Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Vessel Measures Record Ocean Swells

A British research team has observed some of the biggest sea swells ever measured. A whole series of giant waves hammered into their ship that were so big, according to computer models used to set safety standards for ships and oil rigs, they shouldn't even exist.


One lesson nature should have taught us by now is that there is simply no such thing as "should."

2 comments:

W.M. Bear said...

Oh, swell. (Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

Ken said...

While I've not the info directly to hand, I can state with assurance that an Oceanographer at the University of Washington, Seattle, once calculated the maximum possible sea wave in the Gulf of Alaska: 198 feet. I can dig it up, if any insist.

Myself, I don't know the largest I've been in. Once they reached the height of a dairy barn, yard sticks didn't seem to matter. Maybe 50-60 feet? I do know that the largest measured I ever pulled gear in was 28 feet, and am positive that we hauled gear in seas considerably larger, but have no actual proof.

At any rate: the sea is a lovely, beautiful, mystical, lying whore which will kill you and not even notice.

Y'aar, Matey, 'tis true!