How big is this wave? I'm calling it in at 50 feet in height.
Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
This morning I noticed that I had a new follower on Twitter (@ActiviTourist ). I checked out his ActiviTourist web site and zoomed in on his “World’s Best Surf” category where I found this embedded video called “Biggest Waves Ever Surfed in Australia.”
I thought it fitting to do a completely unscientific measurement of this huge wave, so I took a screen shot at this very impressive point of a surfer’s ride. The surfer is at the bottom of the wave. I drew a circle around him and copied the image, stacking the image to the top of the wave. I figure the surfer is roughly 6 feet tall. Taking into account that he is bent at the knees and is also bent slightly at the waist, I’ve accounted for 8 surfer heights to the top of the wave. Actually I didn’t stack quite to the top. There’s still several feet of wave above the highest surfer’s headed. So I’ll conservatively call this wave in at 50 feet in height. That’s 15.24 meters. Dang!
If you’d like to watch the video:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m hell-bent and determined to learn to surf someday, but that video has left me with my mouth hanging open in awe. I’ll leave the 50 footers to the hard-core pros!
Me too Jenni. A wave that big is just plain scary! Hats off to the men and women with the bravado to ride those giants.