Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

surf reports online - what to look for?

Options
  • 09-05-2008 5:08pm
    #1
    SonOfPerdition
    Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭


    hi folks,

    my wife and i spent last weekend up in donegal and brought our boards with us. unfortunately there was very little waves to surf on so i had a look online this week for any web sites giving surf reports to improve our chances of catching waves next time.

    i found this one http://magicseaweed.com/UK-Ireland-Surf-Forecast/1/ and it seems to do the job perfectly.

    only problem is .. i'm not sure what to look for and what is good/bad.

    so what sort of swell should a beginner be looking for?
    is the period between swells significant?

    what about tides? should we be steering clear of tides going out or coming in? i hadn't thought about tides until someone asked me about ti and i had to admit i hadn't a clue.

    any advice much appreciated!
    SOP


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    promethius
    Registered Users Posts: 1,103 ✭✭✭promethius


    Magic seaweed is a good site.

    You would want small enough waves for beginners but a swell gives different beaches very different sized waves, take sligo for example.
    A swell could give you 6 feet faces at strandhill and up in streedagh maybe 2 feet.

    The wind is our enemy in ireland, ideally for most places you want a gentle off shore wind mabe 5mph or so. If it's blowing on shore it's going to be getting messy once it gets over about 5mph.

    It's period between waves and yes it's very important.
    The longer the period the more powerful (in general) the waves will be.
    You'd like to see something in double figures/

    A lot of places can't be surfed on a full tide as the water hitting the shore and going back out kind of cancels out the wave, generally you'd want to surf a rising or falling tide.


    Swell direction is also important you need to check the way the beach faces to see if the swell can make it through/

    Finally the height figures on magic seaweed are i think swell hiehgt, waves will be much lower/

    Happy surfing bro! it's the source!!
    in a hurry now let me know what you think i can get more specific


  • Options
    #3
    SonOfPerdition
    Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭SonOfPerdition


    thanks promethius,

    as ever a fountain of information! :)

    i'm off to study the predictions for this weekend!

    SOP


  • Options
    #4
    promethius
    Registered Users Posts: 1,103 ✭✭✭promethius


    No worries SOP.
    Not too much swell for this weekend but fingers crossed for some small stuff. Was down in lahinch last night for a surf it was working real nice. Lots of shoulder high sets with the wind off shore keeping the waves very clean.


Advertisement