Kim McCoy's ocean research began where the land and sea merge - with surf zone wave dynamics and continues today with the coastal effects of climate change.

Expeditions from the tropics to polar oceans with multinational academic, commercial and governmental institutions helped Kim pioneer advances in instrumentation, underwater communications, autonomous underwater vehicles and free-diving.

Educated in Germany, France and the US, Kim was presented with the Scientific Achievement Award in 2018 for his work as a Principle Scientist with NATO in Italy. Prior to Italy, Kim managed Ocean Sensors, Inc., was the Marine Technology Society Chair for Oceanographic Instrumentation and was awarded several patents. Kim is fluent in multiple languages.

He has been seduced by beaches and observed waves on all seven continents; smeared in the fluid mud of the Amazon, journeyed along the Mekong, Nile and Mississippi Deltas, traveled the Australian coastline, plunged into the Antarctic Ocean (without a wetsuit), crossed the Pacific, Atlantic, Drake's Passage on ships and sailed a boat from Africa to the Caribbean.

The adventure continues: Kim recently completed an Ironman and will continue to swim, dive, surf, rock climb and paraglide until motion stops, viscosity ceases, buoyancy is overwhelmed. Kim lives in San Diego.

• Preface to the Third Edition
• Prologue
• I) Introduction
• II) Ideal Waves
• III) Wind Waves
• IV) Waves in Shallow Water
• V) Tides and Seiches
• VI) Impulsively Generated Waves
• VII) Ship Motions and Ship Losses
• VIII) Measuring Waves, Making Waves and related Instrumentation
• IX) Energy from the Ocean
• X) The Surf
• XI) Beaches ¿ Where the Surf Meets the Sediment
• XII) The Littoral Conveyor Belt
• XIII) Man Against the Sea
• XIV) Storms and Waves in Literature
• Epilogue