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• How do I change my login name?
  

  Nine times out of 10, we don't offer changing of usernames. Part of the reason is in regard to preserving the integrity of forum posts. People get to know a login, and having people change their login just confuses the whole show.
  
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Weather

• Can I get wind history for location xyz...
  

  Sorry, at this stage, we don't have the facilities to provide wind graphs outsite what we already have on the site, which are the 7 days history graphs.
  
• Can I have the raw wind data for d/m/yyyy?
  

  It would be fantastic to offer this service, but unfortunately it's not possible at the moment.  Sorry.
  
• Can I put your weather on my website?
  

  Sure!
  
  For a selection of whats available, please visit our "Weather Widgets" page...
• How do "My Graphs", custom weather layout work?
  

  Most of the time, the pre-organised layouts work fine, but sometimes you have a need to monitor several spots - say, you're in Perth WA, you might want to monitor the South West forecasts right alongside your Metro forecasts.
  
  It's easy!
  
  Selecting graphs for your favourites page
  
  First step is to visit your normal weather page (e.g. Graphs / WA / Metro) and pick off the graphs you want on your favourites.    You do this by clicking on the favourite icon located at the top left of each graph.    
  
  When you select the icon, it turns sold to shows that you've select the graph in your favourites.
  
  Continue picking the graphs you want.  If necessary, visit any other graph pages to add other graphs of interest.
  
  When finished, view your favourites, page by selecting the Graphs / My Graphs menu.
  
  Once there, you should find the weather graphs you selected.
  
  You can easily remove graphs no longer required by deselecting the favourites icon at the top left of each graphic.
  
  You can also shuffle the order, by using the Move Up/Down icons .., .
  
  You don't even need to register or login to use the favourites.
  
  Trouble shooting:
  If you find it's not remembering your settings, check the cookie settings in your browser!   No cookies = no favourites.. sorry.
• How do you do your forecasts?
  

  Premium quality darts, oversize dartboard and random throwers! :-)
  
  The weather often chooses it's own path of action, and we're in a constant state of trying to keep up with it and create forecasts that are accurate and reliable.
  
  To do it, we use over 6 different sources of data, apply our own proprietory local area algorithms, a human touch, and the results are the graphs you see.
  
  We built the systems years ago, but the code was lost in an unfortunate office accident late one evening during a christmas party windup involving an employee, a gold fish bowl and a set of golf clubs. The code was lost and the employee now has a limp. :-)
  
  
  
• How does the weather work?
  

