Money well spent
Expect a decrease in crowds to follow : )

Hey Stu,
Out of curiosity I'd be interested to hear the explanation behind why the above cams are considered premium (for at least some I'm guessing it's the fickle nature of required conditions)? Will be interesting to see where the new cams land as well. Appreciate the heads up and transparency as well, keep up the good work

I wonder if VicLocal will pay for subscription to complain in forecaster notes.

I got into a funny little discussion with a Californian guy who has been living in Australia in Bali a few weeks back.

He was of the impression that the $8.00 a month subscription was expensive.
And no matter how much I tried to get him to see otherwise, by breaking it down into cost per day/week etc he just wouldn’t admit that it’s actually fuck all to pay for great content.

Some people!

Ps, that’s funny N Bone. You’ll probably be able to hear him screaming from Portsea once he reads this article.

A move in the right direction. Looking forward to learning about the roadmap for the proprietary forecasting tools...

Given how woefully inaccurate the South Arm forecast is, why the hell would I pay you money for that?
Also, I guarantee all you subscribing suckers that moving to a "advertising free" model will NOT mean advertising free.
In the many decades I have been a surfer, I have watched the rich destroy coastal towns, the gentrification of surfing and now the rich are moving in to claim every aspect of surfing.
Wetsuits over 1000K. the last board I had made was over 1k.
Petrol at 1.60 and no sign of it going down.
Demolition of working wages and holiday pay.
You know what? fuck you swellnet, you fat greedy bastards. Just another scumbag trying to gouge a dollar out of me.
Great.
Again - with surf reports so grossly and consistently inaccurate, why should I pay for it?
I only come here for a very quick summary of swell direction & wind forecast. I can still get that off the BOM for nothing, and do my own long-term forecasting. It'll just take a bit longer to click on the info I need.
But when i see that fleet of shiny BMW's with paddle boards strapped on, I'll know for sure it's the swellnet staff enjoying their "hard earned" cash.

Hi Stu, any chance of getting said premium cams up on the app? It's a pretty useful tool but I find myself having to flit between the app and the website for certain features...

Any news about mobile app? It is so much worse then web that I've just made a shortcut to website and stopped using it...
IMO it would be another great premium advantage.

Yeah, Nah.
Cheers for the years tho, and all the best with it.
The editorials are ok, I think it's more the relationships between Stu and co and the regular commenters, and slight tensions and mutual kudosis, that shapes the narratives. Which, I probably read more out of habit than anything. The stories about characters from the past are good, and the forecasting is probably the best it can be given data and modelling limitations. I reckon you fellas do a good job, particularly with the language that assists to manage expectations.
But is it worth 8 bones a month? Not for a working breadline family.
I'll continue to use whatever free services you can provide. Thank you in advance for them, and thank you for all your efforts, past, present, future.
YEW!

excellent im happy forecaster notes will go behind paywall as they are the cream. ben any reason my iphone never stays logged in, every 2 or 3 days gotta log back in. password is saved so its no hassle but any reason? is that a problem with my phone or a known problem with site?

Gary assumes that this article is just a cry for help for your commentators to provide some hot takes on how to run your business.

Well, never fear, when Gary comes out of the shadows to expose himself in the forums you can be sure you've come in the right place.

To start, write some articles that are important to the facey-loving public.

For example, Gary clicked through to an article earlier this week thinking it was essential content on the recent surf-related activities of Australian hero Redmond 'Red' Symons, but instead it was about some nobody called Red Dog Symes.

Gary hopes you can enthusiastically jump on his tip before one of your competitors take it in both hands and run a series of Hey Hey-related surf content.

xoxo

Has swellnet considered outsourcing operation of the cams to Gary G? I suspect that wouldn't be his first foray into surveillance and live streaming of humans enjoying themselves

People,
The 8 dollars a month for the cams will save you way more money in fuel costs. Let alone saving the environment from pollution , wasted fuel ....

Lastly remember that surfing hasn't always been a major sport.
Some could even remember it as a fringe activity....or whatever you may call it.
Swellnet is a small business that deserves your support, its 2 dollars a week people .
Thanks .

Ben/Stu, have you thought about putting all surfcams that aren't big name well known breaks behind the sub wall? Or would that cause too much of a hit to the non subscriber traffic to the sight?

Will the comments section under the forecast notes still be a free for all?

I hope so, it's good value.

I won't be paying because it's not a product that is of value to me, but all the best.

I'm probably the reverse customer: the editorial is of more value to me than the forecasting or cams.

For Tassie surfers we have no cams, so if we got one up and running that would be good (Clifton used to have one and so did Eaglehawk - not your cams though), and maybe if the South Arm reporter, top bloke that he is, did the forecast every day at an early hour then I might be interested in subscribing. Sometimes there is no report. I like the forecaster notes. Overall, I can't see the value in this for me in Tassie. I definitely can for people who surf on the mainland though - they get cams and good daily reports. The guy from Vicco is up at 0500 on some days in Summer to report daily, and sometimes two times. Thanks Swellnet.

Haggis, I have a sneaky suspicion that those early dawn 'reports' that you speak of are taken from cameras/live bom observations and possibly written by people in other states. Swellnet sure wouldn't pay someone to do the forecast twice in the space of a couple of hours, would they? But if people think they're getting updated reports they are likely to check back in, thus increasing visits to the page and thus increasing revenue from advertising. So, Ben/Stu/Craig what is the story with these dawn reports? Today's report from Barwon Heads:

2018-06-26 07:16:00: clean 2ft SW, Light NW, mild 3/10
Small and clean this morning, pretty straight lines and pretty consistent worth a paddle - BR

2018-06-26 07:10:00: inconsistent 2-3ft SW, Light NNW, cool and cloudy 3/10
Dawn Report: It's a shame about the lack of consistency, as there's otherwise some fun small waves across the open beaches. Sets are occasionally 2ft+ but the long wait between waves will probably drive you crazy (if not chill you to the bone). But with very small conditions expected over the next few days you're gonna have to make the most of what's on offer right now. Tune in to the updated photo report around 8am.

