Following the recent discussion about "fully developed waves" etc. I happened on this picture on a photography web-site: http://www.photo.net/mjohnston/column24/roguewavephilippelijour.jpg The blurb on the picture says (bear in mind that the author is a photographer rather than a seaman): "Every now and then Im utterly astonished by a photograph. The one near the top of this column was taken by a man named Philippe Lijour, from the tower of the supertanker Esso Languedoc, off of Durban, in 1980. It is to date the only known photograph of a so-called rogue wave, a term applied to occasional waves in a storm that can tower above all others and, sometimes, come from a somewhat different direction. Photographer Lijour estimated that the mean sea (i.e., average wave height) at the time was about 15-30 feet. The only way to judge the height of the rogue wave in the picture, which approached the ship from abaft the starboard beam and broke on the foredeck, is to compare it to an object of known height. In this case, the top of the short mast you see on the right-hand side of the picture is 82 feet above mean sea level." Not a wave you'd want to meet in your 50-footer. Best regards, Robert Bryett, Sydney, Australia. mailto:rbryett@mail.com