  Wind Glorious Wind... If you're into a sport that is affected by the wind, it pays to understand how wind works. Wind... Wind is the movement of air molecules from one location to another.    The perfect demonstration of wind is with a fully inflated car tyre.   If you open the valve on the car tyre, air rushes out.  Why?   Because there is more air pressure in the tyre than there is in the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is always seeking to equalise pressure.   Higher pressure pockets of air (i.e. inside the car tyre) move to equalise lower pressure areas.   So what causes these low pressure areas?    Well, in the case of a seabreeze, it's caused by heat...  Seabreezes... Cold sinks, heat rises.  It's the concept that makes hot air balloons work, and why your vegies are at the bottom of the fridge.   During a summer day,  the land is heated by the sun, and this heat is absorbed by the surrounding air.   Once this air meets a particular temperature, it begins to rise quite rapidly.   As a result, a low pressure area is created at ground level.   The sea doesn't heat up as quickly as the land, so the air temperature over the water is much less.    As a result, this air is free to move sideways to occupy our new low pressure area.   The  result is a light to gale force wind which rushes in from the sea to fill the lower pressure area left by the hot air rising from the land.    Seabreezes usually happen in spring and summer, when the difference in temperature between land and sea is greatest. Seabreezes are the most amazing phenonenom.   For many years I never really paid much attention to the wind.   One day, we arrived (late) at the local river to do some water skiing.  It was around 1pm, the water was glassy - perfect conditions.  Then, my mate Mick says "Here comes the seabreeze...".    Looking across the river we could see an approaching line of rough water.   And then it hit us full on - the full glory of a 25 knot seabreeze. What's even more amazing is that the wind can be travelling faster than the front of the seabreeze.   It can be progressing inland at 25 km/h, but the actual wind can be blowing at 35 km/h!   Sometimes the seabreeze can reach 100+ kilometers inland, and other days it teases you by staying just offshore, coming in, and then going out again. So to get a seabreeze, it needs to be hot inland.  But too hot and you won't get one at all.   To explain why this is the case, we need to understand high's and low's and the squiqqly charts they show on the telly called 'Synoptic Charts'.  Synoptic Charts... You need to understand these if you want to have your own guess at what the wind may do.  It also assists to understand what the weather man is talking about.   Sometimes our local TV weather reports simply say '.. and an afternoon seabreeze'.   About as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. So check this out:     From the title, it says MSL Analysis.  This means it is a Mean (average) Sea Level Analysis.  A slice of the atmosphere at sea level.   The way the atmosphere changes at different levels is also extremely interesting, but beyond what we talking about here.   The numbers indicate the air pressure, called the Barometric pressure.    Barometric pressure is measured in hectopascals.   Bigger numbers represent greater air pressure.     The chart is generated by acquiring a huge number of readings from ships, sea based automatic weather buoys and land based weather stations.   These data points are then processed using complex mathamatics to 'best guess' or 'interpolate' values for areas where no reading was available.  The meteorologist then sharpens his best HB pencil and draws lines connecting areas of equal pressure (called isobars, or contours), draws a H in the middle of any Highs, and an L in the middle of any Lows.   They also draw another chart called a prognosis which is what they estimate to be where the weather will go.   It's always valuable to compare the analysis with the prognosis to get an idea of where, and at what speed the weather is travelling. So high pressure areas rush to fill low pressure areas huh?   If that was the case, then you would expect the wind to travel like this:     Bzzzzzzzt.  Wrong!   These are complex systems, and there's other forces at work here, plus lets not forget that the world is 3D and this is only a horizontal slice.   The world is spinning, which creates an extra sideways force.  To simplify, visualise the surface of a spinning tennis ball.  There is a "wind" blowing across the surface of the tennis ball due to its rotation.    As a result, wind actually travels pretty much in the direction of the isobar lines.  And in the southern hemisphere they travel anti-clockwise around high's and clockwise around lows.   And the whole weather pattern moves (generally) in a west to east (left to right) direction.      So the wind actually blows around the high cell like this:       This all adds up to help determine the kind of local wind effects such as seabreezes along the coast in the afternoon. This synoptic chart is a joy to a wind fanatic living on the coast of Western Australia because this pattern means wind - and lots of it - these cool winds also keep the maximum temperature down.  In fact, the forecast for this pattern was:  TODAY'S MAX: 23 C    (74 F)  Strong Wind Warning current.  S/SE winds 20/30kn in the morning, tending S/SW and strengthening  to 25/32kn in the afternoon. The S/SE winds in the morning reflect the anti-clockwise direction of wind around the high, untill the afternoon when the thermal induced seabreeze kicks in and changes to an onshore S/SW. But that low cell sitting up in the north is what can ruin it all.   These low pressure systems descend in a southerly fashion and bring with them hot and humid conditions.   They are called troughs and generally spoil any chance of a seabreeze, as indicated with this chart and forecast:    FORECAST:  TODAY'S MAX: 35 C  (95 F)  E/NE winds 15/20kn, easing to 10/15kn by late morning. Winds shifting  NW/SW 10/15kn during the afternoon. The capital city of Perth is going to be blasted with E/NE winds in the morning, brought in nice and fresh from the deserts, and these winds are toasty - a maximum of 35 degrees C, and only a mild, if any, seabreeze.    But wait - that's a cold front approaching from the south west, and there's a good chance that this will push the trough inland and bring back the seabreezes. Generally speaking the thing to look for when looking for strong seabreezes is a new high cell aproaching (following a previous high cell), or a tough moving inland and being replaced by a new high (extra windy!).  Cold Fronts... Well, unlike seabreezes, cold fronts are active mainly during winter and come at any time of day or night.   Cold fronts do pass through during the other months, but their effect is usually not noticed by most.  Like seabreezes, they come in all sorts of flavours from simply making the sky cloudy to full on roof removing gale force winds.     Cold fronts, as the name suggests, is a line of cold air travelling along, generally west to east.  As this cold air meets warmer air, the warm air rises, and you guessed it, causes the cold air to rush in and fill the space.     Thus, the actual 'front' of the front, called the 'squall line' is generally where most of the wind is. Cold fronts are great when they come through, producing great local names, such as the 'Norwester'.   Because the winds travel clockwise around a low pressure system, the first taste you get is Northerly, but more often than not North Westerly.  As the cold front passes through these winds rotate around the compass, going from NW to W to SW, and maybe S.    The S part can get quite chilly because it's dredging all the cool air from the antarctic region.   Not cold by UK standards, but enough to make your face numb.    North Westerlies on the otherhand can be quite warm, relative to the usual winter temperatures.  The time it takes for the NW to SW transition depends on the speed at which the front is travelling.  Usually around a day, sometimes two. Time to introduce another term - the pressure gradient.   In the synoptic charts displayed above, the isobars have been relatively spaced out, because the difference in air pressure is quite small over a large area.   When we get a large change in air pressure over a small area - rig up your small sails/kites - it's gonna blow. Checkout this chart - one of the windiest days in the winter of '98.  Blue arrows indicate wind direction.  See how close the isobars are together.    Also, remember that the entire frontal pattern moves from left to right (west to east), but the winds blow in the direction of the arrows.  I hope you can grasp the concept!    FORECAST  TODAY'S MAX: 19 C  (67 F)  Gale warning current.  W/NW winds 30/40kn this morning with possible squalls to 60kn in  thunderstorms.  Winds tending W/SW 20/30kn by early afternoon and  easing to 15/20kn this evening. One of the best things about a cold front is that extra commodity - waves.   As any sailor knows, wind generates waves.  The more wind, the more waves.   If you've experienced a strong cold front, you know that they can get extremely windy, as a consequence the waves can get quite large. Here's another less extreme (for Perth, anyways) cold front.  In Perth it blew around 20-30 knots, whilst the south coast received 25-35 knots.

