On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 10:03:22 -0800, "Peter Duniho"
wrote in
::

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
.. .
In the channel between Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands the
swells can often be 20' to 30' feet without whitecaps!

Swells are given that name specifically because they are different from what
is generally considered a wave. In particular, they are usually farther
apart (and often higher).

It was the early '70s when one of my father's partners invited me for
a cruise on his 24' sail boat to Anacapa Island off the Ventura,
California coast. The trip over was pleasant, but the next morning on
the way back was really something. It was foggy with visibility about
1/4 mile. The sea was like I had never experienced before, and I had
recently crewed on a Newport Beach to Encinada race in which several
boats were dismasted/run aground, and we were healed over so far that
the Genoa was dragging in the water, but no one could get on deck to
reef it in. The swells in the channel were so high, that one moment
you were on the crest and couldn't see the water around the boat, and
the next moment you were in a trough so deep that you could only see
the sky directly overhead. I couldn't believe it! If one had broken
over us, that would have been it for sure. I have a much healthier
respect for the sea now.

Not that I have personal experience -- I try to stay away from waterways
with swells -- but my understanding is that landing a seaplane in swells is
similar to ditching procedures. That is, try to land parallel to the swell,
not across it.

That would have been the only practical way to land, but I doubt the
swells were far enough apart to prevent digging a wing in.

It's an entirely different technique from normal landings on waves.

Would you aim for a trough or a crest?