MSW vs. Surfline Wave Heights

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

I mention buoys to people here and I get confused looks. Closest buoy to me is 170 NM away so a good 8 hours or so for wave travel time. That makes the buoy the best forecast tool and real time indicator for anything within 8 hours.

After you watch the buoys for years on end, you know what swells do what and where to go.

Why would you gt buoy data anywhere other than NDBC?

Yup. Buoys.

Get the raw data and combine that with your experience of how these swell/wind/tide conditions manifest themselves at the spots you surf, then go down there and fucking look.

 

[JeffRSpicoli]

So they have boats or cams out in the ocean so they see the back?

Do Hawaiians surf the backs of waves?

I tend to surf the middle

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

I tend to surf the middle

Are yo Hawaiian?

 

[JeffRSpicoli]

Are yo Hawaiian?

No, I'm just an ordinary fellow living in extraordinary times.

 

[flyinraptr]

I like the idea behind that lazysurfer app. You rate your session and it logs the buoy info, wind, swell etc...at the time for that location. Than more times you surf there and log/rate, the more accurate it is. Works pretty well and I can drop comments on my logs incase I wish I had a different board or something that day. Some of the spots I surf are super finicky and surfline/msw are almost always wrong so this works much better for me.

Checking it out .... i like the idea as well .... being able to compare past sessions as far as swell angle etc ...

 

[2surf]

Swell height and wave interval. A two-foot swell with a 20-second interval can get pretty big when it hits a reef. Whereas a 2-foot wave at a 5-second interval is a knee-slapper.

 

[Swallow Tail]

Happy to hear the surf reports throwing people off and misguiding.

keep up the good work Surfline n MSW!!


learn what spots work w what swell sizes, periods, directions, wind n tide. NOTHING beats first hand knowledge and experience. That’s how ya fckn score - by putting in the time.



For free buoy data - I really like the Buoy Buddy app.

 

[kane]

Stormsurf quick cast and the buoys are all I use. Use to glance at surfline cams/reports but stopped once they required a subscription.