Howzit oneula, Brings back the memory of the 4 school teachers that were swept off the beach at big Pipe back in the early 70’s. Also remember the time some relatives of a foot ball pro bowler got swept out at pipe and after they were saved by some surfers the pro bowler said that football is nothing compared to surfing big waves.Aloha,Kokua
Quote:
I’m getting confused? Do we surf on the front or back of the wave?
Bobby Nishi used to surf both. Unreal.
Titus once told me to check out a spot on Kauai. He said it was going off and around 4 to 6 feet. That was the biggest 4 foot day I’ve ever surfed… triple-O set waves and a very unforgiving take-off spot. Some of the best waves of my life though.
The system for Hawaii is supposed to be as follows: If you are on a boat out in the ocean, and a wave lifts you 10 feet above mean sea level, then you just went over a ten foot wave. If that wave goes on to hit the North Shore on O’ahu, then the surfers say that they road a 10 foot wave.
The problem with this system is that it doesn’t take into account the period of the swell. A one foot high tidal wave will product a much taller wave than a ten foot windswell. A less extreme example is when long period waves come to California or Hawaii from storms generated off of NZ. A three foot swell with a 20 second interval will produce 1x to 2x overhead breaking waves. A three foot windswell with a 9 second interval will not even be worth checking.
Measuring waves from the back is fine if you are a ship a sea, but it meaningless for surfers on the shore.
In places where the surf stays consistent and large, a bigger unit of reference is required.
Sort of like we measure our feet(footsies) by inches but our houses by feet.
Increments of fear or the back of the wave provides a better grouping/handle on the whole deal
in consistently larger surf environments.
seriosly!..and thats all I have to say on the subject.
Isn’t this thread about measuring the size of the actual surf? Next time you are in the water try and actually measure a wave from the back. What you see is a slope of varying steepness moving away from you at a rate of knots with no reference point to get anything other than the most inaccurate guesstimate. Ditto for measuring swells at sea. Long period groundswells in open ocean (deep water) have most of the energy moving deep in the water column…they can be almost imperceptible and again with no reference points impossible to measure accurately.
The only way to measure surf is from crest to trough…whether you want to halve that size if you are in Hawaii or whatever there is no other way to accurately (or even as a guess) call a wave height. Steve
the size of feet
from smallest to largest
mouse
rat
cat
dog
horse
bound chinese
regular chinese
any kine asian I guess
haole feet[soft on the bottom hard onna top
Hawaiian feet
samoan feet
rhinocerous feet
elephant feet
relativity being whaditis
Tha thing about it
do you wanna not be scared out
under estimating the waves is a security blanket
whant ta make your self larger than life?
adjust the cameras angle.
tell the girls at mels
it was bigger than it really was.
wanna get paid more by a cash sponsor
pad your story,change the scale,
and have all tthe
pros back each other up.
wanna be humble
perhaps under estimate
or use the rhino foot scale
it is obvious to some
that when chasing rhino
you use the rhino scale.
unless you are chasing dogs cats and rats
and you are feeling a little small
da cat model was a respectable board
but perhaps that was why
dora said…
‘‘big waves hurt me’’
he wasn’t riding a kevlin woodie
he was riding a cat model.
whats this all haole’s stuff
some haole’s aint all haoles.
and spelling it right helps to get the meaning clear.
haoli means something else too
isnt there a la hanao that goes wid it?
did I spell it right
gotta get that dictionary
down off the shelf…
language in context is so natural.
west side waves roll
north shore waves rush the reef
east side comes from the bottom of the ocean
especially on kauai
south shore waaavvveeessss take their time.
…ambrose…
some people base
their self esteem
on their waveheight
estimates
some dont.
oh yeah by the way
surfers in hawaii are superior
live with it.
aint no paul bunyan surf stories.
Maui, Hawaiian superman.
mark foo was from florida?
duke kahanamoku was tall
strong and a fast swimmer
I wanna gorw up to be like duke
not tom cruise or sylvester stalone
I got nothing against mickey rooney
or frank sinatra but…
hawaiian surfers are superior
others change the rules
so junk waves count.
I surfed makaha twice
I thought it was like going to the sistine chapel
some people treat it like it was a carosel or a ferris wheel
bless their hearts
…ambrose…
in the real world different cultures use different rulers, you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
Hawaiian scale for Hawaiian waves.
Florida scale for Florida waves.
Australian scale for Australian waves.
California scale for California waves.
and so on and so on…
why is wave size such a big deal with people that are not from Hawaii?
why do people not from Hawaii want to change the way people do things in Hawaii?
why is it considered machismo when in reality it is down playing the size?
having lived in southern california for over 20 years i still can’t call an overhead wave six foot.
but when i go back to surf in Hawaii, chree feet is super fun and that same chree feet in california just dosen’t pack the same punch.
Quote:
i still can’t call an overhead wave six foot.
I guess it depends on how tall you are. I just got back surfing some overhead surf tis AM, trestles is real fun right now. Probably head down for another session later.
how big are the waves?
i’m at work so that makes one less in the crowd.
happy surfing!
