Hello people again!

This is just really a question on surf prediction and early warning.

Basically, what web sites do you find give the best information on what the conditions are going to be like? I use http://magicseaweed.com/index.php3 which I find good.

I suppose what I'm after is for somebody to just say, "right, this weekend, you need to be at so and so beach".

Hi Dick!

get yourself on these sites..

This one is usualy reliable, but keep your eye on it it changes throughout the week.

http://www.surfsystem.co.uk/ss.shtml />
This is probably your best bet! Make your own prediction!

http://facs.scripps.edu/surf/images/euranim.gif />
If you do a small bit of homework and learn about isobars. low/high pressure systems, etc you can soon figure out what the surf will be like in your area! Of course then you have to take into account the tides, tropical storms, what the beach is like and localised swell. Its a bit of a complicated mind field but its well worth working it out!

I tend to look at sites with web cams like A1Surf.com, take into account how long the swell's been going on and look at trends (is it dropping off?)

Is there any way of telling what the surf's going to be doing in the future. For example, if i want to know what the surf's going to be like down in Bournemouth in May(which it propbably won't knowing my luck), could i find that out on one of the sites you've posted? Can you predict the surf for May from this month April?

Cheers in anticipation.

If it was the 30th April and you were predicting surf for 1st May you 'might' get it right!!!

Surf predictions (for the UK), wherever they come from are only ever accurate for a few days in the future, at most a week if they are lucky...

Al.

I bet Michael Fish could do it

Michael Fish rips! - I saw him pulling into a 25 ft monster at the Cribber in Newquay!!

The problem with most surf forecasts is that you can never really tell what's going to happen in the next 2 hours - you can make an informed guess, but it's nature - it can do what the hell it likes at any given point.

I was in Perranporth once and it was 3 ft and clean. As soon as the tide turned to start going out it dropped off to less than a foot and within and hour, there was nothing left at all.

Equally you can paddle out in 3ft surf and suddenly find yourself in 8 ft sets!

With Bournemouth - a1surf.com has 3 webcams (Bournemouth Pier, Boscombe and Southbourne) - also if you call Shaun at Sorted Boardriders - he'll let you know what's happening on any given day (unless he's in the water!- but then if you phone the shop and they tell you he's gone surfing - you can bet your life it's worth heading down there!) He may be able to tell you if he thinks the swell's going to last, but no-one can predict nature accurately.

Including Michael Fish!

Cheers

Sinista

Cheers all for your advice. Really apreciated...wouldn't it be soo much better if the surf was good all the time, then life would be sweet!
How do i contact this shaun at sorted boardriders sinister? Hopefully i should be going to Bournemouth next weekend. (1st May) Hopefully the swell should pick up then, most unlikely. I know all about those webcams, so i'll keep looking at them, thanks.

Airborne.

Sorted are at:

http://www.sortedboardriders.co.uk/ />
There's a mail address, but he doesn't get back to you most of the time - you're better off phoning.

Cheers

Sinista

Thanks a lot Sinister!

Cheers for all that info, loads of new sites for me to check out during lunch breaks!

Just to continue the theme, I read somewhere that to get some decent swell along the south coast (Bournemouth to be exact) there needs to be a low pressure over the Bay of Biscay. I haven't yet found a site which gives decent pressure maps for that area, does anybody know of one?

Cheers

Dick

Hi Dick, i'm going to Bournemouth on the bank holiday weekend! Hopefully the swell should be good and the pressure should be low! For good waves! I don't care if they're only 1-2ft i just want to get in that sea at last!

I've found a pressure map for Britain on magicseaweed.com Here's the link: Check it out and reply to me if it helps you or not. Hope its useful!

http://www.poletopole.org/flash/viewer.php?MID=1&mode=pressure

quote:

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Originally posted by Thodd
Hi Dick!

get yourself on these sites..

This one is usualy reliable, but keep your eye on it it changes throughout the week.

http://www.surfsystem.co.uk/ss.shtml />
This is probably your best bet! Make your own prediction!

http://facs.scripps.edu/surf/images/euranim.gif />
If you do a small bit of homework and learn about isobars. low/high pressure systems, etc you can soon figure out what the surf will be like in your area! Of course then you have to take into account the tides, tropical storms, what the beach is like and localised swell. Its a bit of a complicated mind field but its well worth working it out!

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hey guy's,
I've been tring to find the exact source of http://facs.scripps.edu/surf/images/euranim.gif for months! I was hoping I could find more information on how to interprate the chart. myself and mates can never agree as to whether we should add twelve hours to the chart time or to our time? that is if 12 hours shouldnt be 8 hours? Can anyone help? we all agree that approximately half the wave height shown hits the beach! despite the 'issues' it is still my prefered wave height and direction predictor.
so if anyone knows! cheers....

Hi 'lonboard' or should that be longboard lloyd.

The scripps institute uses the NOAA wavewatch III model to generate the forecast charts you refer to. They are initialized twice daily at 00:00hrs GMT and 12:00hrs GMT and are based on 'zulu' time which is a military timeone that corresponds to GMT... Other abbreviations for the same time you may see are:

GMT: Greenwich Mean
UT: Universal
UTC: Universal Co-ordinated
WET: Western European
Z: Zulu

If you look at the date above the swell chart you will see that it says Sep 07 00z, or Sep 07 06z. The 00z and 06z tell you when it was last updated (midnight and 6am GMT respectively).... However, quite often I only see the midnight one (which usually xomes online around 12.30am) and we don't get to see the 6am update.

So, assuming you are UK based, add 12 hours (or at the moment 84 hours looks more promising!)... Don't forget to take into account the extra hour for BST as the times are GMT not BST.... But an hour here and there won't make any difference at all as the forecasts aren't that accurate anyway!

Hope that helps.
Al.

Try this site which is useful for providing info on how swells form and how to forecast waves:
http://www.extremehorizon.com/surfinfo.asp

quote:

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Originally posted by Northend
Try this site which is useful for providing info on how swells form and how to forecast waves:
http://www.extremehorizon.com/surfinfo.asp

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Hey try this website and i am sure you will learn alot from this. Here you can find alot of infotmation related to surfing and can gain more knowledge. have a look
http://www.extremehorizon.com/surf-shop/big_waves.html

The best forecast for example Bali, it`s not any famous one, it`s made from people that live there, so they use their knowledge to analyze all the different forecasts, it`s 11 days one!!!! check it out Bali Forecast

Hello to all.......
Good thread Thanks for sharing it.......
I am Crazy about Surfing and planning a trip to full fill my wish to learn about Surfing.I don't have any knowledge about it.Firstly want to know about the Which place should i have visited for learning Surfing and the tips for the beginner.

With regards
Will Turner
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[Edited on 25-1-2011 by willturner]