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Bill-
 <>

I've never seen it used that way. From my cheap dictionary:
"4.a. The distance over which a wind blows. b. The distance traveled by
waves with no obstruction."

Which agrees with the way I've always heard it, i.e. a west wind, perhaps
better called a easterly wind , blowing from Japan toward California
unobstructed, from the California local sailors' perspective, would cause
waves and current to build with a four thousand mile fetch. That is, the
wind had been acting on the water for four thousand miles.

The longer the wind has been blowing, and the longer the fetch is, the
stronger the impact on the water will be.

(Four thousand being a terribly rough number, don't use it for
navigation.)

   

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