What's the highest wave you've ever seen?

It's the one you don't see you have to worry about.

When I was tiny I got knocked over by a wave when I was paddling . My Dad fished me out... I remember beeing under the water it was all greeney with big whitish circles...

It wasn't until I was much older and we'd moved near the coast and learned to swim I worked out what I'd seen....
The big whitish circles were bubbles, I'd had the wind knocked out of me .
Del

Yea Del;

I was also a young kid knocked over by a big wave. I remember at the time it was about a gazzillion feet high.

Now that I know better, the biggest I've ever seen were only about 30 feet high. In the water they look twice as big and feel overwhelming. Hold your breath and hope you surface in time.

I haven't seen it myself but I believe it can be quite rough.

It is the region where the warm stream of the Indian ocean meet with the cold stream of the Atlantic. I saw an infrared image somewhere.

Did not see the wave, I was in the smoke room when it happened, I was lifted right off my feet and slung against the cabin wall. It was in the middle of the Pacific ocean at night, early 1960 or there about,MV Port Halifax. There had been an earth quack just prior to it in South America, West coast, often wondered if that was the reason?

Regards JD.

Are you sure you're not talking about the great Alaskan earthquake?

Hi Del & Vermin.

Might have been Alaska, it sent a chill down my back, and quack, quack and a shake of the tail, and the resulting blessings, and I'm still here to tell the tail. (pun not intended), I remember a TV programme where a captain had sailed against advice, a company man, sent a distress signal, and a aeroplane was there just in time to record what happened, a huge wave came down on the ship, a few screams over the radio and that was the last that was seen of it, does any remember this programme.

Regards JD

djretired, i guess that programme is similarly related to the Movie "...The Perfect Storm.." staring Mark Walberg & George Clooney.....

The biggest wave i've seen on my own eys was when I was caught in the middle of a deadly Storm during a local regatta. Our sail boat was thrown & crushed like a piece of straw. i estimate the wavesto be between 10-12 feet high. A worst scare of a lifetime.

Lucky for me i got my lifejacket on, and the storm calmed quickly enough for me and the other 3 sailors to be rescued.

Chile S.America. This one Looked it up on the internet, even learnt how to put in a hyperlink.

Regards JD.

I was told by a merchant marine academy graduate that large steep waves are unusual (given it was in the Pacific Ocean). More likely in the Atlantic. Something to do with the ocean depth and distance between shores makes the Atlantic waves steep (more able to swap even large vessels) than the Pacific which for similar height waves results in long rolling seas. Of course there are exceptions to every rule and an earth quake would do it.

The waves that were breaking on the flight deck of USS Kitty Hawk in a pacific storm were washing away some gear that hadn't been properly secured. a few trucks and cars. We were changing home ports so personal gear was aboard; it was a tough lesson for a few men.

hi there ;

the highest wave recorded is 112 ft in the Pacific /

from base water line to crows nest /
from BOOK OF THE SEAS /

What year was that?

hi there ;

year unknown / we read the book a few years ago [15 20 yrs 1988 or later]

I have not seen any real big wave though I had a chance to stay on dredgers near shores for months.

But here is the history of 1977. A cyclone hit the shore of Machhalipattanam of Andhra Pradesh of India (East coast). It may be Tsumani (we were not knowing this word those days, till recent Tsunami couple of years back). The wave front across 40 kilometeres of coast entered the land mass upto 8 kilometeres in. Can any body imagine the size of the wave?

We rushed to help the people in the area. I could see dead buffelos along with dead bodies of humans hanging on the tops of high trees. The human loss was almost 100 thousand (official record will show only some 9000... official records always say small figure in India to cover the failure of government) . A moderate size ship was forced on the land area some 4 kms inside from sea shore after water recededand. It was resting there for years after the incidence as it was not possible to take it back to sea from the land area.

The wind speed was like 250 kms/hr and eye witness who survived claim that they could see some burning glow in the see far way from the shore.

We were bound for Pearl and left Coronado with destroyer escort. Was a storm we were told to strap ourselves into our bunks but some could look around. Off our port side about six or seven hundred yards and slightly behind us I could intermittently discern a destroyer and a frigate. As I watched a wave completely blotted out my view of the frigate and the scuttle butt was the frigate had been rolled over belly up then righted. Can't prove but I saw lights then wave then no lights then lights again.

