Head high: 6ft face 2-3ft hawaiian/saffa/aussie, 8ft American
Overhead: 8-9ft face, 4ft hawaiian/saffa/aussie, 10ft american.
Double Overhead. 12-14ft face, 6-7ft hawaiian/saffa/aussie, 18ft American.
Triple Overhead: 18-20ft faces, 9-10ft hawaiian/saffa/aussie, 25ft american.
Quadruple Overhead: 24ft-28ft faces, 12ft-14ft hawaiian/saffa/aussie. OMG LETS GET OUTTA HERE American.
BIG: Big hawaiian/saffa/aussie OMG IT’S THE APOCALYPSE!!! American.
See, that’s funny…
Because I see:
headhigh
headhigh
overhead
head and a half
head and a half
2-3Xoverhead
All within the “fun” range except the last one that looked pretty serious to me.
I’m not trying to get into a pissing match either. I’m far from a charger.
I was just wondering how other people call it to see if I was off.
And, I still don’t understand how a 2’ wave can be head high. Don’t they teach math and geometry in HI?
I recall my first trip to Oahu. No internet or 1-900surfline back then. I would listen to the morning surf report on FM radio. Got up the first morning, and heard “2-4 ft”. Went to Haleiwa and it was easily head high +. First time I’d been “mugged” by a 2’ wave in my life.
BTW, no offence to americans in the above post. Oh, and chrisp, if you call the one with UBUNTU on it head and a half, which was one of the pics in my semi-gun thread, then I’d like to see what you call triple over. Remember, the first half was pics of what I know for a fact I’ve been surfing, only in the second half of the pictures are what the board is supposed to be able to handle, since I cannot predict my progression, I want to rather be overgunned than undergunned for a year.
Oh, and if the last one is 2-3x overhead, how is it that the wave is like 8 times his hight? As far as I understood, double overhead was when the wave is more than twice the guys hight, and triple over was three times the guys hight and a bit, ect…
Iguess us “mainland” americans are pretty scared of those “big” waves ahahahaha- I thought Greg Long was from California?
Here is the trick, just the the face hight and half it, or divide in three if your in australia, who took it a bit further.
Where I’m from , this is called an overhead wave. Or, a solid 6’ plus.
Photo taken last Thursday, not far from where they held that contest in NY.
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BTW, no offence to americans in the above post.
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Don’t sweat it, I’m not butthurt. Just a friendly discussion =)…
I think that’s where we are lost in translation… I see DOH as 2 overhead waves stacked on top of eachother. 3xOH is 3 overhead waves stacked on top of eachother.
Oh wells, I guess there is no sure way to call wave height and have the next guy know how big it is. Too many variations…
Now I think I like Llilibel03 / Conan Hayes’ scale best…
I’d call that overhead Sammy…
As far as number of feet??? I’ll leave that alone.
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Where I'm from , this is called an overhead wave. Or, a solid 6' plus.
Photo taken last Thursday, not far from where they held that contest in NY.
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i'd call that 4 ft.
you also need to take into account that the wave face is sloped, so it looks taller than it is actually vertically high.
in the above x is sea level - you don't measure the trough! and the wave height is not the "peaking" height
each to their own though!
The angle that the photo is taken from also distorts the size. For sizing the waves based on the face it’s best to look at it from sea level.
Here in Hawaii, we’d call that solid 3’-4’. That’s the favorite wave size here where it’s overhead just enough to have a ton of fun. Yes here in Hawaii if someone says it was 2’ it can be head high. It is hard to figure out how people are sizing waves these days. Now I just say the wave faces were…
Saturday the waves were supposed to be 6’-8’ on the south shore, but there were some sets that came through with 12’-15’ faces. Not the norm, and not what we were catching, but they came through. The normal set was averaging about 8’-10’ max on the face.
The biggest surf I’ve ever been in was 10’, but back then 10’ meant 20’ faces. When you are on a wave with a 20’ foot face it doesn’t matter if it’s 15’ to 25’ it’s big. After 10’ I gave up on trying to figure out how big it is. Today at my age and the shape I’m in those size waves are usually too hard to catch, and getting caught inside is too much stress.
Does that mean we measure Chopes differently ? Coz theres a whole lot goin on below sea level ? Or consequently If we measure the back of the wave they were probly towin into 4footers ???
If you look at Chopes from sea level you’ll see how much it’s sucking out to get the actual top to bottom size. Looking from above distorts things.
I don’t know where you got that graphic from, but it is inaccurate. The trough of most waves is never below sea level.
Really???
I hope you can get this sorted because yesterday I had a 2ft. knee high wave(surf report) pick me and an 8’4" egg up and the fins were in the air for a second or so before we landed on a vertical drop.
When you are paddling out and see someone on a wave you get a really good idea of how big the wave is top to bottom if you know how tall the surfer on the wave is. You don’t have that perspective when you are on the wave or paddling over the wave without someone riding it.
I would measure what I see, not dissect it !!
But, with the technology that exists it would be interesting to compare Chopes with the same sized wave {technically} as anywhere else and see wot opinions were ?
True. According to a respected scientist who spent his whole life studying waves, the most accurate way to measure height with just the naked eye is as follows.
Calculate your eye level above sea level. When a wave crest is even with the horizon, the height is equal to your line of sight above sea level.
So, if you are standing four feet higher than the water line, your eyes are about nine feet above sea level. A wave that meets the horizon would be nine feet high.