I’ve done my share of boating in lousy conditions, but there isn’t any way to get a picture of my boat !!
For your viewing pleasure however, here is my anchor watch plot from an Anchorage that picked up swell from the Straits of Juan de Fuca, all night long :-D
Notice there were 163 turns. Good anchor!!
I took this video in Boston Harbor a few years ago while in a small craft advisory and an outgoing tide. Washing machine effect.
https://youtu.be/GxIByizVkWc
The interesting thing about wave size is it is often not the size, but the energy and shape of the waves. We once had the misfortune to be stuck in a South Pacific storm that produced winds over 50 kts and seas in the 25' range that felt less threatening than 6-8' seas with25-30 kts of wind and a added tidal current in the Strait of Georgia.
Often in the PNW current rips combined with short period wind waves produce very nasty wave action that seems to assault the boat from every direction at the same time. We once motored north up Baja in zero wind and climbed over 15' rolling swell waves that would not of toppled a long stem wine glass. The difference between the bottom of the trough and the peak of the wave meant you either had a great vantage point or you couldn't see squat.
The storm in the S.Pac was definitely the one that was the most frightening as with those conditions we were not "sailing" and sat hove to as the boat climbed those waves then tripped off the top of the breaking weaves then crashed into the bottom of the troughs. That one event in our lives shaped our views about what we can endure and survive and raised the bar on what truly scares us.
HOLLYWOOD