Do most people on here bull

[Phil]

it annoys me when people say waves are 2ft when blatently it was 6ft becuse they think they have some thing to prove, like they think it makes them look cooler becuse they think its smaller

id say that wave was about shoulder high at that

[Dec]

Yea, some bull some don't.

P.S. People judge wave height differently. In hawaii people judge waves like the pic to be 3ft if that.

[pault]

It's a human tendancy to brag some what.

But i've put myself back to the whitewater. I was making far too many mistakes and I've been getting much better and realising were I was going wrong with being in the white water. I popped up on a couple of unbroken waves before, but it was luck as much as anything

Can't wait to get my new board and work harder :WOOT:

[stoke]

Yeah, the thing about guaging the size of waves is that as you become more experienced, you seem to rate waves a hell of a lot less.

Once upon a time, I thought waist high was 2/3ft, when it was really 1ft at most...ah, how times have changed

There also seems to be a fair amount of bravado about rating the size of waves as well.
You rock up to a spot that's firing, someone will call it at around 6ft, only to be put in their place by a more experienced surfer who says:
"Nah mate, 4ft at best". Pault called it, its partly about bragging, but in the sense that the smaller you call it, the more experienced/credible you appear...if you get what I'm trying to say.

So having said that, North Swell's pic, I'd call a solid 3ft, 4ft absolute max

Anyway it's all relative, if you consistently surf 5ft+ waves with 10ft+ faces, then you're naturally gonna dismiss smaller waves

[rich r]

I'd agree with everyone who's said this is one of the friendlier boards where people can actually come to ask questions and get honest answers.

As for wave height, I was in the middle of this discussion last year. there are many factors that go into it, from old school to hawaiian to identifying kooks and newbies.

Some simple guidelines;

Judging based on a 6-foot person, using knee, waist, chest, shoulder and head high is a good method.

Old school judges 'from the back'. then you get everyone saying "you can't see the back of the wave!" Well, you figure your average wave is 1/2 the face due to the trough, and you go with that.

Hawaiian goes along old school, although tends to get bigger slower.. so if you say 8 foot Hawaiian, it's probably 18-20 foot face, versus 15-16 foot face old school.

Now, you also have to put in variables for thickness, steepness, and a couple other qualities of the wave that influence it's appearance and power. Mavericks and T'eapu aren't going to be to tallest waves ever surfed, but are pretty damn heavy.

So you could have a 2-3 foot (say chest to shoulder) wave that is just so knarly and fat that it carries so much water behind it, it's punishing. Or you could have a head high wave so steep that the drop is all air and it's almost unmake-able. Or you could have a 4-5 foot wave that's fat but not steep so it's fast without being impossible to take off on at overhead conditions.

I usually just stick with knee, waist, chest, shoulder and head high as classifications. It's easier that way.

[drowningbitbybit]

Flat.
Small.
Medium.
Big.
Too big.
Waaaaay too big.

The Bullsh*t free scale.

[pat42]

This is the bloke who I was staying with in Brasil on one of the bigger days

I said 3-4 meters (9-12ft)

He said 2m or 6ft

[Dec]

Hey Pat! Uluwatu?

[pat42]

Unless Ulu Watu has been moved to Brasil

Nah........that's Mocambique on Florianopolis

[rich r]

I'll give you 6-9 feet. Looks to be a couple to a few feet overhead the way he's crouched down.

[pat42]

.


Sorry that wasnt the one where he said 2m/6ft

It was this one:

[surferdude_scarborough]

i size waves by how much it hurts when you mess up a duckdive
not at all = waist high

whoops wont do that again = chest high

bleugh that was a bit rough = shoulder high

why isnt my board in front of me but still in my arms = headhigh -
overhead

wheres my board? screw that wheres the surface?!!! = head n a half - too big gtf out of there

[surferdude_scarborough]

Old school judges 'from the back'

so how big are the waves at teahupoo?

[rich r]

I don't believe it gets bigger on the face than 10-15 feet. But it can handle a swell of 20' and produce a 10' face, depending on conditions, thus making it fat and heavy, twice the thickness of a 'normal' wave, and doubling (at the very least) the amount of power that's gonna hit you if you wipe out.

[rich r]

Oh, and Pat.. I'll still give him 6-9 on that one. He's crouched pretty low, and already out on the flats there..

the whitewater is definitely spraying up higher than the lip of the peak, which kinda throws off the perspective a bit.

[CheeZee]

Flat.
Small.
Medium.
Big.
Too big.
Waaaaay too big.

The Bullsh*t free scale

.... nice one bro

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

why does wave height matter so much? that wave that northswell put up is really fat and its tubing. at DaimondHead where i go, that size wave i would estimate to me 5-6ft, because it wouldnt look as intimidating, it wouldnt be as thick.

looking at it again i think that picture is decieving because it onle shows the biggest part.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

Yea, some bull some don't.

P.S. People judge wave height differently. In hawaii people judge waves like the pic to be 3ft if that.

i dont think so. they say 2-5 all the time and its more like shit-2.

[nsidla]

dude as far as wave measurement goes it depends on where your from from what I've heard. Apparently in the US we basically measure waves by the bottom front part to the top, Hawaii measures the back of the wave when the measure, and Austrailia has some other way. The biggest wave I've honestly probably surfed was about 6ft because when I was standing up it was just about my height while on the wave and Im about 6ft tall, thats how I measure, and then I wiped out on it, hit my own board before hitting the water and was rashed back into shore

[jethrodog]

I personally don't give a sh*t whether someone is bulling or not. Who Cares. If it is a good story lets hear it. Only that person knows whether it is true or not but if it is good, I'm all for it. If it makes them feel better by telling a lie, I'll help them out by listening. In fact hearing a lie about surfing still gets me stoked about going. Like that time I was bouncing off the lip on a 12 ft'er on my skateboard that I pulled the trucks off of.....Sweet!!