plus, keep in mind that the buoy is 20 or so miles off the coast: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44065
Generally speaking, how much swell is lost while traveling 20 miles to the coast. Say it's 8 feet at the buoy, How much has it degraded by the time it hits the coast?
well, this depends mostly on swell direction. if the swell is moving directly towards the coast, then the swell energy will not dissipate until it starts to feel the ocean bottom. if the swell is moving parallel with the coast, then the wave heights could be much bigger off the coastline. when you look at the buoy data, also look at the wave maps. This will give you a better overall picture of the current swell scenario.