Did the disciples encountered a freaque wave?

The Gospel reading today:

Jesus Calms the Storm

(Matthew 8:23-27)

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Also: 

(Mark 4:35-41)

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to the disciples, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" 

So freaque waves had happened in the biblical time 2000 years ago. Now an interesting question would be: Did the disciples encountered a freaque wave or waves in that instance?  I don't think anyone can affirmatively provide an answer to this question.  The only thing that I can surmise is that if the instance happens somewhere in US today, one or two things might happen: (1) US main stream media will probably not going to report it, because Jesus is politically incorrect, and (2) if it become known by local people and Coast Guards and may be some journalists, in their general discussions on the case the term will most likely to bring up ( without mentioning the "Peace! Be still!"! of course!

A dog lost to Sea in New Zealand.

Here's a report from New Zealand:

A witness spotted a Jack Russell swimming for its life while being battered by massive waves off Dunedin.

People continue to comb the beaches between St Clair and St Kilda after the 15-year-old dog disappeared in heavy seas at about 2pm on Sunday.

Graeme Newton said he was walking in the area when he saw a woman on the beach, which was hit hard by heavy waves, "and I thought what the bloody hell is she doing?".

Later he spotted a dog in the water, "and it was getting hit by the white water again and again".

"I saw the dog trying to swim towards St Clair and I thought, 'good luck to it'."

He estimated the dog had been in the water for 10 minutes and later lost sight of it.

Those same waves had earlier brought down a large sand dune, "and just scoured huge chunks off".

He later scrambled around a slip to talk to the woman, who was obviously upset.

"I went up to her and said 'are you missing a dog'."

"She asked me if I had seen it and I said 'yes, but you are not going to like the outcome'."

The Otago Peninsula resident told him she had been on a dune when it gave way.

Another witness Anthony Legg also talked to the "distraught lady", later helping search for her dog.

He said the track [between the beaches] needed better signage from both ends to prevent people walking in the area, "because it could have been a kid who got washed away".

The track was clearly signposted from the southern end of St Clair beach.

Dunedin City councillor Andrew Whiley said the council was aware of the incident.

Contractors were repairing the area, he said. 

O.K. the story here is a dog was swept out by a freaque wave and did not survive on a beach that was hit hard by large waves. Was that a freaque wave?  That's not easy to say. So this may or may not be a freaque wave story.

  

Queen Mary's 1942 encounter revisited

I came across a reading material from Milwaukie High School entitled "Swallowers of Ships" with this description:

 1942: The clouds of war seem at their darkest for America and her allies against
Hitler's awesome Nazi military machine. Allied hopes hang on the slim thread of ship convoys
moving across the North Atlantic from the United States to Britain.

 Nazi U-boats constantly threaten Allied shipping. But in the late winter of 1942, Atlantic
storms are more menacing than anything the enemy can throw at the convoys.

 On this particular day, the English coast is wracked by a vicious gale. Some 700 miles
westward, the 81,237 ton liner Queen Mary labors through the storm toward England. On
board are 15,000 American soldiers. The majestic liner pounds her way through an
unrelenting train of 20 and 30 foot waves. Her captain and crew are grimly determined. They
have weathered North Atlantic storms as fierce as this before.

 Suddenly the sea seems to drop away alongside the Queen Mary. She is drawn into
the deep trough of a giant wave coming at her broadside. Looking up, the men on the bridge
cannot believe their eyes. Although they are located high above the ship's waterline, the
mountainous wave rises so high they cannot see its top. As the mass of water comes down
on them, its crest tears away in an avalanche of sea. The upper decks are under water. The
greater liner lists to one side. She is within inches of capsizing!

 At the time the London newspaper The Daily Mail reported: "...those who had sailed in
her since she first took to sea were convinced she never would right herself. Her safety
depended on no more than five degrees. Had she gone those inches farther to port, the
Queen Mary would have been no more."

 Miraculously the Queen Mary did not go under. A disaster worse than that of the
Titanic was narrowly avoided. Yet many ships since then have encountered giant waves and
have not been so lucky.

 Liner Queen Mary encountered a freaque wave is well known and legendary, but I never really noticed these much details ever given elsewhere as those reported here, especially that what they encountered was a deep trough! That's not something well known to my knowledge. Yes, deep trough is an integral part of freaque waves. Not all freaque waves are of Draupner type! That's something people may have difficulty to comprehend especially those nonlinear physicists thinking ocean freaque waves can be solved in optics!!

