The eight-foot waves of Wednesday gave way to meek two-footers, and children frolicked in 72-degree surf.

Weather conditions in the Florida Straits were rough this weekend, with reports of 25-knot winds and eight-foot waves.

Parked on the sand a few feet from shore, the tiny lunch wagon is stronger than it looks, having survived an eight-foot wave two years ago.

"We can get seven- or eight-foot waves out here, whipped up by northeast winds," said Mr. Lowell.

It is a fast ship: in a wind force of 17 to 20 knots, with six- to eight-foot waves, it has easily sailed at 14 knots.

Captain Nuesslein said the craft was designed to take waves as high as eight feet, "and there are no eight-foot waves in the Sound."

We surfed down the six- to eight-foot waves and had the time of our lives spitting sand.

Yesterday afternoon, eight-foot waves forced investigators to haul out the robot and prevented any divers from entering the water, Lieutenant Balice said.

Its main attraction is a huge wave pool, capable of generating an eight-foot wave.

Sometimes, he remembered, eight-foot waves had leapt over the ice like a great tongue, and pulled the fishermen into the frigid ocean.