We've spent the past five years writing a huge amount of software to decode, quality control, decipher and display forecast information in a way that's useful to the average surfer. We calculate the likely swells heading towards your local beach and provide a rating for this swell and a guide to the wind (onshore/offshore) etc. We also provide you the 'raw' data - so that rather than rely on our interpretation you can make up your own mind.
A common misconception about the way the forecasts are created seems to have come about from them sometimes being described as 'virtual buoys' - apart from the specific wave buoy pages none of the forecasts are created from 'wave buoy data' - they are all the results of complex computer modelling and created in very much the same way as the weather charts you see on a TV weather forecast but honing in on the specifics that are relevant to surfers.
Where in the past we presented this data with the hope that from it you could anticipate the likely effects on the beach we're now, for a great many locations, running this open ocean data through our own nearshore modelling software - this allows us to predict accurately how incoming swells will decay and refract as they approach your local beaches. Using this tool we can anticipate the actual swell size of the average sets approaching the line up.
It's worth clarifying that the ratings on this site are created programmatically by our software. They suffer from an inability to learn from experience or make detailed calls about shifting sandbars and other local subtleties. They benefit from consistency and above all never being late, never oversleeping and never having an 'off day'. |
