How much wave forecasting do we need?

Yesterday, I posted a press release about Wasserman Media acquiring Wetsand.com. I thought it was interesting—three big wave forecasting sites are now owned by big multi-media firms. Wavewatch was created by the ASG (the magazine group which includes Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder and Skateboarder and is owned by Source Interlink) and Surfline is now part of the Airborne Media group which owns Water and Foam magazine. Wasserman is part of a huge conglomerate which includes, among other things, 411 Video Skate Magazine and VAS Entertainment. My point? Why the big investments in these wave forecasting sites? It seems as if the market is saturated with them, which would result in them not bringing millions of dollars in to the parent company. And, each one gets better and better technology, so it doesn’t seem as if one is really better than the other. I asked two friends who are regular users of wave forecasting systems—one said that he has no preference for one site; he thinks they’re all about the same. Another friend says she uses Surfline for daily reports (her opinion is that Wetsand exaggerates the dailies), but for long term, or weekend forecastings, she turns to Wetsand—she finds they’re more accurate in that arena than Surfline.

Comments

[larry]

I wish we could go back to NO online surf forecasting sites. It would cut the crowds down in a big way. Too many overinflated surf reports leading to the masses showing up to the beach. The weekday crowds on these days are incredible.