magic seaweed swell vs BWE cam - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

old_rookie · 12-20-2010, 02:10 PM

Checking out the report for LJ on MSW - right now, 3pm, it is about 4.5ft.
Looking at the wave height at the beach, it seems much smaller than I would expect with a swell of 4.5ft - but since no one is out there, I could be off without a reference. Do the waves crashing have no connection to the swell height? Seems to me there isn't.

chris138 · 12-20-2010, 02:32 PM

Surf reports are usually for up the beach toward SIO. The reason those swells aren't breaking at the launch is the short period/interval. If it was 4.5 ft at 15 seconds, it would be a whole different scenerio. Long interval will wrap but short interval refracts.

12-20-2010, 02:10 PM	#1
old_rookie Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Santee Posts: 904	magic seaweed swell vs BWE cam Checking out the report for LJ on MSW - right now, 3pm, it is about 4.5ft. Looking at the wave height at the beach, it seems much smaller than I would expect with a swell of 4.5ft - but since no one is out there, I could be off without a reference. Do the waves crashing have no connection to the swell height? Seems to me there isn't.

12-20-2010, 02:32 PM	#2
chris138 donkey roper Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pacific Beach Posts: 968	Surf reports are usually for up the beach toward SIO. The reason those swells aren't breaking at the launch is the short period/interval. If it was 4.5 ft at 15 seconds, it would be a whole different scenerio. Long interval will wrap but short interval refracts.