Depending on vessel design it may be safer, but easy? Have you tried running away from it when wavelength approaches LWL?
Some boats handle it OK, but mostly the tiny, nimble ones. One night I’ll never forget I ran a 100 footer ahead of a 7m chop. We were in constant danger of broaching, and I ran the steering gear so hard I was afraid of overheating the fluid. Easy is not a word that comes to mind, ask a small craft guy.
Some boats definitely feel safer when pointed downwind, especially the ones that have more freeboard aft. I was going to mention it earlier, but my heavy weather experience doesn’t extend beyond the North Atlantic on a properly fucked up day (which is awesome in the most literal sense), and I understand that we’re talking about a different beast here.
As for the Bourbon Rhode, I suspect she would benefit from having that mighty stout bow pointed into the fury of it.
EDIT: It just dawned on me that you might have been referring to running away from as in “escaping” rather than running with the weather…