When returning to home port aboard CV-63 run into typhoon and were waves breaking on flight deck; it is 90' above water. Wow that ship was like walking on a floating dock in a 25knot breeze compared to the escorts; they were walking on the bulkheads (:

Saw waves recorded on radar on outer reef of Oahu 75-100+ feet, danger-danger.

tMy father tells a story from when he was in the Royal Navy during WW2. He was on a destroyer limping back to a repair port running on one propeller. The other propeller was strapped to the deck. They ran into a typhoon and the crew were warned not to go up on deck as the waves were crashing onto it.

From the bridge he saw a member of crew who had run out onto the deck (he never did find out the reason - maybe to check the prop was secure), the crew member got picked up by a wave and was washed overboard only to be carried back onto the deck by another wave! He got up very quickly and scuttled back to shelter.

The chap was disciplined but I suspect that after an escape like that he was just happy to be there to take it.

I once encountered a smaller storm that removed a centre castle fully dogged door and an anchor out of a recessed anchor housing breaking a 9 inch chain.

On HMS Triumph, based in Singapore in the mid 1960s, we did occasional trips to Hong Kong, Thailand, East Africa etc etc....

On one of our trips (to Hong Kong I believe) we had to run through the middle of a Typhoon as nobody wanted to take a wave on the side of the ship as she had been badly overloaded on the upper deck during a re-build from Fleet Aircraft carrier to Maintenance FMU support ship.....I actually served on her twice in this role.....

See the following link for a full history of this great ship:-

HMS Triumph R16

We had the gratings mounted in the eyes of the ship (the two holes you can see just under the flight deck at the front), they weighed a few tons each and were each held in with 4 sliding bolts about 8" thick and maybe 2 feet long. The bolts were bent out of shape and the gratings washed out, getting caught in the capstan equipment (which they were supposed to protect).....

If you can locate the helicopter hangar, a white vertical square on the upper deck about 1/3 of the way back from the bow, we were digging the bow into waves up to this point. The hangar doors were slightly damaged in the process.....

We were lucky that it was not much, much worse.

Going through the "Eye" was a very eerie experience indeed.....

If you were in the ship (below) in either the bows or stern during this storm, it was like being in a runaway lift, probably moving 60 to 90 feet up and down, as a young man, most invigorating!!!

As to the height of the waves, I would guess at 60 to 80 feet!!! The view from the bridge was fantastic....

The ship was almost 700 feet from stem to stern.....to give you an idea of the forces and sizes involved!!

with that type hull there should be considerable yaw included in the sensation.

I served in the U.S. Navy and went through a typhoon in the South China Sea back in late '68 (or early '69?) enroute to Subic Bay. We did not enounter the eye of the storm, but rather ran the side for about three days. I'd estimate the largest waves we encountered to be in the 70-80 foot range, possibly some a bit higher. The clinometer in the bridgehouse max'ed out at 47° and we were not supposed to exceed 43°, but I saw it go repeatedly to 45°, and a couple of times go to and slightly beyond the max. That was roll - pitch was like riding a surfboard; the bow would ride the crest then drop, which while less dangerous, was not any more comfortable. It was impossible to sit or even lie on the deck, you were thrown about instead.

In the winter of 1980 I was just turning 18 and was learning to weld pipe working on a oil rig 120 miles off the Louisiana coast. We had been on the rig for 3 weeks and everyone was getting very ready to go home. The problem was that it had been storming for near a week and no helicopters would run out that far to get us. Well it got to Saturday and after waiting and hoping for a ride in all day we gave up and had a big meal and was getting ready for bed when the boss came in and said anyone wanting to go home better be at the crane ready to get on the boat in 15 minutes. We all got to jumping to get our bags together and made it to the crane to be lowered down onto a boat waiting in very bad seas. I don't no exactly how tall the waves were but the AB told us that they were 15 foot with 25 foot crests. They lower you down on a netting basket with your gear in the middle and you standing around the outside hanging on for dear life. The crane operator has to time the descent with the next wave so that the boat don't come up and knock the whole mess up into the air. When we hit the boat deck two people got knocked down and lost there gear before they could get inside. When we got inside the AB gave us each a pack of salt crackers and a plastic garbage bag in case we got sick and told us that we had a long 11 hour ride to shore. The boat was a 175 aluminum crew boat and I swore that if I ever got off of it I'd never get on another one. As we went along we would go over one wave and then the next one would hit the boat and go over us. It was one of the worst trips I have ever had on sea. I really didn't know how to gauge the height of the waves were but they really dwarfed that crew boat. Everyone was sea sick and scared to say the least even some of the crew was sick. I finally strapped myself into a bunk and hoped for the whole thing to be over and I will never forget the sound the boat made when it would jump one of those waves and hit the ocean with it's aluminum hull. I learned several things that night such as boats go really slow in very bad seas, it is sometimes better to wait for the next ride and for no reason should anyone ever eat a big meal and get onto a boat in those kinds of seas.

pipewelder

Oops, I forgot to log in before i posted that one, sorry all.

pipewelder

Never saw a truly large wave personally, but there was a photo (circulated on the Internet) taken from the roof of one hotel at the time of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean that showed the size of the monster wave; perhaps it was a doctored photo, hard to know these days.

