Whats going on guys I'm fairly new to reading reports and I thought I had a pretty solid idea of what to look for but apparently not. I'm from Long Island NY, looking at the Fire Island swell forecast and there was a reported offshore wind with a SSE swell for this morning and when I went out, nothing was out there. The tide was the only thing off it was in between high going to low when low is better but I don't think it would affect it that much where waves were barely breaking. I read that there was a 4 foot swell with a 7 second period with 5mph offshore winds.. thought that would produce some solid waves but there was nothing. Anything I'm missing? What should I be looking for? HELP
Check the cam's my man. Many of us have been skunked by the reports and many of us have had much success when the reports** called for slop, bottom line is you can never solely rely on them because no one can 100% predict the weather.. Use the report/predictions as more of a guide line, and know how your surf spot reacts to conditions and tides. The best thing to do is go to the beach and see whats going on, second best thing (and more economical) is using the cams and other indicators to make a good guess. I was debating going out but decided to wait and try for tomorrow. Where did you go today and what time? Ive been looking at the Gilgo cam all day lol
Welcome to east coast surfing my friend, fickle is the best term to describe our surf. If the swell your speaking is groundswell, then an outgoing tide will usually steal most of its juice. Incoming is more ideal
Yeah I ran out to gilgo this morning around 6am and it was dead, the reports called for waist-chest but they were barely peaking it was super depressing lol. I'm taking the day off tomorrow and going out to Demo so lets hope we got something there
I think maybe...just because the offshore buoy readings says something...that can't be your only source of info. Compare to other things...Like how long did you have offshore winds. Maybe that's keeping the swell from reaching coast..or direction of that swell...You have to look at a combo of everything...and of coarse camera. Down south here...there is no substitute for Swellinfo help with swell ...but for example...for current wind and wind forecast ...nothing better ( to me ) than Wind Alert. This app. is accurate under an hour as to when the wind will switch. Turning Red to Green on the swellinfo chart is not always that accurate..so this has helped a lot with timing....I also will compare all that to local and Noaa Weather predictions ...Then try to make my own determinations...Since I moved away from the beach , it is now a two hour drive...so I have learned to take advantage of more that one source of information, and I must say I am rarely disappointed. Oh...yes..hard to beat the Camera. We have a live, free one at the pier...so I can even see some of the wave action at night...Look at Everything...then be your own forecaster.