• How good are the tide forecasts?
  

  Pretty darn good!    The tide forecasts are sourced from the official source.
  
  The actual water level height and speed of change may vary under certain weather conditions, such as unusually high or low barometric pressure or by prolonged strong winds.
  
  Low-pressure systems usually raise sea levels and high-pressure systems tend to lower them. It takes some time for the water level to adjust to the pressure change, and that pressure change needs to occur over a significant area.
  
  As you can imagine, a strong wind will raise the water level in the direction it is blowing, and may cause the "high tide" to be higher than predicted.
  
  
• How to read the Wind graphs
  

  How to read the Wind graphs Did you know that the arrow colours are reversible? This site was originally built for Windsurfers & Kitesurfers - where strong wind is a good thing, so green=strong wind. If you boat, fish or surf, then light wind is a good thing, so .. red=strong wind. To reverse the colours in the graphs, click here How to work out the Wind Speed The most recent live reading is at the right hand end of the graph, and up to 12 hours history extends towards the left - check out the time label at the bottom of each graph. Arrows indicate the strength by their Height on the graph and the colour of the arrow: Green Arrows indicate Strong wind, which is 18+ knots, 30+ Km/H, Force 5 or more.    This graph shows an 18 to 20 knot southwester around 1pm Yellow Arrows indicate Moderate wind, which is 12-18 knots, 20-29 Km/H, Force 4.    This graphs shows a 14 to 16 knot southwester around 2pm Red Arrows indicate Light/No wind, which is 0-12 knots, 0-19 Km/H, Force 3 or less.    A 7 to 9 knot easterly around 8-9am Table of wind speeds Symbol Term Knots km/h Beaufort Light 0 to 10 knots 0-19 km/h Force 3 or less Moderate 11 to 16 knots 20-29 km/h Force 4 Fresh 17+ knots 30+ km/h Force 5 and above The Middle of the arrow is where you should read the wind speed from the scale at the sides. Picture the arrow as being like a compass needle, where it rotates around a central point of balance. The Grey arrows indicate the maximum gust during the 10 minute period. Time of day is displayed along the bottom of the graph. The site was initially designed for Windsurfers, so the colours use a Traffic Light type colouring, which may be the opposite of your needs .. especially if you surf! You can reverse the colours in the graphs by clicking here For most locations, the wind strength and direction is the result of a 10 minute average How To Read The Wind Direction The arrows indicate the direction the wind is going based on North being at the top of the screen and West being at the left. This concept confuses some people first off, because they are expecting the arrows to work like a weather vane and point towards the arriving wind. It can also be confusing if you're looking at your computer monitor in a Southerly direction, as all the directions will be reversed. We had to choose whether the arrows were indicating where wind went, or where it came from. We figured that most things in life, such as street signs (e.g. one way signs), swell direction arrows and traffic cops all point in the direction that something is going. Pointing where the wind is going also makes good sense when the arrows are overlaid over a map (..see demo) Take a "Northerly" wind, for example.  "North" is at the top of the screen (as maps generally have their northmost point at the top), and a "Northerly" is a wind that travels from the North to the South, so it is drawn as an arrow that points down - that is, pointing from North to South. Easterly Example: An easterly wind heads from the east (right side of the screen) towards the west (left side of the screen), so the arrow is drawn pointing to the left. Sunrise & Sunset The grey shaded area of the graphs indicate night time. The graphs are live 24 hours are day and always display the most recent 8 hours of live wind data. You can also view yesterdays full 24 hour history by clicking the "Yesterday" link located in the left hand menu. The graphs below show the progress of an awesome West Australian seabreeze, and displays from Midnight to Midday As illustrated by the grey gradient, Sunrise was at 5:32am In the graph above, you can see the seabreeze arriving at 10:30 am where it shifts from a SE to a SSW. The graph below is 8pm later the same day, and shows the previous 12 hours to 8am. The grey gradient at the left indicates night is approaching (sunset was 7:32pm) This particular day was an amazingly consistent 20 knot southwester which continued right through past midnight...interesting change of direction from SSW to S once the sun went down... All times are aligned! In the example graphs below, the wind graph at the top has readings every 10 minutes, whilst the graph underneath every hour. The Time axis of all the graphs on the same page always align vertically. We've drawn the red line over the graphs to show how the times line up. This example shows two graphs at 12:30 pm. As the lower graph only reports on the hour, there is a gap to show the time since the last report. The upper graph has data every 10 minutes. Stations that report hourly will have a gap at the right hand side due to the lower reporting period, and this makes it easy to verify the latest readings. The red line shows how all the graphs times align.

