Swellnet over calling wave heights

zane's picture
zane started the topic in Saturday, 28 Sep 2013 at 3:07pm

Anyone noticed this every now and again? For example today (28/9/13) the report for Coollangatta says 2ft and 3ft + at south swell magnets. I went to dbah and kingscliffe today and it was 1-2ft max.I'm not one of those guys that reckons 3ft is overhead either, I call a spade a spade.

I understand forecasts can be off but on the day when you can see it for yourself it should be fairly accurate

Just some feedback for you SW guys

sypkan's picture
sypkan's picture
sypkan Sunday, 6 Oct 2013 at 1:00pm

whatever the source the swell clearly has wobble going through it.

Junky maybe a little strong, wobbly it definitely is, clean swell it definitely is not. You guys are not being overly anal, it is what it is, it you have nothing to sell.

Ben still has his Middleton goggles on.

Yes Shaun the salty caramel chocolate mouse looks delicious.
No I have not tried it.

shaun's picture
shaun's picture
shaun Sunday, 6 Oct 2013 at 1:33pm

Next time SW calls epic, I know I have

wellymon's picture
wellymon's picture
wellymon Sunday, 6 Oct 2013 at 2:00pm

Apparently in the Saudi deserts and beyond.

A salty camel chocolate mouse hole, is a described act when an Arabian male is desperate ?

No thanks :(

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Sunday, 6 Oct 2013 at 2:30pm

Been down grade from clean to cross wobbly, slightly bumpy and no bigger than 2 ft.

By: "shaun"

Nah no downgrade at all. Friday was clean 3-4ft with offshore winds. Verified by many people outside of this forum too.

By the way shaun, we never called epic either (in fact we rarely make such claims). Our forecast was just standard with no suggestion of any quality trend.

The 'epic' reference was an actual quote - of which I've provided the source - from someone at Surfing Victoria (Head Judge Charta Bartlett); I merely reprinted it.

Let me put it to you another way. If the Swellnet forecast for Friday had been "Don't bother - it'll only be poor junky surf due to this week's westerlies", and people had logged on to see the photo below, I reckon we'd have a lot of unhappy campers giving us negative feedback.

Image

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Sunday, 6 Oct 2013 at 2:38pm

By the way, the photos looking over towards Sparrows and Steps are slightly misleading because of the deepwater between the reefs (where the wave breaks) and the shore. Once the swell pass over the reef, they then fill up in the channel, and bunch up closer together and become peakier. As such this gives the impression that the swell is of shorter period, and of a different direction.

Bird Rock is a much better location to assess the 'quality' of a groundswell because the frame consists mainly of unaffected swell energy bending into the coast.

Victoria's different to Sydney Ben, in Sydney a 10 to 12 second swell is pumping in vicco it's shit.

By: "shaun"

Nah, this was a 14-15 second swell period Shaun. But hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good whinge.

shaun's picture
shaun's picture
shaun Sunday, 6 Oct 2013 at 3:14pm

I was actually referring to the photo of bird rock/ juc, those lines look quite close together.

cheeryohreally's picture
cheeryohreally's picture
cheeryohreally Tuesday, 8 Oct 2013 at 2:01pm

Hey Ben,

Must be hard keeping it together when people take pots.

To be fair - if Swellnet are consistently overcalling it or undercalling it - people won't use the service in the long run and traffic will drop - your stats will tell you that. I have found it to be the most accurate for Vic forecasts of all the forecasts.

On a side note - a swell with a lot more West in it in Victoria - will this effect the period closer to shore than out to sea as well as the force rather than just size?

Apologies if this is a real layman's question...