Hawai'i surf measurements will rise to standard
| • | Graphic: Measuring wave height |
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
You're looking at big surf. One surfer says it's 10 feet. Another says it's 20.
Is someone lying?
No. But chances are they're from different places. Most Mainland and international surfers measure waves by the height of their faces.
Hawai'i big wave surfers use another measure. Some say it's half the face height. Others say it's the height of the back of the wave.
The National Weather Service, relied upon for surf condition reports, has elected to go with the measure used throughout the rest of the world — the distance from the trough in front of a wave to its peak — and hopes Hawai'i's surfing community will agree.
"Surf is the biggest killer among weather phenomena. More than flash floods, high winds, hurricanes," said Tom Heffner, warning coordination meteorologist with the service's Honolulu Forecast Office.
The service is asking its surf reporters to send in wave heights measured by how they look from the shore so those measurements can be used in surf height observations and forecasts.
For reasons not clearly understood, Hawai'i surfers report wave heights in ways that vary almost from beach to beach.
"Some people are more humble than others," said Edmund Pestana, captain of operations for the Ocean Safety Division at the City and County of Honolulu.
The chief of Kaua'i County's lifeguards says he understands surfer measures, but calls on his lifeguards to use the wave face height.
"When I give surf reports, I tell the guys, 'Just give me the face.' I'm trying to educate the public," county water safety coordinator Kaleo Hookano said.
