Surfing Waves

Hi, How accurate are the surf forcasts on magicseweed ? Looking at the swell at bracklesham on sunday, and thinking of making the trek.

Can't be certain, but i have them bookmarked on my phone to double check. Altough being only 15 minutes away from all the beaches it's not too bad for me! I'm going to check out the surf tonight because they have given a good swell of about 8ft so lets see how that plays up. Last time for me they were right and i managed to get a good 2 hours down before surd died.

MSW is a tool, not a forecast.
You need to be able to read it as a tool to make your own forecast. You need to look at swell size, period and direction, as well as the wind and tide.

A 5s period with onshore winds means it'll be just small white water mush


Remember that bracklesham needs to be a low-mid tide too.

drowningbitbybit wrote:MSW is a tool, not a forecast.
You need to be able to read it as a tool to make your own forecast. You need to look at swell size, period and direction, as well as the wind and tide.

A 5s period with onshore winds means it'll be just small white water mush


Remember that bracklesham needs to be a low-mid tide too.

And even then, much like a weather forecast, it's not hard-cast accurate. If you have a long drive I wouldn't bother chasing a swell with less than 10s period.

drowningbitbybit wrote:MSW is a tool, not a forecast.
You need to be able to read it as a tool to make your own forecast. You need to look at swell size, period and direction, as well as the wind and tide.

A 5s period with onshore winds means it'll be just small white water mush


Remember that bracklesham needs to be a low-mid tide too.

What he said.

Also you need to learn what swell size corresponds to what kind of conditions the beach you are planning to surf. Unfortunately the only real way to do this is to remember what the forecast was on the good days and not so good days. over time you should get to know what will get your beach going. There will be some times when you make the call to go surf and it is rubbish but learn from those mistakes.

I have always found the swell data to be pretty good. However, ignore the "breaking wave height" or whatever it is now because it is, for want of a better word, crap. Just focus on the swell size and period. I do also think it sometimes underestimates the strength of the wind. so if it says its going to be onshore there is a decent chance it will be very onshore.