In the beginning

The ocean has always been part of my life. I was born in Auckland, the City Of Sails, about 2 minutes from the coast and since then have spent half my time on the shores of NZ and the other on the shores of the Irish Sea, back here in Wales.

Growing up I windsurfed and sailed at my local but didn't get into surfing in a big way until my best mate got a car at 18. That’s when we started travelling to surfing beaches and I was severely bitten by the bug. We travelled all over New Zealand surfing some wild and remote places from Northland to Mungamanu (for those that know NZ). For the next 6 years, I worked in Auckland in various jobs from cycle courier to building, keeping me fit, paying my rent and allowing me to surf the West coast beaches after and before work. There, it was a way of life - surf work surf.

Surfing has lead me on some great adventures to many countries - one of my most memorable being a 3 month solo cycle surf trip down the Moroccan 'coast road' the memories of which still creep up and bring a wry smile to my face when least expected. I've been fortunate enough to travel to a few places in my time - the Celtic lands hold a special place in my heart, I've been to Ireland and the Hebrides, in warmer waters I've experienced flawless barrels in Indonesian and seen perfect points in Portugal. Surfing is an addictive path that once you join you never truly leave.

The path towards my idea

In 2001 I started a degree at Aberystwyth University in Multimedia Engineering and Design, yup a little bit late... I soon switched to Software Engineering when I realised that I was practically doing it anyway. I chose Aber because of the surf with some good breaks around Cardigan Bay and the hope that I might be able to sneak the odd trip to Ireland. Two years into my course fate played another part as ASR Limited (the artificial surf reef company based in Raglan, New Zealand) took me on for a one year industrial placement. So back down under, to the worlds best left hand point break - Raglan. This time taking my wife to be, Philippa, with me.

Raglan is a surf town and almost everything revolves round the waves. There are three breaks, Manu, Whale and Indies all of very high quality. Due to it's location on New Zealand's West Coast, Raglan is exposed to the swells generated in the Southern Oceans making it one of the most consistent places in the world to surf. Quite often there would be good waves every day for a month. So I was in my element, Surfing two or three times per day and learning - what could be better? Towards the end of my time in Raglan, I started to get more interested in surf forecasting and large scale numerical modelling and decided to integrate this into my studies. For my final year dissertation, I produced the prototype forecasting system which developed into the Surfcore web application that exists today.

After I graduated in 2005 rather than get a ‘proper’ job, I devoted my time to developing Surfcore and extended my research to produce the worlds most accurate expert Surf Forecasting System.

So what is Surfcore about today

Well, we have the UK's most accurate surf forecasting system (as featured in Surfers Path Magazine) We also have a large and growing community that has more than 15,000 regular visitors (we also get over 200,000 hits a month.) The forums are always busy and many topics are discussed and all are connected to the world of surfing.

If you have any suggestions or general comments about the site please post it in the forum here or email us at info@surfcore.co.uk