MSW Surf Forecasting

MSW has been honoured to be chosen as Official Forecaster for the Rip Curl Mentawai Pro at Macaronis, an ASC/ISC event bringing the best in local talent and cementing our reputation as forecaster of choice the the Archipelago. Rip Curl hardly have chosen a better location for the inaugural Mentawai Pro. With the Southern Indian Ocean as your swell source and uninterrupted fetch from a wide range of angles you could pretty much pick the heat times now and be all but guaranteed the right conditions. The world’s ‘funnest’ wave, a pro surfers playground of choice, is also a surf forecasters dream. Working on almost any swell direction (but preferring just a touch [...]

The blocking high that’s delivered such warm, calm early spring weather moves west bringing stronger winds and unsettled weather. However a series of small storm systems off the US Eastern seaboard culminating in a deep low earlier on Tuesday are sending a steady stream of mid sized long period swell to exposed coasts over the long weekend. Monday sees a change in tempo frustrating the efforts of most Atlantic facing coasts but delivering cheer for wave starved channel coast surfers. That same northerly airflow means the North East might be pick of the bunch for the long weekend with steady swell and much more favourable winds. Friday 6th The first [...]

Bit of back to basics for many but we know a lot of keen surfers still feel less than confident with understanding swell direction*. We’ve written a little example of reading swell direction on your surf forecast that talks about the importance of this for understanding the surf  (there’s plenty more to add – it’s a critical part of the forecast) but before you can even do that you need to get to grips with the terminology. This diagram is a nice illustration to understand the relationship between degrees and the compass points. On MSW we always talk about swell and wind directions as the direction they come FROM. So [...]

Over the next few days the story of the winter for Irish big wave surfing (and given it’s stature in the scene now a major story for winter 2011/12 globally) will start to hit the web. We’re already seeing photos of what looks like some of the largest surf ever ridden at Mullaghmore with waves that’d rank against any around the world for size and power. The back story to this swell is almost as interesting. Early in March the US experienced severe weather conditions as warm air from the Gulf of Mexico hit a cold front over the mainland. The storm system created wreaked havoc across the tornado belt. [...]