"4 foot mate"

Wave heights are a much discussed and debated topic.

I hate discussing them purely because with the majority of decent surfers (of which I am not one!) too much macho comes into the discussion and it inevitably become a pissing contest.

When I ask someone, for example, my mate Simon (who is a very accomplished swimmer and extremely comfortable in the ocean) how big is the surf today, I get the response:

'3 to 4 mate. Perfect for ya'

'Thanks Sime. I'm on my way'

In days now far gone, I would grab a suitable board and zip down to the beach expecting 3 to 4 foot of wave height...

Hahahaha! Who am I kidding?! 3 foot taller than me is not 3 to 4 foot!!!

There is an accepted vernacular when describing wave heights for most in Australia and that has come to be the norm.

So now when Sime tells me its three foot, I grab my good wave board because chances are it will nothing less than a 6 to 8 foot face.

Why not call it 6 to 8 feet? Good question.

A blase approach to waveriding is the goal it would seem for most punters. When it's twice your height in wave face, surfers seem to take pride in under calling it so as to seem very at ease with the size of waves they are riding. This seems to be even more the case in places like Hawaii where a wave under 'over head' is considered flat!!!

So, as I have become quite put off by people's description of wave heights, I now refuse to quote numbers and make all calls in reference to body height....No ambiguity there.

As Sime's eyesight is not real crash hot, especially in the pre dawn light, I am still rocking up to the beach with the wrong boards!!!!