Note: that there is a 6 minute time difference between the 'dawn report' and the BR photo report...

Whats the story here boys?

As with a few of the above I’ve enjoyed swellnet but not for the cams. I actually wish you guys weren’t planning on rolling out more and more really.
Ben can I ask. Would there be any chance you can ease back on the screen shots of lineups in the forecast notes comments?
You already have cams, you have a fairly en point forecast, daily surf notes........do we need the equilvant of
‘ hey goldy small but come down the tweed it’s pulsing!’ ??
No one would post that, if they did they would mention something more cryptic.
I do thank you for the content over the years it is by far the best Aussie surf site, unfortunately for me it’s not a product I see value in (cams) and won’t be supporting them. Regards

I haven't paid yet because I haven't had. I will be glad to. I love the fair, balanced editorial and forecasting analysis.

Banjonica, you think binary. Lack complex thinking. Good luck not ending up a grumpy old man.

I guess the organisation thinks it will lead to more subscriptions, and it must be a hard, time consuming job to continuously censor and sterilise the level of discontent. More cams rolling out? Who wants one of these hanging over their strip? Jeez if we get one of these in our neck of the woods I can't see any outcome but war boys.

It's a bad O-Men.

I vood not open a GULAG at alexandra headland - dreadful place

Hope the 100 new cams stay well away from certain spots. Get the Lennox crew onto you lol. I guess you can't run a site like this and not be a massive fucking hypocrite when it comes to sensitivity and crowds. Your daily morning reports definitely have an impact on numbers (of retarded sheep) in the line-up around here. So it's good to see it pay-walled. I think you should heavily increase the price and do the whole site!

I'm so fucking happy that Lennox cam got shitcanned, seeing the way those images get used.

There's been some ludicrous situations this winter with over-hyped swells not delivering and hordes driving down for swells that never eventuated.
70-80 people sitting out in 2ft surf with some very, very ugly vibes.

The converse, some under the radar swells that punched above their weight have been sanity savers, but there's no way those days would occur if everyone of those tasty little days were dissected and put up on the internets for people to drool over.

I'm sympathetic to people who have to drive but I know people who join the dots and take a gamble are far, far better off surfing with 15/20 even 30 people rather than 50/60/70.
Thats the difference between a good time for all and a shitfight where no-one wins.
Well, no one except the person with the surf cam selling the images.

I think the whole surf cam business model is ethically suspect on a few levels but it's so entrenched now and there is obviously a demand so if Ben/Swellnet doesn't do it, someone else will.
I'd like to see a code of conduct/guidelines developed by SN about where surf cams go.

To all those complaining about the Surfcams….Stick your hand up if you've never used one.
I sure have and I'm lucky enough to live near the coast.
Who are we as individuals to try and maintain barriers of entry for ANYBODY that wants to come and partake in what is a beautiful thing.
Who's waves are they?

From Monday morning video stokes too weekend report g ups I've always found swellnet to be the pivot point around which my surfing life rotates....

I've seen masterful forecasting balanced by some not so much.
I've seen beautifully Compiled stories, Vids and reviews balanced with some cash for comments.
I've seen some interesting thought provoking conversations and debates and then there's Garry.
I've been tuned to the wider world of surfing its movements and heroes balanced with local issues.
All of that I've had for free and to be honest i've always felt a bit guilty.

I'm now onboard and have subscribed.
I look forward to the ongoing enjoyment and benefits that will come from being a part of a great Australian business.

"Who are we as individuals to try and maintain barriers of entry for ANYBODY that wants to come and partake in what is a beautiful thing.
Who's waves are they?"

Far as I know, there are no barriers to entry to any waves in Australia. Anyone from anywhere in the world can show up and paddle out to any wave in Australia. As to what kind of crowd they find there......

And whose waves are they?.....thats a very interesting question, but probably not from the POV you occupy.
Do they belong to any for profit business that wants to put a camera up and sell the images to the world? Even if that business has no direct connection with the community it profits from?
Even if people in that community expressly wish that camera not to be located there?

Whose waves are they>?

First off did I see you raise your hand?

Knowing what the current coastal conditions are like is something that people living near the coast may take for granted.
When living away from the coast to not have access to a viable technological information feed I would consider a barrier.

Sure you could lick your finger and stick it in the air before driving or travelling to your favourite surf spots....but id imagine that you too use all the tools at your disposal.

If someone takes a video of a wave and makes a profit good luck to them.
Have you never watched a surf video?
Have you never bought a pie at the bakery placed near the surf break?
Have you never parked in a carpark made for surfers?
Have you ever seen better strawmen?,)

Im all about keeping secret spots low key and for keeping hard to get to spots hard to get to.

I'm yet to see swellnet put a camera on any spot that was a secret.

Whilst i'am impacted by the crowds that come from surfcams that I very rarely use....
Im more impacted by people in lineups that have some strange sense of entitlement to what is a free and open resource.

To answer your question, once a very blue moon. I can't remember the last time I looked at a cam, other than the still shots Ben posts up on the forecast notes.

To be honest I use the MHL buoy arrays and BOM weather obs, far, far more to track swells and conditions. And that works fine as a data set to base travel trips on if I'm chasing swells.

The lack of cams is certainly not a barrier. You'd have to be pretty bereft of knowledge to think that.

As for the impact of crowds: what do you think is going to be more pleasant? 10-15 guys out, even if there is a local pecking order in place or 50-60 with a total free for all shitfight in progress?
I know which one I prefer, even if I'm the visitor.

At my local break this winter I've watched all kinds of bad behaviour....and the entitled attitude almost invariably rests with the car loads of visitors who see a crowd and immediately assume rule/etiquette/respect does not apply. The rubbish left behind does not belong to local surfers either.
And you can't really blame them for that....that is the inevitable outcome of an overcrowded break unless there is some kind of violent localism in play like Pipeline. And who wants that?

