Cool - thanks Mysticeagle, I will have a play with that too I think... it kind of sounds like this may work, somehow with the "create->wave" technique that PhilC pointed me too right at the start if this thread...

I'm planning to looking into that further... more with regard to creating a more turbulent ocean surface... and this may compliment that there perhaps, in some way.

In terms of the wake, I think that modelling this as a prop is probably the way to go... based on the great example Seachnasaigh provided... and those suggested by Lmckenzie.

I have been fiddling around with all of those to see how they fit Victory.

I think what I will try next is to play with doing some modelling myself... I thought if I loaded the hull of HMS victory into Hexagon I might then grab a loop or two of polygons off the hull, at what I want the water level to be and then extrude them or whatever... create a kind of base wake shape. I can maybe then scupt that a bit in Sculptris... to get something suitably "blobby" and organic looking... based on the photo refs I found. see how that works out anyway... think it will be fun to play with this.

Definitely needs a "crest" material zone as well as a more watery "wave body" zone.

The other idea I had was trying to use Snarlygribbly's snow machine to create the white water effect on the crests... sound plausible????

Have downoaded, but I haven't managed to try using this great looking thing yet... even for actual snow ;-)

It's on my increasingly long list of stuff to play with though...