Welcome to chascast!
The beginning… how my curiosity for surf forecasting grew.
I rode my first wave as an eight year old in Northernmost Orange County, I was an avid regular surfer by the age of 10. I had been curious about weather before that, but my surfing life grew my curiosity about the origins of waves. I’d be mesmerized watching white water pouring over the Navy base Jetty in Seal Beach from my parents apartment window. The phenomena was somewhat rare, usually during winter storms, but occasionally when there was no storm at all. Provocative stuff for a young surfer.
Finding surf in Baja.
As my surfing developed, so did my curiosity. My timing was perfect in retrospect! During the early 80s I was befriended by Sean Collins, yes, that Sean Collins! My surfing was becoming pretty decent and I had a great fortune of being invited on a Surfing Magazine photo trip to Southern Baja led by Sean.
The year was 1983 and I was 21 at the time. On the way down, we roll up in Cataviña, a picturesque boulder strewn town hundreds of miles from the beach in Central Baja. Sean starts draping antenna wires across surrounding boulders and attaches wiring to a sophisticated short wave device that printed out a facsimile of an eastern Pacific wind chart originating from the US Navy. He grabs me and goes over the chart pointing out where we should head and why… so we did and we scored! This scenario repeated itself several times on the trip and my perception of “FINDING” surf was changed for ever! This was pre 976-SURF, he was just a curios surfer sharing the fruits of his passion for being at a spot at the right time!
Then came the internet.
I ended up in college, graduating with a Communication Degree concentrated in Rhetorical Studies. A few years later, I found an amazing gal who I ended up marrying and raising a family with. Always surfing along the way, and always an eye on satellite photos, newspaper weather charts, and local news broadcasts looking for clues on what was coming in the way of surf. Then came the Internet, and many more resources to fuel my amateur surf forecasting.
A few years ago, an invite to a remote surf spot in the Southern California bight changed my level of surf forecasting passion forever. The spot isn’t secret, and gets plenty of traffic on well publicized swell events. The day we went had only moderate energy, but we soloed really amazing surf for several hours! 15 minutes into the session I knew my life was forever changed. I became consumed with finding and mastering models, charts and any resource that I could get my eyes on to forecast these fringe surf events. In the process I’ve become quite proficient, often sharing information with my close friends and scoring relatively uncrowded surf under the radar.
The ChasCast today.
I’m here to share with the public now. The focus here is on Southern California, but I think the information is probably useful for the Central Coast of California, as well as Northern Baja. My intimate knowledge, and feel of what the models and charts are telling me will be useful in your surfing life, I promise you’ll get great value here. No cameras to blow up your spot, no pressure to sell ads, just useful straight forward comprehensive information on how to find waves in your zone. If you know your spot, read between the lines, my numbers will give you insight on when and where to be.
Sean has the greatest legacy of any forecaster to walk the Earth and I’m going to work my ass off to try to make him proud and carry on his legacy. Thanks for visiting us at The ChasCast.
Less guessing.
More surfing.
With over 40 years as weather geek and surf forecaster… now sharing with professional accuracy. Spend more time surfing, and less time trying to figure out where to surf.
