  We study the nonlinear interactions of waves with a doubled-peaked power
spectrum in shallow water. The starting point is the prototypical equation for
nonlinear uni-directional waves in shallow water, i.e. the Korteweg de Vries
equation. Using a multiple-scale technique two defocusing coupled Nonlinear
Schr\"odinger equations are derived. We show analytically that plane wave
solutions of such a system can be unstable to small perturbations. This
surprising result suggests the existence of a new energy exchange mechanism
which could influence the behaviour of ocean waves in shallow water.