Thanks for your honesty.

"To be honest I use the MHL buoy arrays and BOM weather obs, far, far more to track swells and conditions. And that works fine as a data set to base travel trips on if I'm chasing swells."
I hope this wasn't against the wishes of the locals and I sure hope they didn't make a profit!
…..tongue in cheek....

Like I said personally I very rarely use the cams for forecasting....more for salivating and swearing while at work.

Im not condoning the bad attitudes and behaviours of anybody and i'm certainly not advocating for bigger crowds......when im out.

But as a realist I understand that there is an ever growing population and along with that an ever growing connectivity.
I also understand sometimes its better to have a sharing attitude rather than unfair and unrealistic cloistered mentality.

My take is the more people that surf the better.
That may be a bitter pill for a few.

Either way I didn't come on here to make waves....I came to watch.

this is not the cams fault or swellnet or other providers fault. it is is people and their lack of understanding of being at one with the water/waves that they come to enjoy.
having lived mainly in the Coolie/D-bah area for nearly 30 years now, you can bet I have seen and heard it all when it comes to human poor behaviour/greediness/ inflated egoness. IT's 2018 and technological viewing and sharing devices are the norm. I loathe the crowds, especially now as a bodysurfing when I keep getting run over by boardriders who think a bodysurfer should be dropped in on all the time- yep, all the time. But we have to live with it. How? by talking to each other and reminding everyone of etiquette. Especially talk to the frothing grommets- "hey hang on grommie, you just caught a good one, let old mate here catch one". Fuck that is the common attitude these days and it goes against all that is what surfing is really about, enjoying a cojoining a vibration of wind and water producing stoke.
Educate and eradicate selfishness and prima donna- ness.
But Caba cam behind paywall, maybe because a certain drummer beats his cymbal there and doesn't want it to become a gong!!!!!! Taking the piss here, as usual, lighten up, surf, have fun, you gunna die, so laugh, dont sigh.

"My take is the more people that surf the better.
That may be a bitter pill for a few."

Fair enough if that is your opinion.

I reckon the less people that surf the better.

The more people that meditate, or grow a garden, or ride a bike, or clean up rubbish the better.

There's a hardly a justification for thinking the world would be better if more people surfed. Once wave pools become established even the fig leaf of surfers being some kind of environmental stewards will be removed.

I'm happy to share though. I love sharing the water with my fellow surfers.

"The more people that meditate, or grow a garden, or ride a bike, or clean up rubbish the better."
My reasons for wanting more people to surf would be similar to the reasons you want people to do the above....id imagine.

Thats 2 bucks a week people. Surely thats not a big ask. I consider the amount of money I waste on crap from say bunnings ( insert you're "favourite place to blow you're money on useless crap that breaks down" shop here, BCF is a good one too for eg), and swellnet subscription is but a small drop in the ocean in comparison. Less than the price of a coffee or about one 500th the cost of a smashed avo on toast. Or what about the corporate criminals and bludgers that are raping our hard earned dollars to line their own pockets. Fuck them they're gonna steal it anyway, so why not chuck a couple of bucks at swellnet. At least its worthwhile and you're getting something good for it. Coz when a politician gets it you can kiss it goodbye. The only time you'll see it is when the crooked cunt is on his super yacht sticking his middle finger at your proletariat arse

what about the Bitcoin guru, does he fork over $8 a month, me thinks not

Over saturation of web cams, forecasts and surf reports is creating peak conditions crowd levels way above the past. The same decision making patterns are repeated endlessly across huge numbers of surfers leading to the herd arriving at the same time. This combined with daily releases of perfect surf vin videost is making us all fussier and more jaded particularly with visually less appealing surf. The younger generation is particularly fussy compared to decades ago.

But there are positives. Lower quality conditions and the session arising from surprise shifts in wind and swell are, in my opinion, often less crowded than in the past. All you need is the right boards and mindset and fun empty waves are everywhere and surprisingly common.

Gday ben the site is still logging out on iPhones. Cheers

I like the editorials and vids and the banter and the back'n'forths with the different characters that get on here. I also like that it's reasonably civilised and the trolls are usually weeded out in time as opposed to stab et al.

Rarely use the forecasts, even rarer to look at a cam as I have no need for them but what I mentioned above is worth the price of a subscription for me.

PS Ben, I think it must be close to renewing, you might wanna check that.

Gotta say Swellnet provides great articles and journo imputs 2nd to none. Beach Grit and Stab are more industry/tacky tabloidy orientated, which is fine I still go there but SN feels more community based and forum wise, approachable, entertaining and educational. Brilliant idea to employ Gary G, Vic Local and Crypto Knight as comedy relief...…..jus joking. So if Ben wants to charge for cam use no problem for me, if I want it I'll pay for it.
Thanks for the daily read.

Perhaps with enough subscribers, SN could offer an annual prize of an unforgettable week in Gary.

Gary, Indiana

This is such a vexed issue. While I'm firmly in the "the less people surfing, the better" camp, I get some of the arguments about having cams and the rest of the SN service.

However, I still reckon there's a case to answer with regard to a business whose operations utilise the public domain (i.e. the coast) and have both positive and negative impacts for people who use that coast.

Ben and I had a cuppa down here recently to discuss the issue. We had a good chat about crowds and the role of cameras/reports and the vagaries of business private good/public common good, etc etc, but the worst thing was that he then scored a reef in the middle of town which rarely gets as good as he got it, let alone as uncrowded as it was that arvo. So he sent me a photo of it, the bastard, and I had nowhere to go. It would have been nice if he'd called me to let me know, of course, maybe as some form of compensation. Alas. We might have agreed to disagree on a few things, but I was impressed he was willing to discuss it.

