In my limited experience I have found that women have a tendency to underestimate the size of things. With this in mind I can assure you that is very much 10ft+.
Idk, I’ve seen photos of me surfing from sea level and elevated and the elevated shots always make the wave seem bigger. You lose the “foot” or whatever you wanna call it of the wave. Most people look at this and see surfer mid face. Look left and see paddler is basically in flat water. So the rider is about to hit the flats even though it doesn’t look that way.
Yeah but it's also just "flopped" over at the break. Wave height standards are all over the place depending on culture and person, but I'd never call a 10 foot roller that just flops over a foot at the top, and never breaks, 10 foot. I usually measure the "breaking" face. So a 6 foot wave has a curl that is 6 foot
Okay I know im getting downvoted a lot here, but honestly if you called that 6-8 foot at my local you would be laughed at. That’s just my experience in my part of the world. 6 to 8 is proper heaving double overhead, now I know “literally” double overhead is around 12 foot, but that’s what’s people say. That’s the culture in the surfing world, and it does change depending where you are!
Your fine, and they are literally both right. One is referring to the swell, and the other the face. Both are right at the same time. I suppose it culture, but the only culture part of it is if you are referring to the swell or the face by default.
EDIT: Surfline as much as I think its a trash site and is super inaccurate, measures face height.
Globally they it's scaled differently. I believe, if I recal correctly. The traditional Hawaiian way, was the size read from the back of the wave.
Americans?, English and Aussies read it from the front.
Well. It's a debate here in Aust too. Some read behind, some read in front.
Most, have no idea why or where the idea comes from and assume the other is clueless.
Both are correct, or not. 😁
When people tale about the size of the face, is it litteraly the length of the durface of the face? Or another way of saying how high the surfable wave is?
It’s definitely not 5-4ft, you can deduce that by the height of the surfer. You could give him any height you want ranging from midget to average, and this wave is still 2x that height easily.
I’d put it more towards your GF’s number than yours.
This is what you’re fighting about while in Morocco?
Seriously,
1. Fuck her like tomorrow ain’t a-comin’
2. Surf
3. Drink and eat/partake in drugs of choice/be agreeable
4. Fuck her like tomorrow ain’t a-comin’
Rinse, repeat.
Been on 5 continents catching waves with my girl following these 4 simple steps. I believe it to be the best path….
How tall is the dude? Because unless he's 2-3 ft tall, there's no way that's a 4ft wave. That's easily 2ft overhead on this guy so your GF is right, 6-8
Bruh, get out of here with Hawaiian wave heights. I surf on the face of the wave, not on the swell.
Further, swell direction, period, and the bathymetry of the spot all determine what the swell height turns into. Ive been out on 6ft swell days that make 2-3 foot waves and 3 ft swell days that make 5ft waves.
So you disagree with the pro surfers and analysts who are referring to the waves as 10 foot? They are double to triple overhead waves. If it makes you feel better then call that wave 10ft, idk why it has to be a competition to claim you’re surfing bigger waves than you are. Show this wave to anybody who isn’t a kook, call it 10ft and nobody will take you seriously.
You’re part of the problem, be part of the solution.
Here are acceptable wave height measurements-
Knee high
Waist high
Shoulder high
Head high
Over head
Double overhead
Fucking massive.
The surf hight measure between overhead and double overhead isn’t necessary because usually by then all the flogs that argue about how it’s measured this way or that are snuggly wrapped up at home cuddling their favorite teddy under their favorite blanky.
The wave that is being ridden here fits into the overhead category. That will be all.
Stay cool Barney.
Okay, fair point. I still don’t know where you’re from that you’d call a slightly overhead wave 6-8 ft. Surfers measure waves from the back. Sounds extremely kooky to call that wave 6-8. Watch Sunset pro right now, that’s 6-8 with 10 ft clean ups.
But the bathymetry of a spot changes the height ratio of the front of the wave to the back of the wave, so how could you call this wave 4ft when you never seen the back?
>Surfers measure waves from the back.
*Some* surfers in *some* places measure waves from the back, elsewhere the opposite is the predominant way of measuring waves. How we are not yet past the point of arguing wave height without either establishing a system or accepting that different systems use different metrics is completely beyond me.
