Welcome to Wavescape Ocean Watch (WOW). This page gives a general overview of the technology we use, how we present it and where we get the data from. We publish marine forecasts three times a day for 10 regions and more than 40 beach locations. Spike analyses the data and publishes a short blurb on each regional page summarising his interpretation of the figures.
FORECAST OVERVIEW
There are 10 pages for the ten main surfing regions (Namaqualand, West Coast, Cape Peninsula, Southern Cape, E Cape West, E Cape East, Wild Coast, South Coast, Durban and North Coast). Each page contains a summary by a forecaster. This is a brief analysis of the grid point forecast for the area published below in the two bar graphs and regional forecast table.
REGIONS
The two bar graphs and regional forecast table on each page display automated data at a grid point in each region. This point is included with the title of each region, ie, Cape Peninsula: -34 S 17.5 E (this is a point west of Cape Town at 34° south and 17.5° east or 34°S 17° 30'E). The marker in the top right Google map points to the approximate location of the grid point. There is also other info: sea temperature, tides, sunrise and sunset, and wind speed according to the Beaufort scale. Also included are three animated maps (swell height, swell period and surface wind) for South Africa. All the above data comes from NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), who run software called Wave Watch 3 through selected marine data extracted from the total (land and sea) data crunched from their numerical weather prediction model called the Global Forecasting System (GFS). We 'fetch' the WW3 data from NOAA and publish in different formats. You can also get to regions via a map of South Africa from the left navigation bar under SURF REPORTS.
BEACHES
Included on each page is a BEACH FORECAST table, with info unique to specific spots. This is calculated using formulae that 'Spikerises' the regional forecast, filtering out the generic data based on topography, swell direction, swell energy and other factors that influence the transition from raw theoretical data to actual surf height. There are two types of entry in the BEACH FORECAST table, one marked with an asterisk, the other unmarked. An asterisk denotes the surf likely to be running along the coast at any open-ocean beach or reef in the area. You will notice these are usually a main coastal promontory or headland, such as 'Cape Point' or 'Cape Recife' south of PE. Unmarked beaches denote potential surf height at that specific beach or spot. Carefully worded beaches such as 'Wild Coast Point' or 'South Coast Point' indicate potential surf at an 'average' pointbreak in a region to keep a balance between good info and blowing a spot's cover
PLEASE NOTE
Check back for improvements (stop/pause/go controls for the animated models), adding more beaches. Your comments and thoughts are most welcome on ways to improve this service. We are in this for the long haul, and have committed substantial time, energy and bucks to building a unique and useful service. We will also endeavour to keep it free. Now it's over to the brand custodians, those esteemed captains and handlangers of industry, to step up to the plate. Hundreds!
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