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A wave by any other size....
riverman wrote: Todays trivia question: who is right? --riverman The one who asks for a clear definition before he/she tries to tackle that wave... grin Ed |
A wave by any other size....
Todays trivia question: who is right?
--riverman Depends if you're in the river or in the surf. or Hawaii. Geoff |
A wave by any other size....
riverman wrote:
Todays trivia question: who is right? --riverman Agreed! I always have to remember to double the surf forecast (and then decrease a bit for inaccuracy) before trying to get other boaters to go surfing :-) JIM |
A wave by any other size....
riverman wrote: I always enjoyed the discrepancy between sizing ocean waves and sizing river waves. Ocean waves are assumed (fairly correctly) to be centered on the local sea level, with a trough in front and a peak between the troughs. In a 4-foot ocean wave, there is a 4 foot deep trough in front, and a 4 foot high peak on the wave, leaving an 8 foot wave face. This is not the way they're forecast by NOAA. A 4' sea is 4' from trough to peak. Either that, or their forecasts are wildly inflated. -- Regards Brian |
A wave by any other size....
"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message ... riverman wrote: I always enjoyed the discrepancy between sizing ocean waves and sizing river waves. Ocean waves are assumed (fairly correctly) to be centered on the local sea level, with a trough in front and a peak between the troughs. In a 4-foot ocean wave, there is a 4 foot deep trough in front, and a 4 foot high peak on the wave, leaving an 8 foot wave face. This is not the way they're forecast by NOAA. A 4' sea is 4' from trough to peak. Either that, or their forecasts are wildly inflated. No, you're right. NOAA uses the same standard as river runners: trough to peak. But surfers (specifically Hawaiin surfers) have their own formula, and since a lot of the surfer terminology follows the fad, surfers worldwide tend to follow the Hawaiian model. Which leads to a lot of non-surfers also following the model, which leads to the confusion. Check out http://surfing.about.com/library/weekly/aa042001.htm --riverman |
A wave by any other size....
riverman wrote: No, you're right. NOAA uses the same standard as river runners: trough to peak. But surfers (specifically Hawaiin surfers) have their own formula, and since a lot of the surfer terminology follows the fad, surfers worldwide tend to follow the Hawaiian model. Which leads to a lot of non-surfers also following the model, which leads to the confusion. Check out http://surfing.about.com/library/weekly/aa042001.htm Ah, that explains it, but that sure is a screwy way of measuring waves. As for East Coasters doubling the wave height...it's BS. -- Regards Brian |
A wave by any other size....
"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message ... riverman wrote: No, you're right. NOAA uses the same standard as river runners: trough to peak. But surfers (specifically Hawaiin surfers) have their own formula, and since a lot of the surfer terminology follows the fad, surfers worldwide tend to follow the Hawaiian model. Which leads to a lot of non-surfers also following the model, which leads to the confusion. Check out http://surfing.about.com/library/weekly/aa042001.htm Ah, that explains it, but that sure is a screwy way of measuring waves. As for East Coasters doubling the wave height...it's BS. I can't generalize for ALL east coasters, but it was on the right coast where I first encountered this. Some fishermen were on a raft trip, and estimated what I called a 6 foot wave as being a '3 foot wave'. I figured they just had poor spatial sense, but they explained that other fishermen also rated the sea swells from midline to peak. I've watched this happen all over, but never knew where it originated. --riverman |
A wave by any other size....
Maybe it's just an effort to keep up with the wave heights we experience on
the West Coast. "Mine's twice as big as yours!" John Adams "Brian Nystrom" wrote in message ... riverman wrote: No, you're right. NOAA uses the same standard as river runners: trough to peak. But surfers (specifically Hawaiin surfers) have their own formula, and since a lot of the surfer terminology follows the fad, surfers worldwide tend to follow the Hawaiian model. Which leads to a lot of non-surfers also following the model, which leads to the confusion. Check out http://surfing.about.com/library/weekly/aa042001.htm Ah, that explains it, but that sure is a screwy way of measuring waves. As for East Coasters doubling the wave height...it's BS. -- Regards Brian |
A wave by any other size....
