Hey Beck-Yeah, pretty close. We go on the assumption that a surfer will be crouching slightly as he/she surfs, so below is a general overview of our wave height/body size chart:1'= ankle-shin high2'= knee-thigh high3'= waist-belly high4'= chest-shoulder high5'= head high6'= 1 foot overhead8'= 3' overhead10'=5' overhead or Double Overhead faces12'= Double Overhead+ facesPlease also see photos below for reference.Surf definition: will always be breaking wave heights on the face.Swell definition: will always be deepwater swell heights from crest to trough before the swell shoals into a breaking wave.For most spots on an average ground swell with periods between 12-16 seconds, the surf face height will grow to be about 1.3 times the deepwater swell height - on the average. Other factors like very deep water offshore or underwater canyons and/or sea mounts can great affect the surf heights locally. Longer swell periods may result in greater surf heights, shorter periods in smaller surf heights.Hope that helps-Kevin WallisSurfline Forecaster

My question is this: The report will give the surf height in feet. Following that is a series of descriptions such as waist, shoulder, head and overhead. As I am almost 6 feet tall, I imagine a head high wave to be at about 6 feet, and waist high at about 3 feet, a double overhead at about 12 feet. Is my assumption correct? Beck

Noob 08/01/2017 09:24 PM I can't surf

Jah 07/29/2017 09:48 PM I always thought that a "poor to fair" rating, when it is head to overhead, hollow and glassy on A-frames, was to keep the kooks at home so we don't have to avoid boards and bodies in the barrel. Wave height also depends on the bathymetry and shoaling. It is helpful when reports which delineate wave height based on swell direction are for each swell direction, like: 2-4' W-SW swell and 3-6 S-SE swell. Still, when these two directions pulse on the break at the same time: size could be short. :-)

Phil 03/13/2017 11:55 AM I lived and surfed in Hawaii from '62 to '72. In that whole time, I never heard anyone say they measure from the back of the wave. Did Duke mean his Castles wave was 60' feet high when he called it 30'? I doubt it. My guess is that calling waves half as high as they are, started in the 70's when marine forecasts published swell heights measured from the offshore buoys around the islands.

Old Salt 09/04/2016 01:42 AM When I give a report I always state what the surf was 2 days ago.

Patrick 08/14/2016 09:49 PM I'm a docent for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, CA and have to deal with tourists asking me wave height. I tell them to watch a surfer catch a wave, assume he's about 6 feet tall, and use that to mesure the wave height. This seems to satisfy them.

Zachary 07/21/2016 12:14 AM Are the surf report for Hawaii using the Hawaiian scale or regular? editor reply:

All reports/forecasts on Surfline are given in face height.

Lance 01/12/2016 09:16 PM I grew up surfing in Hawaii. We would "say" we measure from the back but in reality we were looking at the front and it worked out to calling it about 2/3 of the front. The ratio to the back is going to vary depending on the depth of the water and speed of the wave so actually measuring the back is pretty ridiculous. But it made us feel bad ass to say we measure from the back and call it smaller. Probably be good to just call face height and leave out the ambiguity and keep the tourists alive.

Jennie Bisese 10/17/2015 12:01 AM I grew up bodyboarding Virginia Beach. I have swam and bodyboarded along the east coast from Jacksonville, FL all the way north to Cape May chasing good waves. All depended on who was with me and when they needed to be home. I miss those days.

chris csikszentmihalyi 01/03/2015 11:08 PM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name Physicists measure amplitude of waves, which is height from calm (sea level). In a sine (a symmetrical, deep water) wave, the part above sea level (peak) is equal to the trough. I'm guessing this is where the 1/2 of face for the "real" wave height came from. Lot of Navy techs in Hawaii. Faces of breaks vary, but backs are more like swell, aka sines. NOAA, like Surfline, defines height as crest to trough. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/educate/waves.shtml This is what is what surfers look down.

Mike W 01/22/2014 11:30 AM All of it is pretty simple. The true wave height is measured from crest to trough which is measured from behind the wave. ( or if front out at sea) NOAA and other institutions will measure this way. Therefore , the Hawaiian way is scientifically more accurate by using approximately half the height of the wave face of a breaking wave.

arii 11/21/2013 03:10 PM I'm from Hawaii.I am 59.We don't look at the back of the wave when estimating it,we look at the face.Never have,never did.Can't tell you who started saying we measure the back.But we do call a 7-8 foot wave 4 feet.I was looking at the pictures and calling them how I estimate them, and was surprised at how accurately they matched the heights listed divided by half.On the news channels,they post wave face heights so tourists and visiting surfers are not caught unawares.

Robert Krucke 06/20/2012 10:11 AM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name I think surfline may need to tailor their expectations for East Coast surf just a bit. Yes, knee to waist high waves may be considered poor by global standards, but when this is the norm, maybe a different bar needs to be set. If I never surfed when the report was listed or forcast as poor, I would miss a ton of enjoyable surf.

01/14/2011 06:03 PM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Nickname If surfline forecasters see it fit to measure by the wave face then that is sufficient to me. No one would dare to call THEM kooks, right? Also, it doesn't help surfers' image to measure to measure waves wrong!!! Anybody in their right minds knows what 6 ft. looks like. To call that 3 ft. makes you look like an idiot!

califorsurfin 11/30/2009 06:40 AM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Nickname Measuring a wave from behind started as a joke from hawaiians, who would be surfing double overhead waves and reporting the surf as 3 feet, so mainlanders would read the paper and not realize that there was pumping surf. You cannot measure a wave from behind!

timoteo 11/24/2009 05:39 PM Rule of thumb that I have used and has proven to be pretty darn accurate over my many years is this: When the report says 2 - 4 feet I divide the highest number by 2 and add that to the highest number. This usually gives the "face" height of the largest waves on that given day. So, 2 - 4 feet means that one can count on 6 ft / head hight + sets.

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