- #1
ImaLooser
- 489
- 4
"Many years ago I spent a few weeks on the gaff-rigged topsail schooner Tradewind. I noticed one of the gaffs had a distinct bow in it and asked the skipper about it. He said they were hit broadside on by a rogue wave in sub-Antarctic waters south of New Zealand. The steel gaff had been bent by the force of the water. He pointed to the radar, mounted high on the foremast. It had been swept away by the wave, he said. And the radar was 44 feet above the waterline. He also mentioned the wave had enough force to buckle the steel plates of the deckhouse. It was quarter inch steel plate, he said, on 18 inch frames. And the pressure had been enough to dent the plates inwards between the frames. I had a look at the deckhouse and you could certainly see that the plates were buckled inwards.