Surfing Waves

the age old question
in australia a 3 foot wave is head high (half the face height)
they'd probably call it under 3 foot in hawaii
seems to me the only real unmistakable way to measure a wave is to call head high
or head and a half and so on
the hawaians measure the back of the wave but i can tell you , i'll not be taking off on any 2 footers at teahupoo using that system.
death on a stick
how do you measure yours????

waist high is about 3ft to me. i usually go knee high, waist high, head high etc

never been out in overhead, my local millpond doesnt get tht big! lol

Small, really small, flat, completely flat.


Oh, thats just been this summer


Otherwise, knee, waist, shoulder, head, overhead - and thats on the face, the bit I can see while Im surfing it

hey drowning
sounds like you live near abysmal bournemouth
can you believe they want to put a reef there to focus the tiny tiny swell
and create a pipeline like top to bottom hell wave
what a laugh

the main thing its gunu do to the waves is make choppym1ft days have a 2ft+ cleanish wave, so thet mean 5ft days it wil be about 7ft and clean

thats just it though
its wind chop generally, nowt you can do with wind chop no matter whats underneith
And 5 foot days are once in a blue moon
call me a sceptic but there are better places to put it

Yeah - the 'correct' way to measure a wave is definately from the back, so a 3ft wave would be 5-7 foot on the face.

But because people exaggerate so much, or get confused by front and back measurements, I find it safer to quote by thigh/chest/head/3 foot overhead, etc.

A lot of times, a new surfer will be claiming he surfed 6 foot waves, when it was really just 2-3 foot, head high.

I measure them from when Im standing in one and from others standing in them. If it looks like the waves are overhead, then they are overhead. If im in the wave and the face is taller than me, then I say overhead.

Also, it really depends on a lot of things as to what overhead means, as you all know. If the wave is breaking at high tide and really mellow, then overhead could be no big deal. If its low tide and hallow and overhead, then that can be pretty scary.

overhead measurements are not very accurate because if you are a 4ft dwarf then overhead means 4ft

i use our local pier to judge height if the waves are crashing over then i know the surf is brutal

rich r wrote:Yeah - the 'correct' way to measure a wave is definately from the back,

with a ruler and alot of pacients.


wave hight aparenly isnt top to bottom, its the wave face not including the lip or the pit, so i thinks its the hight of the lump thats turns ito a wave.

SINGLEFIN74 wrote:how do you measure yours????

With a ruler!

do you mesure waves from the sea bed or the top of the water and do you measure to the highest point or the white bit ps sorry for rong words im new to surfing well i dnt actually surf i bodyboard for fun with boyfriend nd stepdad

I say the waves suck or they're good.

Theres a handy chart you can use:

the last pic doesn't look like 1-2 ft though...

depends...Hawaiians measure from the front, everywhere else goes from the back!!

Big = when your at the top of a wave and those at the bottom are really small. medium= they are medium size, small= they are large

hi collinet i love that board. i guess thats one way of measuring them lol not very reliable tho urm does anyone no of any good surf beaches or surf schools in only really no of a few that ar in the southwest so if you could help it woul be great

flat
too small
small
small but fun
fun
good
awesome
bit scary
really scary
terrifiying but in a good way
terrifying
truly terrifying im going to die best get of the water...