Walt Barnes is an early pioneer of on-line surf reports. For over a decade he has provided the on-line community a reliable surf report. Counting in Internet Dog Years, Walt can be considered the Grandfather of on-line surf reports.

The interview took place in an E-mail conversation in the Spring of 2006. Walt's Surf Report page can be found at this link: Surf4Cast.Com Walt's Surf Report

We Are Water: Welcome Walt, thanks for participating inWeAreH2O.Com’s first interview.

Can you tell us what you do and some background information on your on-line surf report?

Walt: I’m a software engineer for 20 years and a surfer for over 30. While working at ENSCO doing weather computer modeling in 1992 I had access to weather maps that at the time were state of the art and not available on the internet.

I had been using E-mail to send around 50 people the daily report. Thanks to a few meteorologist that answered my questions surf forecasting then became possible.

Around 1995, Dr. Graeme Rae, who was building Surfinfo.com, asks if I could post my forecast on his website and I gladly gave him permission.

A few months later I started my own website.

We Are Water: When did you decide to do on-line surf reporting?

Walt: When the first primitive web browser like Mosaic and Mozilla became available then it was instantly clear to me the internet was going to be a huge advent to computer technology and to pushing out the daily surf report.

I had to learn this technology but knew there most be something passionate in it to keep driving me. My passion for surfing and sharing the fun seemed like a perfect match.

However, being dyslexic left me with very poor written skills that made the idea of being read to such a wide audience, well…pretty intimidating.

We Are Water: Please elaborate on Dyslexia.

Walt: Dyslexia hinders my ability to read and understand two dimensional words but has left me gifted in the ability to solve 5 dimensional problems quickly in my head, thus my strength in pattern matching, mathematics, problem solving, and athletic ability. Sort of like not being able to crawl but able to run blazing fast.

We Are Water: Being that you were one of the first on-line surf reporters what is your take on the evolution of other surfing websites?

Walt: A very short time after my site other websites such as SurfGuru.Com came along and then later followed by a host of others like 2ndlight.com and Ross at http://cflsurf.com/.

Dr.Graeme Rae (SurfInfo.Com) eventually went over to work with Surfline.com and their on-line surf report start up.

My website makes no money but sharing the stoke of surfing and just feeling so lucky to live on the coast and being able to do it is rewarding. I’m pretty sure at best most of the surfing websites are just lucky to cover expenses. This really says a lot about the people running them, their passion for surfing, and willingness to put in so much spare time to share their passion for surfing. For me, that amounts to at least an hour a day. Multiply that by 365 days a year and 11 years I’m probably just short of 4,000 hours into this website hobby.

Although there has been no money made with the site, it has a lot of good karma and has introduced me to many good friends.

We Are Water: Where did you learn to surf?

Walt: I learned to surf on the Southern Texas coast. The surf is pretty much like the waves in Cocoa Beach.

We Are Water: Where are the best places to surf in Texas. What is the surf like there? Water temp?

Walt: Port Isabel just north of the border is by far the best spot to surf in Texas. It breaks very much like Sebastian inlet but the lines can be much longer possibly due to jetties that are probably close to 1/2 mile long.

Water temps run from 48ish in the winter to low 90s in the summer. I've seen it so hot the wax was melting off my board.

Further north you go in Texas the mushier and less consistent the wave gets much like Florida's gulf coast. Further south the surf is more hollow, bigger and consistent. Seems the size was consistently rideable but rarely had the size or power we get here. Pretty much all the spots are beach breaks except for the occasional jetty or pier.

We Are Water: Where do you surf nowadays? With whom?

Walt: I've been hitting 2ndlight, hanger, sea gull park, pelican park, RCs, and Perkins on regular bases. Based on time and conditions I may travel to other spots.

I Pretty much always paddle out alone. It can be a bit of a mental challenge on a big dawn patrol day or at monster hole. I do have a number of people I am always glad to see in the water. The other surf reporters and all the guys and gals on the 2ndlight forum make surfing a fun experience.

We Are Water: Do your daughters surf?

Walt: I’ve been paddling out with my daughter since she was 4. It wasn't until just recently she was catching the bug and coming along. It looks like this summer I may be carting a van load of 12 year old girls in hopes they all jazz each other into surfing. Peer pressure is far greater than any parent could hope to push.

