Five Easy Tools That'll Ensure You're On The Next Swell As Soon As It Hits Your Local
“Surfing conditions across the East Coast transform from a virtual swell-famine through early January to an absolute feast this week.”
That’s what CW’s Chief Swell Forecaster Ben Macartney wrote yesterday in his swell alert for the East Coast. An absolute feast! Here is a gif of the real life footage of Ben at the CW office when he forecasted that:
Yep, it's the end of a big, dusty drought on Australia's grand old East Coast. There are waves about all of a sudden. Were you on to it?
Here are some of the quick and easy tools to keep your eyes and have you clued in to the motion in the ocean breaking near you:
The comprehensive tool you can only find here on Coastalwatch –exclusive for Coastalwatch Plus members – is a comprehensive colourful weapon that provides detailed forecast swell and wind info for all Aussie coasts, utiising several layers of forecast products including detailed seven day swell data and plethora of virtual buoy points. As the name suggest, you can track swells on it. Nifty.
2. Daily Forecasts
Half-wake up, roll over, and check your daily Coastalwatch forecast with one eye open and then either jump out and go surfing, or roll back over and get back to that weird dream you were having. Fun fact: The Daily Forecast is updated daily.
3. Ben Macartney's Detailed Forecast
When Ben Macartney isn't eating toast or playing chess, he's obsessing over maps and data and other sorts of egghead things so he can understand exactly what's going on with swells developing off the coasts all around the country and how those swells will hit our reefs, points and beaches. His detailed forecast contains all that info, is easy to read and is right at your disposal. Also, if you play chess at Chess.com, you can try and beat him. At chess that is. Not beat him beat him, with a wooden paddle or something...
The Coastalwatch network of surf cams is an incredible resource for the keen surfer. And much like the way you get your own spots dialled, say the way a tree at the back of your schoolyard oval would sway with the wind could tell you exactly what would be happening at your favourite spot around the corner, getting to know what a certain wave looks like on a surf cam, could tell you so much more about what's going on elsewhere. Alternatively, you can look up live cameras of cute kittens in inland Amercan vets. It'll give you zero indication of what the surf is like, but the kittens will be very cute.
An exclusive tool for Coastalwatch Plus members, this is the unsung hero of surf forecasting tools. Pick your location, and click in your range of peferred conditions, and then wake up to an alert any time those conditions get forecast. Your favourite spot is North Avoca, and your favourite conditions is dead-flat, a straight west swell with east winds? Well... sure, you can drop that in and be the first to know when the forecast hits that. Live that life.
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