THIS QUESTION may never have
occurred to anyone who grew up with small boats, but it’s one that often
puzzles landlubbers: How do small boats
survive at sea in storms that sink large ocean liners and freighters?
Winthrop P. Moore gave as good an
answer as any in his book Yachts: Their
Care and Handling (Dodd Mead, 1936):
“Small boats, offering less
obstruction to the action of the waves because of their buoyancy, will float
along on the top of everything, while great steamers are hammering into the
waves and suffering damage.
“Another important factor is the
difference in wave lengths. During a storm the distance from crest to crest of
waves may be several hundred feet. This means that the small boat will never
straddle waves, nor will she plunge into the trough at the same time that her
stern is being pushed up by the passing wave.
“In other words, a small boat will
ride on top of big waves, taking no green water aboard, when a larger vessel is
finding the going extremely uncomfortable, and must slow down for safety.”
Those of you with a thorough
knowledge of small boats and the sea will no doubt find Mr. Moore’s explanation
a little simplistic. Perhaps you’re remembering that bigger waves have smaller
waves upon their backs to bite ’em, and smaller waves have lesser waves, and so
ad infinitum.
But hey, hold on there. Moore’s
explanation is surely good enough for who it’s for.
Today’s
Thought
The
day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is
what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with
fear, or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.
— Richard Bode, First You Have to Row a Little Boat
Tailpiece
If your dog has fleas, simply rub
him with raw alcohol and let him roll in sand.
The fleas will get drunk and
disappear by throwing rocks at each other.
(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday,
Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
1 comment:
Five days out of Sasebo, while the General Walker troopship was teetering like a see saw on huge waves left by a typhoon, we saw several small fishing boats riding much more comfortably. They seemed to go up and down like they were on elevators, and with little pitch or roll.
So yes, this seems to confirm that small boats can ride big waves. However, huge waves can steepen and break from at least three natural causes, and that is when you probably would want to be in some safer place.
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