As a matter of fact, Dr. Al Beeton, our former beloved Director of GLERL also encountered a deep trough in Lake Michigan in the mid 1950's when he was a young scientist, piloting a small research vessel in eastern Lake Michigan near Luddington, Michigan when all of a sudden a deep trough appeared in front of his route and his boat just dropped into it. Fortunately no disaster ensued, so he can told me all the details about the encounter years latter. That's some valuable life's experience not many can expect to have and surviving a freaque wave encounter can not be appropriately and prominently listed as a life's accomplishment  -- but it WAS!  I really appreciate when Al learned about my interest in study freaque waves then eagerly told me all about it. Thanks, Al!

Waves at Game of Thrones set

I just noticed this Euronews news item that was happened ndwhich somehow I missed when it happened at a Maltese island in February of this year with this following picture:

There's also an interesting video attached to the article that makes it well worth to pay a visit. As a matter of fact, watching those videos convince me that it is sufficient to look at the videos to appreciate the power of those waves. One might even question: which one is the real freaque wave?

 

Sweeps off cliff's edge

This news happened in Ireland's Aran Islands as reported in Good Morning America on April 15, 2015. The incredible video below the report is a must watch. You have to watch it to believe what sweeps off cliff's edge is about and how lucky was that the rescue over a real freaque wave encounter took place!  Here's the story:

A woman visiting Ireland’s Aran Islands was saved by a young couple after a giant wave knocked her off a cliff and into the sea.

Apu Gupta, 21, from London, was taking video from the cliff’s edge last week when she was knocked 40 feet down onto rocks by the wave.

“I tried to run, but it pushed me straight down. It was like being in a waterfall and that probably cushioned the fall,” Gupta told the Irish Times. “I was so scared because I thought the wave was going to come again.”

“My ankle was completely smashed and the pain was bad,” Gupta, who was visiting the islands with her mom, told the newspaper.

Two other tourists visiting the island saw Gupta’s fall and immediately sprang into action, according to the Times.

“We could see her almost being swept out to sea, so I took out my phone to dial 999 but there was no reception,” Seamus McCarthy, a paramedic, told the newspaper.

The other tourist, identified by the Times as Fionnuala Quigley, a teacher, ran to the nearest house to get help. The pair, by now aided by others, fashioned a rope out of a jacket and a backpack and lowered it down to Gupta.

Gupta tightened the backpack around her waist while her rescuers pulled her up the cliff to safety.

We have to believe that somehow God's hand is right there handling the whole thing!

Unfinished

This is the picture I captured from a newspaper article showing am coastal freaque wave in action. I have since lost the article connection, just this picture to marvel for now. I'll finish it if I can find the article! 

ThunderSnow and Lightning

Hmmm. . .  "thundersnow" is a new term for me just noticed from this article in MalaysianDigest.com: entitled "THUNDERSNOW and Lightning very very frightening!"

STORM-HIT Britain was last night lashed by 50ft super-tides as 80mph winds and thundersnow battered the nation.
Massive waves clattered coastal towns while the screaming gales caused chaos across the UK.
The “weatherbomb” resulted in tragedy as one man was swept to his death off the seafront at Scarborough, North Yorks.
A freak wave dragged the man in his 30s into the water as he walked his dog along the seafront – despite desperate attempts by his pal to pull him to safety.
The friend was left clinging to the sea wall as a monster wave whipped up by gale force winds crashed against him. The other man was recovered unconscious from the water about 40 minutes later, but died in hospital.
More than 100 flood warnings were in place across the country yesterday with gales, lightning, thunder and snowstorms due overnight and into this morning.
Forecasters at The Weather Network warned of “further spells of wet and windy weather and snow on the higher ground”.
Meanwhile thundersnow – a rare phenomenon combining lightning with snow flurries – pelted down in western Scotland and Northern Ireland yesterday.
And there was road chaos in the Lake District as drivers lost control in treacherous conditions.
One incident saw two people cut out of a car after it ended up on its roof after a “number of collisions”, on one dangerous stretch. Volunteers from Langdale and Ambleside Mountain rescue service cared for the pair until ambulances arrived.
Leon Brown, forecaster at The Weather Channel UK, said another cold front will smash into the UK on Thursday, just in time for the weekend.

