Quote:
Originally Posted by Omatako
You know what Smack, I'm not criticising anyone and I'm not about to launch into a huge debate about this but there is nothing in those videos to suggest to me that those waves were anywhere near 90 ft.
Just watch it again if you will and notice a few things. First notice that there are no waves that look like they're twice the size of the boat. Notice also that the helo is jinking up and down by considerable margins. Helo goes up, trough comes past at the same time, 5% inaccuracy in the altimeter at that altitude, 90ft is easy to achieve. Also notice that at no time in the video does the helo get anywhere near as close as 10 feet off the wavetops. And know also that it is really difficult to judge wave heights from the air with no relativity to guage them by,
At the end of it all, believe what you will. I just know that I can't concieve of a wind speed that will result in 90 ft waves after having been in 24 hours of 70-80 knots and having only maybe 30, max 35 ft.
What I'm perhaps suggesting is that if one wants to believe that huge seas are out there at every turn and ready to kill us all then that's OK by me. I just don't think it's true, is all.
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Well, I'll agree with you on the footage that's in the piece. They look like 40' maybe. But you also have to remember that footage may or may not be of that actual rescue at that particular moment. Who knows**.
Irrespective of that, the pilot (as do all the other SAR personnel) said it's the worst thing they'd ever seen - after seeing a lot of bad stuff for a long time I'll presume. And the helo pilot DOES say 90'. And he was there.
We do know that waves of this size are out there. And we've all heard the evidence that you can expect a wave potentially 3 times the average height every X number in the wave train.
In the end, I'll defer to your experience Oma. You've been in stuff that will make me cry and fetal-up the first time I see it. All I'm saying is that there is seemingly credible evidence out there that is contrary to your statement on this one.
**EDIT - After watching the video again, it appears there's no actual footage of David's rescue. All that is re-enactment. So another reason the be careful about using the footage to judge.