Freak waves

If we decide to go on the oceans, our contraption must resist at least this:





OK? We can do that? Can we? Faith in DIY technology? Yeah? Ready to go? Have you ever stood on the deck during a storm?



Want to know more about freak waves?

See this exellent BBC document, download .flv : part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5.
Or on Youtube : part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5



Let's be positive about all this : boats might be too "solid", too stiff, not flexible enough to cope with rogue waves... Maybe something pre-broken/semi-flexible might offer better shelter. A 40 metre high freak wave will probably break the earth's strongest ship, but wouldn't brake a small piece of wood; or many small modules attached together... But it would be messy, that's for sure.

We need something a bit better than this:

Location	Rogue waves happen on notorious coasts with complex current and wind patterns as giant waves reach the shores. Freak waves also happen in deep sea where the linear model of waves does not apply anymore, in the middle of the ocean.
Strength	A classical 3m wave, hits a ship with 1.5t/m2 A typical storm wave 12m wave, hits a ships with 6t/m2 A rogue wave, hits a ship with 100t/m2
Ship weak momentum	The ship is likely to be damaged when paralel to the wave pattern. A rogue sea does not have pattern, the energy of one wave is transmitted to another, unpredictable.