We've had a pretty lean late May and June down here, and while a few of us scored fantastic uncrowded waves at a rather well-known spot (thank you sea-fog) yesterday, the handful of good days have been packed out, even mid-week. The impact of the cams can only be speculated, but most crew here agree that forecasts/reports/cameras all contribute to crowding. Yesterday's forecast and report said it was a foot or two with a 2/10 rating or some such, but we had 4ft sets on the head and a maximum 10 of us out, including the lunchtime shift. Monday had a great forecast and a good report (7/10?) as I recall, and there were 60+ out on the break which yesterday had 12-15.

There needs to be maximum discretion and responsibility shown with this - of course you can find little windows from inaccurate reports, wind shifts etc (and how sweet they are) but those windows are narrowing. It's not helped by all the other info available, and SN can;t be held responsible for the whole thing. However, too many dots get joined too often, such as encouraging punters to keep an eye on the buoys because the spike has started. Shhhhh!

I know that SN are very mindful of the issues, and that it's a competitive market, but we need to tread carefully. I know for a fact that a heap of crew in Melbourne and Geelong rely heavily on the report and the forecast, and I sympathise with them not living near the beach, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing to encourage them all to descend at once as someone observed earlier in the thread. I'd be surprised if the majority of them didn't subscribe to have good info to make the drive worth it.

I enjoy the content of the site and read a stack of things, and would probably subscribe for that alone, but the clincher will be to make sure I'm on the pace and can avoid the crowds as best as possible. And of course to read a bit of Gary G.

I used to use Caba cam a lot,, ironically I only lived 3 blocks away at the time.

Gary comes for Gary.

I rarely use the cams. but the forecast and the longrange I routinely check as soon as Ben puts em up every monday, wednesday and friday. And I love reading these comments. So I'm a subscriber. Plus I know Ben and I like to support people I know.

Great site Ben..but would be stoked with no more stills.

how can you possibly call them premium surf cameras when middleton is excluded..

Hi Guys.
Good to see you on the front foot with issue.
While I have never been a subscriber I am now considering it.
Being on the west coast we don’t get anywhere near the coverage they get in the east.
Other than getting to watch Yallingup burgers roll on a big day what other benefits will a subscriber in WA get.
Cheers
Hootz

Howdy, I've been handing over my $ for about six months now. Just seemed like the right thing to do for an amazing site. I don't really get anything i couldn't get for free but that's just me. The one thing I would strongly suggest putting behind a paywall is the forecast notes and while you are at it how do I access them from the App ? Cheers

"Today the paywall came down on one corner of the Swellnet website."
I would have worded it differently but anyways. I'm all for limiting info available to people who don't know how to get their hands on or interpret the info that is freely available. A prime example was how media outlets hyped the Marcus swell...was a complete circus.

Good move Swellnet. I suggest a price rise to $20 per month. Maybe more even. Just please promise that the long range forecasts are behind the paywall.

Fair enough, gents. You've provided an incredibly valuable service for years. Hope this enables you to keep it up for years to come.

I heard that Google Maps is working to bring up its imagery as close to live as possible. Even if they get to monthly updates, I can see a whole new set of information available to check to see if its worth the drive... how are the banks down at Lennox lately?

Love the site, well worth 2 bucks a week so I just signed up.
Shame about the brain-dead hillbillies and whining lefties and spoilt Gen Ys/Millennials who can't get their head around the concept of 'user pays'. In their world it's all about getting stuff for nothing, sponging off the efforts of others and gimme gimme more free shit.
Well they better get used to it cos this is the way it's all moving. Businesses can't keep producing and producing just to give it all away for free to a bunch of spoilt brat whingers who don't get it.
#userpays
#supportsmallbusiness

I'm not exactly sure what i would gain apart from 1 cam i used to use that is now premium. The daily reports are vague and often updated so early they cant be accurate.

The forecast notes for my area usually go something along the lines of 'possibly big swell next week due to X Y Z but we will update 2 days before as its too far out to call. This is always fairly obvious after a quick look on willy weather or similar. Not that helpfull really.

Everyone says how $8 a month is nothing. Problem there is EVERYONE wants their $8 a month. Netflix, amazon tv, etc etc, spotify, podcasts and every other website with a service, next thing you know theres $300 a month coming out for shit you don't remember signing up for because $8 a month is nothing.

If this site was the only decent forecast option and there were no other cams available i would consider it but at the moment i really don't see any value in it.

Did you blokes delete my post about Lorne Point. that's not well.......... neither are you...........

I think it's a good idea. We have so many lazy surfers who want it all for free with out putting in the effort or hard yards. I think you guys should do as you like. It's a credit to you that you have provided so much for free. People are always going to winge just like they only surf the one spot. If taking away a cam ruins your surf experience. Maybe your missing the whole point. I for one am going to enjoy what you offer and less lazy surfers clogging the good days out. I amazed at the entitled ment so many people feel. Taking a risk is what some times makes surfing all the more special. Maybe some surfers need to tune out to tune in. Keep up the good work and enjoy not giving lazy surfers what they believe they are entitled too. I am sure the keenest will work it out.

wonder how the boss will react when I hit him up for the subscription cost?

Since you don't use it in your personal time I'm sure they'd be fine with it.

well thats a tax deduction too

Forecaster Notes are now behind the payall (comments are still free to view though).

Note: this will apply only to the last couple of Forecaster Notes - anything older than four days will move out from underneath the paywall, allowing non-subscribers to check out the level of service provided (try before you buy, in a way).

Thanks again for everyone's support.

And in!!

Thanks for providing consistent forecasts and feedback to comments. Not sure how the forecasts go for other places, but they're pretty accurate (scarily sometimes) for the West Coast VIC. Love the site, happy to pay for quality content. Keep up the good work.

Hey!
longtime reader, recent subscriber- any chance we can find out how many new subscribers like myself get on board as a result of the paywall shift?
I'm curious as to how many people (like me) use the forecaster notes as a life coach/ weekly planner.
Also now that I'm paid up- is there much else I should be doing with this subscription?
I assume the 16 day forecast is pretty vague (no offense but even the forecaster notes get uncertain after 5 days)
Thanks

Hey swellnet, I understand and respect your decision to offer your great forecasts to subscribers only.

