it was HOW big??

haha lmo son...

 

Southerners are the best at calling waves by how much "fun" they are. Can't beat that. 1-2ft and choppy would be called "kinda wonky" or some such, while 1-2ft with the slightest hint that the surf might be cleaning up would be called "kinda fun", and 1-2ft with fairly clean faces would be called "fun". Everyone in the parking lot suiting up knows what you're talking about and rarely are heights ever mentioned among my peeps. ha, we're such amazing and fun seeking kooks. partay!

 

Head high = 6 ft faces with maybe overhead peaks and a few sets, approximately. I am 5'9" and I don't call it head high until I see someone taller than me at the bottom of the wave, standing straight and tall, not crouched or at an angle, and the wave top is over their head. That way it is "head high" to most folks. Power is another story. Wave period, not size, has alot to do with it, along with bottom at a particular spot. So 4 ft swell at 9 seconds is much less powerful that 2.5 ft at 15 seconds. Maybe they both break at shoulder high, but the long period swell will be more powerful. And the reef at low tide will break more powerful than the sandbar at high tide on the same size swell. Duh!

 

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Yeah, see the "POWER OF THE WAVE" to me should be left out of this.... If you guys want to get all technical about that, you need to take after a golf scoring system

Every golf course has a "Course Distance" from each tee as well as a "Slope Rating".

The Course Distance is equal to the "Actual Wave Face Height", which to me is the only thing that matters....

The Slope Rating qould be equal to "Wave Density and Power", which is what all the guys in HI are always talking about....

Wave heights should be wave heights, PERIOD.... To me, it shouldn't be how big it is inside the barrel, especially because most spots, on most days aren't hurling barrels to and fro.

So for instance.... Hilton Head Island (regionally scored) out of a SLOPE RATING of 1-20, one being the weakest, 20 being the strongest, should have a slope rating, or lets say 3.

So, Hilton Head Island would be 8 feet, with a slope rating of 3, meaning that it will take a lot of juice to open up a hollow barrel, as well as some long period ground action to get it going...

Pipeline, if the wave was the same HEIGHT should still be 8 feet, with a slope rating of, lets say 14 out of 20... Meaning, that pipeline is not a 20, but a 14 out of 20 means that on most days, an 8 foot wave is going to provide about 50-60% more overall power and "hollowness" than a wave the same size in Hilton head....

Now, a 20 out of 20 would be reserved for places like Teahupoo and Shipsterns and a few others.... Where the over all density and "hollowness" are even much more than that of the North Shore of Oahu....

So, to me, a wave height needs to be a wave height, and every spot on the planet, should have its own "intensity/density" rating along with it, so the bigger it gets, the more the intensity levels will rise... But you can also guage the fact that even if Hilton Head were to see 13 foot waves, the density rating is one that would not lead to big hollow barrels... Due to the lack of intensity, it would probably max out at 8 feet and anything more than that, would mush up, close out and be disorganized....

So a spot like Hilton Head would have ideal conditions, based on its SLOPE rating in the range of 5-8 foot faces... That is enough juice to keep it hollow and not too much than the place can handle....

Where a place like pipeline has a HUGE window, based on its slope rating... So, Pipeline's ideal conditions are 3feet to 20 feet... Because the slope rating is higher, meaning better waves, quicker at a smaller size and a much larger window, creating heavier, but still manageable surf all the way up to around 20 feet....

Its not a perfect science, but that is my vote... Wave heights can NOT be confused with wave intensity... Two different things.....

10 foot in Ocean Beach SD is murderous, almost unridable chaos and 3 miles north, 10 foot Tourmo is completely clean, manageable and about the max. Its an easy paddle.... Those are two spots with completely different SLOPE ratings, so allthough the waves are the same size, and very close by, they are completely different things....

That is why surf reporting is also so hard. We need a GOLF SYSTEM.

 

I usually use body height (waist, chest, shoulder, head...) until it gets well overhead, then I go to feet. I also try to make the distinction when calling the size by saying "head high... with some overhead peaks," or something like that, because I find that people who call the swell height by the peak size generally over call the size. Better to call it the size of the average breaking face or wall to give what I think is a more legit call. I've been accused of under calling the size, but to me it's really misleading to call it by the peak size. Same thing with the "occasional set" thing... better to say, "head high, with the occasional overhead set" than to just say, "it was overhead."... just too misleading to me.

 

Possibly the pest thread ever here...

Ankle Knee thigh waist stomach shoulder head over head after that it really doesn't matter. After its over head I start saying its big real big really big really really big and eventually too big I'm not surfing today. That usually happenes when I've paddled out and then realize I have to take one in and if that goes well then you just start pushing your luck.

