Since comedyjock has been posting on PPRuNe for about ten years and was a FAA Lynx pilot with a lot of experience, I suspect that he may know a little about deck landings, wind lanes and relative wind over the deck
Colibri49, I would not agree with your assertion re wind lanes. They certainly
do not form a right angle to waves! An early lesson taught to all ASW pilots is to recognise wind lanes since life is much easier if you approach the dip into wind, and the only conditions where wind indications/lanes are negligible or difficult to see are very light (<5 knots) in some sea states. I never recall having problems with conditions you describe:
needs to blow from a constant direction for many hours and get above about 30 knots before such lanes become visible.
Wind lanes do not require hours of steady wind nor be above 30 knots, but when the conditions get a bit rough in the North Sea you will be able to get wind direction from the spume/spray of the top of the wave crests instead. There are many natural ways of getting wind direction, they should be a basic part of any aviator's early education: be it overland or overwater.
comedyjock, re your Dalton query I'd suggest that it is a basic wind/course calculation: pencil at the ready?