[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ZoLvE9SpQ]
TYPE OF VIOLENT WEATHER: A “white squall”
ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE MOVIE: Loosely based on actual events, the movie tells the story of a diverse group of high-school boys—think Dead Poet’s Society, only on water—who learn some valuable lessons while serving aboard a sailing ship captained by a stern disciplinarian named Christopher Sheldon (Jeff Bridges). Those lessons are put to the test when their ship encounters a violent—and, according to some, mythic—meteorological event called a “white squall.”
RANDOM (BUT SLIGHTLY RELEVANT) FACTOID: Striking without warning (and absent the dark clouds that normally accompany storms), white squalls are said to generate waves as high as 20 feet.