I have followed your page since the early 2000's , it will be a shame to not have access to your brilliant forecast notes.

I have a pretty good understanding of weather and surf ,as its been a passion of mine for so long. Im usually pretty good at making my own surf forecast, so for that reason I can get by without paying a subscription. Having said that my knowledge definitely isn't as dynamic as you guys, and you sometimes find a flukey swell that I would miss. Budgeting in a few dollars a month will be very much beneficial for many people, but for now I can't support you guys as my budget is very tight as it is.

Good luck with it all.
Michael.

I've always hated Coastalwatch for their revenue model. Now I can hate Swellnet too. Keep it free with ads. Just sayin.

this idea is all good and well but i'd rather pay for a service that gives at least a semi-reliable forecast..... so many times i have seen the wind/swell charts for elswhere (either side of) other than newcastle and gone on that information provided by SW, to travel well out of newcastle to capitalize on given information.... ive lost count how many times we have been fucked over by going elsewhere based on the info SW has provided - case in point was the weekend just gone, where seals/boomerang was supposed to be 4-5ft (with WSW winds but was WNW all day - not that it is a bad thing, but another error to say the least) but was lucky to be 4 and newcastle was only supposed to be 3-4ft and bigger in the arv but was easily 6ft+ all day given the evidence of what was posted on a local FB page... and whoever does the local reports is a basketcase.... many times i have read the early report and it will say 3ft or whatever then the updated report will have 6ft+ etc.... fair shake, why should SW get my money for such unreliablity????? i need more convincing

All the best boys. Still riding on my lifeline pro deal but will move over once expired.
Anyone sooking about this (or paying over $1000 for a wetty and board) are muppets.

boooooooooooooooooooooooo
get rid of the fees
i need free forecaster notes/cams / extended reports
or im defecting to willy weather

I’m spewin it’s gone to a paywall. for years I’ve looked forward to 5 pm on a Monday, wednesday and Friday for a glimmer of hope of decent conditions. Oh well all good things come to an end.

I'd forgotten about that- I donated to the Lifeline pro event too, does that buy me any time?

No biggie, happy to subscribe and the Lifeline contest i would have donated to anyway. A very worthy cause.

Hey Ben and Swellnet,

Been reading your Forecaster notes for years now. Best read going round, not just as a surfer but for anyone interested in weather forecasting. Happy to pay my 2 cups of coffee a month for the notes plus the extra material you post. Keep up the good work, surprised its been a free service this long. Hopefully will keep the negative comments away.

For a full-time worker & dad with young child, the detailed Mon-Wed-Fri forecasts and cams have become almost irreplaceable in scheduling time to get my salt-water fix. It’s a reasonable price for the services provided and although I’ve put it off until I had to (more out of laziness), I’ve finally signed up today. Thanks guys and keep up the great work.

Yeah spot on. Swellnet forecaster notes are definitely the best out there and the website has a great community - staff included. Keep it up.

Massive thumbs down you're charging for the forecasts @swellnet i get it for the cams for maintenance etc but for the forecasts, poor form.

More than happy to pay a nominal amount for such valuable intel and content. Fully support Swellnets decision.

I’ve supported for years, buying the annual subscription. Works out to be peanuts ..
Have been interested for quite some time as to why the notes section was free ...

So many tight arses having a whinge. The return on investment is unmatched ... let the fully informed strike missions continue.

Good on you Ben.

FFS what bloody drama queens! if you cannot afford $8 a month to put toward your apparent passion and something you get so much out of then go find another interest where you don’t have to spend a single cent.. good luck with that btw
I for one am stoked these notes will be restricted to the dedicated only, less crowds yewww

keep up the awesome work fellas

Surely some of the comments here are taking the piss right?
Where can you get such an in depth forecast analysis tailored to your specific coastline three times a week? And that's being done for all the main surf coasts? I'm more surprised this hasn't been done a lot earlier and we have all been the winners, and will continue to do so with the amount of work put into the nitty gritty you don't see on rival sites.
I'm yet to see a painter or a plumber finish their trade of 4 years or so then just go and work for free (generalised context I know). How is studying to become a meteorologist or doing a climate science degree any different?
I'm sure that Ad revenue generates SW a few bucks to keep the site up and running, but these guys are also family people with everyday commitments like the rest of us. Some of the comments so far how the (extremely detailed) forecast being a small thing but so significant just proves that it's worth something, otherwise we'd all be out there working it out ourselves right? A lot of people need to take a big breath and just decide whether to sign up or not, but these guys rightfully charging a small fee for their expertise is hardly an insult.

Its fckn cheap plus its tax deductible if u use the 16 day forecast to plan when u gonna do jobs.

Been quite a resurgence in commentary here (and within FC Notes) and also via email and Social Media over the last 24 hours.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, good and bad. We'll take it all on board and continue to refine and improve the service.

Unfortunately, we can't please every surfer - especially when each individual has their own part of the site they value the most - be it surfcams, reports, forecasts, models, articles, forums etc - but our primary goal is to make sure that Swellnet Pro subscribers are happy to support the business.

Thanks again.

Your expertise (obviously including Craig & Stu) has been essential for maximizing my enjoyment in the ocean. Thank you.

Anyone thinking this website is making coin off website ads is kidding themselves. Go ask news corp how it’s going for them after their readership went to digital.

I’m happy to pay the $2 a week considering I’ve read just about every forecast notes over the last few years. Supply and demand...

Guys we are lucky we have had the forecasts for free for so long. $8 a month or whatever it is seems like a bargain - if it saves you one drive down or up the coast you are ahead!

