This chapter brings together the “naïve” realism of object-oriented ontology and the vibrational affective field opened up by the figure of “breaking” ocean waves—waves that gather up, fall, and burst against the seashore. This combination invites speculation and writing—in short, “tracing” widely imagined—as observers move between anthropomorphic identification with and the resistance of these special objects. Building on Stefan Helmreich’s insight that waves are combinations of human/nonhuman relations as well as Katherine Hayles’ theorization of a speculative aesthetics, the chapter tracks breaking waves through philosophical exempla (Leibniz, Deleuze), poetic representation (Whitman, Michelet), nature writing (Rachel Carson), and body surfing. In conversation with this work, this chapter shows how waves produce speculative affects through conceptual and experiential engagements with the withdrawal of objects from presence.