I have never personaly done anythng like this, BUT, I ran a search in the Maya 8.5 help docs, and got EXACTLY the answers to your questions IF you are willing to put in the time to tweak

In the Maya help, click the SEARCH button, and enter these two words as the appear here:

wakes foam

The stuff about wake frequency in relation to foam and foam translucence generation is perfect

Check it out and see if that points you in the right direction

Good luck!