Good to noticed this article from the internet. It may be too much to expect US' reporters to understand that there's a whole wide world out there outside of Washington D.C., Whitehouse and Hollywood cesspool. This article reported a tragic case, being rescued is still not enough, so sad!

I must admit that I have never heard of thundersnow during lightning with snow flurries, it is frightening!  Nature seems never tired of surprising us mortal humans!

The deadliest wave on the planet

When one sees a title like "THE DEADLIEST WAVES ON THE PLANET" it most certainly screams for a click! It's an article from Sydney, Australia's Daily Telegraph, an article about surfer and surfing waves. The title may have succeeded  in generating shock feelings. But it's a compilation of world's dangerous surfing sites according to surfers.  Click it and be enlightened or entertained!

A video of freaque wave in action

Now here's an interesting News Video Segment from Australia's 9News that you can only feel it by watching it! What had happened was the real thing, may be you have to be right there at the right time to catch it.  Though the write-up says she can choose to run away. I doubt she had enough time really to get away. If you truly wish to avoid it, you have to be ran away much sooner. Luckily they just only got wet. If the power was somewhat larger they may not be showing us this demonstration. Anyway, that's the real life wave -- freaque wave -- in action. It's real you can't make it up!

Happy-ending story on Happy Valentine's day at Whirinaki Beach

Here's a heart warming happy-ending story published in yesterday's New Zealand Hearld written by Harrison Christian.  The article starts with this picture that everyone's rightfully smiling.  

HEROES: Rescuers David (left), Rex and Lisa Bateman with Matilda Kersjes and her father, Alex Kersjes, who were rescued from the surf at Whirinaki Beach, north of Napier, last Saturday.PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

It is also a well-written story that needs to be read in full to appreciate what was happening. Here's the whole story:

Little Matilda Kersjes was standing in ankle-deep water when a rogue wave dragged her 20m out to sea.
Her father, Alex Kersjes, ran fully clothed into the surf and battled through the breakers to reach his 7-year-old daughter.
"We'd been collecting seashells on the shoreline," he said of the freak incident at Whirinaki Beach last Saturday.
"A wave knocked her over. This massive set just suddenly started coming in. The waves were rapid and they were big. The next thing I knew she was about 20m out there."
The Havelock North businessman left his three young sons on the beach and managed to swim out to Matilda.
"The first thing she said to me when I got to her was, 'Thank you, Daddy'. It's a moment I'll never forget."
But as he held Matilda above the water, he realised he was not going to make it back to the beach under his own steam.
"I had one free hand to negotiate the swell, it just wasn't working. [When the waves hit] I was in a line-out position to keep her above the water."
After treading water in the choppy seas for about 10 minutes, he saw two quad bikes driving along the beach.
It was Whirinaki local David Bateman and his family, going for an afternoon ride.
Mr Bateman said he did not see Mr Kersjes and his daughter at first, but stopped because he noticed the Kersjes boys unattended.
"We were asking them, 'Where's your Dad'? It turned out he was out there with his child beyond the breakers."
He jumped off his quad bike, ripped off his hat, shirt and glasses and dived into the water.
"I thought, 'I don't even know if I can make it to him', but then I thought, 'Just do it. It's a job - go and do your job'."
He had reached Mr Kersjes and grabbed hold of him. "I put my hand through his singlet. I said, 'Get on your back and kick'."
As they fought towards shore, a set of waves picked them up and dumped them in shallow water, but the only thing that stopped them being pulled out again was a 5m rope, thrown at them by David's brother, Rex Bateman.
A large wave caused Rex to fall over, injuring his knee. It also swept David's wife, Lisa, off her feet.
"What saved us is Alex grabbed the rope and my wife grabbed his daughter. I felt myself getting dragged back out. I thought, 'I won't make it back in, I haven't got the strength'.
"Then I saw Alex's ankle and I grabbed on to it."
The three exhausted swimmers clambered on to dry land. Soon after, Mr Kersjes collapsed and was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital. He had swallowed a lot of sea water but has since made a full recovery.
Everyone involved is still coming to terms with the incident.
Rex is nursing his knee and David is having a break from work this week.
"[Alex] could have died. He was quite close," he said. "And quite frankly, I was very close, too. I didn't know if I was coming back in."
He has lived at Whirinaki for a year and wanted to stress it was "not a dangerous beach".
"You've just got to be wary. It's a steep beach, you go out 3m and you go from ankle to neck."
Mr Kersjes, too, was taking a step back.
"Even this morning in the shower I had a moment of panic at what could have been, and what nearly was. It's going to take some time."
He had since travelled back to Whirinaki to thank his rescuers, whom he described as "beyond heroic".
"The kindness of them just to stop because they saw unattended children - I'm forever thankful they were as selfless as they were."