I have used the cams in the past for planning surf trips ( WA to north coast NSW) to pick spots to stay at. Also check long range indo forecasts when I have a trip coming up. Don't get a heap of value for local forecasting (geraldton info is the margs info) but I paid up in reco of the use I've made of the site over many years, thanks

Ben, good to see you at the Board Meeting LONG LUNCH on the sunny coast, cracking day. Always a tough moment to change / alter the funding model for a business, congrats on taking the plunge and I hope it works. I've signed up for Pro as I reckon the value proposition is about right. i.e 2 x cartons of beer per annum to get all the cams and thrice a week super uber detailed forecast reports to dial in ya waves...........spot on. Hope heaps of people jump in and support so you can keep the fees at the right level. Good on ya mate.

Quality service costs. I'm happy. Thank you Swellnet.

Excellent move. As someone who has paid for a while now this is the key value add piece I use. Hope others step up and subscribe.

Great work Ben, Craig, and Stu - happy to pay the $8 monthly sub.

Reports are always very detailed, and you're all top blokes.

Cheers
Ollie

$8.95 oh my.....if you go to a pub you are almost paying $6 for a schooner of beer!
why not pay $8.95 a month for something that you love doing.
good on ya guy's

I'm in! Good value. These notes have proven excellent over a number of years for both surfing and offshore fishing, to help 'join the dots' alongside several other forecasting tools - some paid, some not. Haters who just read one free report a week (then whinge about it being a bit variable) need to DYOR and take some responsibility.

I don't really use the cams.
A tiered (cheaper haha) subscription for forecast only would be tempting.

just signed up, as a business you got to do what you got to do.
Anyway, the local (Cronulla) was solid 6' today, we still OK for 4' tomorrow? it was dog eat dog out the point and want to get a stretch of sand to myself and only a few others
Keep up the good work

Thanks Ben and crew, keep up the good work. The groms and some others just don't know how good they have it.

Swellnet cocksuckers making the forecaster notes premium content? Fuck make your registration fees $2 a month it’s not like your paying millions in royalties to music artist and producers.

If I was a paying customer I would be pissed in seeing the title heading saying what days will have waves and comments in forecast notes not being hidden. The recent Vicco notes told me there would be waves today, a swell on the way next week and also told me where to find an uncrowded beachy all without being a subscriber.
Change the heading titles to dates only and hide comments for forecast notes if you want to keep people on the books, leave comments open for articles, comp discussion or board talk instead.
Unfortunately the best surf forecast for my location is weekly walk along the beach to monitor sand movements and old fashioned carpark check. Would sign up if was on the east coast. All the best, cheers

I subsribed a while ago to Swellnet (and some other news sites) because didn't want to be a freerider. Perfectly fair enough to pay for the good serivces - or there won't be any!

I think subscribers would be the losers if comments were disabled because that is where so much of the granular information is discussed, often by non-subscribers. Maybe not anymore.....although time will tell during cyclone/ECL seasons.

It was nice to share it , back to carpark bullshitting.

Seems like a fair enough roll out to me.

Gee what's with all the assholes ripping SN for charging for subscription!
After using the services for free for 18months I signed up today and I'm happy to pay $9 a month, there isn't any other site with close to the detail and attention.
The cost is literally a coffee every 2 weeks you idiots or 1 beer in the pub every month.
How in the hell you expect such a good service to be free is beyond me and if you don't think it's worth it piss off and stop putting the down the boys who do an excellent job.

All these outraged people, sounds like they fear missing out on something.
Does that mean it's worth something to you?

Really why should it be free guys?? Pretty much every "real" news site now has a paywall for their editorial. Who should pay for the cams for example? I only live 15-20 minutes drive from the beach and every time I decide against going - crowds/wind change/swell too small/big it means an hour extra to do stuff with my kids etc. So worth it to be able to check.

I have tremendous respect for someone who has made their passion work for them @ thermalben. From humble beginnings on the midcoast to swell guru of Australia.

Wingers- This whole pay thing was always going to occur. So pay up or learn to read weather maps like the rest of us.

If you're really good at something dont do it for free.

Kudos to you ben.

I will disagree with the comment about the ads not making sn money, if they didnt, why have em?

I go a hundred K's north and south reasonably regularly but it's coastline I know like the back of my hand and I'm quite capable of forecasting it myself with primary source information.

Also, don't have a problem with paying. Theoretically.
It's all the payments together that add up.

I give 20/mth to the UNHCR and they rang me up the other day and asked for more, because there are kids all over the world getting bombed and have nothing to eat.

It'd be a bit rich for me to give money away for a service I don't need and can do myself when shitt like that is going down.

If Stu charged for his editorial I'd definitely pay because that is invaluable to me.

Not to mention Netflix, gym memberships (missus) school books, electricity, fuel etc etc etc

No beef from me though, I'd just like to continue to bullshitt on with other weather/surf nuts in the comments. I know some appreciate it.

stoked guys keep up the good work, missed the cam for the last few weeks but after some contemplation have subscribed and couldn't be happier. yew, a pittance to pay for an excellent service.

Hey Ben. Love your work. As a Brizzo, I have been looking forward to your forecasts to plan my midweek and weekend trips up or down the coast.
Signed up for Pro this morning.
Not a fan of the cams and I can see how your grabs piss off a lot of local surfers.
Nothing better than using knowledge accumulated over the years to try and pick the best spot to hit. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
I often wonder why Byron south to Coffs doesn’t have it’s own forecast.
This may also keep a few of the northern hordes north of the border.
Especially because a lot of the winter south swells struggle to impact north of the border and cyclone and east trade swells often have less impact south of it.
Love your forums and notes.
Almost pissed myself at some of the comments last night.
Hope the Pro thing goes well for Swellnet.
I’m in.

Congratulations Swellnet for making the change which is ultimately a business decision.
I'm pretty sure you've been talking about it for years and i can imagine you pondered long.
Hopefully you'll get a set of new scribers and the whingers will come to their senses .
Love your work!