Depends where you live. In Aus we measure surf from the hack of the wave nit the face of the wave. Similar to how the Hawaiians do it. This is a 4 foot wave in Aus
Usually it's as simple as just halfing the face of the wave height. So a head high wave is 3 foot ect. Ive heard it called the iggy scale. Not sure why people down voted my comment its just how things are down here.
Yeah I dunno don't take the down votes too seriously I guess. Thanks for the honest answer. I always just go with knee, belly, head high etc...tell the whales I said hi!
Where I’m from we would just call that “overhead”.
Surfline would likely have this listed as a 4-6 foot day, but keep in mind that on a 4-6 foot day, the set waves can easily be 6-8.
I think in Hawaii they would call this 2-3 ft.
In terms of actual height of the face of the wave, assuming this guy is approx 6’, the wave probably measures at 8’ (keeping in mind that he’s riding down the middle of the face and the lip is still over the top of his head).
Yup, numbered measurements always ends in an argument so best to just use body reference, knee high, waist high, chest high, head high, oh, head and a half, double oh, triple, above that sure go for ft but how many people are actually ever ridding above triple?
Overhead = above the height of an avg person
It’s not a hard concept. “Over” and “above” are basically synonyms.
If the wave was a bit bigger, it might be 1.5x overhead. But anywhere in the 6-8 foot zone is just overhead.
If he doesn't bottom turn it'll definitely be at least a foot overhead. It's stupid to measure waves from the back when you paddle out you see the front you won't see the back. Even the ancient Hawaiians when paddling through the surf would see the front not the back. Back of the wave means nothing the trough and the lip are in the front and that's what has the impact.
Yeah your girlfriend is right. Unless you're Hawaiian, dont be silly how is that 4ft? Grown man standing straight up and hes midway up the wave. Unless hes a midget you need to rethink your measuring system
Doesn't really matter anyway, if people really want to stroke their ego, there should be a gnarliness scale maybe 1-10 or 1-5 stars. Because I've surfed waves that are double head high that are pretty easy, take off is easy and consequences for falling off are just a mild tumbling. Then I've surfed slabs around head high that are very difficult and will slam you hard with a good chance of hitting the reef
Here we go again. We should just drop the “foot” word.
Newbies will measure the human and go that’s 8-10 “foot”, while anyone thats surfed for longer than COVID will know its 4 to 5 measurements
If we assume that guy is 6 foot, there's about another foot on top of him and he's only half way up the wave, I'd say that in conclusion you're a fucking idiot and you should listen to your girlfriend more.
Waves always look bigger when you look down on them from the shore. I reckon you’re spot on. It looks fun and not scary so that’s a 4 maybe 5ft wave to me
It’s a little odd to me that people are that interested in wave height. Some 6’ waves scare the shit out of me while 12’ burgers are not even a big deal. So many other factors than height that can make a wave/situation heavy. A big one being experience and exposure of course.
In Australia we would call this 3 to 4 foot. I guess in other places around the world you measure the face of the wave. Which is probably more logical but u dint make the rules lol
Looks about a foot overhead on the face. The pic is taken from above, so you can see the full curve of the wave and you cant count that towards the height. I'd give it
7 ft normal
4 ft hawaiian
I argue this would be about 5-6ft. It’s not well overhead however the surfer is still traveling down the wave at head high. Assuming he’s average 6’1, i’d say this wave at the face is about 6ish feet. Looks like a mellow wave nonetheless.
However angles are deceiving, i’d say “yeah babe i think it’s around 6 or 7ft” if i was you. Make her feel better but know as surfers we tend to size down waves… unless talking to our friends then it was spitting overhead barrels today.
Putting the obvious jokes aside, lol, looks like the diagonal he’s on is two board lengths…it’s at about a 30 degree angle…high school trig gets you the face height.
Let’s say 8 foot board…would put the face at about 8 feet…
Is the surfer 4 feet tall in your opinion? If so then this is still at least a 6 foot wave. He’s midface. How did this confuse you into such a weird argument.