One can clearly read in this story with God's hand and His angels are busy at work even they are not part of the casts. That part of the story that's truly of interest to this blog is the first sentence: "Little Matilda Kersjes was standing in ankle-deep water when a rogue wave dragged her 20m out to sea."  Even though there's not much more description as usual about the villain waves that's enough there to convince us that it was really a freaque wave occurred in the ankle-deep water that started the whole event. We thank God for the happy ending story reported on a Happy Valentine's day! (Do they celebrate St. Valentine's Day in New Zealand?)

Big wave hits lighthouse

The above picture is from last Thursday's South China Morning Post with the headline

"Typhoon Neoguri threatens cities on Japan's central islands"

but this AP picture has an caption as "A big wave hits a lighthouse off Jeju in South Korea."  Whatever it is, this is a fascinate picture of a large wave engulfing the lighthouse -- not an everyday happening thing! Here's some from the article:

A strong typhoon swerved towards Japan's heavily populated central islands yesterday after it slammed through Okinawa, dumping heavy rain, knocking out power and injuring at least 30 people.

Typhoon Neoguri left toppled trees, flooded cars and bent railings on the island chain, which experienced its heaviest rainfall in a half century, according to the Okinawa government.

I did not even paying attention to the typhoon yet. Aside from the news part I found this from the article of interest:

Neoguri, which means "raccoon dog" in Korean, was moving northwards at 15km/h packing sustained winds of 108km/h by evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Hmm, raccoon dog, I wonder what do they translate the term in Chinese?

Cargo ship Cemfjord in Pentland Firth

This following picture is from the Press and Journal of UK reporting the case near Scotland coast with the headline: "Capsized cargo ship could have been hit by a ‘rogue wave’"

Here's what had happened:

Rescue efforts to find the eight-strong crew of a huge cargo ship lost off the north coast of Scotland were stood down last night with no sign of survivors. 

The Cemfjord sank in the Pentland Firth, just hours after its upturned hull was spotted in the water by a passing ferry.

One theory is that the boat, which was carrying thousands of tonnes of cement, may have been hit by a “rogue wave” as the area was battered by high winds. 

Rescuers spoke of difficult weather conditions in the Pentland Firth on Friday when the Cemfjord was last seen.

Very depressing to hear that there's no survivors yet. And here's some more:

Mystery surrounds the final moments of the vessel, which did not issue a mayday when it got into difficulty. 

The last recording by marine tracking devices was at 1.15pm on Friday when it was detected between the islands of Stroma and Swona, drifting at 5.2 knots, roughly 6 mph.
The Cypriot-registered cargo vessel left Aalborg in Denmark on December 30 and was heading for Runcorn, Cheshire, with a cargo of 2,000 tonnes of cement. 

It was due to arrive at its destination on January 5, however, the upturned hull was spotted 11 miles off the Pentland Skerries on Saturday afternoon by the NorthLink ferry, MV Hrossey, which was heading to Aberdeen from Shetland with 241 passengers on board. 

A search was launched but failed to find any trace of the eight crew, including seven Polish members and one Filipino.

Finally this:

Wick Lifeboat coxswain Ian Cormack said: “We have exhausted all the possibilities and we are running out of places to look. 

“We searched from Wick up to Duncansby Head, all around the Pentland Skerries and then on South Ronaldsay to Grim Ness, but there’s just nothing.” 

Mr Cormack said it was unusual that the Cemfjord’s emergency positioning indicating radio beacon had not activated. The device is meant to transmit the vessel’s position to emergency services. 

He added: “It all points to a sudden catastrophic event. All I can think is that they were hit by a rogue wave.” 

He said there had been 60-70mph gusts in the firth on Friday, and that in windy conditions standing waves could be created by ebb tides in a phenomenon known as the Merry Men of Mey. 

Mr Cormack said: “It’s all supposition but they could have been hit by a freak wave which turned them. 

“It must have been massive.”

