What makes a good wave?

What makes a good wave?

Here is how Surfing-Waves explains what’s going on beneath the surface:

The shallower the water becomes the slower they move. As they slow down they have to squash together. (i.e. they shorten their wave period.) This process is called shoaling and results in increasing wave height. The steeper the sea floor gradient the more pronounced the wave height will increase.

A gently sloping (floor) approach causes the bottom of the wave to drag and will result in the top of the wave prematurely overtaking the bottom resulting in the wave breaking in deeper water. These crumbling waves won’t be steep and will lack punch. If you’re learning how to surf, then these waves are ideally what you are after. (See the top, first image.)

The contrast to the gently sloping sea floor is a steep slope or a reef. The swell approaches the beach/reef at a greater speed. From the diagram it can be seen that the wave “jacks up” due to the rapid change in depth creating a higher wave…  The waves created by the rapid change in depth are much steeper and hollower, and — thus the tube is born!

See if the conditions are right for a tube on the live Pipeline and Waimea cams today.