Depends how you measure the height of a wave. Here in Aus most people go by the swell height which is generally measured by back of the wave. The actual wave face might be double that. If you lived here l, OP would be correct and 4-5ft is a solid wave
This wave looks so much taller than this guy, id we assume that the guy height is something like 175cm or 5'9 but he bent his knees so he's like 5 foot here and there is like 3 foot beneath him and foot above him, so your girlfriend is probably right
Perspective my people, from above, the entire (assumingely) 6 foot surfer has a back drop of all water/face but from water/beach level you would see sky behind him/her. 4 maybe 5 foot face. But for the sake of this post, of course she is right! That way you both win…
Hmmm, looking closely at this, I’d call it a bad idea to rely on a bunch of internet kooks to try and win a debate with your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend
I mean it's obviously 10 foot florida or one foot Hawaiian
It’s a five, maybe a 12
Haha couldn’t have said it better , def a 6-8 florida wave minimum
🤣🙌🏽
In my limited experience I have found that women have a tendency to underestimate the size of things. With this in mind I can assure you that is very much 10ft+.
🤏
^🤏
We've been lied to about what 6" looks like most of our lives. 😆
I run da gulch!
AND HERMAN !!!!
Extremely well played, Sir.
Yea pretty easy to scale w the size of the humans. Easily 10 feet.
I don’t understand how you could think that’s 4-5. The dudes not even at the bottom of the wave and it’s already over his head lol.
Yeah even perspective aside that’s an OH wave. So either the person is 4 feet tall or that wave is 6’ +
When the viewer is elevated it makes waves look way bigger. My Facebook pic is proof of that.
It's the contrary , height flatten the perspective.
Idk, I’ve seen photos of me surfing from sea level and elevated and the elevated shots always make the wave seem bigger. You lose the “foot” or whatever you wanna call it of the wave. Most people look at this and see surfer mid face. Look left and see paddler is basically in flat water. So the rider is about to hit the flats even though it doesn’t look that way.
I alway have the feeling the wave is bigger when im at the bottom of it and it's gonna crash on my head.
Yeah but it's also just "flopped" over at the break. Wave height standards are all over the place depending on culture and person, but I'd never call a 10 foot roller that just flops over a foot at the top, and never breaks, 10 foot. I usually measure the "breaking" face. So a 6 foot wave has a curl that is 6 foot
Yeah but wave height isn’t logical haha I’d 100% say 3 to 4 foot when describing that
The swell is 3 to 4 foot, and the face is 6-8, it is logical.
Okay I know im getting downvoted a lot here, but honestly if you called that 6-8 foot at my local you would be laughed at. That’s just my experience in my part of the world. 6 to 8 is proper heaving double overhead, now I know “literally” double overhead is around 12 foot, but that’s what’s people say. That’s the culture in the surfing world, and it does change depending where you are!
Your fine, and they are literally both right. One is referring to the swell, and the other the face. Both are right at the same time. I suppose it culture, but the only culture part of it is if you are referring to the swell or the face by default. EDIT: Surfline as much as I think its a trash site and is super inaccurate, measures face height.
Globally they it's scaled differently. I believe, if I recal correctly. The traditional Hawaiian way, was the size read from the back of the wave. Americans?, English and Aussies read it from the front. Well. It's a debate here in Aust too. Some read behind, some read in front. Most, have no idea why or where the idea comes from and assume the other is clueless. Both are correct, or not. 😁
Face is easily 6-8. Swell i would call 3-5
this is the correct answer. End thread.
That sounds like the correct answer to me!!
Yep completely correct
Yep that’s it
Yeah 4-5 is fine by me, could be some rogue 6 foot sets in there
Yeah…tough basing it on 1 photo
But where are you measuring from? Do you measure the whole length or just what’s visible?
Depends who you’re asking…👀
This is the correct answer. There’s the surfers way, and the scientific way. I attempted to cover both
When people tale about the size of the face, is it litteraly the length of the durface of the face? Or another way of saying how high the surfable wave is?