So

Remembering a huge 'rogue' wave

This very intriguing news item is from the Eureka Times-Standard with an equally intriguing headline: "Remembering a huge 'rogue' wave"!

that was posted yesterday. This headline is actually the title of an event commemorating an event happened 100 years ago:

The Trinidad Head Lighthouse is shown here perched high up on Trinidad Head. In late 1914 and early 1915, Lighthouse Keeper Fred L. Harrington witnessed a massive wave that washed over Pilot Rock to the south and crashed into Trinidad Head, jarring the lens out of alignment. The Bureau of Land Management is partnering with the city of Trinidad, Trinidad Rancheria, Cher-Ae Heights Casino and the Trinidad Museum Society to host an event at the lighthouse on Jan. 10 from 2-5 p.m. to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the wave. The event is free of charge, and a shuttle will run hourly from the Seascape Restaurant to the lighthouse. For more information, call the BLM’s Arcata Field Office at 707-825-2313. Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management

The article was written by Caly McGlaughlin.

This light house is one located in a spectacular location but not itself a spectacular building as one might expect. As McGlaughlin tells:

But 100 years ago, another type of weather extreme was battering the North Coast, as a “massive storm blew gale-force winds over this area for about two weeks” in 1914-15, according to Bureau of Land Management Interpretive Specialist Leisyka Parrott. Based on reports from the time, the storm caused a “200-foot wave that shook the Trinidad Head Lighthouse,” disturbing the lens and making life difficult for lighthouse keeper Fred L. Harrington and his wife, Josephine.

So they are going to have this special event to remembering this event! Since the main witnesses of this event are the lighthouse keeper and his wife, they no longer around, there was a newspaper interview as :

Firsthand account
According to an interview with Harrington published in a newspaper shortly after the event, “The storm commenced on Dec. 28, 1914, blowing a gale that night. The gale continued for a whole week and was accompanied by a very heavy sea from the southwest. On the 30th and 31st, the sea increased and at 3 p.m. on the 31st seemed to have reached its height, when it washed a number of times over (93-foot-high) Pilot Rock, a half mile south of the head.
“At 4:40 p.m., I was in the tower and had just set the lens in operation and turned to wipe the lantern room windows when I observed a sea of unusual height, then about 200 yards distant, approaching. I watched it as it came in. When it struck the bluff, the jar was very heavy, and the sea shot up to the face of the bluff and over it, until the solid sea seemed to me to be on a level with where I stood in the lantern,” Harrington said.
“Then it commenced to recede and the spray went 25 feet or more higher. The sea itself fell over onto the top of the bluff and struck the tower on about a level with the balcony, making a terrible jar. The whole point between the tower and the bluff was buried in water. The lens immediately stopped revolving and the tower was shivering from the impact for several seconds. Whether the lens was thrown off level by the jar on the bluff, or the sea striking the tower, I could not say. Either one would have been enough. However, I had it leveled and running in half an hour.
“About an hour later another sea threw spray up on the level of the bluff, and the constant jars of the heavy sea was much over normal during the night and the whole of the next day. On the 3rd, the sea moderated to some extent, but a strong southeast wind and high sea continued until the 5th. During the 26 years that I have been stationed here, there has at no time been a sea of any such size as that of the 31st experienced here: but once during that time have I known the spray to come onto the bluff in front of the tower, and but twice have I seen sea or spray go over Pilot Rock,” said Harrington.

What an event! Too bad I can't make it to Trinidad now, I would love to hear about all the remembrances! Look at the picture of the bluff where the lighthouse locates, there had to be much more than a "huge" wave to be able to get to that high. Yes, incredible it may seem, it DID happened!

Wishing for tranquility!

This is a picture I saw many times on the sky while I was in my backyard. But I have not been able to successfully capture it with my aim and shoot camera.  I happen to noticed this picture on the internet, I would like to preserve it here. My admiration and salute to the photographer who took this picture!

November2014 has been a quiet period in the ocean freaque wave front. Let hope and pray that freaque waves in the ocean and lakes can remain dormant always or occurs only when there is no people around to encounter them.  May your/our life be always be ia a state of tranquility, never be bothered by unexpectedness or freaque waves!

