You kind of get this feeling while surfing. When you have clean, calm sets - every so often, like every few hours depending, there's a big, bad ass outside that comes and if you stay where you are, it will break on you - so everyone scrambles to paddle out towards it before it gets to you. If you get outside in time you get to turn around and catch it early for a nice long ride.

Sometimes you'll have orderly sets for hours, and then there's one that has combined into a big, bad ass wave twice as powerful as any other. Its great to see.

It's worth checking out Wikipedia to find some other sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave

It seems like the article is based on a press release which contains a few sensational claims, eg 200 large ships sunk by rogue waves seems dubious, since Lloyds only reports 124 total losses in the time period, most from the Iran/Iraq war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave#Loss_estimates

I have to admit I'm fascinated by the whole topic, and wasted an afternoon digging into it. Now if there was only a connection to giant squid too, I'd be in heaven.

I've heard tell that physicists had been claiming freak waves are eminently possible, the math clearly shows it.

That sailors had been claiming they had witnessed and/or experienced such freak waves.

But oceanographers were doubtful and that was the accepted status quo on freak waves until one of them was caught on camera hitting an oil rig.

This was in the news a while ago, I recall they said that it was already affecting the design of ships that had not had their keel laid.

This article is nearly five years old.

Your account is nearly 400 days old.

The post about the source of the earth's hum made me wonder whether there is a relationship between its cause and the rogue waves. Interference between the earth hum waves?