Abstract
Various large scale systems have been proposed for absorbing and utilising the energy carried by ocean waves. In principle, such a system consists of a damped oscillator which interacts with the wave. The net result is that energy is transferred from the wave to a load. Here we call a system a ‘point absorber’ when its horizontal extent is much smaller than one wavelength, and a ‘linear absorber’ when the system is made as a straight construction, at least a few wavelengths long.