The highest wave I've seen was from the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. They wouldn't let us drive NW on the H-1 we had to go all the way around and over the H-3 through Kaneohe.

The waves were discernible from the shore at about fiffty feet of height according to am radio report of the radar. They would break about half a mile out then 10 or so feet of white water would cross the hwy of course it was just a two lane road then. Quite exciting for us young men of 20-25 years old. No bravado from this chicken nah!

I commercial fished off the west coast of Canada for 17 years and the largest wave I ever encoutered was about 60 feet high. I got stuck in Hecate Straights between the Queen Charlote islands and the main land The waves were about 20 feet apart and 60 feet high tide running in all directions very confusing seas. Hecate Straights is the 4th most dangerous body of water in the world. I think that KLYSTRON is right about the tallest wave it was 112 feet and was recorded by a ODAS (Ocean Data Acquisition System) a few years ago off the north west side of Vancouver Island In BC Canada at a place called the Delwood Knoles.

Things are only as bad as you make them.

Hey! Is that you, uncle Luie...

I grew up on the eastern end of lake superior. I have seen 90ft waves coming in for hours in some november/december storms. They write songs about that part of the lake. when a northwester is blowing there is nothing to slow the waves down. When they hit the narrowing part of the lake they grow quickly.

Gulf of Mexico Hurricanes in recent years have been 'enlightening'. Bouys measured wave heights of more than 90'. Extreme wave damage was done to equipment on deck 120' above water-line. And LOTS more sea-floor forces than imagined.

"Mother, Mother Ocean..." Apparently the ocean can really BE a mother...

But there are those among us who have known that for awhile. With the anticipated climatic changes we are supposed to be seeing within the next 10 - 50 years, I have to wonder how much more ferocious these storms will get???

The South African Eastern seaboard is renowned for "rogue waves". One theory is that these are generated when a SouthWest gale blows up the coast against the strong Agulhus current coming down the coast. Apparently, waves of up to 30 metres with very deep and steep troughs are formed. A number of large ships have been damaged by such waves and there have also been a number of unexplained ship disappearances, the most famous of which is most probably the SS Waratah in 1909.

Personally, I had a rather scary experience in the Agulhas area. We had "followed the fish" there with my 21 foot dual outboard-engined ski-boat. However, due to bad weather, we had not been able to go out for about a week. Within a few hours, the sea quickly flattened and the weather cleared beautifully. Later the afternoon one of the local boatowners (most probably also a bit out of pocket after a week of no fish) came to us and asked if we wanted to accompany him to catch cob, which were evidently biting well.

So, about 5 o'clock we both set off in our boats and reached the fishing spot, which was beyond the Agulhas lighthouse, about an hour later. Fishing (by hand line) was really good and by 10 o'clock that evening we had a nice catch on board. Suddenly, a cloud appeared, the wind started to pump and the sea picked up. Within half an hour or so, we were in the middle of a full blown storm. We hauled up the anchor and headed back to Struis Bay harbour.

Conditions were getting worse by the minute and to add to our woes, one of the outboards motors on the other local fisherman's boat died on him. We had to make a big detour around Northumberland Point (on which the Oriental Pioneer went aground) as the waves were breaking far out to sea in this area.

We both made it safely into the relative shelter of Struis Bay and anchored there for the rest of the night. At first light we looked around - could not make out any shore features as the large breakers hid them.... The other local boat decided not to wait around and made a dash for the small fishing harbour. In a good display of seamanship (or plain stupidity?) he positioned himself between two waves, and safely (on one engine) made it through the harbour entrance. Apparently he was totally hidden from onlookers on the shore by the first wave - they only saw him once he was within the harbour breakwater.

