I notice the current system in the North Sea must be whipping up the
waves. Gullfax is reporting hurricane-force sustained winds (76mph).

Gullfax Platform (10 m, Norway) 92 mph
Oseberg (15 m, Norway) 81 mph

As an aside, does the Beaufort scale refer to 1-min or 10-min sustained
winds? I'm assuming 1-minute sustained seeing as the hurricane force
category (73 or 74mph+ depending on where you read it) would then be in
keeping with the US definitions of when a tropical storm becomes a
hurricane.

Richard