http://www.stormsurf.com/cgi-bin/shiro.cgi?a=46012

I just noticed this Bill & while I'm sure the wave rider buoys are
totally accurate, if you study the page's info carefully you'll see that
even allowing for it being a "stood up ready to break in the surf"
height record/projection very few of the waves reach that total
cumulative (max) height.

It seems to be a problem most of the meteorology people are dealing
with, the facts vs the perceptions as regards wave heights.

A few years ago we had an off shore yacht race turn to putty when a
strong low came through, not totally unexpectedly, but still.....

From memory I think 6 people died, rescue helicopters claimed they had
troubles homing in on targets because so many epirbs had been activated
in such a small area (many were still beeping away a week later), did a
great job though & saved many. Because the boats were so far offshore
they couldn't carry enough fuel to get back to their bases, so were
landing in local parks, beaches anywhere they could unload rescued, get
fueled & go again. Great stuff now but at the time it was scary bananas
even just watching on the telly.

After it was all over as you can expect:-) people started casting
around for someone to blame but themselves & they decided the waves were
much bigger than our weather bureau had forecast. Despite all evidence
the yacht persons & the helo people all confirmed huge waves, the claims
were really over the top:-) The weather people could only say what the
facts were, the measured wind strength the fetch etc etc & say these
claims were just a perception because of the observers relative
positions, scared on distressed boats or in very low helos (also
probably scared;-)) trying to stay on station over a small boat in winds
gusting 70 knts.

What our bureau people do now is put a caveat on all wave material
saying the real wave height but pointing out that on occasions a larger
wind wave can combine with a larger swell in your particular location &
add up to 40% to the real wave height (the so called freak wave)

Not suggesting you should have gone out that day of course:-) but once
offshore away from the beach with it's shallow water, flow back currents
& bounced back wave energy, you probably would be surprised how
manageable the real swell & waves were for a small boat.

K