rouge wave.
Anyways the crazy thing about a three sisters event is you get hit by the
first two in rapid succession and they backwash and create a gully under the
third wave which pretty much puts you bow down going into it. Fortunately I
had a good captain with good instincts, so he gunned it into the gully.
Initially burring the bow but caused it to right faster due to buoyancy and
get us traveling up the wave before it started to break. It slammed us good
and knocked us to the floor but we where no worse for wear and we walked away
from it. Had it broke on us in the gully, I can only imagine but by the power
we got even busting thru it, if we had been in the gully that boat would have
been in two pieces. Now I don't go spearfishing if there is even the remotest
possibility that a squall line could whip up.

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ceocoder
I read Susan Casey’s The Wave[0] about 8-9 years ago, it is told from
alternative perspectives of sailors and big wave surfers - Laird Hamilton to
be specific. A fascinating read, I highly recommend it. More I read about it
less likely that I’m ever going to take a cruise :)

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/Wave-Pursuit-Rogues-Freaks-
Giants/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Wave-Pursuit-Rogues-Freaks-
Giants/dp/0767928857)

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paulcole
How can this possibly be true:

> This means you have probably experienced a rogue wave and not noticed. How?
> “If you’re out in calm conditions,” says Baschek, “and the waves are one
> meter high, and suddenly you experience a two meter wave, so what?”

Given that the next sentence says:

> In fact, Baschek says one wave per day, somewhere in the world’s oceans, is
> a rogue wave.

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btilly
The first quote is clearly true.

A rogue wave is one that almost certainly resulted from a non-linear
interaction of waves because its size is statistically unlikely enough under
the linear wave model. So anything 2+* the background waves.

It isn't the size of the wave. It is the size relative to the sea around it.

That said, the next sentence does not make sense to me. Particularly not given
that it is also estimated that ships in the North Atlantic encounter an
average of one rogue wave per year. (But mostly not in sufficiently high seas
to be a problem.)

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paulcole
I mean if the second sentence is true then it definitely throws doubt upon the
clear trueness of the first. If there is one of these per day in the entire
world, then it’s very unlikely that anyone reading this has experienced one.

~~~
btilly
Point.

However
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave)
quotes a researcher estimating that at any point in time there are an average
of 10 rogue waves somewhere in the world.

So the second quote appears to be a misquote. And everything else makes sense.

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dang
See also (2016):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11976300](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11976300)

