On optimal canonical variables in the theory of ideal fluid with free surface

Dynamics of ideal fluid with free surface can be effectively solved by perturbing the Hamiltonian in weak nonlinearity limit. However it is shown that perturbation theory, which includes third and fourth order terms in the Hamiltonian, results in the ill-posed equations because of short wavelength instability. To fix that problem we introduce the canonical Hamiltonian transformation from original physical variables to new variables for which instability is absent.