whitecaps

This unfinished page contains text from either the 2003 or 2005 print version of Encyclopedia of Surfing. An updated version, with more photos, is coming soon.

Quickly dissipating whitewater fringe along the crest of open-ocean swells, created by a moderate to strong wind—the stronger the wind, the bigger and more powerful the whitecaps. A whitecapped ocean means the surf is compromised or ruined, unless the break is tucked in the wind-protected lee of a headland, point, cove, or breakwater. See also blown out, wind chop....

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