For surfing, you need some swell! Storms and weather systems generate groundswells out at sea, which propagate outwards in all directions like ripples on a pond. The action of wind hitting the surface of water during these storms transfers energy from the air to the water, creating the free-travelling rollers that break as waves onto our beaches!Three things affect the size and strength of ocean swells:Fetch – How far the wave has travelledStrength –The strength of the windTime – How long the wind has been blowing for When the swell gets close to the shore and reaches shallower water the waves slow down, increase in height and topple over themselves, reaching our beaches as breaking waves.