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Topic: Good website for Swell Info?  (Read 1830 times)

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snakecharmer

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  • Location: San Mateo, CA
  • Date Registered: Dec 2015
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I'm looking for a good website for information on the swell, mostly interested in HMB, Linda Mar, Muir, and Bolinas.

Most of what I can find is surf reports that seem pretty unreliable, and tell me little of what it will feel like on the water.

Suggestions and links please.
Fish laugh when I paddle by.  Sometimes they laugh so hard they fall on my hook.


FishingAddict

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  • Location: Fremont
  • Date Registered: Nov 2007
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Its called a Weather Forecast or a prediction.  They are never 100% accurate. 
2018 Hobie Revolution 13 Cheeesy Orange Papaya
2019 Hobie Revolution 11 Seagrass Green


snakecharmer

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Its called a Weather Forecast or a prediction.  They are never 100% accurate.

Yes.  Which one do you use?  I'm more interested in usability.  Surfers want different information than kayakers.
Fish laugh when I paddle by.  Sometimes they laugh so hard they fall on my hook.


FishingAddict

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  • Date Registered: Nov 2007
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« Last Edit: June 14, 2016, 02:07:19 PM by FishingAddict »
2018 Hobie Revolution 13 Cheeesy Orange Papaya
2019 Hobie Revolution 11 Seagrass Green


crash

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"SCIENCE SUCKS" - bmb


Dale L

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  • Location: Livermore
  • Date Registered: Dec 2005
  • Posts: 4966
Windfinder works best for me.

http://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-122.47637&lat=37.49075#.V2BvbrsrLq5

https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/pacifica

http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Linda-Mar-1/forecasts/latest/six_day

I like the weather.gov/mapclick site because it works for any exact point you put your cursor on south of pt arena, (north of pt arena it defaults to the zone forecast (almost useless)).
I like windfinder for the layout of the forecast page.

As for how it feels OTW, by reading forecasts and comparing that to what you experienced will help you build an inventory of knowledge to answer that question.  For any given spot;  swell height, period, and direction, are the main players, then there's the number of swells involved, often there are 2 different swells (sometimes more) like 4ft NW and 2ft S.  They can at times stack up, or sorta cancel each other out making for mixed seas and a sucky day, all the while not having an individual forecasted swell over 4 ft which could be a nice day. 

Then there's wind, speed, direction and consistency, which besides being a pain to paddle against generate wind waves, (on top of swell height).

I guess what I'm trying to point out is that there's so much that goes into answering that question................

Lot of discussion on it around the site, I'll see if I dig up a favorite post on it.



Dale L

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airushsf

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  • Location: Pebble Beach, CA
  • Date Registered: Jun 2011
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A little late to the discussion - I guess I need to spend more time on the internet or something?

As a surfer & kitesurfer, I actually spend almost all of my internet time checking weather forecasts for wind & swell.  In my opinion, one of the best and most accurate swell forecasters is Stormsurf.com.  Here's a link to the Pacific Forecast that's focused on the SF Bay Area:

http://www.stormsurf.com/page2/forecast/forecast/current.shtml

There are tons of links to the raw data he uses, and some great tutorials so you can start learning to forecast on your own.  Play around there if you want to go deeper, or just read his forecasts so you know what coming.


57FISHY

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