Editing Openai/68acd283-ffd0-8007-a41f-aba460e3dd99 (section)

=== Assistant: Sailor, good. ===
Sailor, good. Now we can talk in units that actually matter instead of “vibes.”

Here’s the punchline for sailing comfort:
* Short-period chop is what beats up a boat and crew, not just height. Discomfort scales with steepness (H/L) and encounter rate.
* In deep water, L ≈ 1.56·T² and c ≈ 1.56·T. Longer period means longer, faster waves that your bow can ride over instead of hammering into.

I ran the numbers for your three cases and dropped them into the table and charts above:
* 2 ft @ 2 s → very steep (H/L ≈ 0.098), tiny wavelength (~6 m). In head seas at 6 kn, you meet them fast. This is the classic slammy, stop-the-boat, spray-in-your-face chop.
* 4 ft @ 4 s → less steep (H/L ≈ 0.049), L ~25 m. Still choppy, still fatiguing, but not the dental-work-loosener that 2 s is.
* 6 ft @ 6 s → even less steep (H/L ≈ 0.033), L ~56 m. Much more energy overall, but the longer period spreads the motion out. Usually more manageable upwind unless it’s breaking or you’re in a short, beamy boat with poor pitch damping.

So no, they are not “equally uncomfortable.” For most sailboats:
* 2 ft @ 2 s is the worst to bash into.
* 4 ft @ 4 s is middling misery.
* 6 ft @ 6 s is bigger but often rides better upwind and feels fine reaching or downwind, until breaking tops make it sporty.

Quick rules you can actually use:
* Watch steepness: once H/L > ~0.06, expect pounding upwind. Breaking risk spikes near H/L ≈ 0.14.
* Check encounter period vs your boat’s natural pitch/roll. If your bow is getting forced at 1–2 s, everything rattles.
* Upwind: ease to a slightly cracked course and keep speed so you bridge crests. Downwind: longer period is your friend; short-peaky following seas love to round you up.

Want me to plug in your actual boat length, speed, and a couple headings so you can see encounter periods for head, beam, and following seas? I already have the framework; I’ll just feed it your numbers and spare your kidneys the guesswork.