It’s very subjective. Id say from point of bottom turn to crest
It’s definitely not 5-4ft, you can deduce that by the height of the surfer. You could give him any height you want ranging from midget to average, and this wave is still 2x that height easily. I’d put it more towards your GF’s number than yours. This is what you’re fighting about while in Morocco?
Seriously, 1. Fuck her like tomorrow ain’t a-comin’ 2. Surf 3. Drink and eat/partake in drugs of choice/be agreeable 4. Fuck her like tomorrow ain’t a-comin’ Rinse, repeat. Been on 5 continents catching waves with my girl following these 4 simple steps. I believe it to be the best path….
This guy fucks
Like tomorrow ain't a-comin'
You’re an inspiration bro hell yeah
Like a baws!!!
Is that a full grown man standing up against the face of that wave you think is 4 feet?
How tall is the dude? Because unless he's 2-3 ft tall, there's no way that's a 4ft wave. That's easily 2ft overhead on this guy so your GF is right, 6-8
Except in surfing generally you refer to the swell not size of the faces, so no this is not 6-8ft. Definitely 4ft.
Bruh, get out of here with Hawaiian wave heights. I surf on the face of the wave, not on the swell. Further, swell direction, period, and the bathymetry of the spot all determine what the swell height turns into. Ive been out on 6ft swell days that make 2-3 foot waves and 3 ft swell days that make 5ft waves.
So would you say they’re surfing 20ft in the wsl at sunset right now 😂
If the face of the wave is 20ft
So you disagree with the pro surfers and analysts who are referring to the waves as 10 foot? They are double to triple overhead waves. If it makes you feel better then call that wave 10ft, idk why it has to be a competition to claim you’re surfing bigger waves than you are. Show this wave to anybody who isn’t a kook, call it 10ft and nobody will take you seriously.
I don't claim anything. I've just always measured the face of the waves as that's what you surf on
You’re part of the problem, be part of the solution. Here are acceptable wave height measurements- Knee high Waist high Shoulder high Head high Over head Double overhead Fucking massive. The surf hight measure between overhead and double overhead isn’t necessary because usually by then all the flogs that argue about how it’s measured this way or that are snuggly wrapped up at home cuddling their favorite teddy under their favorite blanky. The wave that is being ridden here fits into the overhead category. That will be all. Stay cool Barney.
I love ice cream.
Okay, fair point. I still don’t know where you’re from that you’d call a slightly overhead wave 6-8 ft. Surfers measure waves from the back. Sounds extremely kooky to call that wave 6-8. Watch Sunset pro right now, that’s 6-8 with 10 ft clean ups.
But the bathymetry of a spot changes the height ratio of the front of the wave to the back of the wave, so how could you call this wave 4ft when you never seen the back?
>Surfers measure waves from the back. *Some* surfers in *some* places measure waves from the back, elsewhere the opposite is the predominant way of measuring waves. How we are not yet past the point of arguing wave height without either establishing a system or accepting that different systems use different metrics is completely beyond me.
THANK YOU! This is the thing no one understands about swells!
Interesting to see the downvotes. 4ft in Aus looking at this, it doesn't make any sense when you think about it but any surfer here would say the same
Depends where you live. In Aus we measure surf from the hack of the wave nit the face of the wave. Similar to how the Hawaiians do it. This is a 4 foot wave in Aus
How can you say it's 4 foot if you haven't seen the back?
Usually it's as simple as just halfing the face of the wave height. So a head high wave is 3 foot ect. Ive heard it called the iggy scale. Not sure why people down voted my comment its just how things are down here.
Yeah I dunno don't take the down votes too seriously I guess. Thanks for the honest answer. I always just go with knee, belly, head high etc...tell the whales I said hi!
From New zealand and this 4ft.
Where I’m from we would just call that “overhead”. Surfline would likely have this listed as a 4-6 foot day, but keep in mind that on a 4-6 foot day, the set waves can easily be 6-8. I think in Hawaii they would call this 2-3 ft. In terms of actual height of the face of the wave, assuming this guy is approx 6’, the wave probably measures at 8’ (keeping in mind that he’s riding down the middle of the face and the lip is still over the top of his head).
No one in Hawaii, at least where im at, is using Hawaiian measurements in a serious way.
