I thank Larry for this link about “the most extreme rogue wave on record”. Extreme not in being the highest, but the highest in comparison with the other waves present at the time.
I think the definition of a rogue wave as being twice the height of the other waves present is far too conservative. Twice is not usually of much significance.
As you may recall the most dangerous moments of GANNET’s circumnavigation came not in the two 55 knot gales, but on a sunny moderate day in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Samoa.
At just after noon three hundred and fifty miles north of Apia, Samoa, I was standing in the companionway when I saw two 10’ waves coming at us, high above the average 4’ waves. They were steep and close together. As the first one hit, I ducked below, sliding the companionway over me. However, the vertical slat was not in place and not reachable. The second wave exploded into and over us, knocking GANNET down, masthead almost in the water.
With GANNET heeled 90º I braced myself from falling and stared down at the ocean. GANNET’s lee rail was below water. The ocean only a few inches from entering the cockpit. The wave was gushing in and pressing us down. It was a matter of whether the ocean would reach the cockpit before GANNET came back up. Time slowed almost to a stop. Probably a few seconds passed. GANNET came back up.
I walked onto our deck this morning at 8:30. It was 65F and sunny. I was too cool in just t-shirt and shorts, rather than too hot. First time that has happened in months.
The low that has been sitting off our coast gained some strength and went ashore yesterday near Wilmington, North Carolina. Our seemingly perpetual Small Craft Advisory has finally been lifted. However I go in tomorrow to be rechopped.
September, normally the height of the hurricane season, has thus far been relatively quiet. However, this morning’s GRIBs show something that might develop at the end of the month. Projections nine days out are problematical, but here what the GRIBs are showing for Thursday, September 26.
The first is the European model. The second U.S.
Two harbors:
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