How to use surf forecast

[jb514]

I'm trying to surf forecasting websites and I've found that magicseaweed.com is pretty good. I'm a little confused to how I go about using it. I'm not really sure what swells and periods to look for or how to tell what tides are best. For Malibu, where I plan on surfing more in the future, the site gives a better rating for Monday the 20th with a 2.5 ft at 8 sec than today, Sunday at 4-5 ft at 5-6 sec. What should I be looking for when determining what days to surf and where to surf?

[naniekso]

the period(the 5-6 seconds) are all about the swell direction. Imagine if your in a bathtub and i drop an apple('m eatn one right now haha) the period is the time between the tips of the waves, between each other. <----------SO TURNING ALL THAT GARBLE from science into englishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the longer the periods, the faster the waves travels. longer period waves have more energy than short period ones and when they hit the shore they can jack up to a greater size than their open ocean wave height would suggest. As a rough guide, wave periods of less than 9s tend to be from locally generated winds and are less likely to produce good surf.

somtimes waves with less periods mean the place where you go to surf at more likely is hit with swells.

i would use surfline. its nice for socal because it has cameras and live reports(people who acctualy sit there for like 5 mins and report on what they see)