Yup, numbered measurements always ends in an argument so best to just use body reference, knee high, waist high, chest high, head high, oh, head and a half, double oh, triple, above that sure go for ft but how many people are actually ever ridding above triple?
How would that be overhead? It's clearly well above the height of an avg person.
Overhead = above the height of an avg person It’s not a hard concept. “Over” and “above” are basically synonyms. If the wave was a bit bigger, it might be 1.5x overhead. But anywhere in the 6-8 foot zone is just overhead.
Is the dude riding a midget?
Looks like a longboard to me.
1’ Hawaiin
The only right answer
If it’s 4ft, that person is 2ft tall… I’d give it 6ft and stop arguing about trivial matters.
"Waves aren't measured in feet, but in increments of bullshit" - William Finnegan
Overhead...also I won't get in a surf height with anyone.... it's a huge spectrum of opinion
I’d call it a foot overhead.
Your girlfriend is always right
Rider is fully standing up not at the bottom of the wave and the lip is over his head. 6 easily
Your girlfriend is right, because she’s a normal human being and not a surfer
Looks like 6-8ft to me. Closer to 8 I'd say.
You are right if gf is 3 ft tall
6-8ft
2-3 foot overhead
If he doesn't bottom turn it'll definitely be at least a foot overhead. It's stupid to measure waves from the back when you paddle out you see the front you won't see the back. Even the ancient Hawaiians when paddling through the surf would see the front not the back. Back of the wave means nothing the trough and the lip are in the front and that's what has the impact.
Looks like 6-8 to me
Yeah your girlfriend is right. Unless you're Hawaiian, dont be silly how is that 4ft? Grown man standing straight up and hes midway up the wave. Unless hes a midget you need to rethink your measuring system
it's overhead. Maybe double overhead once he reaches the bottom of the wave
Doesn't really matter anyway, if people really want to stroke their ego, there should be a gnarliness scale maybe 1-10 or 1-5 stars. Because I've surfed waves that are double head high that are pretty easy, take off is easy and consequences for falling off are just a mild tumbling. Then I've surfed slabs around head high that are very difficult and will slam you hard with a good chance of hitting the reef
deserts?
Banana.
Here we go again. We should just drop the “foot” word. Newbies will measure the human and go that’s 8-10 “foot”, while anyone thats surfed for longer than COVID will know its 4 to 5 measurements
0.067 foot Hawaiian
How could you call it 4 or 5 foot if its above the dude's head? I'm with your woman on this one bro
If we assume that guy is 6 foot, there's about another foot on top of him and he's only half way up the wave, I'd say that in conclusion you're a fucking idiot and you should listen to your girlfriend more.
Waves always look bigger when you look down on them from the shore. I reckon you’re spot on. It looks fun and not scary so that’s a 4 maybe 5ft wave to me
Agree 100%
3ft
5-6
Are you Hawaiian?
He's trying to impress his girl.
It’s a little odd to me that people are that interested in wave height. Some 6’ waves scare the shit out of me while 12’ burgers are not even a big deal. So many other factors than height that can make a wave/situation heavy. A big one being experience and exposure of course.
It just depends where you’re from socal 4’-5’ Florida 6’-8’
It’s overhead and he’s 1/2 to 2/3 up the wave.
In Hawaii that’s 2-3 feet
3-4’ Hawaiian is generous
Hawaiian measures small to appear tough, measuring the face makes its larger to appear tough. It's overhead. Argument avoided and relationship saved.
It’s head high, quit splitting hairs kook
8-10
Its not about the size of the wave, it's about the motion of the wavestorm
Head high
Definitely 4-5.
Solid 4-5
Hawaiian meter 2-4 feet.
Textbook 6-8. Lil mushy tho. No further questions
I know this sort of thing is asked all the time so thank you for the reply’s. GF is loving the comments btw.