Hey Ben, long time reader/appreciater, first time commenter. Seems an appropriate time given the circumstances to say thanks heaps for keeping us all in the know and stoked between sessions. These forecast notes are way more reliable and tuned in than any model run or check of the wind/buoy obs. I reckon. My surf time has become limited since becoming a dad so it’s great to have an accurate idea of what’s on the horizon to work my free time around. Happy to be a subscriber, I spend more on coffee each day! Cheers mate.

I'm astounded at the gall of these bastards. Do any of you turn up to work for free? Why should Ben? Next time I go to a restaurant I'll try it out. I'll tell them they have my attention and I've looked at the menu, I've chosen my meal and it should now come for free, cos by my very existence and presence in their company, that's just how it should be. They're better off for my having walked into their establishment and have no right to expect anything more.

Fucking humans

What a joke ! I just had to pay $9.00 for a schooner of beer when visiting Bris Vegas today !!!

$8.95 a month for a awesome service, great banter and keeps the stoke alive . Signed up today Ben for the 1st time and 1st comment. Keep up the the great work Swell net and co.

To all the tight arses..... when did you last go to work and ask not to be paid .....NEVER

I suggest the people not coughing up the $8 are the sorta blokes who wouldn't drop a carty off at a mates place after a favour.

i actually save petrol money thx to your insights! Expert work is expensive and rightly so. You also have listened to your customers when a certain webcam caused indignation which hooked me in forever! Respect. I thanks you, please never ever retire from forecasting!! Any plan for France?

$8 bucks here , $12bucks there not to mention monthly data charges ... keep an eye on your bank accounts !

People are so entitled these days. Keep up the great work.

Will this go the same way as the WSL Facebook disaster ?? - I hope not.

In commercial reality things are changing, I get it, in terms of customers there needs to be a real or perceived benefit for charging for something that has been free, and free for a long time and I just don't see it. I look at various sites, mainly BOM but also coastal watch and others - lets face it - surf forecasting is not easy and not exact and now days the best surfs are when the surf forecasters get it wrong - its pumping and it takes a while for others to check.

I have no interest in Cameras around me, sometimes fun to look at in other places if its firing.

I find the forecasters notes of value particularly when travelling away from home, in fact I only just found out that it was now a fee service due to travel this weekend.

At $100 a year its not for me at the moment but I welcome this as an opportunity to have less crowds at my local as tight ass city folk will not be planning days out, not until somebody else comes up with the next free version.

Good job swell net I don't mind paying for a good forecast that's helps me too score waves when it's good and work when the waves are crap as,for the crowds have a cup of concrete

2 tanks off fuel.. nothing really... how hard do you chase it?

still tossing up whether to part with the cash but support the decision to put the various bits and pieces behind the paywall given the justifications and clear communication on this. and the value of them. anyway - small bit of feedback. when entering the forecast notes from the links in the 'latest comments' sidebar, the location of the detailed forecast is blurred so you can't see what the discussion is about (this one for e.g. - is it Vicco, Sydney, Nth NSW, WA?) not a big deal and not an issue if you go in from the menus but a little feedback for you. thanks for the great site

Could we have an annual subscription option? I'd rather not pay monthly.

Ben/Stu and team,
Just signed up.
I've been a free viewer for many years and a bit of a forum commenter the last few years. I have a general read over your forecasts and notes and find them great without really needing them for the knowledge I have of my local area. I've just moved further south after 24 years in the Byron region and I'm really looking forward to learning the new places and conditions and tides etc in the new place (Mid-North) and developing relationships with the local community to unlock the little secrets over time. Again the forecaster notes will be interesting to read but no more important or essential.
I decided to join at this point because of the excellent editorial work and the knowledge and information shared across the comments and forums.
And I like to support small business that I consider to hold integrity and at the very least, face openly the discontent of your viewers when it arises (as is abundantly evident in this thread).
Anyway, good luck to all of you, keep up the good work and doing what you love. It seems that many forget your just a few blokes doing their best to first and foremost support your families and then the larger surfing community with your website.

Whereabouts are you Crg (rough area)?

seems like swellnet is headed towards the American model, walled up and on the rise, hopefully time will bring it back to the free world, as was some iron curtain

Unfortunately I have a rule, never subscribe to anything on the internet and I'm not breaking it here, just like I never give money to people loitering outside shopping centres and supermarkets, quite frankly the forecasts have not been that good lately IMHO, yes the service overall is quite good but its a big jump to paying for it, I also was not impressed with the blatant attempt to add gambling odds and commentary to the site, big no no I'm afraid with that one.

Based on some of the comments in recent weeks, I did a quick breakdown of the costs per 'segment' of Swellnet. That is, breaking up the website into the five main segments (surfcams, surf reports, surf forecast graphs/charts, Forecaster Notes, editorial) and then splitting it into percentages. This may provide a more useful way to estimate the value of subscribing.

On an even split (20% each), Swellnet Pro costs $1.79 per month per segment. Or, 6c per day (see first example below).

However, let's say you value the Forecaster Notes the most (40%), then the forecast graphs and the surfcams (each 20%), and lastly the surf reports and surf editorial (each 10%).

Then you end up paying:

*12c per day for the Forecaster Notes
*6c per day for the surf forecast graphs and charts, 6c per day the surfcams
*3c per day for the surf reports, 3c per day all surf editorial

If that ain't good value, I don't know what is.

Hi Ben,

I've just signed up. I wasn't content with the three day forecast and lack of forecaster notes. I access your website pretty much everyday. You guys do a great job and I think it is good value, so keep up the good work.

Cheers Hag

#ImHappyToPay

I must say I'm a little disappointed with the new moves to having to have a premium membership. I do a local weather forecast on facebook for the Margaret River Area in WA wither over 1200 followers, I include a surf report and use Swellnet (and others) combined with local knowledge to produce my report.
I use the Margaret River Cam and Yallingup Cam daily (as I live 5km's from the coast) to get a better idea of conditions.
My weather report has been on FB for over 4 years and in that time I have promoted Swellnet many times as it is/was an excellent source, as I'm not a surfer myself I have no reason to pay a monthly subscription and now look like relying on and promoting other sites

I just subscribed as I realised I couldn’t live without these notes aha...