• Is Seabreeze.com.au setup for Day Light Saving?
  

  Yes, all times and dates represent local time, adjusted for any current Day Light Savings.
  
  
• Red means danger, why use Green for strong wind?
  

  Seabreeze.com.au was initially designed in 1997 for Windsurfers... this meant that strong winds are a good thing.  Nothing better than a howling 25 knots on a sunny afternoon, or even 35 knots in the middle of winter!  :-)
  
  Of course, for boating, fishing and some sailing, strong winds are a danger and can put you in mortal peril, so you might like to have strong winds represented by red.
  
  Good news is that it's easy to change .. simply visit this page to reverse the colours...
  
  
  
• Reversing the arrow colours fails?
  

  This is usually because your browser is not accepting cookies, or unloads cookies when you close your browser.
  
  Two solutions:
  
  1) Check your settings under "privacy" in your browser, looking for references to Cookies.
  
  2) If you've bookmarked the page, add "?rev=1" to the end of the bookmark.
  
  i.e.
          http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/wa.asp
  
  becomes
  
          http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/wa.asp?rev=1
  
  
• The forecast images are not updating?
  

  In most cases, this is most likely something on your computer. You can imagine how full our inbox would be if the forecasts were offline!
  
  Why is it happening - usually to do with "cached" images - your browser tries it's best to save images so they are re-downloaded over and over, and it sounds like this might be what is happening to you. We have special "cache-busting" techniques to get around this feature which works 99.9% of the time.
  
  To fix the problem, try a "forced" refresh: If using Microsoft IE, or Firefox, hold down the Control key whilst clicking the refresh icon/menu option. If you're using a different browser, have a hunt around the menus and options pages for features related to "Clear Cache"
  
  
• What does the wave height represent?
  

  The wave forecast represents the average height (trough to crest) of the one-third highest waves. Note that this is for open sea, not the measurement of waves as they hit reefs/sand banks, for example.
  
  
• What is the Beaufort Scale?
  

  The Beaufort scale was "finalised" in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort. Previous maritime history saw many scales and descriptions of weather conditions in use which was generally confusing. With no specifics one mans "gale" could be another mans "breeze".
  
  Beaufort gave organisation by presenting a well described list of environment events associated with different wind strengths, and is still highly useful today.
  
  Often you'll see guys down the beach with wind meters, or people looking at the ocean and taking wild guesses at the wind speed. The Beaufort scale is excellent .. if you can see occasional whitecaps (or "whitehorses"), you know it's around 15 knots. Check this full table:
  
  The Beaufort Scale
  
  

  Beaufort scale number	Descriptive term	Units in km/h	Units in knots	Description on Land	Description at Sea
  0	Calm	0	0	Smoke rises vertically	Sea like a mirror.
  1-3	Light winds	19 km/h or less	10 knots or less	Wind felt on face; leaves rustle; ordinary vanes moved by wind.	Small wavelets, ripples formed but do not break: A glassy appearance maintained.
  4	Moderate winds	20 - 29 km/h	11-16 knots	Raises dust and loose paper; small branches are moved.	Small waves - becoming longer; fairly frequent white horses.
  5	Fresh winds	30 - 39 km/h	17-21 knots	Small trees in leaf begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland waters	Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form; many white horses are formed - a chance of some spray
  6	Strong winds	40 - 50 km/h	22-27 knots	Large branches in motion; whistling heard in telephone wires; umbrellas used with difficulty.	Large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive with probably some spray
  7	Near gale	51 - 62 km/h	28-33 knots	Whole trees in motion; inconvenience felt when walking against wind.	Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along direction of wind.
  8	Gale	63 - 75 km/h	34-40 knots	Twigs break off trees; progress generally impeded.	Moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests begin to break into spin drift; foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind.
  9	Strong gale	76 - 87 km/h	41-47 knots	Slight structural damage occurs -roofing dislodged; larger branches break off.	High waves; dense streaks of foam; crests of waves begin to topple, tumble and roll over; spray may affect visibility.
  10	Storm	88 - 102 km/h	48-55 knots	Seldom experienced inland; trees uprooted; considerable structural damage.	Very high waves with long overhanging crests; the resulting foam in great patches is blown in dense white streaks; the surface of the sea takes on a white appearance; the tumbling of the sea becomes heavy with visibility affected.
  11	Violent storm	103 -117 km/h	56-63 knots	Very rarely experienced - widespread damage	Exceptionally high waves; small and medium sized ships occasionally lost from view behind waves;the sea is completely covered with long white patches of foam; the edges of wave crests are blown into froth.
  12+	Hurricane	118 km/h or more	64 knots or more		The air is filled with foam and spray. Sea completely white with driving spray; visibility very seriously affected

• What is the difference between waves and swell?
  

  Not a lot!
  
