ANATOMY OF A 66-FOOT WAVE

Numbers speak louder than words. Makua Rothman, Jaws. Photo: Ron Dahlquist

HEIGHT: 66 feet
PERIOD: 18 sec.
BREAKING DEPTH: 20 feet
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 600 mi.
DEEPWATER SWELL HEIGHT: 15 feet+
DEEPWATER WAVELENGTH (distance from crest to crest): 1660 feet
DEEPWATER SPEED: 55 knots or 92.2 feet per second (1 knot =1.151mph = 1 minute of latitude per hour)

FOR MORE . . . AMAZING FACTS, STATS AND FIGURES COVERING THE WHOLE SPECTRUM OF WAVES -- LONGEST, DEADLIEST,MOST POPULATED, LEAST ACCESSIBLE -- CHECK OUT SURFING'S BOOK OF WAVE RECORDS IN OUR 40TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTORS' ISSUE, CURRENTLY ON NEWSSTANDS.

SHALLOW WATER WAVELENGTH: 457 feet
SHALLOW WATER SPEED: 15 knots
"It's interesting. The wavelength and speed decreased to one fourth their values, while the wave height quadruples -- basically, the shallow depth forces all that wavelength energy to condense, which then stacks up to increase the height."
HORSEPOWER: over 1600 horsepower per foot of length. This ride was 150 yards, which transfers into 720,000 horsepower. That's the equivalent of 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 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 Beach, Florida

 

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