Our Favourite Surf-Forecast Tools: The Hindcast Feature

If the www.surf-forecast.com looks like it was designed by geophysicists in 2001, well, that’s because it kinda was. Whilst getting on with a PHD degree, our chief forecaster Rob Davies wrote the code for the site with one thing in mind; so he could he could better waves, with fewer people.

It’s part mind-palace, part deep treasure-trove of incredible forecast data and tools, all backed by state-of-the-art science. And one of Rob’s, and our favourite, hidden gems on the website is the hindcast tool.

If you have any photos of any wave, anywhere on the planet, from any point in time, by uploading to the site, you can see what the detailed forecast was at that exact moment.

“I use it as a high-grade time travel tool that means you can keep a record of what my favourite spots' forecasts were on their very best days,” said Rob. “On the epic days on some of the more difficult to predict spots on the coast near me in New Zealand, I’ll upload a photo, get the hindcast, and that stores that forecast forever. I could refer to the mix of swell, wind, and wave energy the next time I thought that spot might turn on.”

The explainer video above runs you through the feature, but below is a step-by-step guide through the process. Give it a go, and let us know what you think.

Go to the photo gallery and upload a photo.

This can be from ten years or ten minutes ago.

Give the photo a name, choose where it was shot, add a description and your name.

Then upload to the site.

Now, as long as the photo has metadata, which most digital images do, you’ll get the Hindcast from that very second it was taken.

Then let us know how you are getting on with the feature.