Lake Michigan waves near Milwaukee on Halloween evening

It is not very often to find news about waves on the Great Lakes, this one here about wave at Lake Michigan near Milwaukee is of interest. It's not about freaque waves but freaque waves were mentioned:

Waves crash, leaves swirl on windy Wisconsin HalloweenBy Julia Fello and Shannon Sims. CREATED Oct 31, 2014 - UPDATED: Oct 31, 2014MILWAUKEE - It looked more like the Atlantic Ocean than Lake Michigan.Tall waves crashed into the fishing pier at McKinley Marina Friday."We know when the wind is high the waves are coming, we try to get down here take pictures...enjoy it," says Pamela Griffin.Dozens flocked to the lakefront to see the spectacular display. A sight that took all by surprise on Halloween night.The waves so high - they washed out a section of the parking lot."We both sail and we have never seen waves like this." says Ian Weismann.Northerly winds at up to 50 miles an hour churned the waters of Lake Michigan from Port Washington to Milwaukee.Mia Ortlieb warns onlookers - "You can't get too close because a rogue wave is going to come up."

Well it is more about weather, storm, waves things more than freaque waves happening. I guess during storming condition there's no surprises, big waves are expected hence freaque wave in the usual sense is not present. Check out the article's accompanied video, I don't know how long they'll keep it up. While it lasts, there are some good wave scenes in western Lake Michigan near Milwaukee!

Massive waves at Pulpit Rock, Isle of Portland

UK DailyMail yesterday published the article online with the following introductions:

Water idiot! Photographer captures moment man diced with death by climbing onto rocky outpost cut off by huge waves

• The man scaled the 50ft ancient rock stack - Pulpit Rock - on the Isle of Portland in Weymouth, Dorset, yesterday
• He stood there for 10 minutes while massive storms battered the coastline, causing violent waves to lash the rocks
• Local photographer Sean Hepburn captured the moment while he was documenting pictures of the severe storm
• He branded the man a 'lunatic' for the stunt and says he was 'incredibly lucky' and could have been 'a goner'
• Prompted coastguards to issue a warning advising people to stay away from cliff edges especially when wet

The article included some breath taking photos along with a super video well worth a visit. on: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2787832/water-idiot-photographer-captures-moment-man-diced-death-climbing-rocky-outpost-cut-huge-waves.html#ixzz3FqX4Hs3x

I guess it's not easy to define those waves as "freaque" since they are expected rather than unexpected. Anyway for mortals like me I am very happy to watch it in my comfortable home on my computer screen and admiring that brave soul challenge those waves and nature. My hat's off for the photographer that recorded the whole thing.  Let's just be happy and thank God for that lucky "lunatic" for not made him a "goner"!

A freaque wave encounter off Kauai, Hawaii

Now a real life freaque wave encounter case on a leisurely fishing trip off Niihau, Kauai, Hawaii. The news and video can be found here:
          http://www.kitv.com/news/a-fishing-boat-in-kauai-capsizes/28117774#ixzz3E3v0gybB,
and here's part of the transcript:

One man is sharing his painful fishing tale ... KITV4's Lara Yamada has the story ... of one, lucky, fisherman.  

 . . . A LEISURLY HAWAII FISHING TRIP GONE TERRIBLY WRONG. BRAD WARREN IS RECOVERING AT WILCOX HOSPITAL ON KAUAI. AFTER A ROUGE WAVE CAPSIZED THE BOAT HE AND TWO OTHERS WERE ABOARD SUNDAY NIGHT OFF NIIHAU. A POWERFUL WAVE SENDING WARREN FLYING, SHATTERING HIS LEG IN 3 PLACES, BREAKING HIS HIP, THEN SUBMURGING HIM UNDER WATER. 

"I tilted my head back to get another last gulp of air and a swell pushed the vote I took a big gulp of water and started going down it was scary." 

 THE CAPTAIN OF THE BOAT AND HIS 10 YEAR OLD SON WERE SLEEPING IN THE BOW OF THE VESSEL AS THE BOAT QUICKLY BEGAN FILLING WITH WATER.  

"My first thought was to grab Noah, you know make sure I had a hold of him." 

 THE MEN CLAMMORING TO THE TOP OF THE VESSEL BUT THE RELENTLESS WAVES CONTINUALLY KNOCKING HIM OFF THE BOAT AND BACK INTO THE OCEAN. AFTER 4 HOURS WITH NO HOPE IN SIGHT, 10 YEAR OLD NOAH HEARD SOMETHING IN THE DISTANCE: A PARTY ON SHORE PLAYING AN INSPIRATIONAL 1981 HIT:  

"I saw that shooting star and I heard the Journey song "don't stop believing" that was the lord saying you will be fine." 

THE PAIN GROWING TOO TOUGH TO BARE, THE THREE HELD ON TO EACH OTHER. 

"He was convinced the pain was so bad, he just wanted to swim in."  

