What makes surf waves? micro-lesson

So, what turns open ocean waves into surf waves? Surf waves actually start their journey out in the open ocean. They only become waves when they get close to land. So, what happens to these waves as they get close to land? The answer is pretty easy. The waves hitting against the sea floor is actually what makes the waves we surf. There are a couple of different types of breaks. Today, I'll talk about reef breaks. This is when waves travel over shallow reefs. Reef breaks are usually between 1 and 2 meters. When waves hit these shallow reefs, this pushes the waves up. This makes the wave break which is the part that we surf. This is a satellite image of a reef break. Do you see how the reef actually forms a nice straight line? It's the straight line that actually gives the wave a nice shape. This is a video of the same wave from the satellite picture. Notice how nice and evenly the wave breaks. Some reefs go from really, really deep to really, really shallow very quickly. This results in something called a barreling wave. So, to recap, open ocean waves hitting shallow reef can make for some great surf waves.