Wave velocity - the speed at which a crest moves relative to a stationary point. The wind speed. The length of time the wind has blown. The fetch - the distance the wind has traveled across open water. As the quantity of energy transmitted from the wind to the water increases, the height and steepness of the waves increase as well.
Waves can travel long distances as swells from their point of origin.
In the open ocean, waves do not move water from one place to another. Particles of water move in closed circular paths. As a wave passes, a water particle returns to its original position. The circular orbits followed by the water particles at the surface have a diameter equal to the wave height. At a crest the particle is moving in the same direction as the wave, and vice versa in a trough.