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64’ waves occur off the coast of San Mateo county frequently at certain times of the year.
Ever hear of “The Mavricks?”
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I think the big difference is that this buoy was out in the open ocean - not surf. The study of open-ocean “rogue” waves is important to shipping, etc. Every once in a while one will catch a boat by surprise and sink it. Although I have no idea if this was one isolated monster wave - or was in the middle of a storm and was the tallest one.
There is a major difference between open ocean swell height and breaking wave height at the coast. Even at Mavericks at Pillar Point. The giant waves that are surfed here often break on swells that are between 15-25’ @ 15-18 second periods. When the open ocean swell nears the coast it begins to build in height as the deeper energy feels the friction from the ocean bottom. Eventually the wave jacks up in height and the top part is moving faster than the bottom and the wave breaks and people can surf it.
For example, last month I was surfing in Nicaragua and the open ocean swell was 6’ @ 18 seconds but the wave face at some of the bigger breaks was closer to 12’.