Days like this are etched in the memory: The sun is shining, the wind has been blowing constantly and strongly for some time, the boat slides down the wave crests at hull speed in a foaming half-wind - pure sailing pleasure. On days like this, sailors can only love the sea.
But there is also the other side: the ship gets stuck under the second reef in a short, steep sea. The hull crashes into the waves, pushing man and material to their limits. Or even worse: after a hard ride across high seas, the crew tries to enter a harbour or bay, only to discover shortly before the day's destination that there is a huge bottom sea in front of the entrance. Or the wave runs menacingly around the supposed leeward defence and into the bay. A real low blow for any skipper.
Reason enough to take a closer look at the topic of waves. How do they form, what happens when they run into shallow water, when do ground swells become really dangerous? These are all questions that are often neglected in theoretical training. If you then only sail in fair weather for the next few years, you quickly forget a lot of the basic knowledge.
However, just how important it is to know about waves is shown, for example, by the experiences of a whole series of German crews in the last Middle Sea Race around Sicily. After starting in calm conditions, the participants were faced with waves six to nine metres high during the course of the race.
We asked the crews about their experiences and have compiled the most important basic knowledge about swell. In the new YACHT, issue 9/2015, now on newsstands.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
