Little backstory;

I once spent three months on a 32 foot floating prison called a long-line freezer boat catching salmon off of Vancouver island. Never been on the ocean before. Turns out I've got sea legs, yay me. The swells one day couldn't have been more than a couple of meters when everything just felt weird and I looked at the other deck hand and he looked at me with the same look and we both instinctively grabbed onto whatever was closest as this rogue wave came right over the bow of the boat and SPALOOSHED the entire deck from above.
In hindsight, it was the sudden lack of sound from one end of the boat which triggered our wtf-is-going-on? reaction.
The skipper runs out to see if we're okay and goes, "I don't fucking know boys, I looked up from my paper and it was just a wall of green.
It was pretty cool.

The article in the [link] says such waves should only occur every 1300 years or so and aren't sure how they form, and I know both of those things to be wrong... and so does everybody else who spends enough time on the ocean.

I think it would make a fun ride.
A deep circular pool with a central wave generator gradually amplifies the height of a converging standing wave node only to the point where the surface tension of the pools water remains unbroken so that the ride up to this point is rather gentle.
Then a very powerful wave is generated which radiates outwards and then converges violently launching the swimmer 5, 10... 20? meters high before plunging back in.

Hey, it's whatever your friends can dare you to try.
You signed the waiver...
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 25 2022

Every 1300 years my butt. https://earthsky.or...e-on-record-canada/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 25 2022]

Similar physics Antichirp-wave_20fleet-sinker
There are some cool videos of wave-pool science out there. [neutrinos_shadow, Jun 26 2022]

More similar discussions Tumultuous_20Waves_20Water_20Feature
But for a water feature in the garden. [neutrinos_shadow, Jun 26 2022]

Rogue Waves Are More Common Than We Thought https://www.theiner...on-than-we-thought/
They are actually much more common than previously assumed [not_only_but_also, Jun 28 2022]

So... tryin to visualize this one. Is it like one of those free fall rides but with water?
-- 21 Quest, Jun 25 2022


[+]
-- Voice, Jun 25 2022


Cool. [+]
-- doctorremulac3, Jun 25 2022


//like one of those free fall rides but with water?//

Yep, just like the Drop Of Doom at West Edmonton Mall except you ride the wave to the top instead of an elevator.

{other side story}

We were welfare brats with our mom working two jobs. Total latch-key kids with not many perks.
One day our mom and her friend working in the laundry for the hotel near the airport get boxes and boxes of room booklets of coupons to West Edmonton Mall and the last page of each of those was free ride coupons in their amusement park.

Now I don't condone this but at the time I was all for it, my mom and her friend meticulously cut those last pages from every single booklet, split them and gave them to their kids.

I'm telling you back in the eighties they were an ultimately tradable commodity in school.

I've been on The Drop Of Doom 87 times.
If you wait for just the right moment of descent you can open your palm and the coin you are holding will spin suspended above the palm of your hand for the rest of the drop.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 26 2022


+ Sounds scary and fun.
-- xandram, Jun 26 2022


I rode one of those drop of doom rides, but it had been neutered so much it wasn't the least bit fun. There wasn't a second of zero g or even 1/4 g. All the everything is too risk averse to bother with anymore. We've gone from "have fun but be safe" to "be safe at all costs" and it sucks.
-- Voice, Jun 26 2022


We discussed "converging waves" (& other related fun) on the linked idea. Wave generating pools (for science, not water parks...) are a Thing; putting people in them not so much (yet...).
-- neutrinos_shadow, Jun 26 2022


// We've gone from "have fun but be safe" to "be safe at all costs" and it sucks.//

Agreed.

//We discussed "converging waves" (& other related fun) on the linked idea. Wave generating pools (for science, not water parks...) are a Thing; putting people in them not so much (yet...).//

Kewl. To the archives!
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 27 2022


Wave goodbye!
-- xenzag, Jun 27 2022


[+] Would ride this, for sure.

Also, rogue waves are much more common than we assumed. See linky.
-- not_only_but_also, Jun 28 2022


In surfing it's call backwash, the wave that comes back seaward after breaking. Some guys have been launched 40 feet high as they carve up out of the breaking wave just as it is met by the backwash. Like a cannon, board and all.
-- minoradjustments, Jul 11 2022



random, halfbakery