Ben I'm not going to get into a public argument on the matter but again you have a stab at me without knowing what I do, I actually make reasonable money online without lifting a finger and I don't use FB or my weather page to do it either, my weather page is a hobby only and I doubt anyone will make money online for charging for weather and surf directly.
For my hobby I do have my own very good Davis weather station and I also look at all other weather information supplied by BOM, NOAA etc plus local knowledge and condense it all down to a small forecast each day and I guess this is what you and your team do on a much bigger scale, many people access my weather station online for free, if I charged for this I would be lucky to have 10 followers not that it matters to me how many I have, I guess if I had 10 I wouldn't bother doing it. I think you will find that if you charge for what people can find on other sites for free you will lose many followers and all it means that surfers will have to do a Little more work, if I was a surfer and I looked at another site and saw swell height, direction, wind direction and seconds I really wouldn't need a camera to work out it was time to get out of bed and hit the surf, having access to a camera and condensed report is a bonus really.
I live and work in a huge surfing community and a good percentage of surfers spend all their spare cash on following their hobby/sport and don't have a spare $9 per month to pay for a surf report again what they can find for free with a little more effort, I guess you're not a charity but my opinion is that what you are doing now will harm your business more than it will do good, I only used Swellnet for forecaster notes and wave height predictions so it won't bother me so much anyhow.
I don't reference your site daily, weekly or monthly for that matter, I do reference it when you have competitions relative to my area or promoting events, movies etc relative to my area, or promoting anything I think would interest people in my area, also on my own web site margriver.com I have a link to Swellnet and also the Margaret River Cam that is on Swellnets site, i'm not sure how long the links have been there, at least 3 years but i would suggest more.
Again your new direction won't effect me what so ever but I think it will you, you will always have subscribers but you you have to have an option for others that can't afford to subscribe or you will end up with a club for the elite and someone else will turn up and do what you were doing in the past and you will slowly lose the subscribers you have. I have been involved with computers and the internet for over 30 years and I have seen them come and go and come go again mainly trying to make a big buck out of something hey have built over a longer period of time, take it from me forcing people to pay is not the answer, good luck

Ben. i am happy to continue to pay such a minimal amount for the excellent service SW provides. I have to say that Nockyy sounds like a bit of a Cocky .

SW would probably boost your subscriber numbers in South Oz considerably if the Dribblton cam was behind the pay wall.

Geez are we really turning into a bunch of tight arses. $8.95 a month is nothing for up to date forecasts etc. That's not even a coffee or a beer a week. Surely there are bigger things in life to worry about. If you don't want to pay it that's fine but stop whinging for $2 a week. Keep smashing it Ben and the swellnet team, I appreciate all the work that goes into these forecasts.

Nockyy in your first post you say you use the margret river and Yallingup cam daily, then in your last post you say that you only use swellnet for forecaster notes and wave height predictions so it won’t bother you anyhow..
you also say a good percentage of surfers in your local area spend all their spare cash on following their hobby (surfing), so don’t have $9.00 a month to spend on a surf report ( plus much more). If surfing is your hobby/passion/sport surely $9.00 a month is not much to part with?

There's a lot of whingers on this site .
What's that quote " Pop will eat itself " ?

reminds me of Gary's web cam . even when you don't pay , you pay ........

Nocky - Put your hand in your pocket mate. You’re using Swellnet to facilitate your business. Sort your shit out.

Interesting seeing this all happen in real time and reading peoples reactions. Appreciate Bens efforts replying even if this looks like going the way of youtube comments.

I don't think anyone here can really make the case $9 a month is too much of a stretch in general. The problem here is, what do you get for the $9 vs. who else wants your $9 and what are they offering?
For me in my area there are 2 things that changed with the pay wall, the $9 would get me:
1, A cam i used to check periodically when the swell is big. This beach has a free cam available elsewhere so that is 0 value to me.
2, I used to read the forecast notes if there is a big swell on the way (6ft+) to gauge the level of certainty and then check out the excitement in the comments as it got closer. I looked at it like a 2nd or 3rd opinion after seeing the swell forecast 7+ days out from other data.

As far as i can tell that is the only change that would effect the way i use this site. So what i am buying for $9 a month is some notes to confirm yes there's swell coming and it might be about xyz big. The wind forecasts are good everywhere these days so they don't factor in for me.

Now look at other services, subscriptions, memberships i might have for comparable $. The lists go on for ever these days as everyone is desperate for a slice of the subscription pie.

Netflix
Amazon TV
News services
Podcast subscriptions
Delivery subscriptions

The value just doesn't come close for me.

Now so this doesn't just read like a negative rant to someone selling something i already said i won't buy, here are the things that would get me on your site allot more often and engaging with it.

Detailed and accurate daily reports with decent pics at spots that are more relevant (no before sunrise guessing)
More articles such as the coastal formation series you had.
More active forums
Something like a live Social media feed with users surf pics.
More regular forecast notes in more detail.
Live cam setups at name spots on special swell events.

Any number of those things would get me flicking through more pages more often and spending allot more time on here.

Sorry about the long 'comment'

Interesting Belly mentioned Foxtel above - they've got a new 'discounted' plan being marketed as 'Under $4 per day' - that's $120 per month, or $1,450 per year. 
(courtesy Mumbrella: https://mumbrella.com.au/foxtel-argues-new-deal-is-better-than-a-4-coffe...)
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In the early '90's I used to pay 50 pence (.90cents) three times a week to receive a fax with the weather charts and a brief synopsis. That's $2.70 a week, 25 years ago. $9 a month in 2018 seems like a steal for the content I get from you guys.

SA Shafted Again!

QLD, 33% Premium
NSW, 17% Premium
Vic, 20% Premium
SA, 60% Premium
WA 33% Premum

#EasternStatesBias