I think about 35 feet are the tallest waves I have seen hitting near here on the NORCAL coast. These waves were hitting from the Northwest so from Alaska storms then. I'm not sure this is allowed anymore but there was a big wave surfer surfing these waves off a jet ski manned by friends. Without the jet ski friends he would have been thrown onto the rocks and died. So, because of this danger I'm not sure people are allowed to do this in the really big waves anymore around here because if something goes wrong the surfer or the jet ski person is going to die. (no questions asked).
However, waves of 10 to 20 feet are pretty normal during storms that might hit from November to March or April here on the coast. For example, we are having 10 to 14 foot waves hitting right now and I can hear them from where we live about 1 mile away from the coast. They are pretty noisy even here right now.
Between November and April is when the most tourists unfamiliar with sneaker waves get swept off the rocks while usually taking pictures of the big waves hitting. But, if you live here you know how many people have died over the years from different places who don't understand how sneaker waves work.
They are usually the 7th wave of a series of waves and they can be two to three times larger than other waves and go 100 yards further when they hit. So, if you don't know this and are on a rock taking pictures of the amazingly beautiful large waves hitting then you are soon swept into the water and are soon with hypothermia and hallucinating and then when you can't think straight anymore often you are dead from hypothermia or shock or both.
So, if you come to the ocean to see the big waves it's actually better to stay off the beach entirely. another way to gauge is to look where the sand is wet from previous waves. Where it is wet is how high recent waves have hit. I usually am okay if I stay beyond where the wet sand is but not always. There can always be a fluke wave bigger than what has hit before.
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