Rogue Waves - Myth or Reality?

[BosnBill]

I have a curiosity about rogue waves so I did a little research. I have seen large swells that seem random and infrequent and it's a real problem if you're running in a following sea and you don't see them coming. I can't imagine these walls of water some as high as 90 feet. It seems freakish and almost mythical, but they happen, they're real. Rogue Waves - Myth or Reality?

 

[JUPITER PULSARE]

I watched a documentary on tv about rogue waves. They are real and can do some serious damage!

 

[BosnBill]

Here's a video about Freak Waves. Freak Waves

 

[nathan]

as unpredicable as big water is rogue waves is what keeps me inland.

 

[JUPITER PULSARE]

In the documentary I watched, two things stood out. The first was video from an ocean liner that got slammed by a rogue wave and knocked out windows that were 5 or 6 stories off the water and killed a passenger. The second was an interview with a Navy Admiral who's destroyer was struck by a rogue wave...his story was chilling!!!

 

[Chris]

I wonder if they're from shifts in the plates in the ocean floor?

-Chris