MSW Surf Forecast

The app is/was easier to use/better set up than Surfline. I get they merged but would be nice to still have the option for the traditional view. I still had the MS app on this phone and was able to use it since the merge. I had no option but download the SL app on my new phone last month. The only way I could get it to work was sign up. Give my email. I had already signed up years ago but didn’t like the SL app and went back to MS. I had forgot the password and used the reset. The feature was buggy and took 4 times to get it to work. Sorry for the long winded review but what it comes down to. The free Magic Seaweed app was far better than tge free Surfline app and you didn’t have to sign up to use it. Hopefully the SL app will improve with time but for now it’s a 1 star app in my opinion.

I live a couple hours from the beach these days, so I pay for the premium 14 day report. For 3 bucks, it’s fully worth it. I’m busy, so it’s hard to plan surf trips. This app makes it much easier. It’s accurate most of the time, as accurate as a 14 day report can be. The only complaints are small and won’t matter for most. I do wish the app said which way the wind is blowing in relationship to the shore. It says the direction, but in Cali, not all beaches face west, so it would be nice to get a better description. That said, I’m sure if I weren’t so bad with a compass, I could figure it out. Many will scoff at this gripe, I’m sure. The other thing is the “nearby” feature. There’s straight up nothing there for any beach I’ve been too. Now perhaps it’s up to a business to add their info, which I understand. But if businesses don’t want to participate, perhaps just ditch the feature all together. All around, this app does what it’s supposed to do. I’m definitely pleased with the service at this price point. Bottom line: I recommend the premium version of this app. The free one is good too if all you need is a week.

I’ve been using Magicseaweed’s website since I lived in Oregon and surfed Pacific City back in 08’, probably before that but can’t remember when I started using surf forecasting (yes I was alive and surfing in the days before internet forecasting, back then the newspaper-I am from Cape Fear region of North Carolina-was the source for a forecast, though then, as now, the most accurate forecast is still on sight forecasting), but its always been spot on in terms of predicting groundswell, there isn’t a surf forecasting program alive that I know of that accurately predicts wave height, which is a fickle thing depending as it is on so many factors including shifting sandbars in both NC and Oregon. When I say spot on I mean accurate for groundswells days in advance in my experience...it also has useful information about the various surf spots in your area and includes historical data, all for free. The historical data is quite interesting as it gives you the statistical average percentage of rideable wave each month going back to like 2007 for some spots, along with percentages of ground swell vs. windswell, average height of swell/wave for that month and average height for each day and maximum height each day. This is free!! Other forecasting sites don’t even do this at all. It’s not my go to for general weather forecasting, for that I use Windy, but for it niche, its the best you can find.