How unusual WAS that wave?

[JJsmama]

So, how unusual was that 'freak wave?' Anyone know? Is this something that happens at sea a good bit and we don't hear about it because no cruise ships in the area or is it really strange?

 

[mmouse37]

There was a link to this site on CruiseCritic and I check it out...wow is all I can say....the wave in the pictures are not from this coast, but still it shows the fury of the seas...

http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/

Make sure you check out all the pages....

 

[navyman2]

So, how unusual was that 'freak wave?' Anyone know? Is this something that happens at sea a good bit and we don't hear about it because no cruise ships in the area or is it really strange?


Freak Waves or , rogue waves have always been around, Just dont hear that much about them, While on A Navy FF we lost a helo due to a Freak Wave.

A other Cruise Ship was Hit by a rogue waves in 2000 or 2001 on the west Coast Out OF San Diego .

They DO happen

Navyman2

 

[crisi]

As I understand it, not unusual, but what was unusual was the captain taking his ship through seas capable of producing a rogue wave. Merchant marines sail through them all the time, cruise ship captains try to avoid seas that can produce them.

 

[JJsmama]

In partial answer to my own question, I thought I'd post this article I found about rogue waves in general. Supposedly, they can come out of calm seas too.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2002245319_cruisewaves19.html

.

 

[jrabbit]

If you read Clive Custler's book's and the exploits of Dirk Pitt rogue waves seem to happen all of the time - but then again, Dirk has excaped from a russian island off of the coast of cuba, returned with marines and blew the place up (while rescueing his friends beforehand), sneeked (snuk ) into Cuba proper, delivered a "courier" to Castro, saved most of Havana from destruction and brought peace to the western hemisphere. Etc, etc etc.

I'm not going to worry about the rogue waves on my next cruise - Bringing the Magic Home - I'm going to be more worried about the huricannes - in both the pacific and caribbean that time of the year - especially since we will be "on a schedue" and need to get through the canal.

 

[gatrbait]

I guess this is Mother Nature's way of telling all of us not to take her for granted...respect the sea and it will take care of you in return. I'm just happy that no one was seriously hurt.

 

[jgalecpa]

I read that there are about five of these waves every two weeks world wide.

If you take the number of square miles the oceans cover, the likelihood of them encountering a living thing is quite small.

Jim

 

[TammiMcMan]

Maybe our local news affiliate is reporting the incident wrong, but just tonight they mentioned a link between the Captain of this vessel possibly taking a chance and sailing through stormy weather and the fact that this particular ship was due into port to film an episode of The Apprentice. This news station is not known for being entirely accurate however. Just curious if this wave came out of calm seas, or was there in fact a storm.

 

[BobandLee]

Maybe our local news affiliate is reporting the incident wrong, but just tonight they mentioned a link between the Captain of this vessel possibly taking a chance and sailing through stormy weather and the fact that this particular ship was due into port to film an episode of The Apprentice. This news station is not known for being entirely accurate however. Just curious if this wave came out of calm seas, or was there in fact a storm.

I saw a similiar story on one of the cable news outlet. Unbelievable.

 

[taeja71]

You didn't warn me to take my Bonine before viewing the pics! Whooa....

 

[tvguy]

A Maritime expert commented on rumors the Captain was in a hurry by saying that "yes, they try to stay on schedule, but no Captain is crazy enough to risk passenger lives or risk a $500 million dollar ship to stay on schedule".

 

[minniemoms]

MJ looking at those pictures is almost enough to make me stay home. My dad is already saying to me that he say the News, and he isn't sure it will be safe to go now,... That is all my dad needed.

 

[JJsmama]

I think the idea that we have all been given that this was one bad wave is misleading. I've read reports of the passengers enduring extremely high seas for hours. Plus my parents live in Charleston and talked to some of the passengers. These people said they could not distinguish the "rogue wave" from the others. They did not feel it was out of no where but a big area of bad seas that they should not have been sailing through in the first place.

 

[TheWog]

I believe they are more common in the larger oceans, Atlantic, Pacific and less likely in the Caribbean. You should be fine on a DCL cruise.

here is a link to The Donald connection

http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/20/news/newsmakers/trump_boat/

 

[mmouse37]

MJ looking at those pictures is almost enough to make me stay home. My dad is already saying to me that he say the News, and he isn't sure it will be safe to go now,... That is all my dad needed.

Don't worry....they were nowhere near where you were cruising!!!

Anybody watch that new show on cable....Deadliest Catch or something like that....about the king crab fisherman....whoa....would not want to be on one of their crab boats doing that job!!!

 

[DisneyDreams4P&B]

There was an article in the Portland Press Herald that said that rouge wave are more common than people think and that they believe that these Rouge Waves are responsible for the majority of the over 200 supertankers and ship sinkings in the last decade. When I read that I got a nice pit in the bottom of my stomach. I am booked on the Sept. 10 05 cruise. Hurricane season. Am I psyching myself out of a cruise? Worrying too much?

 

[allears]

Let's keep in mind that not too many cruise ships have sunk in the last 10 years or so. And regardless of the "real" story behind the Dawn, the ship held together, no one was killed and the ship was able to sail back out. That's a pretty good testimonial to the engineering of our modern ships. But should also keep us mindful that nature is still far more powerful than any thing we can build.

 

[rejobako]

There was an article in the Portland Press Herald that said that rouge wave are more common than people think and that they believe that these Rouge Waves are responsible for the majority of the over 200 supertankers and ship sinkings in the last decade. When I read that I got a nice pit in the bottom of my stomach. I am booked on the Sept. 10 05 cruise. Hurricane season. Am I psyching myself out of a cruise? Worrying too much?

I read the same article, although I would suspect most of those sinkings occurred in seas with more fearsome reputations, like the North Atlantic, etc. In addition, cruise ship itineraries are flexible, as you know, and in most cases, the ships will divert around areas where heavy weather is likely to occur. That might not be the case with tankers, etc., which for financial reasons might choose to plow through rough seas to stay on schedule. And if this story about the Dawn captain throwing a bit of caution to the wind (pun intended) to get the ship to NYC in time to star in "The Apprentice", then you can see why that ship, unlike any others in the mid-Atlantic/Caribbean at the time, was the only one to encounter a rogue wave. Other cruise ships suffered high seas and rough weather, but generally stayed away from the center of the storm.

I'm not worried in the least about cruising next month. The reason the Dawn's story is so compelling is because it's so rare for a cruise ship in the Atlantic to encounter such a serious problem, which even in such an egregious case involved no significant injury or death. I would be interested in knowing just how many of those 200 ships were cruise ships, and how many were of a size comparable to the Wonder, and how many sunk within 3000 miles of Port Canaveral. My guess is that the answer is zero.