Swell size? Wave size?

[loonle]

I just want to know what the difference between swell size and wave size is?

[kieran]

swell size is usually referred to the height of waves out to sea
wave size is what you get at the beach
example
"a 20ft swell could give you 6ft+ waves at the beach"

[loonle]

thanks,
so does wave size then refer to the wave's size when if crashes?

[sinistapenguin]

Wave size is one of those things!

Swell size is right out to sea - ie miles out.
Wave size is the size where you would catch them - ie just before they break.

However, wave size is one of thise wierd things. If someone says to you 'I went out yesterday and it was 8 ft.' It was probably about 4 ft really.

Also some people measure wave height from the bottom of the sea - "I'm 6 ft and it was up to my chest, it was about 3 ft taller than me so they were around 8 ft tall."

I measure them (logically) from the base of the wave face to the lip.

'Hawaiian Style' measures the waves from the back - so 6 ft Hawaiian is probably 8-10 ft the way I measure it.

Someone I know told me they went out in Langland bay, UK the week before last "...and it was 12 ft!!"

I looked at the web cam photos and I would have said about 6- 8.

I tend to think if you're scared out there then it's BIG - if you're catching nice peeling waves and having fun it's BIG ENOUGH and if you're paddling like crazy and only catching a few waves it's probably NOT BIG ENOUGH!!

Cheers

Sinista

[kieran]

i think we had a discussion about wave sizes before, i think youll find the longer people have been surfing the smaller they say the waves are at the beach.
Its only the kooks and the noobs that wildly overestimate surf for bragging purposes, most of them would have a hard time getting out back in anything over 3ft