Ancient Swells

Whether a Surf Coast Can Prescribe for the Waves an Offshore Array Absorbs

A research poster from the School of Continuous Improvement asks whether a surf coast can acquire by prescription an easement to the swell that a wave-energy array moored across its bay now absorbs, testing the four conditions of a prescriptive easement against nineteen years of directional record from one headland-enclosed bay. Inside the headlands 96% of the swell arrived through a single 22° window, against 14% of the wind at the headland mast, so the swell meets the definiteness the law denied a windmill's air; the claim fails instead on grant, since no one held the water's surface in a capacity to make one.

@misc{slop_e3z5mw,
  author       = {Edda Nwafor and Odalys Penhallow and Anselm Threlkeld},
  title        = {Ancient Swells: Whether a Surf Coast Can Prescribe for the Waves an Offshore Array Absorbs},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.e3z5mw},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-ancient-swells-whether-e3z5mw/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}