Accuracy of Reports?

It looks on the webcam as pretty small. I would have said 2-3 foot.

i dont know u, but you may only be one foot tall, which I guess would be over head height. It is all about perception and who knows if the reporter just looked at the surf as he cruised down the street or if he had sat for a while a watched it. Dont take the reports as gospell, thats why other tools are present the obvious being the webcam. I know I have gone for a surf and thought it was good, but when you read the report it may say something like dont bother.

I am not from that area, but from my understanding when it becomes too big and unrideable, dont you go to Nth Bondi?

Nah I'm with you fti .... either there are some real plonkers reporting for swellnet or occasionally they just guess the conditions while warning their lazy butts. mtw also makes a good point about reporters making their call from a car, our local reporter does this and gee he get it so wrong. But, I confess I love all of this stuff for my own devious reasons ....

think long and hard about it...if you had the power to "maybe" regulate crowds, what would you do?

Conspiracy theories about surf reports are hilarious.

ftl, our surf reports across southern NSW today ranged between 2ft in Wollongong (as it doesn't pick up S'ly swells very well) to 3-4ft in the Hunter. Our Bondi reporter Jono surfs at Bondi every day and is without a doubt the most reliable source of surf info in eastern Sydney.

The main issue here is that everyone perceives the surf in a different way. If you asked a random selection of ten people what the surf was like at Bondi today, you'd probably get ten completely different answers - that's just human nature. Everyone has a different perception of what 'good' surf is, as it depends on each surfer's experience, skill and preferences (some surfers won't surf beachbreaks, others only want to surf righthanders, some surfers won't bother unless it's 4ft, etc).

The key to getting value out of the surf reports is to identify the trends between each day's report, as reported by that reporter. Over time you'll get a feel for how each reporter sees the surf, and you'll be able to match that against your preferences.

Failing that, you can check our live surfcams!

or you can go to the beach and have a look for yourself!

ftl, I doubt that the surf was 5-6ft yesterday, but given the 3-4ft reports in the Hunter (and the fact that Bondi picks up south swells really well), there's a good possibility that it was undercalled slightly and was around the 4ft mark.

However, it's also worth noting that our reporters usually only check the surf for 10-15mins, and use their experience to gauge the overall conditions for the written report on our website. Distant, long period groundswells - as was present over the weekend - often have lengthy breaks between sets, so it's plausible that Jono rocked up between sets and observed smaller sets of waves.

Almost all of our reporters take pics with their reports (which helps to verify completely written words), but speaking from personal experience, it's sometimes hard to be always sure whether the ocean state you're looking at at that point in time is a true reflection of the average conditions to be experienced during the day. And in contrast to the weekend just been, wave heights may sometimes be overestimated if the reporter rocks up during an unusually large set, and considers that to be reflective of the average conditions.

At the end of the day, we try to give you as many tools as possible (forecasts, reports, surfcams, latest weather observations) to make your own call on whether you want to go surfing. And we'd like to think that you'll find all of these tools really useful whenever you check the site.

good call antifroth, nothing beats eyeballing it yourself.

Doing the surf report must have a degree of crystal balling about it. These guys spend 15 minutes on the beach in the morning and if they are a foot out by the afternoon, everyone craps themselves. The reporters write the report up, which is opinion based (opposed to fact), how about giving these guys a break and be thankful that we can access reports, articles, webcams etc and we are not paying subscriptions for it.

Yeah, sometimes the reports are questionable, but use the tools from this website along with tools from other websites, then you should be able to paint yourself a picture on where and when to go for a surf.

I think Swellnet is a shit hot website!

double overhead? Really, that is BIG !! Central Coast had nothing like that. I find most of the reports are pretty accurate, although we only have one for the whole region so variability is a factor depending on where you are on the coast.

This is all very funny.

Surf forecasting and reporting is a matter of personal opinion and that's what makes it interesting for all of us but defending the reporters and swellnet (see above) well that is one big laugh. Continuing the humour theme here because surf reporting is not an exact science surely we can give swellnet and its reporters as much stick as we like just like its our birthright as Australians to question everything or everybody in authority.

