Read a surf report

How to read and interpret surf reports....

This section is meant for those who arent sure how to interpret a surf report. There are a few things you must understand when looking at a surf report. You must understand your break and what affects it. This includes, geography, tides, wind, and waves. Each of these will have great impacts on how the waves are at the beach. Each of these is explained in more detail in the Guide to Surfing section but will be touched upon here as well.

Type of reports:

Cameras - Are great because they let you see if there are waves, although they can be very misleading. A wave on a camera can be much smaller or larger than it appears.

General Reports - These are reports from people who have visually looked at the break and/or are interpretting the report for you. These are very helpful indicators of what to expect, but they are not always exact, so its best to be able to look at several different variables to make your own report.

Things you will find in reports and how to interpret it:

Wave size. This can be in feet or measured by bodyparts, i.e. waist, stomach, chest, head. These give you a general idea of what the waves will look like. For more information on what these mean, look at our Guide to Surfing. When looking at wave height, you have to remember that each beach break will be different, so just because a beach near is flat, does not mean it will be flat all day or that other beaches nearby are flat as well.

Wind. Always know what the wind is doing and is going to do. Surfers want offshore winds, because they make the waves and ocean nice and calm/clean. Onshore winds make it very choppy. Offshore winds are West for us east coasters, but remember, if your beach if facing south, offshore winds would be north.

Tides. Each break is different and has different types of waves based on the tide. In the east coast area, most surfers try to go at slack tide, or mid tide. Low tide sometimes produces very shallow water that makes for dangerous surfing and high tide sometimes is too deep for the waves to break or they break too close to shore.

Geography. You must know the geography. You should be aware of rock, jetties, sandbars, etc. These will help you pick the best surfing spots. In the east, sandbars are usually our best option, or near certain jetties.

Putting it together....

The idea behind putting it all together is that you look at the cams. They can show you if there are any type of waves. Next I usually look at swell size. 2ft waves can mean different things at different spots, so you need to know how your beach handles those types of waves. But in general, if they are 2ft or thigh high, there are waves. Next I look at the wind. If the wind is offshore, that is a good sign. I also look at its speed. If it is strong, say 10 miles an hour and onshore, then I know it will be choppy and not good. If it is 2mph and onshore, the onshore winds will have little effect and it may be good. Next I look at the tides. I generally try to go out in between tides, but low tide is OK too if is a deeper low tide and high tide is OK when the waves are bigger and are breaking at high tide. Next I look at the what other reports are saying. If everything meshes together, I have a really good idea of what to expect, what boards to bring, etc. Although, even after all of this I have still been surprised when I got the beach, and sometimes even more surprised when I paddled out. The best reports are by those who are out there.

Sample Interpretation:

Geography of Beach:

Source: Google Earth Picture

Notice the beach is facing east and somewhat south. This means that we are looking wind that is going west, known as offshore. Based on the picture below, you can see that the wind is generally W or NW, which is favorable for good waves, and generally is caused by a low pressure system moving off the coast. Next notice the direction of the swell, and wave heights. It would appear that there are some small knee-waist high waves in the water. Now this all depends on the tide, but in general, you should be able to surf.

Wind and Waves:

Source: Bouy Weather Picture