One of the main goals of the HEXOS program was to find accurate empirical heat and water vapor flux parameterization formulas for high wind conditions over the sea. It had been postulated that breaking waves and sea spray, which dominate the air-sea interface at high wind speeds, would significantly affect the air-sea heat and water vapor exchange for wind speeds above 15 m/s. However, the HEXMAX data do not show significant variation of the flux exchange coefficients with wind speed. The results suggest that either wave breaking does not affect the surface layer fluxes or that a compensating negative feedback process is at work in the lower atmosphere.