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Thursday, May 5, 2016
Best of Spring Surf and Science
Charging Jaws is something that is beyond fear to most surfers, but the men and women who ride it well charge in with dedication. Shane Dorian's ride at Jaws this year won him the big wave ride of the year for a second year in a row. In addition, as we go to the deeper depths of the ocean, scientists have found that sharks control their fluorescence and it is seen by other sharks. In more sobering news, we're seeing that the loss of Arctic ice is changing large weather patterns in the northern hemisphere. See below for the latest news.
We've also been taking advantage of the wonderful spring weather and taking a few surf breaks to make up some WaveClocks. We have a new stack of wooden clocks for you to check out on our ETSY store. Also, in the coming weeks, we'll have some new vertical hanging clocks for you to check out. Always a great gift for a friend or something for you to hoard for your own real-time surf update!
Fluorescent Sharks As one of the oldest creatures in the sea, sharks never cease to amaze us. Researchers at Scripps have recently found that catsharks not only have biofluorescence, but they can change the contrast in their patterns.
Big Ride of the Year Billabong awards the Ride of the Year to the individual surfer who demonstrates the most committed level of big wave surfing. Shane Dorian's ride at Jaws won him the award for the second year in a row!
Cascades of Lost Ice The Arctic sea ice has less coverage every year. We've been hearing about all of the effects on the Arctic environment; however, it is also becoming evident that it's shifting bigger weather and causing problems further south.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
The Coolest on Science and Surf in the Spring
We're officially into spring and it's slowly warming up everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The USGS in Santa Cruz has also been released some fantastic maps of the coast that help visualize where some of our best surf, sand, and fish come from. Along those lines, the folks at Grist have also put together an excellent sea level rise summary, and if that's not enough, head down to the article on how extreme waves are formed! Check out the articles below.
In the spring sunshine, we've been busy using the sunny days to get new wooden WaveClock built, sanded, stained, and working! Your feedback during our survey helped out immensely in selecting the coolest stains. Check out our always updating stock at ETSY. We have about a dozen new wooden clocks coming this week. Also, share our website with your friends so they can see what the WaveClock is all about!
The Pacific Marine Sciences division of the USGS in Santa Cruz has produced some fantastic underwater maps of the Pacific Coast over the past decade. Much of the recent work is yielding unprecedented insight.
Grist has put together an informative and fun description of sea level rise through a conversation with the Climate Scientists Hotline. It helps to communicate some of the numbers thrown around.
Extreme Waves
The term "rogue waves" is often used to describe a situation where large waves result due to wave addition. While these are really just extreme storm waves, this article has a great discussion.
Friday, March 11, 2016
The New Woodies are Here!
We've been doing a little more than surfing in the past month. In fact, we've got our whole new batch of wooden WaveClocks completed! Many of you voted on your favorite stain combinations and we got some great feedback. Thank all of you for taking the time to participate in our survey. The winner was the colonial stain pictured above. Have no fear if that's not your favorite. We'll keep making up the other top choices.
Head on over to the ETSY store to see the latest just posted today. Let us know what you think at info@thewaveclock.com. Meanwhile, see below for news on the new Octopus, Jersey Surf Hall of Fame, and some crazy deep ocean sounds.
New Octopus! As part of NOAA's ocean exploration program off of Hawaii, an ROV cruising 2.7 miles below the ocean surface found this little guy. Watch updates live here.
Jersey Surf Hall of Fame Head over to the website of the New Jersey surf hall of fame. They have a great website featuring some interesting East Coast surf history!
Deep Ocean Noise NOAA is doing research in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 7 miles! Recording noise down there helps find out how deeply humans are affecting the oceans. Read about ithere.
The surf popped. And when it popped it really popped. Last Thursday at Maverick's was a day that left many saying it was one of the best ever. There is glory to behold, whether it be folks pulling together amazing drops or getting demolished from the lip. Below is some footage put together by Surfing Magazine, I am more than certain we will be seeing more great footage of that day.
The warmest 14 years in the recent history of the Earth have occurred in the 21st century. We're talking about 14 of 15 years here! Considering the ocean holds about 93% of that heat, we should be paying attention. We're working on some more articles, but see below for a good summary from Carbon Brief.
Finally, we've been building gorgeous new WaveClock's up for you and your friends to track this El Nino real-time! Big deal? I think so. Yesterday morning, I watched my WaveClock pop up 4 ft above the predicted swell to 10 ft. I was able to surf about 45 minutes alone while most people stayed home not knowing about this little unpredicted bump!
Day of Days at Maverick's
Last Thursday was ON! And it was on big. One of the best days in Maverick's for most of the folks surfing. Unfortunately, the Super Bowl in the Bay Area kept us from seeing a contest! But check out some great footage from Surfing Magazine.
Best-selling Boards
The top selling surfboards every year is a great browse and 2015 is no exception. Wider tails and quad setups are definitely prominent. Good all purpose boards that make sense when you're putting down near $1000 these days. Stab Magazine has a great summary!
Where is all the Heat!
