95% of the bouys do not give you wave direction. Strike one. The wind direction on bouys far out are usually different than inshore wind direction. Strike two. Bathyscape severely affects swell period on the Continental Shelf. Strike three. You are out!! NEXT!!!
Man this site is just getting almost too glitchy to type a coherent response. I just lost attempt #1 to the security token dump. Long story short...currents are about steep swell angle, short periods, sideshore winds that may have just let up, and tidal changes. Buoys wont help you much with that. Closeouts are about longer periods, tide stage (lower seems to enhance closeouts) sandbar condition, wind direction (offshores seems to hold open the shoulders better) Again, not much help from the buoys.
I'll take a swing at it. Granted I will give you "not all buoys provide the same data". But will do the following- 1. Mean Wave Direction (MWD): NE ( 51 deg true ). 2. Buoy wind data may not provide what the winds are doing at the local but wind data can tell you what the "fetch" is doing with a certain storm/Low/TS/. IMO it helps to see what offshore storms are doing and in turn helps determine how it will direct swell at the coast. 1 and 2 will often coincide with one another. 3. Obviously bathymetry affects how the swell will hit the coast. Using the swell period, direction and swell height tells how it's going to hit the coast. If you are surfing reef and long period swells all the time (Hawaii) versus beach breaks (most of EC), you can still use the data to help determine how the surf is going to be. I have used buoys for 20+ years to help me learn more about the ocean. I have a ton to learn and enjoy sifting the data....but, I can't argue with standing on the beach and using your own eyes to determine if it is closed out or not
I wholeheartedly disagree. I live 5 miles from the beach. Just far enough that driving from spot to spot can be a real time waster, especially for pre-work sashes. So I rely heavily on the buoys and it's amazing how much they can indicate what spot is going to be working. I have local spots that I know will be working if the bout shows a South direction and different spots that work when its NE or E. I have spots that I know will be closing out if the period gets too high, say above 10 seconds; and there are spots where refraction might kill a ground swell once it gets above a certain magic number. So the buoys can help a LOT. But you have to combine what they're telling you with what you know about a particular spot. That has taken me a lot of time and, yes, eyes on checking, while always noting what the buoys are saying while I'm seeing what I'm seeing. And yes, I've seen the buoy data alert me to a swell no one knew was coming and helped me catch empty waves. This is why I was so pissed all that time while the buoys were out of action and not being repaired. Granted, all the info from the buoys can be useless when you pull up and realize your sand bar has shifted. That's why its good to roam around even on days when there's no surf or no good surf and just see how the sand is moving around. Taking up fishing is good for this kind of intel work.
Julieap, One thing that may help is to look at specific waves to better understand how all this stuff relates into how the wave breaks. Surfline has a series on famous breaks. The link below is for Teahupoo. http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/teahupoo-surf-mechanics_58392/ I've been using these as tutorials with my daughter as a teaching tool. There's no articles on EC beach break of course but if you go through them all it may give you a greater general understanding that you can apply to your local break(s).
I think "reading the buoys" is the most accurate wave predictor there is. If you check them religiously like I do and you're familiar with a certain spot they should tell you everything you need to know...current, size, quality, winds, etc.. If I had to drive 500 miles to go surfing without question the information/site/info I would trust to make that journey would be Buoyweather (or something like it). This site is fairly accurate followed by Magicseaweed (just something about Surfline I don't like) but I usually trust a buoy reading. As far as close outs go that has to do with tides, periods and winds. The more you surf and the more knowledgeable you become with different spots you'll start having a better idea of what to expect and when to go.
