Watch big wave surfing in Monterey FRONTROW!!

If you can't fish because of big swells in Monterey you can always watch Da boyz surf some really big waves! Here's the famed Ghost Trees in Monterey Dec 10th '06. It's just outside Stillwater and pretty hard to miss. A great thing about watching here is that you're so close to it. It's an awesome experience. And you also get to see, hear, and feel the drama of it all... last pic..  when everything's on the line and it goes bad, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place for real, ouch!

Z

HOLLY COW BATMAN!!! I don't know how to size a wave - but how big are those? 20 - 30 footers?

Awesome pics!

Pat and I drove out to Point Lobos on Sunday to watch the big waves.  I got a couple of decent pics, but nothing nearly as dramatic as those.

HOLLY COW BATMAN!!! I don't know how to size a wave - but how big are those? 20 - 30 footers?

Well the guy riding is about 4 feet tall crouched down. I counted it around 50-60 feet. RI-DI-CU-LOUS!

Z

I estimate them as around 30 foot faces. When crouched, the surfer is about 4 feet tall from head to toe. And I see the wave as about 7 surfers high. jmairey would be able to provide a better estimate though.

Regards,
Scott

I estimate them as around 30 foot faces. When crouched, the surfer is about 4 feet tall from head to toe. And I see the wave as about 7 surfers high. jmairey would be able to provide a better estimate though.
Regards,
Scott

Dunno what you're looking at but I easily count 15-17 times overhead. You're probably not even startng from the true trough to the true lip of the wave. I've been surfing all my life so kinda been doing this for a while.

Z

Holy $hitball!  Those are right outside stillwater?! is so wild.  With all the crags, reefs, kelp and such, would that be a tow-in wave only?  Can't imagine duckdiving over and over with such obstacles

Holy $hitball!  Those are right outside stillwater?! is so wild.  With all the crags, reefs, kelp and such, would that be a tow-in wave only?  Can't imagine duckdiving over and over with such obstacles

Yeah, paddle in surfing stops right around 30 feet. You just can't paddle fast enough to catch a wave this big. When it's a bit smaller you probably could paddle into there though.. Hellman required

Z

I revise my estimate to be 40 feet.

I'm not a surfer. I'm a former windsurfer. We used to measure by masts, rather than body height.

I see where the difference is, you're counting from the top of the white water of the wave infront. But that's still a swell that's surging and the actual trough of the wave is about 6 feet below that. Also you're countng the height of the wave exactly where he is riding when that not really measuring the wave height. Measuring the tallest part of the wave= wave height.

After going through these I'd estimate them at 48 feet.

I've been followng the Billabong XXL biggest wave comp ( http://xxl.billabong.com ) for the past 5 years so into getting it "right". 
 
Z

Thats AWESOME!!!
Unfortunatly I now have a wife and life insurance policy...dont think I'd even consider something like that.  Way back when, I used to rock climb, but even then, I tried to balance the risks and stopped climbing at about a 5.11 level (would be like 15 foot waves??)

I was at Stillwater just a few weeks ago, thats SO decieving!
J

those estimates are as good as any.  the hawaians use the 'back' of the wave or the open ocean swell height.

which just means you cut the fact height in half, more or less.

then they used to cap it at 20 feet because they are cool.

so I guess I'd have to say that it's pushing 20 feet,  .

then there is the whole, "we measure them in units of fear" approach.

I know I don't surf anything I can't paddle into on a pointy 7'6" which is getting smaller and smaller each year.

J (btw, I am the only J, nobody else gets to sign themselves as J. got that rockfish?  you can be "R", )

ps, did the dude sucking air by the rock get out of there okay?

Those guys have balls of steel and water skillz to match! Damn...Kale certified!!!