Meet your local forecaster

Tell us a bit about your connection to the surf community in Victoria – where are your favorite places to surf, how long have you been in the area?

My grandparents were actually from Mallacoota, so I grew up spending time over that way each school holidays. It was my wife who grew up holidaying in the caravan park down here in Torquay. We made the decision to move here permanently back in 2010 and times flown since then. There’s been lots of change around town, but the waves remain the same. I’m a goofy footer so I’m guilty of sniffing out lefts, Boobs and Beacon are to’s…. occasionally I’ll pay lowers at visit at Winki.

What makes surfing in Victoria special / unique to other parts of AUS?
Cold water! There’s something pretty cool about being exposed to the western storm track. But thinking more locally, there’s just so many wave options over a relatively short distance. Between the Island to the Surf Coast or west of the Cape. Each with its own personality and some seriously incredible waves and coastlines.

How do you combine your own local knowledge with forecasting tools when forecasting the conditions for Victoria breaks?
We’re so fortunate at Surfline to have an incredible 40 year data base of surf observation and an pretty amazing surf model called Lotus. This and other tools at our disposal for analysing climatology and tracking weather is pretty phenomenal. But one thing I will say is, being able to combine that data with local knowledge, many hours surfing and plenty spent watching local breaks – it allows me to understand all the nuances of a region or a spot. It’s what takes forecasting, or predicting the future, from a science to almost a bit of an art. No one piece of art is the same and neither is any one day of surf – it always keeps me on my toes and as a bit of a surf nerd, I love it.