  Swell is the regular longer period waves generated by distant weather systems - think of a rock thrown in a pond, and you'll see swells.
  
  Waves & Swell are often used to mean the same thing .. in common language many like to think of "swell" as the regularly spaced lumps that approach your local surf spot, and "waves" as when they break/something to stick your surfboard on.
  
  Wave height (trough to crest) refers the average height of the highest one-third of the waves.
  
  
• What's the difference between Swell, Waves & Seas?
  

  Seas are created when the wind blows on the surface of the water, creating movement. With enough wind over a large enough area for a long enough time, swell forms, which become organised, well spaced patterns.
  
  The swell then travels until worn out by time, distance or obstacles. Generally, "Swell" refers to open ocean waves, "Waves" are what people want to go stick their surfboard on.
  
  Seas can sit "on top" of a swell, and ruin a surfers day out.     They are the localised chop, that given enough time and wind energy would ultimately turn into swells.
  
  An example:
  
  Consider a nice windless day & you're looking at your local surf break.  
  
  6 foot swell, no wind, no seas:
  What you'll see is a surfers dream.   A milky smooth water surface and crystal cylinders.
  
  6 foot swell, no wind, moderate seas:
  The swell is still solid, but you'll notice that there's no milky smooth water surface any more.  There'll be chop, and wavelets mucking up the waves.
  
  So, seas are the smaller waves/chop that are present within the swell.  Depending on how they're generated, depends on how much it can take away from a surfers day.
  
  
  
  
• When I reverse the arrow colours, it doesn't stick?
  

  If you've visited the Reverse Arrow Colours page, and it's not working, that would be because you've got cookies disabled.  
  
  First solution is to enable cookies (look under the options menu of your browser), or if not happy to do that, add "?rev=1" to the weather page url.
  
  e.g.
  
  If you're visiting
  
  http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/wa.asp
  
  append it to the url :
  
  http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/wa.asp?rev=1
  
  
• Where are the wind readings for XYZ taken from?
  

  We'd love to say, but there are folks out there who like to "collect" equipment, some like to destroy it, and of course the majority who are just plain curious, so they can better make sense of the readings.
  
  Unfortunately, the first two types prevent us from revealing the physical location of meters. Sorry!
  
  
• Where do I find Sea Temperatures?
  

  Click in the side bar of your favourite state, or visit
  
  Western Australian Sea Temperatures
  New South Wales Sea Temperatures
  Victorian Sea Temperatures
  Queensland Sea Temperatures
  South Australian Sea Temperatures
  Tasmanian Sea Temperatures
  
  
• Why are the forecasts so accurate?
  

  Please see "Why are the forecasts so wrong?" topic.
  
  :-)
  
  
• Why are the forecasts so wrong?
  

  They aren't! The weather changed! :-)
  
  It's true that we do stuff up the forecasts now and again. Weather is far from being a perfect science.
  
  Given the movement of the weather up to the point of issue, the forecast is predicting the highest probability of where the weather will head next. Unfortunately there are many variables that alter the course of the weather, so it's important to understand that a forecast is a probability, not a certainty.
  
  We humans endeavour to predict bank interest rates, stock exchange prices, property prices, other peoples behavior and of course, the weather. We collect as much existing information as possible, apply formulas and couple this with past experience to offer a probable result of what might happen. Forecasts can be wrong, and this may be due to faulty, insufficient or incomplete observations, rapid changes in conditions, errors (both human and computer) and many more reasons.
  
  Interestingly, it's only in the last 50 years of human existence that weather forecasting has reached the level of accuracy now experienced.
  
  Some interesting article:
  
  

  Simple view of how the weather works
  
  History of weather discovery.
  

  
  
  
  
• Why are the wind readings wrong?
  

  An excellent question!
  
  Imagine you're on your way out to install a wind meter for your favourite location.
  
  Your first obstacle is finding a suitable position that is nicely exposed to the wind from all directions. Next is to make sure it's high enough so that surrounding terrain doesn't upset the reading .. oh, don't forget avoiding vandals, and then you've also got to get electricity and communications to it.   Other needs include payment for securing a lease of the site, and how long it's available.
  
  What all this adds up to is that not all wind meters are in perfect conditions. Some will favour the most common direction, others have a wind meter but are more biased towards recording accurate temperature or barometric pressure.
  
  What we're saying is that if you're after perfection in measuring the wind, you're going to be disappointed (or at least a little bit upset).
  
  Best Bet: Over time, you'll learn how a particular meter close to your favourite spot behaves.
  
  
• Why do you use green arrows for strong wind?
  

  Seabreeze.com.au was initially designed in 1997 for Windsurfers ... strong wind = green = go!
  
  Of course, this doesn't suit everybody, so you can reverse them easy enough to accommodate the "standard" red is danger colouring.
  
  Visit Reverse Graph Colours page.
  
  
• Why do your arrows point the wrong way?
  

  Two things that may confuse folks visiting the site for the first time. The direction of the arrows and the colours.
  
