BLUEMOMENT

Just finished re-reading this classic by Claud Worth. This is a wonderful volume and I particularly like his oft repeated "We had all the wind we wanted for [insert sail plan here.]" However..



This was obviously written before Open 60s and 97' trimarans went surfing in the Southern Ocean but nevertheless his assertion that "When moving through the water she leaves a wake which, in some unknown way, makes a following sea steeper, and this effect is greater the faster she travels." is probably the only information he offers which doesn't quite ring true.

Whaddyathink?

Superb.

My comments?

I've had a green sea break over my stern. It wasn't that bad.

Agree with you, times change. To easily travel faster than the waves in 2008 you just need £450 to buy a 20 year old Fireball.

Silkie wrote: nevertheless his assertion that "When moving through the water she leaves a wake which, in some unknown way, makes a following sea steeper, and this effect is greater the faster she travels." is probably the only information he offers which doesn't quite ring true.

Whaddyathink?

I would have thought that rather than the wake, it is the fact that the boat is moving tonnes of water. This must upset the waves around her in the same way as a (relatively shallow) rough bottom will do.

If you look over the side of a North Sea ferry you can see that the waves near her break much more than those further away (observations of a smoker!).

Sorry - just realised that I've misread the quote - he's talking about making the following sea steeper.

Same effect though - slow the wave down and it will get steeper - maybe to the extent that it breaks.

I thought that the internal circulation within a wave was circular such that if you cut a cross section through a wave the motion of the water would look like a wheel rolling forward.

Ash

Windfinder wrote:To easily travel faster than the waves in 2008 you just need £450 to buy a 20 year old Fireball.

There's one for sale in Peterhead, if you're interested.

Interested in the parting comment about oil.

Has anyone actually tried spreading oil in bad weather? Is it still legal? Did it work?

Must admit I could never see how it could affect big breaking waves - a few ounces of oil against a few thousand tons of water seems long odds.

But having sadi that I know that at one time some of the lifeboats on the NE coast carried oil containes specifically to calm waves - so who knows.

Only mechanism I can think of is somehow affecting surface tension of water in a wave.

Windfinder wrote:I've had a green sea break over my stern. It wasn't that bad.

You may be talking about a different class of event. Worth must have had over 100,000 miles in his log and says he has only experienced it twice. The next page:



This is his description (more or less verbatim from his log apparently) of the second event:



Note the "She dished up several small seas with her long low counter.." dismissed as matters of no consequence.