Monster wave

[Gribble]

On a calm morning last summer a long distance swimmer was practising in Windermere with an assistant alongside him in a boat when a wave which both describe as "3 feet high" went past them.

I'm familiar with the relationship between wave length and velocity
(v^2 =L x g/2.pi)
but can someone tell me how to calculate the minimum energy required to produce a sustained surface wave of that height?

Let's assume it was a caused by a boat with a displacement hull :-)

Thanks G

[ArcturusA]

Wikipedia seems to cover the maths you'll need pretty well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_power#Physical_concepts

[Gribble]

Thanks ArcturusA.
I had found that page myself but it seemed more geared to calculating the energy contained within a wave rather than telling me how big a boat with how big an engine would be needed to generate one. Also, those sums made by brane hurt and I was hoping for something just a shade simpler.

But thank you for replying. G