Superyacht design in the age of 10-story rogue waves...

Starting off with the hypothesis that I am the sole winner of the EuroMillions jackpot of Euros 38 million this coming Friday and I decide to build myself a motor yacht capable of confronting all hitherto known sea conditions...

...and I've done some research on the subject:

Monster waves revealed by ESA satellite study

Scientists investigate freak waves (BBC)

29.8m high rogue wave detected by the ESA satellite

What would a yacht capable of surviving intact "a vertical wall of water 100ft high exerting forces approaching 100 tons per square metre" (say roughly 22,270 pounds per square ft.) actually look like?!

PS. I never understood why the owner of the 55m I worked on back in the 80s declined to join the vessel on the Atlantic crossing (November) but was quite happy to be aboard for the Pacific crossing (January) from Panama to the Marquesas...?!

PPS. Do you wonder sometimes whether the likes of people who own Octopus etc. realise that if ever confronted by one of those 10 storey high rogue waves, the yacht would very probably succomb immediately and never ever be seen again (if it's the ugly Rising Sun, one might say "Hurray")...?!

CODOG, unless I'm mistaken, what you recommend is that any superyacht owner (but especially Paul Allen) should consider vacating his owner's suite and sleeping in the on-board submarine whenever the actual sea conditions require it...?! One question though: whilst the submarine carried aboard would probably be well-protected from any rogue-wave impact, would it actually survive such a hit, more precisely, would it be able to escape the mother-ship before (she) drove down too deep...?!

(I have this "blue screen" image of Paul Allen simply wondering if a reboot will suffice in this instance...?)

Supposing that I win the €38 million Euromillions lotto jackpot tomorrow and get around to setting up a company called "100T/m² Yacht Inc" to design and build yachts that will survive rogue waves intact. I'd be the launch customer obviously.

Here are the guidelines:

1) The ESA (European Space Agency) undertook a 3 week-long satellite radar survey of the oceans during which it identified at least 10 major "rogue waves" upto about 30m (100ft) high in various parts of the oceans for the 3 week period.

2) The satellite used was not a geo-stationary one (ie) it was in a regular orbit around the planet so it could not watch all of the planet, all of the time. One supposes therefore that the true number of rogue waves is very probably far superior to the mere 10 or so discovered over 3 weeks...?!

3) In the most recent instances where credible reports of rogue waves hitting vessels exist, (ie) the passenger vessels Bremen and Caledonian Star, both of whom were in the south Atlantic at the time, it would appear that the rogue waves were literally "vertical walls of water". The wheelhouses of both passenger vessels were severely flooded due to imploding bridge windows leading to a complete "loss of command" scenario. In the case of the Bremen, this was compounded by the loss of main propulsion engines also.

4) Rogue waves may appear literally anywhere sea conditions are already severe, and without warning. However, none so far have been reported to exceed the 30m (100ft) height threshold.

5) Large ships are designed to be able to survive 15T/m² wave impacts intact, and perhaps survive even greater impacts with consequences. A rogue wave of 30m (100ft) has been calculated to exert a force of 100T/m² (hence the new company name).

6) Whilst it may not be economically feasable to design or build commercial shipping to the 100T/m² standard, private individuals are in a position to pay the extra costs involved and increasingly wish to safely cruise areas which hitherto were only accessible to much larger and specialised vessels.

7) If the market exists, who, if anyone, is endeavouring to satisfy the demand? Surely even yachts like the Octopus or any other big modern-day "explorer" yacht would fail to meet requirements?

8) What sort of features should the 100T/m² yacht possess? I could suggest as others have already pointed out: a secondary "bridge" because even with the thickest windows, the main wheelhouse would probably be inoperable after a "hit". Military vessels used to have such an arrangement if I remember correctly...?! A self-righting capability obviously. No more sliding doors to the main salon. But could some form of storm-shutter in conjunction with very thick glass offer a suitable compromise in the guest areas of the yacht?

9) Is there any point at all trying to design or build say a 40m (120ft) 100Y/m² yacht? After all, it's one thing talking about how a large commercial or passenger ship of 100m+ behaves when faced with a 30m rogue wave. How would a 30m (100ft) yacht handle a 30m (100ft) rogue wave? The design of the bow (wave-pieircing or otherwise) would appear superflous in my opinion. Unless I'm mistaken, these rogue waves have quite a long wave-length. So a small 40m yacht compared to a solid 150-200m commercial vessel would find itself completely submerged for perhaps half a minute or more...before re-emerging finally, unless the water pressure resulted in an implosion of the hull / superstructure etc.?!

10) If you can't see the rogue wave approaching (at night or in poor visibility) then you can't very well take any precautions of say, heading directly into the wave or reducing / increasing (?) speed (rogue waves may typically appear upto 30° left or right of the predominant wave direction...?! But heck, if a satellite-based radar can locate them, surely there's a tweak for your standard ship-board radar available...?

With the wealth of experience here represented by all the seafarers, yacht designers etc. here at Yacht Forums, I'm sure that we could help "100T/m² Yacht Inc" get up on its feet...?! Apply yerselves - I know it's summertime, everyone's busy or maybe too lethargic because of the heat. But we can do it...!

BBC report on the cruise liner VOYAGER which was hit by a "freak" wave in 2005, breaking bridge windows and resulting in the liner losing all propulsion engines...

Watch a video of the Voyager in the heavy seas purported to be in the region of 10-15m - I think in these images, the Voyager had restored propulsion and can you imagine what it must have been like when she was powerless and beam-to the waves...?!

That's true, but I'm not sure we're talking about the same type of forces here.

CODOG raises some valid and interesting points. That the 100T/m² yacht design may indeed have to draw heavily on submarine-design characteristics. It appears that even WW1-era submarine-designs were just about capable of surviving 100T/m² (100,000kgf/m² = 9.807bar / atmospheres = 142PSI = 20,480lbs/ft²). With the advent of the various alloy-steels and titanium since those days, I'm encouraged that it should be possible to engineer something which would both look good and weather your average 30m rogue wave by now. Or at least, some serious consideration could be given to purchasing surplus ex; Soviet titanium submarines and then adding a beautiful superyacht-like "outer-hull/superstructure" onto them.

In heavy-weather where the risk of rogue waves is highest, all passengers and crew would literally "batten down the hatches" within the indestructible titanium inner-hull. Navigating personnel could use the CCTV...?!

Surely you mean it has "too much class" to qualify...?! Did a Feadship ever go down to Antarctica...?!