may I say ...

peterb's picture
peterb started the topic in Monday, 21 Oct 2013 at 1:04pm

... that some of the pics going up on the swellnet front page are ok, extremely so. thanks

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 21 Oct 2013 at 1:25pm

Bet they weren't riding waves like that in 1965, eh Pete?

jwithay's picture
jwithay's picture
jwithay Monday, 21 Oct 2013 at 2:00pm

Agreed Peter. How are those Fishos bombs from Mackay! Phwoar!

peterb's picture
peterb's picture
peterb Monday, 21 Oct 2013 at 2:04pm

they just seemed like it Stu ..

peterb's picture
peterb's picture
peterb Monday, 21 Oct 2013 at 4:47pm

- geez mate, and you just did all this because I gave your pics a wrap ..

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 21 Oct 2013 at 5:15pm

Just wait till tomorrow's trick Pete. Make sure you've got your raincoat on.

staitey's picture
staitey's picture
staitey Thursday, 31 Oct 2013 at 4:17pm

May I say............congratulations on all the hard work you guys must've put into the new site. Very detailed.

I must admit though I feel as though things are a bit more 'sterile' than they used to be. Why bother with places that don't even have surf( Northern Territory, Mitchell River, Karumba) to mention on a few of the many that are on here now? Of course they are not hurting me but what's the point of it all? Are you going for an international audience?

I know you guys are getting reporting back etc but I think the personal / groundroots feel to the site has gone now. Missing the extended report, learnt alot reading those over the years.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 31 Oct 2013 at 4:52pm

Yeah there's always that trade off staitey - it's hard to maintain a 'grass roots' feel when trying to compete with all of the big international forecasting websites.

We've had these (automated forecasting) systems running in the backend for ages and it doesn't take much extra effort to replicate the forecasting services from Australia to anywhere in the world... so why not add them in? We get lots of international visitors looking at our articles and galleries, so it's nice to keep them coming back a little more with the promise of a good forecast outlook.

As for the Northern Territory - you'd be surprised, but we've actually had a number of requests for forecasts at these locations over the last few years. And during cyclone events it's interesting to get a grip on *what* waves could be happening around there (we'll run these into articles).

Thanks for your comments though. There's a long way to go until we roll out all of the new functionality and we'll continue to tweak the look n' feel throughout this period too.

indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming's picture
indo-dreaming Thursday, 31 Oct 2013 at 6:04pm

I know a guy who lives in NT and saw some pics of waves not epic, but still shocked me on the size and quality, looking at a map you would just think how?

But despite what swellnet tells you there is no waves, i repeat no waves in the pacific area of indo :(

staitey's picture
staitey's picture
staitey Friday, 1 Nov 2013 at 9:57am

Thermalben……….nice to hear you take my comments as constructive rather than get defensive over them. Despite what I think, I can understand what you're trying to achieve. Its like anything new we all get used to it after a while. I'll still visit the site most days and have recommended it to many a surfing friend when looking for forecasts etc. Good luck with it all and look forward to seeing it unfold.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Friday, 1 Nov 2013 at 10:06am

All good staitey - I love to hear what people think, even if it's a negative comment. Funny thing is that we've received a handful of negative emails over the last week or so, but once I explain the reason for the changes and how they can best utilise the new services, they often change their minds and are sometimes convinced that we've actually done the right thing.

But if there's one thing I've learnt in 12 years of running Swellnet - it's that you can't please everyone.

As long as you stay true to your ambition - as I believe we've done since day 1 - you'll always get there in the end. Main thing is to keep on enjoying the work though! That's the only reason we're all here running the website - because we love what we do.

yocal's picture
yocal's picture
yocal Friday, 1 Nov 2013 at 12:05pm

I like the fact that any punter can submit their photos and have a chance at getting a run or a WOTD. I would love to see this aspect preserved...

I get more amped on seeing different waves around OZ on fire, with the odd Indo/Pacific shots from a surf trip, rather than Mick, Kelly, Dane and Parko at Cloudbreak. Not saying I dislike the latter as content (always good to see some big vertical hacks on big waves), but want to express the opinion that the amateur shots are why I have always preferred Swellnet before Surfline or Coastalwatch to get the forecasts and Surf news.

I would argue that this is a major point of Swellnet's differentiation, and why I reckon that the 'grass roots' appeal is probably a big pull for your current and future audience.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Friday, 1 Nov 2013 at 12:15pm

All good points yocal.

For what it's worth, the Cloudbreak session is the first time in ages that I can remember Swellnet running a gallery of ASP World Tour surfers in a free surfing session like this - you're absolutely right, it's generally out of character for us.

But one of the reason we ran the images (besides the fact that they were bloody good) was because we actually pointed a number of those surfers towards this swell a week and a half ago (we've been forecasting for Mick's new movie for some time now). So, having been hotly anticipating the results for quite some time, we were stoked to see everything come in bang on expectations.

yocal's picture
yocal's picture
yocal Friday, 1 Nov 2013 at 4:32pm

nice one. Does Swellnet get any Kudos in the movie? Its going to be a cracker I reckon!

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Friday, 1 Nov 2013 at 4:40pm

Yeah they scored some good waves at some funky locations, can't wait to see the footage myself. We're not a part of the movie but you'll see some attribution in the credits.