E.G. AFL umpires ..... "you bling maggot where did you get that from you fucking idiot, stop mincing around the ground like a nancyboy and let the men play a man's game" If you think I'm over the top with this quote just sit near any Collingwood fan game day.

Anyway I say give it to them guys, they do a pretty good job for $$$ but they are not beyond the reach of a good bagging.

Nah ftl, it's all good. Everyone is entitled their opinion, and, within reason, they're entitled to express it on here.

Of course, it's up to the readers if they listen to it or not...

Right on Stunet.

But how about getting the guys and gals that report for you a spellchecker. If the swell is "too" big it is not spelt "to".

Several of your intrepid reporters routinely make this error. Your Westernport reporter in Vicco is a serial offender.

floyd, a spellchecker won't pick up that 'error' - unfortunately it requires user intervention.

I was plonkered

Nah ftl, it's all good. Everyone is entitled their opinion, and, within reason, they're entitled to express it on here.

Of course, it's up to the readers if they listen to it or not...

By: "stunet"

Yeah, Stunet, opinions are like arseholes - everyone's got one. And a good portion of these stink! That applies in both cases.

The following was the surf report for Western Port today:

"Waves should be good all day at Flinders get out there. HUGE SALE AT THE SHOP 40% OFF EVERYTING THIS WEEKEND. 20% OFF STOCK BOARDS. Shane, Waters Retro, Russell st Balnarring."

Would love a more in depth report rather than using the report as an opportunity to flog a sale.

I'm cool with advertising a sale so long as the surf report was accurate. Was it?

It was not the accuracy of the reports, yes we had waves all day at Flinders, however it would be nice for a little more detail. How about commenting on the reefs in side the bay. The reporter from Mornington peninsula made a reference that inside the bay should be ok for begginers or mals. This statement was straight out incorrect, inside the bay yesterday was pretty good for all surf crafts. The issue I had was not so much what was said in the surf report but what was not said, then to finish the report flogging a sale at his shop, please! I guess Saturdays report was more detail than todays report, because the sale must be going well as he has not even posted one.

ban all reports. or just post everyday "its crappy out there. stay home or go to work".

oh, and bring on the scary shark article every friday, please

Darn you maks-zorin, you are one sick puppy, but I am warming to your point of view except where I live we do have sharks, big ones and the commerical divers think surfers are nuts.

Hey mtw, I checked on a map and Flinders is on the edge of Westernport Bay so presumably that is what you mean about "reefs in side the bay". As the crow flys its about 4 miles? so presumably you would be across what it means for inside the bay if you got a Flinders report. If you don't perhaps spend more time down there and less on the computer.

Surf Report from Western Port:

"A little onshore but still nice and clean. HUGE SALE ON AT THE SHOP 40% OFF EVERTHING FROM WINTER JACKETS TO BEACH UMBERELLAS. 20% of stock boards in shop. Shane, Waters Retro shop 2/10 russell st, Balnarring. "

90% off all useful information on Saturdays report and if he decides not to do a report tommorow we will have 100% off all Sunday reports, Tides are still wrong, webcam does not work, this is bullshit!

In this reporters opinion what time will the surf peak, what reefs are working and which ones are not? How about some more useful information and how about getting the info corrected?

If you want to check the surf for Western Port, screw this goose, go to www.triggerbrothers.com.au and check out the webcams, they actually work!

It was funny as soon as I put my comment on the forum, the crap about the sale mysteriously disapeared. When you take a look at what was said about the surf:

"A little onshore but still nice and clean"

What helpful information does that provide? I do not place any form of accuracy on the bloke who writes the surf report, would even question if the guy can even surf. But when the tides have never been correct and the local webcam at Flinders has not worked for months, besides the photos, what use is the report????

I am not saying this website is crap, on the contrary the articles are great and the forum is a lot of fun, but I reckon a a deaf and blind kid from Cambodia could give a more thorough report than the one we are currently getting from the reporter at Western
Port.

