None the less the state of a sandy beach does change on both a regular basis and as part of longer cycles and it can have a very pronounced effect on the surf. You’ll surf in this same jumble of sizes and periods that was originally created. Bear in mind the swell height we give is the average height of larger waves – generally the largest wave will be about 1.5x as big as this. In all our experience with novice forecasters swell direction is one of the most overlooked factors when trying to read the forecast. A ‘swell model’ is exactly the same in principle, if we know there's a 10ft swell 500 miles away heading in this direction we can work out when it'll arrive (based on how fast it's travelling) and how big it'll be when it gets here. You get more waves, better waves and less wasted journeys. This is pretty important for us as surfers and particularly those used to surfing more local wind swells, this ‘exponential’ rather than ‘linear’ growth means that the second hour of a storm blowing will create a bigger increase in wave size than the first hour. - Panoramic, multi-view surf cams. Waves can be generated in the South Pacific and create surf on Alaskan beaches. However because of the subtle local factors we've mentioned they're a stepping stone to using the advanced swell data we provide to truly dial your call for your local break. Can someone give me an idiiot's guide as to how to use the surf reports on this site - and I really mean idiot I'm afraid. From an hour by hour view of the swell size, period and direction, through wind speeds, weather and large area charts and maps to give an idea of what is coming and how storms are creating waves. In exactly the same way incoming swell can be blocked by small local features like piers and headlands and by larger scale obstructions like offshore islands. Lets imagine you surf a point break that blocks any swells from the west, but really works nicely when the swell is coming from the south. Doubling the period gives about a 50% increase in the height of the breaking waves from the same sized swell. So now imagine sitting in the line up on your surfboard. By browsing Magicseaweed, you agree to our use of cookies. Now if you’re surfing on a beach relatively close to the storm you won’t notice too much effect from this, the different waves from the storm will all arrive at about the same time. MSW was set up over a decade ago with the sole aim of taking complicated meteorological and ocean data and interpretting it in a way that'd make it useful for predicting the surf. The next thing to check is definitely the swell period. We use cookies to deliver a reliable and personalised Magicseaweed experience. Get the latest Sète surf report including local surf height, swell period, wind and tide charts. Going out in time the accuracy diminishes somewhat. Every month 1.5 million surfers all over the world check MSW before they hit the beach. Magicseaweed.com. Considerably stronger still and even a good day can become hard to surf. While we show only the average set wave size in the main forecast hovering your mouse over this number will give a better idea of the range of waves sizes most likely, as well as a body height scale for the forecast. This same technology drives just about every modern weather forecast and it was the discovery of this data and it's usefulness to surfers that MSW used to help change the way we think about surf forecasting a decade ago. Surf Reports, Surf Forecasts, Web Cams and Surfing Photos for Spots around the Globe. The model we use on MSW offers us four different interpretations – the overall height, period and direction of all swells, the ‘primary’ (most powerful) swell, the ‘secondary’ (second most powerful) swell and ‘wind waves’. In this instance we can say there are two separate ‘swells’ running. The next thing to check is the swell direction. We use cookies to deliver a reliable and personalised Magicseaweed experience. Score access to long-range surf forecasts, and ad-free web cams with Magicseaweed Pro Surf forecasting has a learning curve just like riding waves, but you don't need to master your air reverse to get be the one in the know on the latest swells, winds and tides. The tide chart can be a little daunting at first, but it's really very simple and once you get used to it a lot easier to read than a sheet of numbers. Once they reach a water depth of approximately 1.3 times their height they start to break. Hour by hour we collate and create data including: The absolute centre piece of the website and service is the weather and swell model. It’s important to use a forecast that gives both the average steady strength but also some idea of the gust you could expect. Founded in 2002 Magicseaweed is another one of the largest and most visited surf report and surf forecasting websites in the world. Score access to long-range surf forecasts, and ad-free web cams with Magicseaweed Pro As surfers we’re waiting for the sets, the groups of bigger waves that make for the best surf. Cámara . Magic Seaweed sucks for southeast coast predictions. Long live Eyeball - simple but accurate. By browsing Magicseaweed, you agree to our use of cookies. Do bear in mind we don't have a crystal ball, we're the first and only surf forecasting company to give you some idea of the chances of the forecast changing, but this in itself is just a prediction! by anndrabochd » Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:20 am . 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