Swell, the other source of waves is generally longer waves that come from a distant location (perhaps leftovers from a far off storm) and have no relation to the local wind. Swell can move in any direction, even upwind. Swell is described by a direction, length of the waves, and a description of how focused or spread out they are (i.e. are they all traveling in exactly the same direction, or do they travel in slightly different directions)?