#ilovesurfing

 

Real wave heights are made at sea and you can't judge it until you've gone over it. Next time a set rolls in paddle over ( sometimes you just need to feel it) turn around and see how big it is. That's how I judge because our breaks change what the face looks like with tides and wind. From behind is the only way to judge height.

 

Yeah, I agree. I think most of the time, that is okay, but it depends on where you are and how big the surf gets on a regular basis. Cause I think it's way harder to guage how big a wave is once it gets really big. I mean, once you hit the DOH are +, I think it's REALLY important to know what the deal is and know what the sets are looking like. If you are surfing wave DOH, its probably not a local beach break, cause DOH really doesn't handle that well execpt for a couple spots each year on like the biggest swell of the years. I.E. Sandy, when they were towing in at OC MD. Those were legit DOH+ sets, and I think its imperative, especially when you don't have PWCs to know how big to really expect it.

Cause there is nothing worse than being out on a deep reef break, when the call has been 8-10 feet, and then all of the sudden the sets start rolling in at 15 feet. It can be a dangerous undercall, wrong board, wrong position. Sure, sets will swing wide, everyone gets clean up every now and again, but I have been stuck out at sea for a while, under gunned because all the reports said one thing and failed to mention that the swell was building and the 8am report is no longer valid.... Shame on me for not watching the ocean longer and just running right out for a long paddle, but I think when it gets bigger, its important to call it what it is. I would rather overcall a wave size, especially a beach break, cause if its Truly DOH, with offshore winds and for some strange reason the beach break is holding up.... And one guy thinks DOH is 8-10 feet, and another guy thinks DOH id 12-14 feet, that is a HUGE different. I'm hoping I have a 6'8 or some crazy stepup for any beach break TRULY around DOH... The mini-step up 6'2 aint gonna hold up for sh** with offshore wind and power like that.

 

For instance, one of the best months I ever remember was January a few years ago in Southern CA. I sh** you not, it was not under a solid 6 feet for an entire month. During the peak of one of the better swells that month, it was DOH+, legit, for like 4-5 days straight. At the peak of that particular swell, there was dead wind, perfect weather and I went out to the big wave spot at Sunset Cliffs.... The surfline report read something like this:

12-14 feet, with occasional sets ranging from 16-22feet....

It was one of the stranger reports I had seen, and it was Plenty sketchy, but that is exactly how it was... You would get a solid hour of about 10-14 foot faces, clean as hell, over and over.... Complete beginners started paddling out at certain points after watching the easy channels and the consistency of the lined up set waves hitting the reefs in the exact same spots each time, then for about 20 minutes, all hell would break loose. Too much water would get trapped in the cove, as the tide shifted and the swell built up, the set waves were almost double in size. I have never seen so many people cleaned up through one day. I only got caught really bad once and broke my toe, but it was an absolute sh** show. But I will give surfline credit, cause anyone who read the report knew what to expect... But so many people had the wrong boards that day. A lot of people probably did get hurt. They had the chopper and the cranes out, lifting people up over the cliffs. At one point, the entire lineup got cleared and you could just see boards crashing against the cliffs and bodies treading water.... Cause they all got undercalled. BIG TIME.

 

once its double overhead, its harder to quantify as sneaker sets gets bigger and the building swell causes issues, for sure...here is where sharthuffers buoy reports come in handy, it takes a few hours for the swell to hit. if its macking now and the buoy has been on the increase, then you know its gonna get bigger in a few hours. plan accordingly

I remember thinking a few swells, ok there time for me to get some before I'm out of my league (Donnie)

last winter swell 2 weeks ago was (local measurement) 4-5 foot and sic! with some 8 foot swing wides....saw few broken boards after one set came and cleaned up everyone

 

But that makes a 6' wave at chopes, belmar and pipeline equal as far as a surf report goes. Sorry to disagree with your method but...I disagree. I wanna know what the front of the wave is doing not the back.

 

Word. I ride the face of the wave, not the back of the wave like Fred Flinstone.

Just check my formula on page 3, it explains everything.

 

you disagree with how 99% of the people that don't live on the EC measure waves, but hey, its cool

 

I like that there's a difference in how the surf height is measured at different places. It's part of the history and free-minded "no rules" attitude at surfing's core, and is... to me... symbolic of the different surf cultures around the world, and how we identify ourselves within and among them.

 

Yes, this is why I have my own surf website, plugging into all hilton head related buoys and gives me the surf report by my measurements and my standards. The forecasting doesn't do much, but my buoy data breaks down into exactly what I consider the side to be, both in x.x feet as well as "chest high" etc... Also calculates what texture or not will be there based on wind speed and direction...

 

It is, it's mad cool. It's tight bangin'.

This is indisputable brilliance straight from Chandler:
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Also, I like turtles.

 

And 99% of the people that go to church believe their life and afterlife will be enhanced by believing in some mythical god. Doesn't make 'em right.

And beyond that, I still think you're wrong.