  We had two options for the direction: Direction the wind is blowing, or direction the wind is coming from .. we chose the first because to us it made more sense.
  
  A wind vane only points into the wind because that physically is the only way it will work, but in the computer world we're not hindered by that.
  
  If you check the maps (maybe you already have) you'll see the map makes plenty of sense to show which way the wind is going .. a Westerly wind blows across the map from west towards the east, so the arrow points towards the right.
  
  Swell charts and many other meteorological readings all show arrows in the direction that something is going .. i.e. it would look strange to draw an arrow of where waves were "coming from" .. It's only wind that sometimes has the "lets point the arrow at where it came from" concept, and that's because (we think) of wind vanes.
  
  Hope that helps understand the reasoning behind it all!
  
• Why do your predictions differ from other sites?
  

  An excellent question!
  
  We use our own algorithms, and provide different forecasts to other organisations.
  
  Nothing quite like a second opinion? :-)
  
  
• Your forecasts are different to the BoM?
  

  Yes, they are. The challenging part is that the weather often never agrees with either of us! :-)
  
  Read this for a simple view of how the weather works, or perhaps read up the history of weather discovery & forecasting.
  
  

Forums

• Can you delete me?
  

  Sometimes we get requests to "remove my login and all my posts". You're free to de-personalise your account by removing your name, and we can suspend the login, but we will not remove all your posts. Part of the integrity of the forums is knowing that the contributions of others that you replied to, are not going to be removed on a whim.
  
  A simple rule of the internet is that if you don't want it read, don't write it down.
  
  
• How come so & so can post XYZ, but mine got deleted?
  

  It's true.   This does happen now and again.  And your keen eye has picked up an inconsistency, after all you're probably pretty focussed on it at this point.
  
  Hopefully you realise there is a collosal amount of posts, and it's a massive task to keep on top of who writes what and keep it all clean / within the forum policy.  
  
  Just because a similar post to one that you wrote hasn't been removed doesn't mean "we let that one go, but targetted you", it generally means we've not seen the other one.
  
  Let us know if you feel you've been hard done by.   Ultimately, the goal of the forums is to create a friendly place and a great community vibe!
  
  Help us make it a great place to visit!
  
• I'm disgusted with what someone has written!
  

  We may well be too!
  
  If it is truly disgusting (as in "should be deleted"), then above each post is a small flag:      Click this and it will alert the moderators of the post.    If a moderator is online at the time, they will investigate, otherwise, next time one logs on they'll have a look.   Please be patient.
  
  If you disagree strongly with the content, but would rather leave the censoring to the moderators, maybe use the thumbs    to cast your vote against it.
  
  Rest assured both methods will not reveal your actions, and we will not contact you in regards to reports or votes.
  
  The goal of the forums is to keep it a fantastic place to visit, and with your help / feedback we can keep it that way!
  
• What are the forum rules?
  

  There are pages and pages of humourus, educational and entertaining rules here.  :-)  Hours of fun for all the family.
  
• What are the thumb up/down icons for?
  

  The thumbs icons are for voting posts in the forums:
  
  
  They are nothing more than a visual cue of others opinions. Imagine you're standing around in a group, and someone says something. Some in the group will simply "raise their eyebrows", or frown, or laugh or .. they will make a visual indication, rather than say something. Sometimes it suits.
  
  Forum readers can have their say without having to post.
  
  They also serve another excellent purpose. Once a post receives a certain number of thumbs down, it pops up on our screens as needing attention. Sometimes "off" posts need context and can't be identified by obscene words, etc. The thumbs system helps your hosts keep the forums friendly and a welcome place to visit.
  
• What is the report content flag?
  

  There are people out there who get a kick out of uploading obscene stuff to a PG site.
  
  We scan all content daily, yet with the vast amount uploaded each day, it's highly possible that some content will be missed.
  
  Help us remove inappropriate material by clicking on the flag icon.    We won't write to you about it, and your login will not be revealed, or even contacted.  
  
  All you need to do is report it, and we'll do the rest!
  
  You'll find this flag:    in member profiles, the forums, the photo gallery and many other spots.
  
• Why can't I edit my post?
  

  Once you write a forum post, you have an hour or so to make any refinements, and after that it's not editable anymore.
  
  We used to have a longer editing window, but we found it was mis-used by folks to completely change the meaning of their post (as opposed to fixing typos/clarify meaning).    This made reading the forums difficult, especially when a 100 words of post have been replaced with "." !
  
• Why did you ban me for spamming the forum?
  

  Seriously?   I assume you're reading this out of curiousity, or you have spammed the forum and are struggling to come to grips that your offer to buy Nokia Phones or Nike shoes at discount prices are not considered good content.
  
  Ok.  Maybe you're not selling dodgy phones, but maybe you're selling shirts on your new T-Shirt business.  You've had a few beers on a Friday night and are registering on all the forums you can to share with the world your fantastic new business!
  
