Re: [Paddlewise] Surfing in S. Cal. should be exciting...

From: Craig Jungers <crjungers_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:53:52 -0800
On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 1:51 PM, Mark Perkins <marker_at_gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 1:08 PM, Craig Jungers <crjungers_at_gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Can a 10-foot swell produce 20-foot surf?
>>
>
> Not sure if this was a serious question, but I'll take the bait.
>

Yup... it was serious.


>
> Short answer is "yes". It depends primarily on the period of the swell and
> also on the shape of the bottom converting the swell to surf. The longer the
> period the higher the surf height / swell height ratio.
>
> I believe that when Mavericks (sorry to stray from So Cal to Nor Cal for a
> moment) is going off, the surf height is often about double the swell
> height.
>
> Thanks Mark. I was pretty sure that the type of bottom made a big
difference but I had forgotten about the period. Not much surf here on Moses
Lake.... or in Puget Sound for that matter.


Craig
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Received on Thu Jan 21 2010 - 13:54:01 PST

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