I'm a real beginner and just want to know whether to go to the beach on saturday?

We think that with the new swell rating system we've got as close as we can to an easy to use forecast. But learning to predict the surf should go hand in hand with learning to ride your board. If you follow the articles and tutorials on this site you can soon start to make sense of the information we provide. From experience once you get to grips with this you'll either start scoring alot more sessions, or at the very least save yourself alot of petrol. Plus (and it's difficult to say this without sounding like and old hippy) there is a real joy with connecting with mother nature and learning to read the patterns of the ocean yourself...