Anyone subscribe to their swell forcasting service. Its $50 a year. Curious if its worth it for the Santa Cruz area. anyone?
Don’t subscribe to surfline so can’t vouch for the service but I think I get enough from the bouy reports http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ and the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center http://152.80.49.210/PUBLIC/ to know if I can expect any surf. Mike>>> Anyone subscribe to their swell forcasting service. Its $50 a year. > Curious if its worth it for the Santa Cruz area. anyone?
I subscribe to Surfline, though it wasn’t fifty a year when I subscribed. As you probably know, you get the cams and the morning report for free. I can’t say I’ve found a good use for the LOLA computer, but I check the forecast for the upcoming week every afternoon, which is not specific to Santa Cruz but does cover Northern California pretty well. It does help me plan my week (around surfing of course) because you can read about potential storms and swells that don’t show on the coastal buoys, however Stormsurf seems to do pretty much the same thing more or less as well. I usually check Pacific WaveRider and the coast buoys also. Is it worth fifty a year? It’s too close a call for me to say.
I subscribe to surfline and check it everyday. I work a mile from the beach (Tamarack in Carlsbad, CA) and live three miles inland (paradise). After my fifth grade students leave, I check the surf online and decide from there what to do. If the waves are good, I run home, grab the board and go. If the waves stink, I stay a little late and get some work done. So, it’s worth it to me. If I have to pay eighty bucks next year I won’t do it. It really came in handy leading up to my trip to the North Shore last February. It was flat for two weeks, and I was worried I wouldn’t get any “big ones.” Well, a swell started filling in a couple days before I went, and I was stoked. The waves looked fun and playful online, a couple feet overhead. However, what I saw when I got there made me split my pants. I have never seen that much water moving in so many different directions in my life. You would think that with waves that big that getting outside might be a problem. Nope, it’s getting back in that worried me. The rip at Sunset was faster than any human being could ever paddle, and I realized (standing on the beach) that I was in over my head. It took me two days to get the nerve to paddle out, and it wasn’t at Sunset. I went out at Ehuekai (sp?) Beach Park for some head high barrels. Very fun. Okay, I am way off the subject. The real deal is bouys and wind. Get those wired and you’ll know it all.
Here is a site that you might find easier for the buoy readings. http://facs.scripps.edu/surf/buoylist.html
Hi Tib, I got in on the surfline forecast early and ended up not paying much. I don’t know if I will re-subscribe when it’s time, it depends on the price. In reality I don’t use the surfline forecasting features much. What I use it for the most is the live surfcams. I live in Santa Cruz too, and I surf mostly the eastside and beaches, so I look at Pleasure Point, the Lane and Marina. (Incidentally, I keep a detailed surf diary and record a lot of data every time I go surfing so that I can learn more about forecasting and why a spot has surf vs. why it doesn’t.) The sites I use for wave forecasting are: http://facs.scripps.edu/surf/buoylist.html (Combined Buoy reports, to see where the swell is, where it is coming from, or to double check Buoy 46042, Monterey buoy, if it’s down or expereincing erratic or inconsistent readings.) http://www.stormsurf.com/page2/forecast/shortcast/quikcast.html (Quick cast for a quick look at the forecast now and into the near future, and Pacific Surf Forecast for a more detailed look at the forecast, the link is up at the top of the page. There’s a good report of a south swell that may be heading our way on the site right now.) http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.phtml?$station=46042 This is the good ol’ Monterey Bay buoy. You can’t miss with this one, especially if the readings are high numerically re wave height, swell height, swell direction, and swell period. If you see 10-10-NW-22 seconds…go surfing!!! But really for everyday surfing nothing beats putting your eyes on the waves. The numbers can be terrible, the surf forecast can be terrible, yet periodically on any given day you can get great, fun, uncrowded waves just by being at the right place, at the right time. sur4evr, nib