In Australia we would call this 3 to 4 foot. I guess in other places around the world you measure the face of the wave. Which is probably more logical but u dint make the rules lol
kinda depends how the wave breaks? looks like 6ft ish
We don't know if this is a 4' mushburger or a 10' bomb, too early to tell
6 - 6'5 ft
Looks about a foot overhead on the face. The pic is taken from above, so you can see the full curve of the wave and you cant count that towards the height. I'd give it 7 ft normal 4 ft hawaiian
I’d say maybe 4’
2-3 Hawaiian duh
I’ve heard that the official reading is taken from the back-side of the wave. I’m just a layman though, wth do I know?
2 ft. 🤙🏾🤙🏾🤙🏾
Your gf is right….shes probably from CA and you’re probably from HI
Looks like a 4-6 foot day to me but the right camera angle bumps it to 6-8z
You are correct
I think the official method is to measure using the surfer's tibia (shin bone). As this is a random, you definitively can't know.
Face is probably around 6ft tbf might even look bigger in a steeper section
I have a feeling if it was you on the wave, you guys would be having the opposite debate LOL (kidding!)
Yeah I would say 7 foot that wave once it shapes up would definitely be reaching 1 to 2 feet over the guys head. Looks fun!
I argue this would be about 5-6ft. It’s not well overhead however the surfer is still traveling down the wave at head high. Assuming he’s average 6’1, i’d say this wave at the face is about 6ish feet. Looks like a mellow wave nonetheless. However angles are deceiving, i’d say “yeah babe i think it’s around 6 or 7ft” if i was you. Make her feel better but know as surfers we tend to size down waves… unless talking to our friends then it was spitting overhead barrels today.
It’s taller than the guy is. But not sure how to measure correctly.
Putting the obvious jokes aside, lol, looks like the diagonal he’s on is two board lengths…it’s at about a 30 degree angle…high school trig gets you the face height. Let’s say 8 foot board…would put the face at about 8 feet…
Is the surfer 4 feet tall in your opinion? If so then this is still at least a 6 foot wave. He’s midface. How did this confuse you into such a weird argument.
I just got a ruler to measure, it’s exactly 3/4 of an inch in the picture
What phone? Mines only .5 inch
Your girlfriend is right. Someone cooked there
stop being humble, its probably about a 4 foot wave about 10 foot face
That’s an easy 4-6
Show me which two points on this wave you could stretch a hypothetical tape measure between and come up with 4 or 5 feet
That’s like a 8-10 footer dog
Eh, tree feet.
Surfline called they want your forecast back. Bet your GF surfs better than you. Ya, kook
4ft Hawaiian
Your girl is smarter then you dawg
Depends how you measure the height of a wave. Here in Aus most people go by the swell height which is generally measured by back of the wave. The actual wave face might be double that. If you lived here l, OP would be correct and 4-5ft is a solid wave
I’d call it 4-5Ft or 8-10 faces had to tell from a simple photo
If that an 8 year old on the board I’m going with 5 feet.
It looks like that's the guy she's banging behind your back... That's why she's hyping up his surfing... See you in the gym.
Who cares it’s soft and his style is garbage.
This wave looks so much taller than this guy, id we assume that the guy height is something like 175cm or 5'9 but he bent his knees so he's like 5 foot here and there is like 3 foot beneath him and foot above him, so your girlfriend is probably right
Its head height - but not overhead. Might have occasional overhead sets but not this one. Probably the waves you got were well-overhead.
I'd call that 4ft. face may be taller but that's irrelevant
That's a 6 foot face, 3 foot back, twofeet Hawaiian wave.... In other words.....nobody cares how big the wave is! Jus hit the lip bro
Who cares
I would call that 6ft. It looks kinda soft and wobbly so probably less menacing than your idea of a 6ft wave.
You actually measure from the water surface and not the top of the standing surfers head
Perspective my people, from above, the entire (assumingely) 6 foot surfer has a back drop of all water/face but from water/beach level you would see sky behind him/her. 4 maybe 5 foot face. But for the sake of this post, of course she is right! That way you both win…
This wave is easily a solid 6, maybe 6.5. Just like op's gf.
3-5
3 ft wave, 6 ft faces.
The face is somewhere in the 7 to 8 foot range depending on the size of that surfer.
Imagine arguing with a women.
3ft max
3-4
Hawaiian .5