For a more accurate report use:

Tides - http://tides.willyweather.com.au/vic/mornington-peninsula/shoreham.html

Webcams: http://www.triggerbrothers.com.au/

Outlook: http://mpora.com/surf-report/australasia/-/victoria/

and obviously BOM will give you anything else that you need when making an informed decision when going for a surf.

FTL, i dont think the lack of information is anything to do with any form of conspiracy theories to combat crowds. I think it comes down to good old fashioned laziness.The best thing to do is to find sites that I have listed above which is equivalent to your area and monitor them under different conditions, then you will start to undertsand how your favourites surf places react to different conditions and be able to make an informed decision on which direction to drive.

mtw, I edited the Western Port report after seeing your post, and have since spoken to our reporter about the sale stuff - it won't happen again (he wasn't aware that this was a problem). He's also going to embellish his reports a little more as well, which I'm sure you'll appreciate (btw, Shane is a long time WP surfer, and knows the coast as good as anyone else).

Also, the tide issue should be fixed on Monday. We outsource our tide data from Weatherzone and it had been incorrectly geo-mapped to Western Port instead of Port Phillip Heads (ironic actually.. Western Port being mapped to Western Port is actually useless for surfers - you can see how the initial error was made). Unfortunately this slipped under the net when we rechecked all Victorian tide data a few months ago.

And as for the surfcam - we've had some issues at Flinders ever since there was a lightning storm down there several months ago. I have personally been on site to remedy the problem, and have since decided to write off all of the equipment ($5K) and start again. We're waiting on a favourable window of opportunity with our electrician before reinstalling the new surfcam.. plus a few more as well.

Aside from these small glitches, the remaining Vic surf reports and tides have been fine for many months, which I'm sure offer plenty of value to our readers.

If you have any more concerns, please let me know.

Thanks for the nice words ftl.. that's actually my Manly surf report you quoted there. Glad you enjoy the morning text and images.

Thanks for the action Ben. My apologies to Shane, you know how it goes when you start getting in the keyboard nazi frame of mind. I have seen his grey Falcon cruising the coast a few times, so I know that he is a surfer. My apologies to the cambodian child who I also mentioned as well. Talking about good surf reports, the guy at Phillip Island is always on the money.

Look forward to the issues being rectified. It is a great web site!

Thernalben, in your 24/7/2010 7.22pm post you used the word embellish which I understood to mean exaggerate.

Is this the reason why onshore crappy conditions can been given ratings of 5/10 to 7/10 in daily surf reports?

Can you please clarify. Thank you.

floyd, 'embellish' was probably the wrong word to use. I just meant that the reports would include more text.

The ratings are all relevant to the local break, the surf trends over previous weeks/months plus the reporter's own interpretation. A 8/10 day on the Mid Coast, South Australia, would barely crack 3/10 in Margaret River. Similarly, a clean 2-3ft day in Torquay is usually worth just 5/10, but if it's been flat for months it'll often rate higher, relative to the length of the flat spell.

With thirty different reporters - and therefore thirty different personalities and levels of surfing experience from thirty different surfing regions around the country - it's hard to get a consistent product right across the site.. but then again that's the beauty of Swellnet. Over time you'll get to know the feel for each reporter, which will make the service even more beneficial.

Ha Ha Ha, Shane who does the Western Port Report, your report is more informative but read it in the same tone you would read a childrens story, your report sounds like it is out of an episode of Play School.

I am really glad the sun had risen this morning, you could have possibly added that Gemima was riding her old school Mal at Shoreham and Big Ted was ripping up the face at Flinders. Another idea for you, if the surf is crap, maybe come up with some art and craft ideas that us surfers can participate in, would really enhance you new comprehensive style of reporting.

Thanks Ben and Shane, the reports are a lot better. Really appreciate you taking the criticism on board!

all i know is we must accidently get the surf reports for another planet sometimes they are that wrong