Community It doesn’t necessarily get any easier to tell the height of a wave from the water. Photo: Brent Storm//Unsplash Editor’s Note: Welcome to Surf History 101, where we look at innovations in the world of surfing and beyond that changed the pursuit forever. In this edition, Sam George examines the history of measuring waves and how it’s shaped the pursuit. What Is It The decades-long custom of ignoring actual wave height, choosing instead to declaratively assert an estimate – the assigned figure having been reached in a completely arbitrary manner. Who Developed It Advertisement During the recent Margaret River Pro, held at that venerable Western Australian reef break, a classic example of estimating wave height was on display, the result, no doubt, very confusing to those surf fans new to the game. Early rounds were held in heavy, blustery, Indian Ocean swells that two-time world champion Gabriel Medina from Brazil called the biggest he’d ever surfed in world tour competition — big Pipeline, Cloudbreak and Teahupoo included. World tour rookie Seth Moniz from Hawaii called it five feet. Now, taking for granted that neither of these world-class surfers is particularly faint hearted, you can imagine how difficult it would be explaining to a newcomer how one surfer could estimate the wave heights at 15 to 18 feet — maybe even bigger on cleanup sets — and the other claim the waves to be a modest five feet. Suffice it to say that virtually all surfers can agree that uncrowded waves are best, yet none, it seems, can agree on how to measure the height of those waves.