The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

Okay, I want you to do something for me. Close your eyes.Wait. No, that won't work. Open your eyes again.Eyes open? Good. Now imagine you've closed your eyes, but don't actually close them because that will rather impair your ability to read this review.So, you're imagining that your eyes are closed. Now imagine you're on a cruise ship. It's a lovely place - blue water, blue skies, the faint scent of salt in the air, the waves lapping up against the hull of the boat in a soothing rhythm. It's a perfect way to spend a vacation.You get a daiquiri and lean on the railing, looking out towards the horizon. This is nice, you think. Just what I -Wait. What is that?You shield your eyes from the sun to get a better look and see what looks for all the world like a shadow on the horizon, stretching long and with flecks of light shimmering off its top. As it gets closer, it gets bigger, and you can feel the boat drop under your feet. The water gets higher and higher, and you know this can't possibly be happening because for the wave to be that high, it would have to be at least sixty or seventy feet. In thirty-five foot waters.A shadow is cast over the boat as the wave crests above you, and the last thing you think before the top comes down, shattering the cruise ship like it was made of so much balsa wood, is, "I wonder what it would be like to surf that...."It has often been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we know about our own oceans. I have no idea who first said it, or in what form it was said, but reading this book drives home that it is absolutely correct. What's more, that ignorance may well kill us. The oceans are full of relentless mysteries and hypnotic beauty, but also terrors and dangers the likes of which we shorebound humans have trouble understanding. The sea has always been a dangerous place, really. We know that. What we don't know is what all of those dangers are.Tales of giant waves have been around since antiquity, but until recently, people didn't really believe them. It defied everything that was known about the ocean - to say nothing of common sense - to have waves appear out of nowhere, rise to heights of up to a hundred feet or more, wreak havoc on oceangoing vessels, and then vanish. These were the tales of sailors, whom everyone knew could not be trusted to tell the truth about their journeys.Perhaps that is why Casey chooses to open with a scene from a research vessel in the North Atlantic. The RRS Discovery was on a routine mission to gather data about the sea between the British Isles and Iceland when it found itself under attack by the ocean itself. The ship was hit over and over again by waves reaching up to sixty feet, then dropped down into the void between waves and lifted up again, over and over for five days. Things that weren't bolted down flew in mad directions all over the ship, and many things that were bolted down - like lifeboats - were ripped off their moorings. It was so terrifying that the scientists on board, after they had gotten home, wrote one of the very few research papers that included a note at the end thanking the captain for bringing them back alive. Only great skill and good luck saved that ship from oblivion in waters that seemed to have risen up for the sole purpose of destroying it.No one - no weather forecaster or meteorologist, oceanographer or climatologist - no one thought that waves of that size could exist under those conditions. And yet there they were, and the Discovery's instruments captured it all.Scientists who study the oceans are just beginning to understand how waves work on the ocean, but the almost infinite number of variables that contribute to making waves is so overwhelming that it's hard to conclusively predict where and when these rogue waves will appear. Other people who work with the sea - salvage operators, ship captains, insurers - know that this kind of thing is possible, and that the sea carries risks with it that no other form of transportation faces. Every year, dozens of ships are lost, and with them go many lives and countless dollars worth of merchandise. Some of these losses come from human error, but others come because the ocean is an inherently dangerous place for us to be. It is vital for our safety and our economy that we know how the ocean works, but we are nowhere near being able to do that.What's worse, the onset of climate change could make current models obsolete as the seas become higher, rougher, and more unpredictable. We are racing against the clock - and losing.But for all the scientists who are trying to map the behavior of waves, there is a community of people who seek them out. People who know the waves intimately, even if they can't write an equation to tell you what it is they know, exactly. These people are the surfers, and if there was ever a group of people more attached and attuned to the sea, they'd have to be mermen.Casey spends a lot of time with surfer Laird Hamilton. I wanted to say "the famous Laird Hamilton," but I didn't know the man existed until I read this book, which makes him one of those people who is very famous, but only to the kind of people who would find him famous. Now that I know more about him and his community, though, I can certainly understand why he has the prestige that he does. Among big-wave surfers, he is a legend. And that takes some doing.To ride a regular wave, you see, you get out there with your board, get behind the point where the waves start to break, and paddle to catch up. With the big waves, though, they're moving much too fast for a paddler to get into position, so the big-wave riders have someone on a jet ski to pull them along. Once in position, the jet ski goes down the back of the wave while the surfer heads down the front where, hopefully, he won't be killed. If he falls off, his partner has to come in, find him, and get them both out before the next giant wave - and where there's one wave there are always more - comes in to crush them both. Regular surfing has its share of dangers, but the perils of big-wave surfing are orders of magnitude worse.There is a whole community of surfers looking to ride these great waves. They travel across the world on the mere possibility of great surfing, heading to places with names like Jaws, Mavericks, or Egypt, all in the hope of catching the biggest waves. Injuries are common, and sometimes terrible. Death is always an option. But they come anyway, just for that moment of zenlike awareness of the Eternal Now that you can only truly achieve when you're riding down the face of a wave and trying not to die.I don't like the ocean, myself. I find it too big, too impersonal. It's a place that could swallow you whole and leave no trace you were ever there. It's a place that cares nothing for us puny humans and will, on a whim, try to destroy us. I certainly appreciate the ocean and what it does for us, and it's nice to look at. But I certainly don't trust it, and this book really didn't help in that regard. From tales of ships crushed by rogue waves south of Africa to waves so large and so powerful they could strip the bark off the trees they uprooted, it was a testament to the fact that the moment we underestimate the ocean is the moment it kills us.What's more, with climate change being what it is, our problems with the ocean are going to turn into new and different ones. The models we have now - good though they are - are incomplete, and the changes that are coming in the future will keep scientists on their toes for years to come. As Casey notes, wave science is a very young discipline, but it is one that needs attention if we're going to safeguard our coastal cities and global commerce.This book is an exciting read about a topic you've probably never given much thought to. You fear for both the surfers and the scientists, and in the end realize just how much there is about the ocean that we still don't know. I don't know about you, but it kind of freaks me out....--------------------------------------------------------------"If you can look at one of these waves and you don't believe that there's something greater than we are, then you've got some serious analyzing to do and you should go sit under a tree for a very long time."- Laird Hamilton--------------------------------------------------------------