"Charles Pezeshki" wrote in message ... in article , Brian Nystrom at wrote on 9/18/03 3:43 AM: Ah, that explains it, but that sure is a screwy way of measuring waves. As for East Coasters doubling the wave height...it's BS. -- Regards Brian Hi Folks, Actually, mathematically, that makes more sense than measuring trough-to-crest. If one considers waves modeled by a sine wave, the mean height measurement would be called the amplitude. Which always gives me trouble, because as a boatman, I instinctively think of wave amplitude as trough to crest, and I have to change my mindset. Likewise, some guy who builds a dock on the shore that sits 5 feet above sealevel would have a hard time being convinced that a 5-foot wave would only come halfway up. He'd think that a 5-foot wave would hit the dock. --riverman |
A wave by any other size....
In article , "riverman"
writes: I can't generalize for ALL east coasters, but it was on the right coast where I first encountered this. Some fishermen were on a raft trip, and estimated what I called a 6 foot wave as being a '3 foot wave'. I figured they just had poor spatial sense, but they explained that other fishermen also rated the sea swells from midline to peak. I've watched this happen all over, but never knew where it originated. --riverman Myron - Been gone for a bit. Did Life in the Congo (Part IV or V) ever get posted? At one point it was hours away from being on the net. Blakely LaCroix Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. RBP Clique member # 86. The best adventure is yet to come. |
A wave by any other size....
"Blakely LaCroix" wrote in message ... In article , "riverman" writes: I can't generalize for ALL east coasters, but it was on the right coast where I first encountered this. Some fishermen were on a raft trip, and estimated what I called a 6 foot wave as being a '3 foot wave'. I figured they just had poor spatial sense, but they explained that other fishermen also rated the sea swells from midline to peak. I've watched this happen all over, but never knew where it originated. --riverman Myron - Been gone for a bit. Did Life in the Congo (Part IV or V) ever get posted? At one point it was hours away from being on the net. Hey railtramp: Good job keeping track of the episodes! Its actually is Part V, and I've been accidentally mis-labeling it because I posted Part IV right off the screen the night of the mugging and forgot to save a copy to my HD and my own files are therefore incomplete. But Part V is almost ready and will be posted Monday. Its about my first road-trip to the interior that took place last year, and I'm contrasting it to the same road trip I took 2 weeks ago. "Hours away"....grin. Manana, mon... --riverman |
A wave by any other size....
"riverman" wrote in message ...
"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message ... riverman wrote: No, you're right. NOAA uses the same standard as river runners: trough to peak. But surfers (specifically Hawaiin surfers) have their own formula, and since a lot of the surfer terminology follows the fad, surfers worldwide tend to follow the Hawaiian model. Which leads to a lot of non-surfers also following the model, which leads to the confusion. Check out http://surfing.about.com/library/weekly/aa042001.htm Ah, that explains it, but that sure is a screwy way of measuring waves. As for East Coasters doubling the wave height...it's BS. I can't generalize for ALL east coasters, but it was on the right coast where I first encountered this. Some fishermen were on a raft trip, and estimated what I called a 6 foot wave as being a '3 foot wave'. I figured they just had poor spatial sense, but they explained that other fishermen also rated the sea swells from midline to peak. I've watched this happen all over, but never knew where it originated. --riverman This one got my attention. I called Environment Canada and the weather folks. They finally replied. Sea State Forecasts for wave height are trough to peak. It is the whole range that hurts ships. I was fairly sure that is how it was done but the posting had me think again. Now looking over my shoulder and up at a four foot wave that is about to clean the water bottle and flashlight of my front deck as it crashes over my head that thing seemed to be 8 feet , but it was only four, Perhaps that is where the confusion is. I will forward the email from Environment Canada if anyone wants it. |
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