How high is this wave?

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How high is this wave?

Postby Thibb » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:07 pm

A while ago I was surfing my local break and felt that I was getting some of the nicest waves I have seen in my (short) surfing life. So after the session, I went back home (to get a camera) and tried to take some pictures of the waves. I ended up taking a few but when I showed them to my friend we got into an argument about their height.

The surf report for that day said one thing, I said another thing and he said yet another thing. I would like to hear your opinions and see if we can reach some sort of consensus.

Why? Well, for starters I would like to know what wave size I can handle. I don't think I am looking for anything bigger than this in the near future. Secondly, I would also like to able to call the height myself in the future and I apparently need some sort of marker to compare heights with. So if a couple of you guys want to weigh in on this, much appreciated.

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Last edited by Thibb on Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby pkbum » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:12 pm

i think its around 2 ft overhead.
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Postby PapaW » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:17 pm

I'd call it solid 4-5ft (hight)
6-7ft of (face)
Last edited by PapaW on Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby gixer » Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:38 pm

id say you are doing ok :D
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Postby parrysurf » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:01 pm

2ft over head is my answer too.

For the report I would call it 3-5+ft, if that is one of the larger sets.
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Postby TReMoR » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:02 pm

id say 7-8 :D! awsome wave! its certainly not small hhahaha
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Postby parrysurf » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:23 pm

as you can see it depends on who you ask
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Postby isaluteyou » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:51 pm

on a day like that id say waves would have been 6-8ft or so
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Postby oldgrom » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:46 am

7' to 8' max or single to double over. In reality would not care if there nice like that would take calling them ankle high and surf the crap outta em.
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Postby Thibb » Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:53 am

Ok, well, the surf report for that day said 5 ft. That just seems too little to me: the surfer in the pic has got to be 5.5-6 foot and the wave is clearly bigger than him. Even though he is not standing upright.

I reckoned it would be somewhere around 7 foot. My mate said it would be 8-9 foot. Not that it matters much, but it is just annoying that people can disagree about something that seems so simple.

Either way, I had a fun day today, surfing waves about a quarter of that size. Rest of the week looks flat so it's just as well that my shoulders and neck are killing me. :)
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Postby IB_Surfer » Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:56 pm

You are all about right, but you are discussing two things at the same time. Swell is determined by the size of the water being displaced, not the wave size, so when the wave folds the actual height from the bottom to the top of the incomming surge. Waves are measured by the size of the open face.

So, for that pic, I would have to call it a 3ft to 4ft swell and a overhead and a half size wave since the surfer is not standing straight up
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Postby RJD » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:27 pm

Wave measurement is an odd thing.

"Hawaian' scale measures the size of the wave before it breaks top to bottom at the back. Which is usualy close to half the creaking face hight.
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Postby hyber » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:48 pm

solid 4 foot, no bigger
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Postby Spiney » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:53 am

I think it makes more sense measuring the wave's face since that is what you get if you are wiped out. Anyway, I would say this wave's face has to be 7' or around 2m-2m50. And don't forget, this what you will slapped by if you shall fall :lol:
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Postby IB_Surfer » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:31 am

Spiney wrote:I think it makes more sense measuring the wave's face since that is what you get if you are wiped out. Anyway, I would say this wave's face has to be 7' or around 2m-2m50. And don't forget, this what you will slapped by if you shall fall :lol:


LOL, with the metric system you just lost me LOl
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Postby scsurf » Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:40 am

Yeah. I would say at least a couple of feet overhead. Another problem besides the variety of interpretations, is it's hard to judge from a single photo.

This guy is leaning into a bottom turn out a bit in front of the wave, also when you're standing on shore shooting down it can make the wave look smaller than at sea level
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wave height...

Postby dukdiv » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:11 am

I'd call that wave headhigh +, but it would help to see the entire wave.
Different perceptions of face height is probably why most surf forecast sites now use knee, waist, shoulder...etc.
Since I don't ride the back of the wave, I don't care to see it measured there, in some cases it's just silly.

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Postby scsurf » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:38 am

Bravo!! Best point made
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Postby Sillysausage » Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:35 pm

themathteacher wrote:
Spiney wrote:I think it makes more sense measuring the wave's face since that is what you get if you are wiped out. Anyway, I would say this wave's face has to be 7' or around 2m-2m50. And don't forget, this what you will slapped by if you shall fall :lol:


LOL, with the metric system you just lost me LOl


you're a math teacher, should understand numbers and units
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Re: wave height...

Postby Milo » Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:39 pm

dukdiv wrote:I'd call that wave headhigh +, but it would help to see the entire wave.
Different perceptions of face height is probably why most surf forecast sites now use knee, waist, shoulder...etc.
Since I don't ride the back of the wave, I don't care to see it measured there, in some cases it's just silly.

Image

Now that's a scary wave :shock: .
To the question i need to know your height, if that is you in the pic. Lets say you are 6ft, then that wave face could be 6 - 8 ft.
Some of you guys are way off, i bet you look at your feller and say now that's a good 12" :oops:
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