In the presence of strong winds, ocean surface waves dissipate significant amounts of energy by breaking. Here, breaking rates and wave-following turbulent dissipation rate measurements are compared with numerical WAVEWATCH III estimates of bulk energy dissipation. At high winds, the measurements suggest that turbulent dissipation becomes saturated, however the modeled bulk dissipation continues to increase as a cubic function of wind speed. Similarly, the mean square slope (i.e., the steepness) of the measured waves becomes saturated, while the modeled mean squared slope grows linearly with wind speed. Limited observations of breaker fraction suggest a linear relation with wind speed. Finally, the model skill for estimating basic parameters such as significant wave height is shown to be sensitive to the dissipation rate, indicating that the model skill may be compromised under energetic conditions
