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Waimea
Buoy Anatomy of a 66-Foot Wave
Height : 66 feet
Period : 18 seconds
Breaking Depth : 20 feet
Distance Traveled : 600 miles
Deepwater Swell Height : 15 feet+
Deepwater Wavelength : (distance from crest
to crest): 1600 feet
Deepwater Speed : 55 knots or 92.2 feet per
second
(1 knot=1.151 mph=1 minute of latitude per hour)
Shallow Water Wavelength : 457 feet
Shallow Water Speed: 15 knots
(The shallow depth forces all the wavelength
energy to condense,
which then stacks up to increase the height)
Horsepower : Over 1600 horsepower per foot of
length (A ride of 150 yards=720,000 horsepower=1920
Ferrari 355 F1s or 6545 Ford Escorts!)
Kilowatts : 12.680 kilowatts per foot or 5,706,000
kilowatts for the entire wave, enough power to
light up the Eiffel tower for 11 years!
Volume in Cubic Feet : 1700 cubic feet per foot
x 450 feet=755,000 cubic ft. or 5.6 million gallons
of water, enough to fill 22 Olympic sized swimming
pools
Calculations and comments by Dr. Lee Harris,
Ocean Engineering Program, Florida Institute
of Technology, Melbourne, Florida
The Biggest Waves Ever Ridden
Biggest Tow-in
The
largest swells over the past 10 years have
been Jan 2, 2002 at Jaws, Nov. 21, 2001 at
Maverick's, Oct. 28, 1999 also at Mav's.but the open swell
that rattled foundations was Big Wednesday, Jan.
28, 1998. With 551001 readings of 27 feet at
25 seconds the night before, Ken Bradshaw and
Ross Clarke Jones charged the fabled Outer Log
Cabins. Everyone that day got the biggest waves
and beatings of their lives. Bradshaw's early
morning mountain was estimated at 80 feet on
the face.verified by Bill Ballard's footage from
a rooftop. It is regarded as the largest wave
ridden to date .
Biggest Paddle-in
Surfing
sometimes has a hazy line between myth and
reality, like any spiritual act. Randy Rarick
and 14-year-old, Shaun Tomson witnessed Greg
Noll's legendary but undocumented ride at Makaha
on Dec. 4,1969. Photos from that day and the
size and magnitude of the storm tell us we have
seen nothing like it since. There have been so
many documented rides after that: Foo's bottomless
Waimea ride in 1985, Ho's near make in 1986,
Doerner's Waimea superbowl in 1988, Knox's K2
win at Todos of 52 feet, and Brock's famous tumble
in the 1990 Eddie. But can they ever overshadow
the swell of '69? Tomson told Surfing , "I've
seen a lot of big waves in my life, but still
none bigger than that huge beast at Makaha."
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