Surfing with my daughter and seeing her get a good wave is so much more of a rush than me getting on one. There is certainly hope this is the beginning of a very fun and long adventure for her.

We Are Water: What are some other things you are into?

Walt: Some things I do when there is no surf are, dancing, kayaking, rollerblading, tennis, soccer, indo board, yoga, swimming, snorkeling, and the gym.

We Are Water: What are your favorite forecasting websites that you use to formulate a forecast?

Walt: I like this site:NWS Model webpage But, I'm about to go on a hunt for better info. It has been far too long since I searched the web for the best sites and my pages are in desperate need of updating.

We Are Water: What’s up with the infamous Desk Guess that you say in your reports? Is that when you are too lazy to get out of bed or in a hurry to get to work?

Walt: Oddly enough my boss doesn't pay me to do a surf forecast...so, thus time on the beach is somewhat limited to dawn patrol. When the conditions have obviously changed dramatically I liked to do an update even just a guess soon as possible. Also every once in a great while I actually have something that resembles a personal life and like to give it priority too. It would be interesting to get some feed back on what people think of the predawn guess. I can usually get within 1-2ft and -+ a fun factor. I am beginning to consider looking into the cost of wireless devices to see if they are affordable enough to do a forecast from the car.

We Are Water: I guess we can expect a Road Rage report if you do that!

We Are Water: Lately weather models have been getting more accurate. Do you still stick to your 72 hour rule? Can you explain?

Walt: First thing to change in any model are the winds. Wind forecast still look pretty shifty to me much past 24 hours. Last few months the models have nailed the wind forecast but then the weather hasn't been that dynamic lately either. I am just reluctant to start giving long range reports that may have a really high percent error possibility. Nobody gets very mad if the surf is a bit better than expected. If I give a higher surf forecast than what actually happens then the hate E-mail comes pouring in.

We Are Water: Concerning Hate Mail mentioned do you have a lot of correspondences from E-mail concerning your webpage.

Walt: I usually get one or two emails a day with either questions, complements, or just general discussions about what is going on in each other’s lives. Curious though there have been many e-conversations for years and have yet to meet in person. Any time I have made a request for information there has been at least a dozen responses. Now there are so many more surf forecast report sites that hate mail has really dropped off once it became clear I was just the first drop in a bucket of information to come. Occasionally an E-mail comes along concerning my grammar/spelling deficiencies but after explaining my dyslexic all have been very polite afterwards. There also the occasional complaint about the accuracy of my reports but suspect that probably true about any report given by anyone. Everyone seems to see things a little different and between tide, location, and time. Also, not to mention each surfers own perspective it's almost amazing we ever agree on anything.

We Are Water: Any Swells that are memorable for you?

Walt: After 30 years the exact details of any partial good swell just seem to get lost in a sea of adventures. I do have many fond memories of very large clean swells generated by distance storms surfed with really good friends. Some of my best memories are not always concerning the surf but the people I was with at the time . Seems any session I've suffered a major injury really sticks in my mind also, but personally I think those are best left forgotten.

We Are Water: Where have you traveled to surf?

Walt: Costa Rica has been a very consistent and easy place to travel to. It is extremely hospitable and beautiful country. The point breaks in Mexico are truly a blast but, getting there is expensive and quality of life and safety certainly have room for improvement.

We Were Water: Is there anything you would like to pass on to the newer generation of surfers and forecasters?

Walt: If one is lucky enough to surf over 30 years as I have some things become increasingly clear. All the contest, big days, and classics trips are just part of the side show of surfing.

Surfing is certainly far more a life style than sport yet one does have to keep a balance with school, work, and family in order for this life style to be completely fulfilling for a very long time.

The core of surfing for me has boiled down to having a good session with close friends, sharing the fun with others, and making the most out of every opportunity life has to offer – no matter how limited it seems at the time. The young surfer seems to naturally get this, and through time we lose it in pursuit of our personal desires. Coming full cycle to where I once again have those feelings reminds me of surfing’s true heart and soul.

Share the joy, enjoy the day, and make the most of everything. Hopefully I'll be surfing another 30 years and still hold these core values.

We Are Water: Thanks Walt!

Walt's Surf Report Web Page