WARREN WITH NO USE OF HIS RIGHT SIDE, SWIMMING FROM THE BOAT FOR 1/2 AN HOUR TO DRY LAND.  

"We just felt so relieved. " 

WARREN NOW SO GREATFUL FOR THE LIFE HE THOUGHT HE ALMOST LOST.: 

"I wanted to make sure I made it for my wife and my daughters."  Reported  Lara Yamada KITV4 News. 
The Garden Island Newspaper reports - Romanak went back to "Kikiaoloa Small Boar Harbor" in Kekaha last night... and found his boat had WASHED ASHORE! He says he's glad everyone's OK -- and is considering getting a BIGGER, SAFER boat. 

An incredible story, but it is really a happy ending story good for all to hear that everyone is fine after their terrible ordeal.  Thanks be to God!

'Near Miss' on Hibernia as Rogue Wave Strikes Workers

Here's a news item on www.vocm.com with the title "'Near Miss' on Hibernia as Rogue Wave Strikes Workers" published on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014:

 

It was a close call for some Hibernia workers last weekend in what the company calls 'a high potential near miss'.

Four people were working on the gravity-based structure roof slab Sunday when two waves came over the top and struck them.
 

 Two of the employees lost their footing and fell with one sustaining minor cuts to a hand. The  Hibernia Management and Development Company says workers were wearing immersion suits at  the time of the incident.

So "Two waves came over the top and struck them." clearly indicates this is indeed an encounter of freaque waves  in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Hey I don't believe the definition!

Hey I have a problem! 

I am becoming a heretic in the freaque wave studies because I don’t believe the famous, overwhelmingly accepted definition on freaque waves -- I don’t believe a wave height barely greater than twice the significant wave height is necessarily a freaque wave! Everyone uses this criteria simply because of it's simplicity, easily accessible, everyone can understand -- but it is not very meaningful.

But what is it?

We don’t really know what a freaque wave is! How can we effectively define something we don’t even know?

According to Longuet-hioggins’s 1952 analysis, based on the surface fluctuation being assumed to follow Gaussian mdistribution, wave heights are expected to follow Rayleigh distribution, then a maximumwave height in the record is about twice the significant wave height. So anything greater than the maximum wave height must be considered a freaque. Make sense?

But, but, what is a freaque wave?

First and foremost, a freaque wave does not jump out of Rayleigh distribution. No apology to Lord Rayleigh. Lord Rayleigh has never heard of freaque wave.  Neither has Carl Friedrich Gauss, for that matter. Now we are expected to frame our mind on ocean waves be put under the confine of Rayleigh and Gauss had formulated – so that we can conveniently manipulate the numbers we measured.

When we can not handle the unruly numbers we called them random. And when the number does not follow the rim the smart ones prescribed we call it freaque!

A freaque wave is most certainly greater than twice the significant wave height, but a wave height greater than twice the significant wave height is not necessarily a freaque wave!

So we can not, at the present, successfully define a freaque wave, but people know it happens only when they unfortunately encounter one!

Now mind you, the essense of a freaque wave is not, NOT, its size.  The main characteristics of a freaque wave  that can cause damage and disasters is because it happened unexpectedly, unexpectedly!

Yes, a freaque wave that’s dangerous is not because of its size, it is more because of the fact of it’s unexpectedness! (Yes, not all of of them were out of the blue. Some may even roaring over but still give us no time to prepare, that's also part of the unexpectedness!)

Now how do we define, or quantify, the unexpectedness of the occurrence?  

Well, if you can answer this question you'll have the whole basis of studying ocean freaque waves solved!  Nonlinear dynamic physicists, eat your heart out!.HGH

So far, we don't have an answer, no one ever even try! As a matter of fact, no one ever even ask!

So it happens, freaque wave is unexpected, so what?

Everyone knows significant wave height is the average of the highest one-third waves, that's easy to calculate for a single point gage measured time series data. But what does it have anything to do with the real open ocean out there?

I ask experts what is the significant wave height in the real ocean, not a single point, no one has the answer!

The academic oceanographic world is basically regimented by the single point wave measurements, the whole ocean waves field of study is distilled into a single point that's where all of our knowledge stemmed from! We defined a freaque wave at a single point and the whole ocean is supposed to follow from there!

Make sense or not that's the base of our knowledge basis on ocean waves.

That's my difficulty lies, I can not believe or accept what that implies.

