Okay, I admit it. I don't know how to measure a wave. Is the "height" of a wave the vertical distance from the bottom of the trough to the top of the crest? Or is it from the mean? Or what? What's the real technical answer? For what it's worth, I've paddled some humoungous waves in the Baja that were the <length> of two or three kayaks from the crest to the trough, and the guy paddling with me could have been in Nova Scotia for all we could see of each other. But those were just big rolling hills --- no problem whatsoever, as long as they weren't breaking at the top! They were a kick! Those swells could have been eight or nine feet in vertical measurement --- or maybe more --- but at least 80 feet crest to crest. (And that's with a fudge factor of 1.0! Honest.) I've also paddled in some classic "two foot" clapotis, 50 feet off the seawall at the Naval Academy in Annapolis on a powerboat-churned summer afternoon and didn't know if I was going to survive! So what's the official way of measuring stuff like this? (And does it really matter?) Jack *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Aug 27 1998 - 07:58:08 PDT
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