Unfortunately the heat is NOT in the kitchen, it's in the ocean. Why unfortunate? Because it has the most potential to stick around and affect the climate. A great summary at Carbon Brief will help educate all of us on this important relationship!
The new year is here and winter is driving us forward into 2016. Crazy warm, and cold, weather all over for this holiday season driven by this massive El Niño. We're buckling down for yet another 20+ ft swell on the West Coast, and who knows what's in store now that winter is officially here.
Some interesting research from Columbia University gives the scoop on sea level rise and we've done a great review of some of the top surf forecasting websites for you. Of course, for the best wave and tide information, check out a WaveClock!
Sea Level Rise
We all know, or at least hear, about sea levels rising due to climate change, but what's really going on? The folks at Columbia University has put together an APP so you can check it out for yourself!
Surf nowcasts and forecasts
Where can you get the best information? We all have our favorite websites for getting wave information, but we've written up a review of some of our favorites. As always, you can just put a WaveClock in your room to really know.
Surfing Responsibly
As we all run to find the perfect uncrowded waves, more and more spots are discovered and developed around the world. The effects of this development are apparent in Indonesia. Check out this poignant article on how its changed.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The Holidays are here
No matter how we choose to celebrate, the biggest wish from us at the WaveClock to you, is for an amazing time of giving and happiness with friends and family. We hope you're getting a chance to relax and enjoy. On top of that we'd like to bring you fun news from around the world. There is Kelly Slater's new wave park to the continued El Niño, the last few weeks have been exciting.
Central California is expecting waves of 10 ft or greater for the entire next week. It promises waves through the Christmas holiday and hopefully fun waves through the long weekend for everyone. On top of that, continuing rain brings us into drought breaking territory.... enough to wet your whistle, or board as it may be. The CDIP models (right) show steady northwest swell for the Monterey area. Unfortunately, some of these weather systems promise steady strong winds, enough to blow your hair back! Hopefully, you can find a protected spot and enjoy the coast in it's winter glory.
Truly amazing artificial wave. Kelly's collaborators have developed a technology with a moving wedge to generate waves over 100 m long with a perfect shape. Another company with some similar technology is here.
Wooden WaveClocks
The wooden WaveClocks are ready to roll. Showing you real-time updates from your favorite wave buoy and tidal station! Our best designs are here for you.
It's not just brewing up to be strong
Many scientists are starting to feel that the present conditions could start an even larger and longer scale ocean oscillation leading to more large events. Summary in this article.
As a surfer, learning the ins and outs of the sources of wave information is like a samurai training with his sword before battle. Like the sword, the information becomes an extension of a surfers body that they can wield without thought. To really get the best out of each surf session, the complete surfer needs to learn these tools so you can tease out the right spots and the right times, just like the samurai heading confidently onto the battlefield.
There are lots (and lots) of resources to look up wave forecasts, nowcasts, and hindcasts. It can be confusing with all of the information flying around with global wave models, wave measurements, surf cams, and surf forecasts for practically every spot on the globe. We're going to review four of the top resources to obtain all of this informational power. It will be up to you to find which suits you best for your future surf adventures.
The first piece of information is what we call the nowcast. The nowcast gives us the most important information on what's happening right now from wave buoys, surf cameras, and other real-time observing systems. You can have the best forecast (a prediction of what will happen in the future) in the world, but it's of limited use in telling you what's going on right now.
The premier resource for real-time wave information in North America is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Yes .. this is going to be a North American and USA-centric article, so I will apologize in advance to our brother and sister surfers in other countries, but I trust you may find some useful tidbits in here. So our first source of information is going to be the NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). NOAA NDBC
NOAA maintains buoys across the globe that feed real-time information via satellite and radio to the NDBC. Most everyone is familiar with this system and which wave measurement buoys are closest to them. Check out the previous blog post on how wave measurements are made to learn about what these buoys show. The NDBC website
The NOAA NDBC website has worldwide wave and weather stations to give hourly data. If you are in North America, this should be your goto source for real-time wave information.
Great, but I want to know what's happening tomorrow or next week so I can plan my day! Turns out NOAA also runs one of the most widely used global wave models, WaveWatch III (WW3). The WW3 model looks at weather systems, winds, and even ice cover across the globe to most accurately simulate how waves are generated, propagate, and finally end up at your spot. Check out the site here. The Navy also maintains similar models for their operations; however, the NOAA modeling generally form the base of all surf forecasts out there.
One final site maintained under primarily public funding is the Coastal Data Information Program hosted (CDIP) by SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography. The CDIP site is full of great directional wave measurements, nowcast models based on those measurements, and focused forecasts primarily in California. The group does outstanding work maintaining these real-time resources and its worth a browse around.
The CDIP site maintains real-time data coupled with nowcast and forecast models. The site primarily focuses on the Pacific; however, there is real-time information available at many locations along the United States coasts.
Now let's talk about the dedicated surfing nowcast and forecast sites. There are literally hundreds of sites out there with one forecast or another claiming to be the best for you. Many are also trying to cram lots ads and products into each page. Let's take a look at a few key ones (in no order of rating) and see what they have to offer for you.