The freaque waves are out there in the real ocean world, happening, but we don't know where, when, how, and why. We are still stuck at looking for 2 time significant wave height. If something higher, wow, that's freaque wave!

In my humble opinion, we know nothing about freaque waves, we can not define waht a freaque wave is. Greater than twice the significant wave height doesn't cut it. We don't even know what is a significant beyond a single point.  Ocean is certainly by no means a single point!

We need improved understanding on freaque waves we need new definition!!!

Freaque wave hits Boston ferry

Hmmm, this freaque wave news case happened a week ago just now come to my attention:

Five miles off the coast of Massachusetts, a passenger ferry was hit by a rouge 20-foot wave, breaking windows and disabling the vessel. The wave damaged the ferry’s generator and one of the ferry’s crew members was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with minor injuries, according to Boston Herald on Aug. 14. 

The commuter ferry travels from Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, to Boston. The boat was stuck about five miles off the coast of Scituate, reports WHDH Boston today. The wave seemingly came out of nowhere and just left the boat sitting dead in the water with 42 passengers on board on Wednesday afternoon, reports the Boston Globe.Passengers described the ordeal as “the boat sort of tips down in the water, almost as if it was going to flip over,” said Ariel Shurm, 22, of Boston. He was returning back to Boston after a family vacation on the Cape. The seas weren't unusually rough, but all of a sudden a "green sheet of water" came barreling toward the ship. It hit the ship, doing most of the damage to the captain's level, which sits 20-feet above the water line. 

The crew passed out life-jackets and panic set in with one woman screaming "the boat is sinking," according to Mail Online today. Water was rolling down the walls in the cabin area of the vessel and people were scared. This is not an area accustomed to waves big enough to tip over a boat of this size and people who frequent the ferry know this, making this wave event a bit out of the norm and frightening for them. 

There was initial panic on board when the wave hit, but because they were stuck out in the water with little to do, Shurm, who is a Berklee College of Music student, whipped out his trumpet and gave an impromptu concert for the stranded passengers. Shurm plays the trumpet for the popular local Boston rock band The Interlopers, tried to calm the passengers with his music and it seemed to do the trick!
At one point he played the theme to “Jaws” just as a joke. He also said he played a lot of “ocean-themed stuff.” 

Coast Guard officials confirmed that the passenger ferry was hit by a large wave rendering the vessel “briefly disabled.” The incident happened a little after 4 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. The ferry is owned and operated by the Bay State Cruise Company. 

The Coast Guard dispatched a 47-foot motor life boat along with an 87-foot cutter out to the stranded ferry to assist in restoring the generator, which was knocked out when the wave hit, according to the Boston Globe. Once fixed, the boat continued on to its original destination to its dock in the Seaport District in Boston. It arrived around 7 p.m., a few hours later than usual. 

One person was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with injuries, but no further information on what those injuries were was made available.

It appears that it was the reporting media that's calling it as an encounter with freaque wave, Coast Guard officials only confirmed that it was "hit by a large wave". Anyway there were minor damage and injury, some panic, just a minor mishap that caused some inconvenience.  May be that's why the news did not spread.

Updates:

This Thursday Boston Globe news article gave more details on the waves;

A series of large waves shattered windows and disabled power on the Provincetown IV ferry on Wednesday afternoon, leaving more than 40 people stranded five miles off the coast of Scituate. 

CBS Boston reported that the ferry, operated by the Bay State Cruise Company, was traveling from Provincetown to Boston with 42 people on board when it was hit by what the company described as “an anomalously large set of waves.” Two windows were shattered and the ship’s captain suffered a minor injury to his hand, according to the report. 

While most waves were reported to be roughly five feet tall, some passengers on board the ferry told WHDH that the waves that disabled the ship were nearly 20 feet tall.

A report from The Boston Globe added that the crew contacted the Coast Guard shortly after 4 p.m. and two ships, a 47-foot life boat and an 87-foot cutter, responded to the scene nearly five miles off the coast of Scituate. According to the report, the ferry’s generator was eventually restored and it was able to slowly return to port without being towed. It finally returned to dock at approximately 7 p.m., according to The Globe.

We should all be thankful that this freaque wave encounter case had only minor damage and injury. At any rate, however, it was a real encounter case with an unexpected large wave or waves -- which the ferry company described them as "anomalously large set of waves".  As the size estimates of the waves varied between 5 and 20 feet indicates the difficulty of getting a realistic estimate from eye witnesses.