By Kayaking Whitewater and Touring Basics

Swells are waves that don't break (or haven't yet broken), rolling undulations caused by a disturbance some distance away. While they do have forward-movement component - think of the concentric ripple blossoming from a penny dropped in a wishing well - most of their energy goes into raising and drawing down the water's surface.

The mechanics of a swell are intuitive. The disturbance (whether a storm a hemisphere distant and on the other side of the ocean, or the wake of a speedboat) pushes down an area of water, meaning the adjacent area must bulge. Gravity draws the bulge down below the mean surface into a trough. After that, the former trough rebounds to form the next bulge.

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A 10-foot swell sounds threatening, but it's actually a kick. The touring kayak under which it passes rises majestically to the summit, providing a panoramic view. The kayak and you are lowered into the trough, and though water rises well above your bow and stern, it presents no threat of crashing on you. A moment later, you catch the up elevator, and are again king of the mountain.

When close to water's edge, use that moment of elevation to look around and check to see if swells are turning to breakers in the near vicinity.