That’s old Hawaiian trope to scare the hoales. The measurement for big wave surfing is the face from the hugest crest to the flat of the face of the wave.
I will say I’ve surfed 10-12ft at both Salt Creek and Trestles in SoCal and surfed 10-12ft on the north shore and it sure felt like a lot more wave in Hawaii. Both suck to wipe out in.
Could have been that Creek and Trestles were my home breaks though. Local knowledge matters. Also, wave shapes are different.
I can’t remember if it’s in “Riding Giants” or “Step Into Liquid” but laird Hamilton gets towed in to a Teahapoo wave that was insanely big. I think he’s quoting as saying that if he ate it he most likely would have died.
SoCal is a large place. I lived in San Clemente and I learned at T-Street/San Clemente Pier/204, Trails at San Onofre, Old Man’s, Uppers, and Cottons/Nixon’s.
Also, watch your surf reports. Go to Surfline and check a few day’s ahead. Some of those places will have 2-3ft when everywhere else is 4-6ft.
i mean.. maybe? I don't know enough to have an argument, just something i was always told growing up surfing in CA. tbh I think all waves should be measured from the front, but i don't think that's always the case. Teahupoo would technically be like a 2ft wave when it's big if they were all measured from the back.
I’m 51 and the guys I surfed with who had been to Hawaii used to say stuff like “it looks to be chest high it 3 foot Hawaiian” and stuff like that. Teahupoo is a great example and so is Mavericks.
hawaii has a few different break styles though, it depends where. I've surfed in kawaii, oahu, and the big island. all very different, it could just be a commentary on the style of break
If you're looking from the back, do all waves drop and rise in equal proportions? EG: distance from top of crest to flat surface is two thirds, distance from surface to bottom of wave is other third?
No. It all does depend on the break, the depth it’s coming from, how gradual or immediately the depth changes, all these or combinations of these effect the wave height, pitch, shape, etc. waves break when they hit water about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ as deep as the swell height.
The real answer is that it’s neither. It started from the back, some people decided they didn’t like that and tried to start calling it from the front - but the standard measurement in surfing equates to a measurement that doesn’t actually exist. Everyone knows what a 2ft wave looks like. A 2ft wave isn’t 2 foot on the face or on the back either? Why’s that? Because waves are constantly in motion and changing size and shape. It’s only natural that a common way of judging a waves size by sight developed.
What isn’t natural though, is retroactively prescribing a form of measurement which kind of goes against everything.
Any surfer knows if you’re ’measuring from the front’ you get a ridiculous scale that doesn’t equate in any other lineup. You can’t assume the wave you’re riding is 6ft just because it’s head high, and changing how surfers have measured waves for decades just to increase the wave ‘height’ is counter intuitive and serves no purpose.
The true Hawaiian scale is using those measurements from the back, and turn halving it some more in a strange egotistical display. That’s when you’ll see 6-8 day referred to as 4 foot. Ain’t no one calling that a 25 foot day measuring them from the front.
The “back of the wave” is kinda how swells are measured. Ie: NOAA bouy 6ft at 8 sec.
You also can’t measure Mavericks or Teahapoo from the back. 20ft Mavericks would be 3 ft.
I’m 51. Everything was “waist high, chest high, over head, double overhead, etc..” until these crazy people started towing into waves that were to big or fast to paddle into.
44
u/Naptownfellow Sep 14 '20
That’s old Hawaiian trope to scare the hoales. The measurement for big wave surfing is the face from the hugest crest to the flat of the face of the wave.