The five numbers.
Every honest surf call comes down to five readings: period, direction, height, wind, and tide. GhostFingers starts from public ocean and weather data, reads all five, and tunes them for the break in front of you.
Period, direction, height, wind, tide. The five numbers behind every call.
Why the same swell breaks differently everywhere.
A buoy reading is open water. The wave you ride is what is left after that energy crosses the shelf, bends toward the coast, and meets the bottom at one specific break. Shelf width, the angle the break faces, and the swell window it opens onto all change the answer.
So GhostFingers does not hand you the raw reading. It tunes the numbers per spot, the way a local already does it in their head.
Why period is everything.
Two spots can read the same height and surf nothing alike, because period carries the power. Long-period swell is organized energy from a distant storm. It reaches deeper, stands up taller as it feels the bottom, and breaks bigger than its height suggests. Short-period windswell is local and disorganized, so it breaks soft.
A 3 foot reading at 16 seconds throws noticeably more surf than a 3 foot reading at 6 seconds. GhostFingers weights every reading by its period, so the number you see reflects the wave that actually shows up.
The six-tier verdict.
The forecast resolves to one of six calls, built to read at a glance, hardest at the bottom, best at the top.
What sits behind every tier.
The verdict is one word, but the work behind it is visible. Five factors combine into a single read, and the forecast shows each one so the call is never a black box.
We grade our own homework.
A forecast that cannot be checked is just an opinion. Every call GhostFingers makes is measured against what the buoy actually recorded, and the gap is shown, not buried. When the data runs thin, the forecast fills the gap with a clearly labeled lower-confidence read instead of leaving you a blank space.
One source of truth feeds every screen, so a spot reads the same wherever you check it. The full read stays free.
Common questions.
Why does the same swell break differently at every spot?
The ocean between the open water and the sand is different at every break. Shelf width, the angle the break faces, the shape of the bottom, and the swell window a spot opens onto all change how much of a reading actually arrives as a rideable wave. GhostFingers tunes the open-ocean numbers per spot instead of showing the raw reading.
Why does long-period swell throw bigger waves than short-period swell at the same height?
Long-period swell is organized energy from a distant storm. It reaches deeper and stands up taller as it meets the bottom, so it breaks bigger and with more power than its height alone suggests. Short-period windswell is local and disorganized, so it breaks soft. A 3 foot reading at 16 seconds throws noticeably more surf than a 3 foot reading at 6 seconds. GhostFingers weights every reading by its period for this reason.
What are the five numbers behind a surf call?
Period, direction, height, wind, and tide. Every honest surf call comes down to these five. GhostFingers reads all five, tunes them for the specific break, and shows each one behind the verdict.
What do the six tiers mean?
GhostFingers returns one of six calls: Flat, Marginal, Worth a look, Fun, Cooking, and ITS ON!. The tier combines wave energy (height and period together), how well the swell direction fits the break, the wind, and the tide into a single read built for a glance.
How does GhostFingers check its own accuracy?
Every call is measured against what the buoy actually recorded, and the gap is shown rather than hidden. When data is thin, the forecast fills the gap with a clearly labeled lower-confidence read instead of leaving a blank. The full read stays free.