Boatnerd Discussion Forum

The biggest sustained I have seen have been about 20 ft. The have been some 40's but those are more the odd wave in a storm. I have never heard of anything over 40 ft on the lakes. I have seen some 40-50's in a gale in the North Atlantic.

I thought that they could get up between 60-90ft on the lakes? Were those 40 footers substained or was it just one?

Randy S wrote:

oldseadog wrote:The bunk won't do you much good, try hiding in a lifeboat thats if you can get to it.

Would rather be on deck in lee of the cabin, in my Survival Suit

Survival suites became standard issue on all fleets after the Fitz went down as well many other safety related requirements.

Sometimes you are out there and the weather gets bad and there is no place to hide. You can't move cargo by running and hiding every time the lake get a little rough. I have seen some fleets that have a policy of when Gale Warnings go up the anchor goes down. I never worried about it as there was nothing I could do about it anyway. Having sailed the Great Lakes and the North Atlantic, I still maintain that the best policy is get in your bunk and pull up the covers.

I would have to check my weather diary, it was somewhere between 2004 -008. The Roger Blough downbound in November reported a wave they estimated at 40 feet off Munsing, hitting it head on.

I have been on boats where they changed the captain three times in one season for one reason or another. Not all captains are as prudent as others, in fact some like to be know as rough weather sailors and the weather be damned. Only going by my six years as a wheelsman.

If your worried about it, you should find another career. The best way of riding out 40' waves is by having a Captain with good enough judgement to not take his boat out in weather like that!
Just my opinion, after sailing for 37 years.

If there are 40 foot waves and something happens you aren't getting off anyway so your bunk is as good a place as any. When was the last time someone got off a sinking ship in a storm using the lifeboats? I believe it was the Steinbrenner in the early 50's. The life rafts are a better place, but still probably not going to do you any good either.

standuffer wrote:

Randy S wrote:

oldseadog wrote:The bunk won't do you much good, try hiding in a lifeboat thats if you can get to it.

Would rather be on deck in lee of the cabin, in my Survival Suit

I sailed on the Callaway during the winter of 71 - 72, there were no survival suits aboard that season. When were survival suits made available to crewmen?

We had them at the biginning of the '75 late season on USS vessels. They were nothing much compared to the ones issued today.

Cleveland Cliffs started distributing Survival Suits to us in '76-'77. I believe the timing was a result of the findings and recommendations of the commission reporting on the Fitzgerald sinking.

Randy S wrote:

oldseadog wrote:The bunk won't do you much good, try hiding in a lifeboat thats if you can get to it.

Would rather be on deck in lee of the cabin, in my Survival Suit

I sailed on the Callaway during the winter of 71 - 72, there were no survival suits aboard that season. When were survival suits made available to crewmen?

oldseadog wrote:The bunk won't do you much good, try hiding in a lifeboat thats if you can get to it.

Would rather be on deck in lee of the cabin, in my Survival Suit

The bunk won't do you much good, try hiding in a lifeboat thats if you can get to it.

I had always found that the best way to tell wave height is to use a known object on the boat. An example would he the bridge wings were 40 feet above the water, so if the wave went over the bridge wing you had a 40 foot wave and it was time to go and hide someplace like your bunk.

J.P., good answer and very well written. It's hard to explain what it's like out there to someone who has never experienced it first hand.

"stubbed our toe" Aw yes. You would just be coming out of some bad weather, and the Captain would decide to go to his cabin for some rest. He would instruct the mate to start pumping her out. (Light boat with ballast) He would always tell him to stop the pumping just before she stubbed her toe!

Interesting question and and I am curious to see the postings that follow. Wave heights are a subjective issue to say the least. My experience is that one persons 20 footer is another persons 25 footer. From personal experience I have found it rather difficult to very accurately judge a measurement when you are in a storm, on a boat that is pitching, hogging, rolling and usually in poor visibility. At best you are able to give a range of wave heights based on your own perspective and circumstances.
A case in point is when I was on watch at the wheel of a Cliffer upbound crossing Lake Superior approaching Manitou Island on a very early January morning in 1978. There was a strong NNW Storm with 60 mph winds and a 20-25ft sea running. The Str. J.L. Mauthe, whom we had been chatting with all night to get wind and sea condition updates from, was about 10 miles ahead of us and radioed that they had just encountered a substantially larger wave than the rest and that they were checking down to ease the strain on their hull. A short while later the heavy snow let up and the 2nd mate on my watch decided to put the spot light on directly ahead of us to get a look at sea conditions and decide whether to get the "old man" up. Within moments looming before us was what we assumed was the rogue wave that the Mauthe had encountered. How big was it? Hard to say really, we were pitching forward and down from the last series of waves and all I could see was a giant wave cresting at eye level from my spot behind the wheel. When it hit we "stubbed our toe" on it and the whole boat shook hard, bringing the Captain immediately to the pilot house and a call from the engine room wanting to know "what the H*LL had just happened?"

what is the largest rogue waves ever recorded in the lakes?