  It's a great idea, but unfortunately, there's another 300 people just like you also keen to promote their business.  Of these 300, around 298 aren't spamming forums, and the other 1 hasn't been able to work out the technology yet.
  
  You can get amongst our full policy on advertising in the forums here
  
  
• Why don't you moderate the forums?
  

  We do!  However, occasionally you might read a post that is offensive, and wonder why it's still there.
  
  Most of the time (i.e. 99%) people use the forums to share experiences & help one another. It's very rare that you'll get someone who's not themselves either because of stress, alcohol, agendas .. who knows.
  
  These people may write dodgy stuff and it's there for all to see, generally because a moderator hasn't got to it yet.   Help out by clicking the Vote thumbs or the Report flag to alert us.  
  
  Help us help you & the community by reporting / flagging posts that you believe are inappropriate.
  
  

Classifieds

• Buyer didn't buy! Can I reinstate my advert?
  

  It can happen.
  
  You had the deal, but for some reason, the buyer has backed out of the transaction.   Problem is you've taken the item off the site, and you want it back online, and you're concerned you might need to pay again.
  
  No dramas - Send us an email with your story, and chances are we'll re-instate your advert, no charge.
  
  
• Can I trust the buyer/seller?
  

  That's entirely up to you!
  
  Much like any classifieds listing service, we publish adverts, and are unable to certify the validity of sellers, or buyers.
  
  However there are some things you can do to make it safer:
  
  Check their profile:
    - are they a regular in the forums
    - how long have they been registered on the site
  
  Record their details:
    - if you get their phone number from the advert, write it down, as they'll probably take the advert offline when you buy (and thus phone number no longer available)
  
  Make verbal contact:
    - in this age of email, you can still use your personal skills to talk with the person via phone to verify details and see what kind of character they are.
  
  Establish expectations:
    - is the seller/buyer an offshore worker who dissappears for two-three weeks at a time and doesn't access his email?  Do they only check their email once a fortnight?    Are they computer literate?   No point getting all upset about no email reply for reasons you could have worked out beforehand..
  
  Delivery options:
   - Does the buyer pay, and then the seller ships, or the seller ships & the buyer pays on receipt?   You'll need to sort this out upfront.
  
  ** Remember that Australia Post at most will refund you $100 if they lose your package.  i.e.  You can register it for delivery, but if it doesn't roll up (i.e. they lose it), the most they'll give you is $100.   Not much consolation for your $1000 package.   A hard lesson to learn.
  
  ** PayPal have all sorts of caveats about "refunds", so make sure you understand their policy, as you're more than likely not covered.   A hard lesson to learn.
  
  ** COD (cash on delivery) is a great option - recipient pays upon receipt of goods.
  
  Australia Post is a massive service.  In our experience via this site of shipping goods for 3 years, they very rarely lose things, but it can & does happen - be prepared for it, and be prepared for a 2-3 week wait whilst they investigate.  The wheels turn slowly.
  
  Insurance for $15 sounds expensive when you're standing at the counter, but is well worth it should it go wrong.
  
  The Seabreeze classifieds have put through thousands of sales over three years and we've not had any major troubles to date.   
  
  Doing interstate deals really does come down to you speaking with the seller, getting as many photos as possible and trusting/taking the risk accordingly.
  
  Many have had success, and only a handful have not turned out well with goods not as described. (This is no guarantee from us, just our comments given the total lack of emails we've received about any sour deals!)
  
• How do I find my listing?
  

  First, ensure you are logged in using the login name you created the advert with.
  
  Find your listings by:
  

  • Clicking the Members/My Adverts menu at the top
    
    
  • Clicking "My Adverts" on the left of the Buy & Sell section
    
    
  • Viewing them on the "My Adverts" tab of your Profile (Members/My Profile menu)

  From your list of your adverts (if you have more than one), click on the advert of interest.
  
  When viewing the advert, you will see a large option box at the top of your advert where you can choose options such as removal, updating images, editing the text, reducing the price etc.
  
  
• How do I remove my listing?
  

  First, ensure you are logged in using the login name you created the advert with.
  
  Find your listings by:
  

  • Clicking the Members/My Adverts menu at the top
    
    
  • Clicking "My Adverts" on the left of the Buy & Sell section
    
    
  • Viewing them on the "My Adverts" tab of your Profile (Members/My Profile menu)

  From your list of your adverts (if you have more than one), click on the advert of interest.
  
  When viewing the advert, you will see a large option box at the top of your advert where you can choose options such as removal, updating images, editing the text, reducing the price etc.
  
  
• How long does my advert stay online?
  

  All adverts stay online until sold.
  
  To avoid the classifieds getting stale, however, we will email you after a period and ask you to "refresh" the advert if it is still for sale.   We'll send you an email with a link which you click to keep your adverts online.
  
  If you believe your advert has unfairly expired, please do let us know & we might be able to resurrect it.
  
• How much to courier something?
  

