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

Todays trivia question: who is right?

--riverman

Depends if you're in the river or in the surf.

or Hawaii.

Geoff

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

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

"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

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

"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

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

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.

Best,

Chuck
http://www.wildcountry.info

"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