Come and learn from a proof from a Braraisa that quotes Psalm 107: "Those who go down to the merchant ships, who do their work and in many waters. They have seen the doings of Hashem" and his wonders of the deep. He spoke and the tempest roared and lifted up the waves. The seafarers rise in their ship heaven ward, descend to the troughs and their souls melt with trouble. They reel, they stagger like one drunk, their skill and wisdom devoured. And then they shouted together in distress, that He would extricate them  from their torment. That he would halt the storm to restore calm and still their waves. Let them acknowledge Hashem and his kindness."

The Ritvah on this piece suggests that because many people on these large ships the storm cannot be seen as addressing  one family.  Communal prayer, the sailors, the passengers come together in unity and common concern to draw Hashem's mercy to them to save the ship.

In the days King David wrote those words sailboat would have run from the wind using the wind to fill their sails like an umbrella. Going "down wind" would have been a perilous roller coaster ride. Imagine, a large wave comes out behind a heavy laden merchant ship. The stern or back of the boat rises, accelerates and is at risk of being over taken by a huge wall of water.  The sailor at the steering paddle, a huge unwieldy plank of wood, must use all his strength, will and skill to keep the boat moving at right angles to the wave. Going off at an angle could swamp the craft. At the bottom of the wave the bow of the boat rises  to the crest of the next wave and the harrowing process is repeated over and over again through a tempest that might go on for days.  Exhaustion would devour their seafaring skill and wisdom as the psalmist so accurately relates - he know of what he was writing.