Surfline
Surfline is the big boy of the surf forecast websites, so we'll start there. If you haven't heard about or seen it in one way or another then you're lucky enough to live in the hinterlands of surfing where mass media isn't inundating you. Surfline is evident at almost every contest and surf related event worldwide. They provide updates every few hours predicted for spots all over the USA and many of the top spots on the globe.
Everyone knows Surfline. They provide consistent and reliable surf reports and forecasts.
So how good are they? Surfline runs global and local models similar to WW3 (or modified version thereof) and then run higher resolution models for each cluster of surf spots. For example they will run a forecast for the the Pacific and then use the results offshore of San Diego to model the San Diego coast. The nesting of models provides higher resolution to get a better forecast of how those waves will look at local wave spots. Based on the directions and periods of the swell, they can provide a forecast for each location. It's a tried and true technique which they back up with local observers to calibrate the forecast.
To top it all off, they have one of the largest surf camera networks on the globe. Its truly and impressive undertaking to get your forecast, real-time, and camera information for your spot all on one page. They employ some top meteorologists and oceanographers to keep it all running.
All praises? Well the downside is you gotta pay for subscription unless you want to watch lots of surf commercials and liberally sprinkled advertisements. Additionally, they tend to be focused on North American surf spots. It's a trade-off, but its made a good resource for a one-stop shopper that just wants to pay and have it on their desktop or smartphone. Stormsurf
In a sense, Stormsurf is the opposite end of the spectrum from the biggest "pay" website. I love these guys because it's clear they have built this site over the years out of a passion for waves. The have setup a completely free resource with minimal advertising that gives you all of the information you need. It is definitely no frills, but the most important building blocks are here including tutorials on how to develop your own forecasts!
Stormsurf offers a compilation of information from real-time sources and QuickCASTs that give an easily viewed daily description of what's on the horizon. Combined with other free resources, Stormsurf is one of my key "go to" sites.
Stormsurf has a nice coherent presentation of all of the buoys, models, forecasts, and analysis in almost any format you could want. Their "detailed reports" provide excellent commentary on the types of swell in the water and what's coming soon. I've been extremely impressed by the astute discussions of the present El Nino conditions. They have also put together fantastic tutorials on topics from wave and weather basics to how to put together your own surf forecast. All around Stormsurf is an excellent free resource with minimal ads and a large amount of information. It's not force fed to you like other sites, but the information is also complete. If you spend enough time with their resources, you'll be building your own forecasts in no time. WetSand
UPDATE - WetSand is sadly no longer with us. WetSand has undergone numerous transformations from simple bar graph forecasts that were elegant in their simplicity to a much fancier "3D" system that was a little slow. I think they were teamed with, or spawned SwellWatch. Frankly I don't really know, but the 3D system was slow and confusing even to the discerning surfer. Surfing Magazine and Swellwatch have teamed up to maintain that and I am not reviewing it here. However, WetSand has gone to a very "Hip" format that focuses on their online surf shop and a simple forecast. The forecast is clean and easy to read with only the necessary information. Even with their online shop, they tend not of overwhelm you with ads.
WetSand has a nice simple interface. It has a "hipster surfer" feel combined with their online shop, but overall is a nice easy interface with basic information.
The WetSand format for their forecasts is elegant in its simplicity. I personally love their data display, but honestly I don't use it as my primary source as I'm not sure really what's behind their forecast engine. Their online surf shop does have some fun innovative and stylish items that are worth browsing through. Magicseaweed UPDATE - Magicseaweed has been purchased by Surfstitch, but will remain separate.
For a good comprehensive global view, Magicseaweed must be mentioned. These guys have done an admirable job with more forecast spots worldwide from anyone else I have found. The format is similar to Surfline and WetSand, and they even have links to some free webcams. Overall, the list of forecasts are less comprehensive in USA than others, but its where I go for the international picture. For a minor monthly fee (a few bucks), they offer all kinds of updates and forecasts.
Magicseaweed has one of the more comprehensive lists of sites internationally. Their forecasts feature the standard range of information in a simple interface.
The Round Up
All of these folks have great services. It's really up to you where you want to go. For me, I use free resources like the NOAA websites and Stormsurf for a good analysis. It takes a little more time, but as a surfer it pays to have a better understanding of the ocean through these comprehensive resources. If you're willing to pay for cams, slick interfaces coupled with professional analysis, Surfline is hard to beat.
As an aside, the La Jolla Surfing Weather website has been around since the start of good wave information on the web. These guys have a outstanding compilation of links to public and private sources of information. They have links to everything above as well as many sources of information. It's California centered, but a comprehensive list!
Remember the best source of real-time information is from the NOAA buoys piped straight to your desk on a WaveClock Check out our Website and our ETSY store for big sales on WaveClocks as well as the newest available items at your fingertips. Enter KSCOKSCO for a 10% discount!
In the spring sunshine, we've been busy using the sunny days to get new wooden WaveClock built, sanded, stained, and working! Your feedback during our survey helped out immensely in selecting the coolest stains. 
Central California is expecting waves
