breaking wave forecast - whats the difference...

[baggins]

apologies if this has been discussed before

if you see a detailed forecast for your break and its predicting say 1ft @ 11 secs
How comes when you click on it for more details you get something back like 'Breaking wave 3ft chest high'
Is one forecasting the height of the nearest buoy and the other the actual wave at your spot?

cheers

Philbo

[baggins]

heres what i mean in case its not clear what i'm asking!

Tynemouth tomorrow @ 6am on this page looks like 1.5ft
http://magicseaweed.com/Tynemouth-Longs ... Report/26/

But if you click on the 6am forecast it shows this page with 3.5 ft breaking wave
http://magicseaweed.com/spot-forecast-d ... 1321509600

Reckon it should have enough swell to get a surfable wave based on this?

Just wondered what the difference between the 2 is and cant see any obvious links from MSW to explain what each forecast refers too (sure there used to be something to explain it all)

cheers all - hope to see you @ Tynemouth sometime!

[Vince Noir]

one forecast is the swell for that particular day. you can also get nearshore forecasts to off msw, which show a bit more accurately how much of that actually will reach your break


breaking wave height is just that - the height of the wave breaking on the shore. it depends on the nature of the beach or reef you are surfing, what the tide is doing, angle of the swell etc Depending on your spot, smaller swells can still produce head high waves if they have a good swell period i.e. lots of power. Other spots "gain" a foot or two as a result of the tide pushing in.a 3ft swell @ 18 seconds will produce bigger more powerful waves then 5ft and 5 seconds for example|

[baggins]

Thanks for making that so clear vince. Realised recently how crucial the interval time is. I find waves with higher intervals easier to catch the board and get up on.
Is the interval time between each wave or between certain sets of waves?

[Black]

Its between each wave & you'll find that the higher the interval between each wave the better the waves - as a general rule, so a really good session is likely from a 10+ second period.