Ah, time for a little rant. Just a little one. What's the the diminutive of rant? Rint? Rantie? Runt? I digress.
Back in the day, boffins were building these machines called computers. Until then, computers had actually been a profession for the guys who were the most good at maths. At the time, IBM reckoned the world market for computers would be in the single digits. They were most amped on using them for defence. But, they were also pretty amped that they could forecast the weather - years into the future.
When they started realising that they would fall short, a new theory was born to explain why - Chaos theory. A butterfly flaps its wings...and all that. The crux is, there are too many variables, and too much data for even today's supercomputers to handle.
But, as surfers, we put an inordinate amount of trust in forecasting websites. You know the ones I'm talking about. The one's that drag you out of bed in the cold and dark and make you spend two hours driving in the wrong direction. The one's that make you miss your child's birth, first day at school, or expulsion hearing. The information that leads to a thousand phonecalls, emails, sms's, bbms, whats apps and eventually to one bad decision. Those ones.
Lying assholes.
They do get it right occasionally, but now in the change of seasons, they are woefully out. My own theory is there's just too much going on meteorogically in this seasonal wobble for the models to reliably spit it out there.
As a result, this morning, I left home packing a four board quiver extending up to 8'3". I ended up surfing my twin-finned fish. Fun, yes. I had two really fun waves and so I write with the smile of someone who started the day with a wave. I'll still be smiling when may face lands in my pillow much later this evening.
But, when you march out the door packing heat, and return a few hours later with big boards still dry, you've got to feel like a bit of a chop. And I lay that blame (yes, i'm pointing fingers at others) at the feet of the few forecasting sites i regularly trawl. Assholes.
Of course, the real solution is to bone up on the original meteo data, learn what it means by study and practice, and then use your intuition to work out what the hell is going on that way. In the meantime, I'm just going to curse my own dependency on relying on free stuff online.
Happy wednesday. And enjoy this pic below. My surf this am had very little to do with it.
Back in the day, boffins were building these machines called computers. Until then, computers had actually been a profession for the guys who were the most good at maths. At the time, IBM reckoned the world market for computers would be in the single digits. They were most amped on using them for defence. But, they were also pretty amped that they could forecast the weather - years into the future.
When they started realising that they would fall short, a new theory was born to explain why - Chaos theory. A butterfly flaps its wings...and all that. The crux is, there are too many variables, and too much data for even today's supercomputers to handle.
But, as surfers, we put an inordinate amount of trust in forecasting websites. You know the ones I'm talking about. The one's that drag you out of bed in the cold and dark and make you spend two hours driving in the wrong direction. The one's that make you miss your child's birth, first day at school, or expulsion hearing. The information that leads to a thousand phonecalls, emails, sms's, bbms, whats apps and eventually to one bad decision. Those ones.
Lying assholes.
They do get it right occasionally, but now in the change of seasons, they are woefully out. My own theory is there's just too much going on meteorogically in this seasonal wobble for the models to reliably spit it out there.
As a result, this morning, I left home packing a four board quiver extending up to 8'3". I ended up surfing my twin-finned fish. Fun, yes. I had two really fun waves and so I write with the smile of someone who started the day with a wave. I'll still be smiling when may face lands in my pillow much later this evening.
But, when you march out the door packing heat, and return a few hours later with big boards still dry, you've got to feel like a bit of a chop. And I lay that blame (yes, i'm pointing fingers at others) at the feet of the few forecasting sites i regularly trawl. Assholes.
Of course, the real solution is to bone up on the original meteo data, learn what it means by study and practice, and then use your intuition to work out what the hell is going on that way. In the meantime, I'm just going to curse my own dependency on relying on free stuff online.
Happy wednesday. And enjoy this pic below. My surf this am had very little to do with it.
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| via No complaints if I rocked up here expecting something else. |
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