Quote:
oh yeah by the way
surfers in hawaii are superior
hawaiian surfers are superior
Nonsense !
Quote:
others change the rules
so junk waves count.
…ambrose…
Everything counts Ambrose, even a ripple in a bathtub
All waves are made by god, and have an underlying perfection.
There’s no such thing as a junk wave
.
most kiwis i know use Hawaiian scale
its just better so you dont look like a total wuss
or get peoples hopes up when there still on there way
if i rock up to a break that is say just overhead barreling
and there a few guys out(my good mates expect a txt on the cell phone)
ill say “clean 2 ft”
clean being the word that is a hint that its good
but “2ft” its also a deterrent cuz the waves get crowded pretty quick when its “4ft and clean”
"2ft and clean " means “get out of bed and come and make your own call bitch”.
anyone that calls waves the size they actually are will prolly surf crowded waves alot
also if one day i do go to Hawaii
i wanna be prepared for the juice
hawaiian scale allows for power as well
so if 3 ft to 4 ft Hawaiian is my limit
then i know my limit
make your choices
live with your judgements.
then justify
your life forever.
every thing counts
even
the time
you spend
being
wrong.
i am wrong most of the time
just to mislead the experts
that may attempt to
sabbotage my genius.
18’ surf in lake champlain
death defying drops in Kayaks
better than hawaii
best kayakers in the world
wait for the river to go off.
who is tom bloke
roy stewart could kick his ass.
Quote:
here’s the classic hawaiian drowning scenerio it happens over and over again no matter how many signs and lifeguard stations we post.
a party of tourists standing too close to the ocean on a rock ledge or beach mesmerized by the beauty and not paying attention to watch happens when the sets roll in or how the current is moving because they don’t respect/understand the forces of nature. All of a sudden boom and you have a bunch of panicking tourist in the danger zone who will mostly likely drown or cause some brave soul trying to save them to drown…
A slightly off topic question for you oneula, or anyone from Hawaii. Being a gaurd myself I’m wondering if there is a large number of lifegaurds who drown trying to rescue these idiots who deserve what they get. We’re always suppose to put our life before the victims, but in the heat of the moment…?
no such thing as a junk wave?
I love junk waves
I live on the junk wave side of the island
we get more junk surf than the good guys
get on the good side of the island
thats why the good guys are blown out of the water by
yhe junk side kids.
krappy waves dominate
no such thing as a junk wave ?
lemme scratch my head over that one…
yep you are right again roy.
…ambrose…
your greatest fan
sorry mate, but that is total BS. Sure different cultures have different standards but I assure you a 3000m mountain in South America is the same height as a 3000m mountain in Switzerland. Of course a knee high windswell in the English channel is totally different to a long period groundswell breaking on the North Shore and there a thousand adjectives to describe the extra speed, power, thickness etc (my favourite courtesy of Owl Chapman is violent upheaval) that those waves have. But as far as measuring the height then it’s simple and it’s black and white.
Silly, Greenough calls waves by their face height (ie head high surf he calls 6 foot) and the guy surfs by himself everyday in one of the most crowded surf zones on earth. He surfs B grade spots at off peak times. He’ll tell anyone who listen he surfed 6 foot waves and it doesn’t make a jot of difference to how many people he surfs with.
Jeez, I can’t believe this old chestnut is still going around, but in the end it’s a pretty meaningless debate. surfs been flat the last couple of days after an EPIC June here with many OH and DOH days…I guess 2-tree feet brah if you Hawaiian or 8-10 foot if you are George Greenough. Steve
yes it is a meaningless debate.
my point is gage waves the way you want but don’t suggest a culture change for your preferences.
a lot of times, on these message boards Hawaiians get a bad rap for alot of their ways. we all just have to remember Hawaii hosts more traveling surfers than any where else in the world. and we just need to let da-bruddahs hang loose ladat.
I don’t describe waves using faeces or rubbish similes, if you want to then over to you. . . my point was that IMO you are incorrect in saying that “Hawaiian surfers” and "Surfers in Hawaii’ are superior to other surfers. . . … . such a statement reminds me of the worst kind of Americanism, and denies the strength of the life force in non Hawaiians . … perhaps it’s the 4th of july that’s bringing it on, but really Ambrose, you can do better !
Silly when people turn up at the break and nervously proclaim the waves to be two feet when it is double overhead plus it is they who look ridiculous IMO, as they are revealing their desire to fit in socially . … always a sign of weakness… . . I’m with George, say it the way it is.
.
.
Quote:
Knee High ,Waist High ,Chest high ,Sholder high ,Head high, Overhead.
That’s how they do it in Japan, but of course a chest high wave to them is a waist high wave to someone a foot taller. I pretty much use that system anyway when talking to friends but I don’t measure from the very bottom of the wave. I figure that if I drop into a wave and either angle down the line or do a bottom turn and come back up to a trim point of some kind, and the top of the wave is over my head, that’s an overhead wave: if you measured down to the bottom it might be 9’. If I can see over the back, it ain’t overhead even though it might be 6’ from top to bottom. I don’t spend a lot of time down there at the bottom so why even factor in that last few feet?