A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

As a matter of science, wave weight is defined as the average distance between the trough and the crest of all open- ocean waves that pass by a stationary point over a given period of time—one hour for many Internet reports, for example. Open-ocean wave height is a pri- mary indicator for surf size. Nearly as important is wave "period" or "interval," roughly defined as the average amount of time between successive waves. Given equal wave height, a longer period translates into bigger surf. For example, an incoming swell with eight-foot wave height and a 20-second period might produce 10- to 15-foot surf; while an eight foot 12 second swell, in contrast, might produce six-foot surf. There has traditionally been a gap between the actual trough-to-crest height of a breaking wave and the height as measured by surfers. In the early decades of the 20th century, surfers generally over- estimated wave height. Southern California surfer George "Peanuts" Larson caught and rode a wave at a break called Church in 1939 that he later claimed to be 30 or 40 feet. Given that Larson was riding a finless wooden surfboard, that a photograph of the second-biggest ridden wave of the period (also surfed by him) shows a swell measuring about 12 feet from trough to crest, and that nobody has ever seen or photographed a wave measuring more than 15 feet at Church, Larson's estimate—accepted as gospel by surfers in the '40s and '50s—can be taken as a magnificent exaggeration. Underestimating wave size got started in the late 1950s on the North Shore of Oahu, and the practice was widespread by the early '70s. While the degree of underestimation changes from area to area—in America, the differentiation is less on the East Coast, more pronounced on the West Coast, and greatest in Hawaii—surfers in general will judge a wave's size at about three-fifths of its true linear height. A wave measuring 10 foot from trough to crest, in other words, will be identified as six foot. Underestimating wave height may have originated from surfers trying to get a closer match between the breaking wave and its height as an open-ocean swell. Measuring from the back side of the wave, instead of the front (or "face"), so the old argument goes, gives a more accurate gauge of "real" wave height. Underestimation can also be viewed as a form of gamesmanship; the surfer offhandedly describing a 10-foot wave as six foot can look cool and superior. In what may be the sport's single most flagrantly underestimated wave, Hawaiian surfer Ken Bradshaw was towed in to a monster called Outside Log Cabins, on the North Shore of Oahu, that he at first labeled 35 feet. Video footage of the wave shows that it measured more than 60 feet from trough to crest. (For small- and medium-sized waves, surfers will often ignore numeric measurement altogether and instead use a body-height scale: waves are said to be waist-high, shoulder-high, or head-high, or double-overhead. Giant waves, as the old big-wave-riding adage goes, sidestepping the height issue entirely, are measured not in feet but in "increments of fear.") California surf journalist Sam George has long been the sport's most vocal proponent of accuracy in measurement. "A wave's height, like that of a palm tree or an NBA center, is quantifiable," he wrote in 1998, signing off with the hope that the surf world would begin to "tell it like it is." Big-wave riders themselves continued to undervalue wave size, but judging panels for big-surf photo contests that require contestants submit photographs of themselves riding giant waves, set about making precise trough-to-crest measurements in order to pick a winner. Carlos Burle of Brazil won the 2002 Nissan Xterra XXL Big Surf Awards for a wave measured at 68 foot. Surfers from past generations likely would have called Burle's wave 35 or 40 feet.

wave height and measurement

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