Biggest East Coast Wave

cricket.... cricket

 

I think that's what they said about Mavericks a while back then some guy name Clark decided....

I'm sure there is a spot on the EC you've just got to do some digging and thinking... deep water rapildy into shelf then figure out the swell / wind equation and finally have some huge BALLS...

 

That is not 20 foot dude. Sorry to be that guy, but thats more like 10-12. If it was 20 foot, it would close out. Ive surfed frisco pier that size on a few occasions, hell I was probably out on that day. A 20 foot wave would close out in frisco, no questions asked, those bars just cant handle that kind of size.

 

yeah thats something ive never been able to grasp is why does the measurements for pipeline or even hawaii to be more precist always different for the rest of us..

 

I believe Hawaiians speak "wave height" in terms of face height which would have to do with the back of the wave. So a 10 ft. wave here would be a 3-4 ft. wave there I think.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I've always been a little confused about this as well.

 

man, i cant help but correct u here. Hawaiians measure the wave from the back, meaning they don't measure the wave face. If you have ever surfed some sizeable surf, you would know what they mean. The back of the wave literally has height. Go look at any picture of jaws from behind the lineup , you will just see a huge mound of water, that almost kinda looks like a big wave, but its really just the back of a monster jaws macker.

Not saying ive surfed jaws or anything, but i think if u have ever surfed anything over say 8 foot, its pretty easy to notice that the wave backs have some height to them also.

 

ok. exactly thats why I said correct me if I'm wrong. But if you read the post, I did say that Hawaiians measure from the back of the wave which means that the wave height is actually larger than the Hawaiian estimated wave height. Hence when I said the same wave on the east coast is considered a smaller wave in Hawaii.

I'm not a bragger but yes I have surfed waves over 8 ft. I just got the terms mixed up. That's why I said "correct me if I'm wrong" and "i think" because i wasn't sure.

"The "Hawaiian Method"
The "Hawaiian method" proposes that wave size be measured from the back.
It usually results in an estimation less than half that of a face measurement.
Coming into use during the 1960's, the 'Hawaiian method apparently was adopted as pyhscological intimidation of inexperienced visitors, see histoical notes above.
This "method" was reinforced by the inceased use of wave buoys, whose measuements often equated the "Hawaiian method".
See below.
It gained some popular use in the 1990's with a resurgence in media attention on big wave riding and the development of tow-in surfing that put a premium on performance extremes. "


http://www.surfresearch.com.au/awaveheight.html

take a look, thats what I was trying to say but I said face height accidentally because I was confused.

 

Excellent point even though I posted this a page ago. Of course you Delmarva types aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer are you?

I was on surfline and came across this great point of reference.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/mid-season-north-shore-injury-update-body-count_21019/photos/1/

The surfline feature is an injury update from the north shore. Check out picture 5 with the video clip and see what Hawaiians (Torrey Meister) call 4ft. I believe it would equate to crap your pants surf in Ocean City, Maryland. What would you guys say.... double overhead?

 

The only thing that pisses me off is that it doesnt always make sense.

A. How do they measure the back of a wave accurately?
B. What about slabs like Teahupoo where the back is pretty much 0 ft and the face is like 10 to 15?

 

^ spot on holmes

 

4 ft!!!?.
.

 

I'd hate to see an 8 foot day there.Is he serious?

 

"It wasn't that big that day" - BAHAHAHAHAH...just wow.

 

That guy that dropped in on Dillon in #9 needs his a$$ kicked. TOTAL KOOK MOVE!

And yes 4' Hi is like 2+OH here.
I just don not inderstand the reasoning of measuring a wave by its backside. I mean a below level waves like chopes is what 6 in ch back 15 foot face.lol

Faces matter imo.

 

yes, so true Jason..They also had an article about the injuries at pipe as of late, and one vid shows a seriously bad drop in that did lead to a injury. You can imagine what might have happened to the guy that did that there, right in front of everyone.

Must suck to paddle in to what you know is going to be one serious ass kicking by the local crews there. Guess it is just best to take your medicine and hope you can walk away on your own
Drop ins are so not cool, just like your latest vid of that spot shows.

Also, I think they did stop giving size in terms of the back of the wave in HI, due to tourons almost dying when they hear wave size of only 4 to 5 feet, from the back of a wave. The tourons show up and go swimming when it is really DOH, HI size. So they changed it to avoid being sued, from what I was told.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzuelqUwBw&feature=related

 

If I'm not mistaken, Micah posted the history behind the "Hawaiian" measurement system a year back or so.

The Hawaiians were trying to find a way to make their lineups less crowded, so they thought that if they made it seem like their waves were smaller than they actually were, fewer people would paddle out. On surf reports, they began to measure waves from their back side, with the hope that when visitors heard, "3 foot and clean," they would not bother to paddle out, even though they were 6-8' faces.

As for the wave that made this thread so damn long, I'm pretty sure you can see a guy on the near jetty. Assuming he is six feet tall, it looks like that wave is between 10 and 12 foot. That'd make sense for Squan Inlet... there's no place in New Jersey that could hold a wave that clean looking at bigger than 20 foot, and that wave is by no means breaking as far out as some of you guys are saying... it looks around the 10-12' range, maybe 15' at biggest. The thing is, though... that's effing huge. Before people go complaining about a wave not being thirty feet tall, remember that we aren't used to waves being HUGE like that.

As a size reference, you could stand up in whatever room you're in. Chances are it's an 8' ceiling, give or take. Apply that to a wave, and you realize that 8 feet is damn big. For a 30 foot wave, try going to a school that has 3 floors. Stand outside by the wall. That's around 30 feet. That's enormous in the form of a wall of water, and no place on the east coast that I know of can hold it. It's not like that's a big deal, though. We just need to be honest with ourselves... the continental shelf extends too far for us to see the kind of swell that Hawaii, the South Pacific, the West Coast, or the West Coast of Europe sees. Doesn't mean we don't have intense swells, just that they're not as intense as Chopes, North Shore, or Jaws!

Delaware has put up some mean looking 8-12 foot waves, North Jersey has had some as well, and I've seen OBX waves up to 15 foot, but that's pretty much it.

 

I waz in st thomas for the 30ft easter swell of 08 and an outer island off hull bay had reeling right handers at the 30 ft barrelling range just perfect it can probably hold there up to 40 ft or bigger

 

I wasn't saying that the Atlantic couldn't produce that kind of swell. The islands' near topography allows for absurdly large waves; France, Spain, and Ireland have all seen insanely large waves, Puerto Rico holds some healthy swells as well. With that said, none of those places are east coast USA, as in Maine to Florida.

In other words, we're not disagreeing.