Justin CoteSHARE
After last weekend’s debacle of a surf forecast from every major player in the market, I feel like it’s high time everyone took off their training wheels and learn how to make your own call. The great thing about being your own Sean Collins is that all the information is free and easy to find, you’ll impress your friends (or depress depending on the situation) with this new found knowledge, and most importantly, you’ll know when the waves are good, not when a Web site says the waves are good…
Offshore buoys dot the Pacific Ocean and are a source of crucial information when making surf forecasts and reports. Screen shot from www.lajollasurf.org.
Offshore Buoys
They have no vested interest in creating hype and selling ads, they don’t track page views, time spent on site or any of that other bullshit. Nope, buoys stationed out in the middle of the sea are pretty cut and dry with minimal room for human error. Here’s how it works:
A) Do not go to Surfline, Wetsand, or Wavewatch! These sites will simply tease you with claims of “XXL Swell Headed To (Fill In The Blank)”. The swell is not here yet, remain calm and head to http://www.lajollasurf.org/ and click “weather” on the top navigation bar. On the left side of the page, click “buoys”.
B) A map of the West Coast will appear, click your region of interest.
C) A ton of buoys stationed from Alaska to the Mexican border will appear. Do not panic from the information, simply click on the buoy that is closest to the spot you want to surf. For someone who likes say, Oceanside, go to the Oceanside Buoy. Right now it reads 2.6 feet 13.3 seconds. That tells us that the swell is coming at 2.6 feet every 13 seconds. As well, there are neat little arrows that show the predominant wind and swell direction. Obviously, when the arrows show a swell coming out of the north, don’t go to a south swell spot.
D) The foot measurement (3.6 feet) isn’t as important as the interval number (13 seconds). The interval tells us a lot about the size, shape, and consistency of a swell. Longer intervals generally mean bigger sets and more power behind them. Long intervals are good. A reading of 10 feet at 10 seconds means storm surf. A reading of 10 feet at 20 seconds means wax your big board and look for a pointbreak that can handle mad swell.
E) Keep checking the buoys! Every single day, log on and counter that with a real live surf check. That means no Web cams. Go check it, maybe you’ll (gasp) meet a girl at the top of the bluff and get to bypass the “Meet Single Surfers” ad on Surfline…After time, you’ll be able to see the ebb and flow of swells, when and where they’ll hit best.
F) Now that you can read the buoys, track their movements, and interpret the data, you’ll know that when a certain buoy reads 3 feet at 12 seconds during a northwest swell, your local spot will be chest high and fun.
Catch the swell on the drop, on the rise, or when it’s maxing, again, the buoys don’t lie, they just pass along information. Don’t be a Web clone, use your own skills, and don’t get fooled again!
When was the last time you got burned because of a wack surf forecast? Tell us in the comment box below!
Definitely got skunked this weekend after making a 3 hour trek due to the promising swell forecast. 5-7 w/ occasional 10 ft?? not even close. But at least I spend countless hours on surfline browsing the site, clicking on ads and buying surf gear for my trip!
wait a second here…?
surfline is whack but wetsand comes correct in my humble opinion. they never over predict shit and most all their forecasts go off what the bouys are reading at the time. i use the bouys to see whats going on the exact day im paddling out, and i use wetsand to see whats comming up for my region in a week or so. havent got it wrong on a swell theyve predicted yet, especially as of lately with these south swells socals been experiencing.
also ide like to say fuck surfing in general some of you fuck are straight lame and dont respect. boogies stay deeper in the shack anyways, props to all my homie surfers howeva
any suggestions for the right coast?
Yep, buoys and your own eyes are the ONLY real barometers to trust. Surfline, Wetsand, etc. need to die a quick death. Surfing would be much better without such websites, and everyone I know agrees.
take a look at spitcast.com. it’s surprisingly reliable.
Well remember surf line will always call face size. Also this last swell if you seeked it out you got it good. Got Baja Malibu with 10ft sets on Sunday maybe even bigger with 20knot offshores, with barrels you would not believe
Checking the buoys is a good start. There A LOT of other variables than the dominant swell though. Surfline, Wavewatch etc. don’t do shit, for where I live anyway, so we never use them for local forecasting, just the articles and traveling. Even if you think you have all the tools wired you’ll never know until you get there and check it.
Cote, poor baby, sorry you missed it. Thank goodness there are so many surfers just like you who don’t know what’s going on so some of us will be able to find great uncrowded waves.
Also, if you want to use the buoys you should learn how to use them first. Oh, and how will a buoy right on the coast improve your own surf forecast? It won’t because by the time it’s on those buoys it’s a really a surf report and then you need to be out there, and most surfers will agree that for a surf report a live camera is better than a buoy. And the buoys father off the coast grossly over report multiple swell directions so you don’t really know what swell is actually pointed toward you unless you know where to look. (Hint)
And it seems like most surfers missed the point about the swell filling in Saturday afternoon and throughout the weekend and somehow you thought it was to be pumping in Oceanside behind Catalina Island on Saturday morning? Awe, poor baby. Did you happen to see the Katin at HB?
Anyway, I’m surprised you missed it because fricken Surfline has so many damn cameras up and down the coast it was pretty easy to see where the swell was hitting and where it wasn’t. And it sucks with all the spoon feeding Surfline does, but then so many surfers still can’t figure it out! But again, bad for you but great for some of us who scored great waves over the weekend and most of this week.
Better call that whhaaaaambulance now! Or maybe you should just give up and let Surfline feed you some Gerbers for you surf info. Whaaaa!
See you out there baby (hope not).
Dr Surf
The Whaaaaabulance has been summoned…for both of us. Glad to hear you scored Doc!
it’s one thing when SurfLIE feeds surfers who don’t know how to do it for themselves. it’s another when they hype the shit of a swell before it even gets close. their bullshit needs to stop
what a bunch of fucking bullshit.
Or even better yet, use a website that provides a visualization of the important buoys for a particular beach, like stokereport.com for the san francisco bay area. check out their buoy graphs: http://stokereport.com/surf-reports/san-francisco-ocean-beach
I agree with beachbum that the stoke report is good for reporting what is happening. I also check the cdip buoy reports at pacific waverider, they give a north and a south swell for each buoy.
I am blessed to have surfed in the 60s and 70s, when you get up in the morning , chase surf and get uncrowded go outs at major surf spots. Sean Collins and Co have ruined the chance of ever getting an uncrowded go out in any of the populated locals in the US. Now , via Surfline, he is on a mission to duplicate that scenario worldwide. May he soon become an appetizer for Great Whitey!!!