  Check some of these companies - some offer online quotes:
  
  

  www.fastway.com.au
  www.packsend.com.au
  www.smartsend.com.au
  www.rpmfreight.com
  

  
  (These are example links, not recommendations of businesses we have used)
  
• I paid but can't add my images!?
  

  If you purchased a new advert when you really meant to upgrade your existing advert - no dramas. Just enter your new paid advert, and remove the old freebie (if not, our system will pick it up and remove the old one).
  
  If you visit the home page of the Buy & Sell, there will be a link to enter your advert.
  
  Alternatively visit here to check the status of all your adverts.
  
  Another reason can be when you pay via PayPal .. sometimes they send us an "E Cheque" which is caused by buying when you have no funds in your PayPal. Once you clear the funds in PayPal, they clear the funds with us, and your new advert becomes available to be entered. Again - visit the "Buy & Sell" home page and you'll see the link to enter your new advert, and we'll also send you and email.
  
  
• I've posted my add, but it's still not appeared?
  

  To ensure quality and reduce spam, all adverts are reviewed by real live breathing humans before publication, so there is a slight delay, usually under 24 hours.
  
  
• Paid by EFT - where's my advert?!
  

  Unfortunately, EFT transactions are manually processed by us checking bank accounts. This means you may need to wait up to a day for the funds to be processed by the bank, then verified by us.
  
  An alternative is to use Credit Card or PayPal which both offer immediate access.
  
  Once your transaction has been confirmed, you'll receive an email from us.   If you think it's been a bit long (over 2 days), please feel free to send us an email via the feedback page.
  
  
• Putting your email in an advert
  

  If you place your email in an advert, it will be removed by us before publication. Fear not; this does not lower the chances of getting contact from buyers.
  
  The reason we do it is because your email inbox will soon fill up with spam, and we've had plenty of emails from people who've suggested that we've being passing their email out to spammers. (Which we don't). The "Spammers" of this world write software programs called "spiders" which are automated programs that scan internet sites like this looking for any text that looks like an email. When they find an email they gleefully add you to their daily mailouts and you can now look forward to a daily feed of unwanted emails regards your masculinity, depression, nigerian money scams, rolex watches and more.
  
  For your sake, and ours, it's best not to publicly publish your email on any website! :-)
  
  

Gallery

• How can I use a photo from the gallery?
  

  Next to each image in the gallery, you'll find a "Uploaded By" label followed by a member name.
  
  Click on the members name, and that'll take you to their profile.   From there you'll find an "Email Member" link where you can make an enquiry, and possibly acquire a higher resolution image.
  
  
• How do I delete a photos I've uploaded?
  

  View your profile (via Members / My Profile menu), where any photos you've uploaded are displayed. Click on a photo .. when viewed, you'll see an "Edit" link. From the following page you can select the Delete button to remove your photo.
  
  Click here to view your profile...
  
  
• How do I find photos I've uploaded?
  

  Any photos you have uploaded are listed in your profile - use the "Members" menu to choose "My Profile"
  
  or .. click here.
  
  

Shop

• Can I get warranty on your sunnies?
  

  Absolutely!
  
  We stand behind our product - we have spares for repairs and want to ensure a quality product for you.  If you have any dramas at all with our Seabreeze Sunnies, please contact us, regardless of purchase date and let us know what's gone astray.
• Can I trust you?
  

  Sure!  :-)
  
  Seabreeze has been online for over 11 years and we're fiercely proud of our place in the world.
  
  Having bought goods from other websites ourselves, we know that feeling of "waiting" for something to arrive after you've order it.   We operate in internet time these days and when we order, we want it to arrive just as quick as if we'd walked in the store!
  
  Well .. that's our goal, and we do this by getting orders to Australia Post as fast as possible (we've managed to despatch orders on the same day an average of 98.2% of the time for the last 12 months).    We use Australia Post Express Post ("Guaranteed next business day") for just about everything.    This should get the goodies in your hands next day, or day after that max.
  
  Please be aware that if you order on a Friday, you may not get it until Monday or Tuesday.
  
  Also please be aware, that we're human and whilst most of the time we mostly ship same/next day as you order, there may be an unexpected delay.
  
  When we ship your order, you'll get an email saying "Posted".   This means it's gone to our despatch department for packaging in Express Post envelopes (or fastest local equivalent), and be in Australia Posts' control that same day.  If it's too late in the day, they'll get it in the next run.
  
  If in any doubt, please contact us!
• I paid by EFT but my order hasn't shipped!
  

  EFT is prone to error, but we offer it as a service to those who distrust credit cards/don't like PayPal fees.
  
  The catch with EFT is that most times, EFT transactions take overnight to process, and on some occasions several days.
  
  This can be further complicated by typing errors on the order number -- please double check when entering!
  
  All EFT transactions are processed by somebody manually running up a browser and checking for deposits.
  
  If you've paid by EFT and your order has not shipped, PLEASE do contact us.  Chances are we were unable to determine the order number and are waiting on you to contact us.