Live wave height, wind and water temp — plus an 8-day forecast scored 0–100 for every sport.
Photo: Michael Garlick / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Today at Swanage Bay: Good for canoeing — 77/100 for expert level. Wind 9 kn W · Tide -0.6 to -0.1 m. Best window around 05:00 UTC. Today's conditions at Swanage Bay: 0.3m waves with moderate offshore wind. Kite Foiling looks Epic! in the late morning, with Wing Foiling also worth considering. Water temperature is 17°C / 62°F.
Forecast updated · ShorSense™
Today plus the next two days are free for everyone — scored in 3-hour windows, just like the app. The full 8-day forecast lives in the 4Shor app.
Swanage Bay faces E, tucked away from the prevailing westerly swell — the aspect that gives canoeing the flat, sheltered water it needs more often than an exposed coast would.
Today's wind is offshore at 9 kn. Blowing off the land keeps the surface flatter near the beach for canoeing, but it also pushes you out — stay inside where you can comfortably get back.
Over the published window Swanage Bay clears 60/100 for canoeing at Intermediate, Advanced, Expert levels — that is who this spot is for on this sport. Today, 5 of 10 daylight hours clear that line at Intermediate.
Among the 31 scored spots within reach today, Swanage Bay ranks 16th for canoeing. The order changes by discipline: the same conditions that put a spot top for one sport can drop it down the list for another.
Satellite-derived bathymetry with 10 m pixels and 10 cm vertical resolution out to ~40 m depth. The shape of the seabed is what determines where and how waves break.
Most apps run a single global model at 9–25 km. We blend regional NWP from national meteorological offices at 1.3–2 km — UK Met Office UKV, Météo-France AROME HD, ItaliaMeteo ICON-2I — with ECMWF IFS for the 8-day horizon. Finer resolution means the sea breeze, cliff funnelling and bay shadowing that changes everything for a session.
A nearshore wave model propagates the spectrum across the bathymetric mesh — modelling refraction, shoaling, dissipation, focusing and breaking as it goes. Most apps stop at swell + wind. We go further.
10 sport models × 4 ability levels weight wave height, period, wind, tide and breaking conditions differently — calibrated against ridden sessions so the scores mean what they say.
A sheltered, gently shelving sandy bay facing east, protected from swell by a headland to the south, making it primarily a calm-water venue for swimming, paddleboarding, and kayaking. Winter southwest swells occasionally bring a rarely-breaking beach break with submerged rocks as a hazard. RNLI lifeguards patrol daily through summer. A 5-knot speed limit applies to motorised craft within 300m of shore (mid-March to September).
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Get the free Swanage Bay widgetToday's conditions for Swanage Bay are free. Unlock the full 8-day forecast and per-sport alerts that ping you when this location is about to fire. more than 2,500 European locations, scored from the seabed up.
Wind at Swanage Bay today: 9 kn W (gusting 20 kn). Wind direction relative to the shore affects canoeing conditions significantly — offshore winds produce cleaner, glassier surfaces while onshore winds add chop. These are daily averages; the 4Shor app shows hourly detail.
Waves at Swanage Bay today: 0.6 m, 12 s period from SE, mushy character. 4Shor derives nearshore wave conditions from ECMWF IFS 9-km atmospheric data and the IBI regional ocean model, updated hourly.
The best window for canoeing at Swanage Bay today is around 00:00 UTC, when conditions score 69/100 for intermediate level. Conditions can shift by the hour — the 4Shor app shows the full 24-hour score chart.
For beginners, Swanage Bay scores 90/100 today for kite foiling — Epic!. A score of 65–79 is Good for a beginner; 80+ is Excellent (90+ is Epic!); below 45 the session is usually not worth it. 4Shor scores every location across Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert levels.
Swanage Bay is scored for Surfing, Windsurfing, Kite Surfing, Kite Foiling, Wing Foiling, E-Foiling, Paddleboarding, Swimming, Kayaking, Canoeing in the 4Shor forecast system. Conditions are rated Beginner through Expert for each sport, updated every hour, so you always know whether the session is worth the drive.
Swanage Bay is a coastal location near Swanage in United Kingdom. It is one of more than 2,500 European water-sport locations scored daily by 4Shor.
4Shor's ShorSense™ system combines satellite-derived seafloor mapping, nearshore wave models, wind and tide data to generate a hyper-local forecast. At Swanage Bay, conditions are scored hourly on a 0–100 scale for each sport and ability level. A score of 80+ means Excellent (90+ Epic!); 65–79 is Good; below 45 the session is usually not worth the drive.
Questions about 4Shor itself — accuracy, pricing, the free trial — are answered on the FAQ page.
