Patent ID: 8287208

Claim:
A wave attenuator comprising: a plurality of upright piles extending vertically from a seabed in a body of water and positioned to form a row of piles; and a positively buoyant, wave-attenuating floating panel movably coupled to the piles such that the panel is configured to rise and fall with a change in a tide relative to the piles and the seabed in a vertical direction perpendicular to the seabed, the panel comprising multiple horizontally disposed pipe members stacked one on top of each other, the panel having opposed, outwardly facing faces separated by a panel thickness, a center-of buoyancy and a center-of-mass spaced from the center-of-buoyancy such that the panel is stably buoyant in an equilibrium orientation and such that an upper portion of the stack of pipe members extends above a surface of the water substantially by virtue of the buoyancy of the panel, wherein a plane defined by at least one of the faces is oriented substantially vertically when the panel is in the equilibrium orientation, wherein the center-of-buoyancy and the center-of-mass of the panel are horizontally offset to one side of the row of piles.