Giant Wave Impact - California

I started a thread about this yesterday. Just the comp. Wow! That's nutz

Surf's up dudes!

Freak wave - reminds me of that movie forgot what it was called but I think it had to do with a giant freak wave capsizing a boat.

I thought it was weird, myself. Didn't see the thread about it yesterday, but glad someone brought it up.

You could tell, from the news, that those folks were taken off guard.

What is going on???

yea i didn't hear of this till now....my guess is that the earth is repairing herself

Perfect Storm?

It was that or posiden.

No, it's called a ROGUE WAVE....not a "rouge wave" that someone posted yesterday.

Very common historically...not at ALL common if you're innocently watching a big surf event and get swept into the surf by accident. This happens quite a bit on big surf spots like North Shore Oahu, Fiji, Phillipines, etc. ....but not so much in California up to now...

I found something interesting which made me think about the recent snow storms we had that covered 49 states coupled with this giant wave in California:

SEA LEVELS ERRATIC DURING LATEST ICE AGE
Cave formations along the coast of an island in the Mediterranean Sea hold evidence that sea level can rise and fall abruptly during an ice age, a finding that casts some doubt on current notions about how those lengthy cold spells develop and progress.

At the height of an ice age, immense volumes of water are locked up in land-based ice sheets, and ocean levels can be as much as 130 meters below where they are today. By contrast, when that ice melts during warm periods, sea level can be a few meters higher than the modern-day standard, says Jeffrey Dorale, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
[link to www.sciencenews.org]

Mark Foo died at Mavericks years ago

Couple that with what scientist are now saying about Climategate-we stopped warming up in 1995?

Yea I don't buy that global warming crap

Yep and the people in the photos looked so stunned as was said above I have heard about rouge waves before.

The waves were the biggest ever for the Mavericks contest, and it was high tide. When the waves are over 40 feet high, you should have some respect for backwash on the shore.

Here is a webcam, and the waves are as big as yesterday. They look like normal waves form this point of view, but they are breaking almost a mile offshore. The outside sets are 40' +.

[link to www.mavsurfer.com]

Sneaker waves.

We have them all the time on the Oregon Coast. Nothing unusual here.

.

WOW...I'm in Puerto Rico and the waves lately have been awesome. Today, about 12-14 foot curls...I'm about 200 yards from the beach and they sound like there right outside my window.

Yes, not uncommon for Maverick.

These waves are tracked from Japan, and the contest was called on Thursday, as they expected 50' faces. The size is a little abnormal, not much, and it happens this time of year. It should happen again the middle of March. If you are watching the pro am at Pebble beach, you can the waves there are about 20' on the outside. there is an area off 17 mile drive, right by the lone cypress, called Ghost trees, were they break in the 50' range as well.

Damn....those are huge. I'm not a surfer, but I know not many people can say they can ride those! Or for that matter even try...me noway! I'll stick to skin/scuba diving, LOL.

That is amazing I would be no where near there for sure

he was a good dude

yes BIG WAVES happen

[link to www.ktla.com]

Just saw the wave clip on the news can you say HAARP?!?!?

Makes one wonder

Whats even more amazing, and out of view of the webcam, is these monsters break on a series of rocks that are to the left of the frame, and they are not small rocks. When you fall into one of these waves, its all you can do to stay out of the rocks, and thats why the wave runners are trolling around to pick up the surfers, before another monster hits them, and smashes them onto the rocks.

The contest has been going on for years, it used to be called the "Men who ride mountains" contest. They track these waves from japan, and when they think the conditions are right, a phone call goes out all over the world to a few select surfers, and you have no more then 48 hours to get to Pillar point harbour in Half Moon Bay, a very small little harbour where Mavericks is past the breakwater. I have been there about 15 times, and have yet to see them break this big. I heard about the contest Thursday, and was thinking of going, but the town is so small the traffic would have been crazy, and there is very little parking there. There was a live feed yesterday, and it was the best seat in the house, and dry. I will see if they have the feed on you tube and post it here. It is really something to see. Usually, the surfers are towed into these waves because of the size, but for this contest, they had to paddle in, making it almost impossible to catch, and when you do, you are at the top of the break, making for many wipeouts.

here ya go, its still playing. if not, there are boxes at the bottom of the frame with clips of the contest. You have to have balls as big as boulders to ride these things.

[link to www.ustream.tv]

Oh I forgot to add, if you can zoom your browser, zoom to 250, there's no distortion, and its amazing to see these this close. Enjoy :-)

Looking at the live web cam again, I think they blew it. The waves are much bigger today, then they were yesterday, and much better form.