"For swells to remain perceptible after travelling hundreds of miles, they must have their origin in regions of strong and persistent winds, the more important swells originating in "permanent" weather systems such as the Trades. . . The other main source is the Southern Ocean belt. . .

Holding course by swells seems always to be a matter more of feel than sight. . . Puluwatans too 'steer by the feel of the waves under the canoe, not visually'. One might perhaps be tempted to refer to keeping course by the swells as 'steering by the seat of one's pants', if it were not for the more anatomically specific detail supplied by the veteran island skipper Captain Ward, who writes, 'I have heard from several sources, the the most sensitive balance was a man's testicles, and that when at night or when the horizon was obscured, or inside the cabin this was the method used to find the focus of the swells off an island' . . .

Examples of the practice of orientatin by swells can be collected from virtually any part of the Pacific." [i][/i] We, the Navigators, pp.84-86.

Clearly, we would all be better to sail "commando"!