UKC

Does anyone know of a source of information about the state of the sea at Swanage, for the purposes of planning a climbing trip?

I am interested in finding out whether waves too big for safety on the sea cliffs, for example (rather than having to drive there myself to look!).

thanks

In reply to kylo-342:

keep an eye on the weather forecasts. Wind=waves. Swanage faces south. Probably teaching you to suck eggs though. If you can do skeleton ridge, pabbay etc as your profile shows, then I'm sure you can pick lines to ab down and have a hanging stance if needed.

However, for completeness, a number of web cams in and around dorset will show you the sea state, for example: chesil beach. This can be quite an aggressive beach for waves, but you'll know if its flat or big rollers coming in. It is after all only 30 miles or so down the road.

http://www.chesilbaitntackle.co.uk/chesil-beach-web-cam-23-w.asp

I believe that durleston country park will have one soon too.

However, what is safe for waves at Swanage? There have been people washed out in what they obviously thought were safe conditions, and from quite high above apparent sea level.

Have fun, be safe. Theres always sport climbing if the trad is out.

In reply to kylo-342:

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/swanage

This will give you all the info you need .

In reply to kylo-342:

http://magicseaweed.com/ probably the best site

Tony

In reply to kylo-342:

http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Durlston/forecasts/latest/six_day

In reply to kylo-342:

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=62103

This is live data for the best idea of what's out there

In reply to Tony & Sarah:

Magicseaweed all the way. Gives you all the infk you need

In reply to kylo-342:

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful.

In reply to kylo-342:

Those links posted above look useful. I'll have a dig around in the websites to see what the sources are.

For real-time wave measurements, the Channel Coast Observatory is the best source: http://www.channelcoast.org/data_management/real_time_data/charts/
Unfortunately, there isn't a buoy immediately relevant to the Swanage cliffs, but looking at the other buoys along the coast helps build up a picture.

In reply to Cheese Monkey:


I've always used:
http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Durlston/forecasts/latest/six_day

is magic seaweed better? Or more accurate? For the Swanage cliffs?

In reply to David Coley:

I would choose the Magic Seaweed Kimmeridge forecast over Durlston, Durlston Bay is normally very sheltered and the break only occurs under special conditions (like yesterday!)

In reply to scott titt:
It probably makes little difference as the forecast is very likely to be from a regional model and won't have local wave transformation. I.e. the forecast model resolution is not fine enough to resolve the local bathymetry and coastline. For example, in the surf-forecast site, the forecast for Kimmerage and Durlston are the same.

Of the websites, I could only find the source for http://www.windfinder.com/ which is from NOAA (the US equivalent of the Met Office although much bigger). It quotes a resolution of 7km for the model. I suspect the source for the others is the same as - unlike the Met Office who also have a very good wave forecast model - NOAA release their forecast and data for free.

Without doing a rigorous analysis, I would expect any of the above websites will give a reasonable indication of waves. As well as wave height - it's also worth looking at wave period and direction. Long wave periods are more likely to produce waves that swamp an unfortunate climber than short periods with the same wave height.

Bear in mind that wave models are driven by atmospheric models and we all know how reliable those can be.

In reply to El Greyo:

Webcam at Durlston would be the best !

The reason behind my interest is to be able to find out whether the sea is so high that even a hanging belay might be dangerous (e.g. waves over the cliff tops due to a storm like on Weds night).

Was anyone on the cliffs on Thursday?

In reply to scott titt:

Thanks Scott, looking at the forecast from those sites, I'm I going to be able to traverse the base of the western half of the Ruckle tomorrow! Ta

In reply to kylo-342:
Sorry, didn't read Scott's message properly-- & thanks for the info that Durlston bay isn't representative.

Scott - how big were the waves along the main climbing cliffs yesterday?

In reply to kylo-342:

Well, that is the question - how does what is forecast on the surfing websites relate to waves incident on the cliff and how likely a climber is to get wet (or swept away). I really don't know. I will have to bow to local knowledge.

The tidal range at Swanage is quite small but it may also make a difference.