Rogue Waves

[Marie Maddie]

Okay- We all a gun ho fishermen in search of the heaviest tuna, biggest blue, fastest wahoo, and the meanest shark, but on a serious note what about rogue waves? Do we as professionals think about this or pay attention about them? I saw a special the other night of the Discovery channel regarding this weather phenonmon. They destroy 50ft+ boats it half instantly! What can we do as professionals and sportsman to look for, antiscipate, and stay away from them? Does anyone actually consider them while out in the canyons overnite? Sure we all look at sea heights, wind speed, and temp. breaks, but where can we get info on rogues? Has anyone been "through" one? I fish out of O.C. Maryland, religiously 40+ miles every weekend. What is the frequency of them happening on the Eastern seaboard? This is a topic that i hope will get alot of feed back from eveyone beacuse it invloves everyone and can eliminate everything instantly. Thank you for your time to read this.

Mark

[squirtis]

I have a buddy that took a 15 footer in what was typically 4-6 footers that broke a lot of chit and even blew out the tuna door. Said it scared the shit out of him....SCARY

I was on a party boat out west right after an earthquake and we had a tsunami warning so the capt sped up (to like 13kts ) so we would be in deep water if it came through....not scary

[dman25]

I fish out of OC on the weekends myself. to be completely honest for me it's like being afraid of lightening. It's out there and it can kill you but I'd never leave my house if I was really worried about it. There's no way to predict or detect them in time to do anything about it anyway. I've seen some big waves but nothing I'd consider rogue. I've seen submarines push a 15 foot wake before, but that's the closest I've come. Plus I don't think they are at all common on our coast.

[hamer31]

well the absolutely do happen but as dman said there is no way to know if they are coming. i don't go out fishing worrying about them. chances are most of us will never see them as i believe they mostly occur in large storms.

[Deep C]

By definition a rougue is a wave more than twice the height of the pervailing sea. I have seen 30' seas but no rogues in that. The only true rogue I ever really dealt with though was off Islamorada. It was already a day nobody should go out in. Teddy DiEsposito and I were the only ones dumb enough to play in the 8-12 foot slop.
Late morning I heard Teddy call me. His voice was in a high pitch. I looked east and a half mile away I could see a beast of about 25 feet toss his boat like a toy up in the air. I swung the boat and set for a quartering angle. She was rippin faster than the other waves and it was a very short wait for her to reach me.
God was she ugly! Big flat face and curling on top. My old 38' Post rode on up. I had to throttle up to keep from sliding backwards. She may have been 25' on the face but the hole behind her was closer to 35' . I felt sick as I cleared the top. I was nearly vertical pointing up when I did. Then it began... The most terrifying fall I ever experienced. Figure the boat at 38 feet and 35 mor for the hole. Nearly all vertical fall. Thats about seventy feet! A seven story free fall that I never want to do again.
Wind whistled through the boat. I actually went weightless for what seemed like an eternity. The bow hatch blew off and happened to land on the bridge. When we landed that water was no longer soft. It sounded like thunder. I heard shit crackin and breakin and was just sure I shattered the old girl.

I was pleasantly surprised when she responded to controls as I spun right around. Grinding the tackle Iup I had been trolling was the least of my worries. I jacked the throttles up and got behind the big wall of water and was making tracks for the beach. When she got to the reef edge in about 40 feet of water she broke and broke and basically was like the wash at the beach... six miles off shore...
I mashed the sticks and kept running for the W on my compass. Comming into the marina, I could see guys all startingto point and talk among them selves. What did they see? Was I busted in half? Was my water line gone? I spun and planted her in the slip. The boat had a history of leaking bad so I had a set of "anti -sink" lines set in place. They went on.
I shut her down to listen for water running into my boat. There was none? I looked into my forward cabin. The teak trim around my shower stall and port holes was splintered but I saw no other apparent damage. I looked below deck and no more water than usual. I was startingto feel ok. A couple pieces of teak and a bow hatch was all?
Nah... I got off the boat and looked up the side... I may not have busted the boat but she sure looked bad missing her fresh $2800 Awl Grip paint job! Thats right I knocked it off. Only a couple patches remained and I was looking at 38 feet of bare wood...
So that's my one run in with a rogue...

[squirtis]

I got off the boat and looked up the side... I may not have busted the boat but she sure looked bad missing her fresh $2800 Awl Grip paint job! Thats right I knocked it off. Only a couple patches remained and I was looking at 38 feet of bare wood...
So that's my one run in with a rogue...

[Deep C]

Awl Grip is a very hard shelll paint... When I landed that boat must have flexed something fierce and cracked it like an egg shell.

[Marie Maddie]

I appreicate the feed back and though they aren't likley on the east coast they do happen. Yes we can't be feared from them like lightning, but we have to be mindful they can occur. Unforturnately, there is no way or NOAA web site to "look" for these things. Being Captain's of boats and having passengers aboard we are held to the utmost standards of the Coast Guard so we ca not be nieve and just go fishing. How many of our collegues reading this say" they never happen don't worry"? Yes true but are they just looking for a few bucks so they can pay their boat bill, or are they concerned about there cargo-passengers? We all need to work together on these weather issues, wether is it a rain storm, high winds, or rogue waves, we all should educate and notify each other while out at sea. We all love the thrill of fishing, for fun or money, but we have to come home to enjoy it.

[Jared D]

An old satl I learned to fish under had been through two in his life, one in (I think) the indian Ocean on a surface boat with the Navy during Vietnam. The other he got smacked by 30 miles out of Jacksonville FL while on charter in his 26 foot CC. Said that one really messed things up. Its been 15 years since I heard the story, so I am alittle dim on the details.

[Squidnation]

Karl passed me on the Espadon one time and almost made me spill my Vodka Tonic. I was pissed