We stayed out on anchor. Suddenly a massive swell came passed and lifted us up. About five minutes later, another large swell, bigger than the first, came passed. One of the fishermen on board said, "Be careful for the third!!" A further 5 minutes went by and then another massive swell, even bigger than the previous one, came rolling towards us. It lifted us up as before and then broke, with a thunderous roar, about 50 to 100 metres from us. That anchor came up in record time! We were eventually guided into a safe anchorage by a guy standing on top of the roof of the local hotel. By 4 o'clock that afternoon, almost as quick as it had started, conditions returned to normal.

About two weeks ago, nearby in the Gansbaai area, an 11 metre shark-watching catamaran was capsized, apparently by a "freak" wave estimated to be about 4 metres. All ten tourists and nine crew were thrown into the sea. Unfortunately three tourists drowned in the incident.

One does not muck about with the sea - no matter how big or small your vessel is!!

Brgds, Maurice

This may interest all of you:

A Wave of Destruction Will
Destroy America's East Coast
By Ian Gurney
The Daily Express - UK
8-10-4

I have heard that a 400 foot wave was waiting for the East coast of the US because of the Canary Islands, but I fail to see how this would really affect England, considering that these islands are off the West coast of Africa?

Keep in mind that the wave pattern is approximately circular, centering on the site of the collapse (think bullseye target). The wave will travel toward all points of Africa, Europe, North & South America, Greenland, and part of Antarctica. Even southern Asia and Australia could get in on a little of the action, although it should be considerably diminished due to distance and shielding by other continents.

Yes I saw that programme, and I must state from the beginning I'm not sure of my facts. There is an existing fault I believe all along the Canary Islands coast, that occurred a number of years ago, and this fault I believe is filling up with rain water, and any disturbance like the previous one is liable to send the lot into the ocean. So check out this site.

Regards JD.

It's not a new fault, it's a very old caldera. An old volcanic crater, which are notoriously unstable. On land, when a caldera gives way it can cause a landslide of several ten of kilometers. In the Atlantic Ocean, half the island dropping into the sea will cause a wave 400 meters high, heading for the East coast of the US. Estimates are we have about eight hours before the monster hits!

Some caldera in the Canary Islands, like you say these are semi round craters, but my understanding is that a fault occurred along the coastal region running almost the length of the island, a split in the rock, not a magma collapse? I'm not fully aware of the facts, and as suggested by the post, it may be just media hype. lets hope it never happens. Done some checking on the internet but cant find evidence of said crack?

Regards JD.

I did a quick search on the name of the volcano and got many hits. The one obviously most important to me regarded damages to Florida. Here's the text:

It will create a Tsunami, that the state of Florida does not ever want you to think about, in that it will wipe out Southern Florida @ 14' above sea level and penetrate to the begining of the hill country in Orlando @ 120' above sea level. It is a true doomsday scenario that few ever wish to think about and there is nothing anyone can do about this force of nature and the ensuing calamity.

The wave will be more like a flash flood on the surface of the ocean, that will after crossing the Atlantic in about 7 hours, will destroy/damage all US east coast seaside cities. And where the coastal water is shallow, the angle of repose on the wave (large high curl - like "The Day After Tommorrow")will be significantly above the 100' projected average. The worst part is the temporary effect of raising the ocean level in a quickly steeped manner for 20 - 25 miles inland, before following trough causes the force to recede.

This is not a pleasing scenario. With the current and succesive adverse hurricane cycle in place, greater hydroststatic pressure is being created within the extint volcano tubes, which have been stable since WWII. Overall it will ultimately and likely take the confluence of a number of external and/or internal pressuring factors to bring this about; and more than likely in geological time, that this will not happen in the questioners life time.

I was under the impression that an earthquake generated tsunami is mostly imperceptible to a ship in deep water, that the height and incredible mass of the wave happens when the water shoals.

Apologies, but I neglected to log in prior to submitting response 43. It is best you know who to blame…..

In that case, please disregard my post #44 (except the welcome aboard, that is!)...

People that live along the Pacific coast know all too well about rogue waves, though I think they're somewhat different than what you're talking about...

In the Pacific, waves created by a storm out at sea can out run the storm and head toward the coast. So, for example, if you are at one of the many tide-pool parks along the Pacific coast, you takes turns with a friend... While you are looking into the tide pools he is watching the ocean for that possible "Big one!"

During the 1990's the plan was to follow a typhoon into home port. Typhoon A spawned Typhoon B and we were caught between. Quite amazing to see waves crash over the bow of a US Naval Aircraft Carrier. We were walking on the walls.

See the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVoMtPFtEg0&eurl=http://www.google.co.in/ig?hl=en