In 1987, this guy kayaked all the way from California to Hawaii. (can’t tell why he isn’t more famous, but I digress)
I can’t understand how this was physically possible because the ocean “normally” has about 10 foot waves, according to this website and the weather forecast for Hawaii - http://www.stormsurf.com/page2/links/pacwam.shtml
How on earth could a 2 or 3 foot high kayak avoid getting tossed end over end at the first spot of bad weather? It’s not even that stable in a freshwater pond in a high wind. But he stayed out there in all conditions even while sleeping. What am I missing about this?
An experienced sea-kayaker can handle quite a bit. As for stability, he may have been flipped over occasionally, but he would have the ability to “Eskimo roll” the kayak back upright. As for sleeping, the article says he used outrigger pontoons for that.
Are you thinking that when waves are higher than a vessel, they reliably upset it? This is definitely not so.
Results certainly have something to do with how a watercraft is handled (heading into the waves is typically better than lying parallel to them). But a 10-ft wave in the deep ocean is nothing amazing or violent - absent strong winds it wouldn’t break, and its main effect would be to lift and then lower anything on the surface.
No matter how big the wave is, if it doesn’t break, it’s not a problem, you just ride over it. And kayaks are pretty good about righting themselves and surviving even breaking waves. If I had to be in rough water, I’d want to be in a really big boat or a kayak. Anything in between would not be good.