Susan Casey has done it again: delivered a book that fascinates, frightens, educates, and enlightens. It gives the reader a glimpse into not one, but several worlds to which most of us have little access: the extreme surfers and those who are always pushing the limits of their sport; the big-time ship rescue and salvage operators who are the first out after a maritime emergency is declared; the ship captains and crews who ply the dangerous seas in unpredictable conditions; marine scientists, physicists and meteorologists who study wave mechanics and the meteorologic and geologic conditions that contribute to the largest waves; and those companies (especially Lloyd's of London) who insure big ships against the losses they might incur. All have one thing in common: an intense interest in being able to predict the timing and conditions in which a monster wave might form.The author does not just rely on research: she spends extensive time in personal interviews as well as following the best surfers out on their boats and jet skis. She hangs out with them until she begins to understand what drives them and what scares them. Armed with facts and figures she has gleaned from her research, she seeks out the top people in the world in various fields who can shed some light on where the biggest waves are, what kind of damage they can do, whether they can be predicted, and how often the monster waves of mythic proportions really occur. The answer is that they occur way more than most people realize, and the number of ships -- especially freighter ships and tankers -- that literally disappear every year is staggering. These waves are also highly unpredictable.Suffice it to say, this is NOT the book to take with you to read on an ocean voyage. You will find yourself frightened by every shadow on the horizon and wondering if it is the beginning of a rogue wave that could swallow the largest ocean liner. Casey includes horrifying first-hand reports from scientists and hardened ship captains as they describe unthinkable conditions from which they barely escaped.The fascinating subjects covered are enhanced by Casey's wonderful writing and her ability to pull the reader into the drama and beauty of what she sees and experiences:"The air was soft, no crisp edges. Clouds lined the horizon, lavender, peach, cornflower, and gold, and the ocean gleamed a six-dimensional navy blue, whitewater spilling to the cliff as the waves broke.""'You're just caught up in those few seconds and nothing else matters,' Long had told me [about surfing in extreme conditions].'Sound, smell, everything just totally goes out the window. It's what's directly in front of you, what you need to do to make that wave, and nothing else.'...[what brought these surfers together was...] the rush of that moment--having had it, and having survived it. That was the bond."Casey interviewed a top rescue/salvage operator: "He recalled watching with alarm as the extending gangway they were using to get people off the rig, one hundred feet above the water, barely escaped being swept away by a wave...They said the one-hundred foot wave would never happen...Well, they were wrong.""'These freaks...,' he said, drawing out the words and then beginning the thought anew, 'Well, it's not oceanographers looking at them anymore. It's physicists! Because they've discovered that these waves are behaving in a manner that is similar to light waves. They can suck the energy from both sides and concentrate it in one spot. And light waves are partially particles and partially wavelike. It's moving [the study of waves] into a whole different dimension.'""...each wave was unique as a fingerprint. It had its own provenance and its own destiny, clashing against its neighbors or merging with them, leaping out of the seascape or dissolving back into it.""The wave was breathtaking. As it rose, its face opened up to the cliffs and its lip curled over a full-bellied barrel. Except for luminous glints of turquoise at its peak, the wave was sapphire blue, gin clear, and flecked with white. If heaven were a color, it would be tinted like this."Oh yes, this was a very satisfying read.

