Phil Allen Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Written from a west coast perspective, so some of the modifiers might need to be adjusted for normal new england conditionshttp://paddlecalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/09/surf-forecasts-for-sea-kayakers.htmlbestPhil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieC Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Good clear article. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gcosloy Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Nice explanation Phil of stuff I thought I knew but didn't really. Thanks for the post. A couple of us were in Casco Bay this past week paddling in the Whitehead passage between Peaks and Cushing. The swells were big and breaking closer to Peaks but not breaking closer to Cushing. It was approximately 2:30PM-given the tide was high at noon the ocean depth where the breaks were happening were close to 18' (LL tide depth from the chart was 13') which means the swells were close to 14'. We rode them closer to Cushing but actually caught only one to surf. The explanation about the significance of period perhaps explains why 14'swells had so little energy-the period was only about 5 seconds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leong Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 ... the swells were close to 14'. We rode them closer to Cushing but actually caught only one to surf. The explanation about the significance of period perhaps explains why 14'swells had so little energy-the period was only about 5 seconds!Not sure I understand it. Energy aside, wouldn’t the breakers be at least as high as the 14’ swells? And if the sea floor had a steep slope wouldn’t the breakers be much higher than the swells? Perhaps I’m all wet (it wouldn’t be the first time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gcosloy Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Not sure I understand it. Energy aside, wouldn’t the breakers be at least as high as the 14’ swells? And if the sea floor had a steep slope wouldn’t the breakers be much higher than the swells? Perhaps I’m all wet (it wouldn’t be the first time).Yes the breakers perhaps were much higher than the swells but I didn't mention that at all. Lisa took some dramatic photos of same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gcosloy Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 (edited) Perhaps the confusion can be explained by the phrase "caught only one to surf". Technically speaking that was incorrect. We may have "caught a swell" in the sense that our paddle speed was fast enough to keep up with a swell for a time which is not really surfing. Swells have potential energy not kinetic-when the swell starts its break it releases energy which propels the kayak at swell speed with little help from the paddler-we did not enjoy this result at all-merely took advantage of a strong following sea. Edited September 14, 2014 by GCosloy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Allen Posted September 15, 2014 Author Share Posted September 15, 2014 Just to add complication to the nicely written simple article I linked to, the devil is in the details of local geography (above and below the water) as well as swell direction, height and period. A great example is off of Nazare, Portugal, where an underwater canyon funnels the energy of ~30 foot swells into wave heights of ~100 feet on a good (or bad) day. Google "big wave surfing Nazare portugal" bestPhil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Wave descriptions can get quite complicated if you get into all the details. Still, anything that provides at least a starting point, and simplifying assumptions is good. I'm in the process of doing some numerical wave simulations of waves interacting with land, and it's no walk in the park, let me tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josko Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Speaking of swell, is anybody surfing Eduardo this Wednesday? I'll be in RI somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Allen Posted September 16, 2014 Author Share Posted September 16, 2014 Unfortunately no. The day job gets in the way of so much fun :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inverseyourself Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Sadly, I'll have to wait 'til Fritz, Gregory or Hector arrive :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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