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Reading the surf forecast

Surfing / Popular

Read swell, period, wind and tide before you go.

What coaches agree on

  • Check the swell period, not just the wave height - a longer period (roughly 12 seconds or more) means a stronger, better-organized wave, while a short period means a weaker, choppier one at the same height.
  • Favor offshore wind (blowing from land to sea) or no wind, since it holds the wave face up and keeps waves clean; onshore wind makes them choppy and mushy.
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  • Check which direction the swell is coming from and how it lines up with your coastline - swell that hits a beach head-on carries more size and power than swell that has to wrap around points and headlands to reach it.

Common mistakes

  • Trusting a forecast site's single wave-height number or overall color/star rating at face value, then getting skunked when the real conditions don't match, because that summary hides the swell period, wind, and tide behind it.
  • Reading the quoted wave height (like '3 to 5 feet') as a literal body-relative size, when it's really a compressed scale that translates differently at every beach and needs checking against what you've actually seen at your spot.
Understand a surf forecast
Beginner

Understand a surf forecast

Coach's take: Does exactly what the title promises - you'll actually understand the chart after this.

3.7
The Problem With Surf Forecasts
Intermediate

The Problem With Surf Forecasts

Coach's take: Best video here for someone who's sick of forecasts lying to them and wants to actually understand the weather behind the numbers.

3.3
Surf Forecasting For Dummies
Beginner

Surf Forecasting For Dummies

Coach's take: Decent practical tips, but a lot of it only works because he already knows his home break.

2.7