"Except for luminous glints of turquoise at its peak, the wave was sapphire blue, gin clear, and flecked with white. If heaven were a color, it would be tinted like this." This quote is Susan Casey's description of seeing a wave close-up at Jaws, a Maui surf spot known for huge dangerous waves.At fifteen, my father gave me a 9ft Ole surfboard--it was too big for me and I could barely drag it down the beach. I wanted to look cool with it under my arm like all the surfers did and I wanted more than anything to be the girl that the Beach Boys sang about in Surfer Girl. It wasn't going to happen, but that big board attracted surfers who wanted to help me get it into the water and teach me how to paddle out. I loved watching them catch the waves. Years later my love affair with Ocean waves and surfers really took off when I watched early surf films and saw the shots Greenough took inside the tube of pristine waves; their glassy faces a peek into another world. So when I heard about Susan Casey's book, The Wave, I had to read it and she didn't disappoint. It is the perfect blend of surf stories from some of the best big wave riders and the guys who help them make it out to those waves along with the guys who help in the rescues when the waves eat them up and spit them out; and a look into the history, physics, and science of freak monster waves that appear out of nowhere and cause massive destruction. Read this book and it will change the way you look at the seas around the world. An entertaining and educational 5 star read for anyone who loves the Ocean.

This is for the first time, I came to know about the Lutine Bell at Lloyd's; and learned how many ships met their fates in open seas and in storm-tossed waters. There is so much more in this book all told in a manner to transport a reader to the time and place of events involving rogue waves, that it seems surreal.Then came the Jaws and the Jet Skis. The book could have been more interesting to read had it not been punctuated by the feats of and conversations with Hamilton and his surfing mates at almost every alternate turn of page. Overall, a well-written narrative on rogue waves.I began to teach myself the trick of mentally tuning out or altogether skipping whole sections wherever Hamilton figured in the pages. I am probably being impolite by saying so. I am no surfer. I do, however, think that a chapter or two at the most could have sufficed.

This book has a mix of stories about the science of rogue waves, documented occurrences, and of that dare-devil group who seek out and master riding giant waves, the tow-surfers. Totally non-fiction, the narrative is breathtaking as are several photos which were included in the edition that I had. There are fascinating explanations of how these giant killers form, and the author relates them to the disappearances of ships in the past, as well as those instances where there were eye witness survivors.One of the few non-fiction books with content exciting enough to deserve a re-read or two, I highly recommend this book to readers of all genres.

I am not a surfer, or someone particularly knowledgeable about big wave phenomena, but I am vaguely interested in both, and it had good reviews, so bought it. What I wasn't expecting was that this is probably the most compelling non-fiction book I have ever read! Beautifully written, you get such a clear image of what the author, and more importantly that of those interviewed, have experienced. It is simply a must read, and everyone I have recommended it to thinks the same. 6 stars!!

It reads more like a long magazine article than a proper book, but perhaps because of this it flows and it's never dull. The central characters are the big wave surfers which in a way seem to be, and talk, just like overgrown kids. But there are also wrecks, tsunamis, rogue waves, and the people that study them. The end result, though, is not as fulfilling as Casey's previous book 'The Devil's Teeth' which I strongly recommend.

Not knowing what this book was about I happened to take it along on a vacation to Maui. Well, a great deal of it is about big wave surfing in Maui and specifically Laird Hamilton who lives there and surfs at a break called Jaws. I really enjoyed parts of the book but, in my mind it seemed to be inconsistent. At times it was like Casey wasn't confident in her theme. Was it a book about surfing big waves or big waves in general. If big waves it was incomplete.