The day decides more than the kit does
How to read a forecast for exposure rather than for swell. What the UV index is, why cloud and cold mislead almost everybody, and what actually changes when you move a session by two hours.
What the UV index actually measures, and how to read it before a session
The UV index is a forecast of the strength of the sun's ultraviolet at ground level, banded so it can be acted on. What it includes, what it leaves out, and how to use it on a coastline.
Forecasting · 13 min readWhy cloud and cold are the two worst guides to sun exposure
Skin does not burn because of heat and cloud does not remove ultraviolet reliably. Why the two things people judge a day by are the two least useful signals on a coastline.
Forecasting · 12 min readThe hours that matter, and what shifting a session actually changes
Ultraviolet follows a steep daily curve driven by sun angle. What moving a session to dawn or evening genuinely changes, and what it costs you in tide, wind and crowd.
Timing · 12 min readLatitude, altitude and season on a UK and European coastline
Why the same person burns differently in Cornwall, Biarritz and the Canaries, what altitude does on a coastal road trip, and why the UK spring catches people out every year.
Geography · 13 min readReading a marine forecast for exposure and not just for swell
Surfers already read forecasts fluently. A short guide to pulling the exposure information out of the same screens you already check for swell, wind and tide.
Forecasting · 12 min readDuration is the variable that makes this sport different
Almost every piece of sun guidance assumes short exposure with shade and reapplication available. A surf session breaks all three assumptions at once, and duration is why.
Principles · 13 min readThe tide line
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