Seasprite Weather Services just get better

11th Mar 2008 @ 10:36:47 PM

Ezzy and Seasprite team rider James Cox has been busy (for we don’t know how long) setting up a totally new concept in weather services called Bigsalty. The service provides the following wealth of information for the UK and Ireland: current wind data, current swell data, wind and swell forecasts in graphical and tabulated for as well as producing tidal data for selected UK locations and links to Web Cams around the coast. Along with good usability, coverage and its massive resource of data in one place for planning sessions, what makes Bigsalty different to any other service out there is that it goes a step further in forecasting by directly applying forecasts to individual locations through an inference engine that processes a brain churning number of variables for each model run. James in action. The forecast data is based on GFS 0.5 degree model runs with swell forecast based on the NWW3 model developed by NOAA. Each of the four model runs per day on the Bigsalty servers process the forecast data and, for a growing number of beaches, produce ratings based on everything from beach angle, swell period, wind speed, wind direction, venturi effects, swell height, shelving rates and more. In short, a series of ratings are produced that cater for conditions over the next 7 days. It is clear that this is a different philosophy in forecasting from relying alone on the resolution of a forecast model. Rather than looking at the problem of weather forecast solely as the accuracy of a mathematical model, Bigsalty is looking at the combined effect of heuristics at the locations. Also for completeness, the configurations ‘tailor’ the forecast for different groups of windsurfers & kitesurfers. Let’s have a brief word from James about this concept: “Something that has always interested me is the way that different locations perform on different days – not only for wave sailing but also for free ride conditions. There are a good number of reasons why this is the case - it’s not only to do with the accuracy of the forecast but also about what we know about the way different beaches react to forecasts. The Bigsalty rating system is a totally new concept because it combines all the information we have available to provide you with an answer to the question: is it worth going to this spot to windsurf or could I go somewhere better? The aim is to allow you to get more from your windsurfing and hopefully less time stuck in traffic! Generally, a 3 star rating means the location is as good as it gets. If it is really windy at a location but has a zero rating, it typically means the wind is not a good direction and there is a location down the coast that suits the forecast better. We are committed to improving and developing the system and adding more and more beaches nation wide. Soon we will also have a rating feedback system to find out how our users are finding the results.” Currently the Bigsalty servers number crunch the ratings for only a subset of the total beaches on the forecast database. If your beach doesn’t have a rating set up at the moment, the best thing you can do is set up a request in the community area to fast track it. In summary, it seems that this is definitely a step towards making forecasting easier and more relevant for both kite & windsurfers. Time will tell how the service performs as a whole, but with a long list of usability developments on their way this new concept appears, to us at least, very exciting.