Thread: Freak waves?

I am just watching a programme about freak waves and it got me thinking.

I know QE2 has been hit by a 90 foot wave and a few other ships have been hit by freak waves.

What do you think?

Originally Posted by Lanky Lad

I am just watching a programme about freak waves and it got me thinking.

I know QE2 has been hit by a 90 foot wave and a few other ships have been hit by freak waves.

What do you think?

Yes, I think there are "freak" waves and I think they are not uncommon. Just as a hurricane may be thought of as a "freak" atmospheric disturbance, it is very common and experienced by many because hurricanes can travel over large distances rather quickly and will dissipate only when going over land or over cooler water. The ocean is very large and I imagine a lot of large waves dissipate before they can reach land or seen by anyone because there's nothing to sustain its energy like a hurricane. It must take a lot of energy to initiate large waves and maybe it must be from resonant force to create it. I think as time goes on scientists will learn more about how they are generated and we'll learn more. JMO

In January once on a simple Caribbean cruise at a time of year and place when the seas are normally almost too calm for those of us who like to rock and roll a bit ... we had an unusual storm.

Our balcony was quite high and waves were splashing on it. The whole pool deck looked like a big swimming pool. Everyone was instructed to keep balcony doors closed and to not go out to any open decks.

Women were requested to wear as flat as possible shoes to dinner or elsewhere on the ship. The Captain said to think of it as a "Flip-Flop Party"!

Yes! These things do happen!

Yes, The Golden Princess was hit by one a few years ago on a TA crossing.

I know QE2 hit a big wave when I did a Transatlantic on her in 2006. I was in the theatre listening to a talk (I can't remember who) but at one point the ship just felt like it had stopped dead for a second.

Originally Posted by Lanky Lad

I know QE2 hit a big wave when I did a Transatlantic on her in 2006. I was in the theatre listening to a talk (I can't remember who) but at one point the ship just felt like it had stopped dead for a second.

I am curioius, did they tell you that a big wave had hit? On the Star 2 years ago Janet and I were sitting in that bar at the top back looking out at the ocean, the bar wasn't open yet, and were talking to a crew person there. Something strange happened....a loud noise like a thud or a bang with immediate jerking back and forth and a lot of noise with glasses tingling, and a female crew member in a room off the bar was screaming. All of this happened simultaneously. The crew we were talking to went to check on the female. When he came back we asked what happened and he had no idea. He said that female had been working on cruise ships for many years and had never experienced anything like this before and she was really scared. Whatever this was we weren't alarmed or frightened at all. When we went back to our cabin the other 2 with us were unaware that anything happened. This was never addressed and we were left to wonder what it was.

Originally Posted by houch

I am curioius, did they tell you that a big wave had hit? On the Star 2 years ago Janet and I were sitting in that bar at the top back looking out at the ocean, the bar wasn't open yet, and were talking to a crew person there. Something strange happened....a loud noise like a thud or a bang with immediate jerking back and forth and a lot of noise with glasses tingling, and a female crew member in a room off the bar was screaming. All of this happened simultaneously. The crew we were talking to went to check on the female. When he came back we asked what happened and he had no idea. He said that female had been working on cruise ships for many years and had never experienced anything like this before and she was really scared. Whatever this was we weren't alarmed or frightened at all. When we went back to our cabin the other 2 with us were unaware that anything happened. This was never addressed and we were left to wonder what it was.

Very odd, souds like you may have hit something? Maybe a whale or a cargo container.

They did not tell us it was a wave, but there was quite a swell and the ship was pitching quite a lot so we just guessed it was a big wave, but it could have been something else.

Gee, I never thought of a whale....yikes

I on't recall anything like what is described above happening on a cruise on which I was a passenger... just the normal pitching and rolling the times we hae sailed through storms, ro the fringes of a hurricane.

But, I don't doubt that freak waves are real, and have no desire to encounter one. For me, they seem a bit scarier than general rough seas.