Where did you surf today ?

[el rancho]

We used to put lead in our petrol, use the British pound and sing God save the Queen every day in school too. Life goes on guys.

[Biggun]

saturday am - right hand reef and beachie, south facing...nice steep take off, some big walls to carve before working it through to the inside where it got more hollow...clean, light offshore, very consistent. 0 other surfers out....somewhere on the east coast
ditto for the lago, albeit smaller, and pure 3ft joy this morning, peaky, hollow...1 lad from bondi joined in for 15 minutes before deciding that paddling and duckdiving was ruining his hair-do

[Beanpole]

We used to put lead in our petrol, use the British pound and sing God save the Queen every day in school too. Life goes on guys.

......and have job security, affordable housing, stable relationships, no drug problems, government building infrastructure, etc.

[Beanpole]

I agree completely cranky.
By that standard it's rarely over 1ft.
Occasionally 2.

[The Mighty Sunbird]

No drug problems wtf

[Hatchnam]

Same reef. About a foot smaller but breaking much better with the swell flush out of the south. Tasty bowly headhigh racetracks

[offshore1]

Just got back from Jobos. It's big.
I'm not beaking mucus out of my anus when I cite the numbers, I'm repeating buoy readings .
You know we're talking feet here, not metres.
Wave period has a hell ofalot to do with the final breaking condition too, as does bathymetry.

Don't think I'm going to forget this at next year's TOTY comp.

[chrisb]

Looking forward to seeing your surf photos Offy. I'm surprised that Puerto Rico is crowded.

So the intelligent consensus is that wave height is measured against the wave face (after all this is where you have to take the drop) relative to erect body height ie. waist high, shoulder high, head high, 1.5 times overhead etc. Theres no issue translating that into feet if you want to assuming that the average persons height is 5-6 feet. You know it makes sense.

[Cranked]

Yeah chrisb, but you know that to use feet in that bizaro way is a badge of honor among the real core, that it identifies the real surfers from us mere wanna be's, it shows how incontestably macho you are when you can dismiss a frightening 20' monster day as, "oh about 3', maybe 4' on the sets I reckon"

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[Cranked]

At my local beaches, everyone I know uses the iggy scale.

So on around 350 days a year all the guys at your local would be discussing wave heights of either 0 or 1', unless you decided to use inches. On one or two days it might be 3'

Its just not a very useful scale for most days in Oz, every discussion of wave size ends up reverting to body parts when you need to know what they really mean.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[shaunmorrison]

Surfed my favourite point in Vicco somewhere, head height, glassy,alone. Just enough waves for one person with lulls between sets long enough for quality meditation and self reflection, had six waves before the sea breeze kicked.

[Cranked]

As for as surf size predictions, I no longer even look at or consider wave height any more, I find wave energy in kJs way more useful as to what I'm going to be surfing.

400kJ - just surfable, bring a mal
1000kJ - surfable, use your groveler if you have one
2000kJ - good sets
2500kJ - really good solid sets, start to get wary of the once in an hour sets
3000kJ - my limit, nervous about sets and a sudden increase in size
4000kJ - I don't go out,
6000kJ - notable swell in Indo, good day for pics, only 10 to 20 out at Ulus, Padang Padang packed
7000kJ - notable swell in Indo, lots of swell chasers from around the world, exceptional day for pics, probably only 10 out at Ulus. very few waves will be caught, Padang Padang packed, only a few in the water want the set waves

[offshore1]

Don't you knuckleheads have sea buoys. You know, that measure swell height, period and direction? Or are you still stuck trying to figure out how to operate the Hills Hoist in the back yard?

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[shaunmorrison]

As for as surf size predictions, I no longer even look at or consider wave height any more, I find wave energy in kJs way more useful as to what I'm going to be surfing.

400kJ - just surfable, bring a mal
1000kJ - surfable, use your groveler if you have one
2000kJ - good sets
2500kJ - really good solid sets, start to get wary of the once in an hour sets
3000kJ - my limit, nervous about sets and a sudden increase in size
4000kJ - I don't go out,
6000kJ - notable swell in Indo, good day for pics, only 10 to 20 out at Ulus, Padang Padang packed
7000kJ - notable swell in Indo, lots of swell chasers from around the world, exceptional day for pics, probably only 10 out at Ulus. very few waves will be caught, Padang Padang packed, only a few in the water want the set waves

That's what what I go by.

[Trev]

Don't you knuckleheads have sea buoys. You know, that measure swell height, period and direction? Or are you still stuck trying to figure out how to operate the Hills Hoist in the back yard?

http://www.coastwatch.com.au/SurfBeach/ ... hHome-346/

But........... we're not talking about swell height here. The guys want to measure the waves they're on.