User Interviews and Analysis

Interview Questions

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1. What is your name, age, and occupation, and location?​

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2. What kind of water sport activities do you partake in?

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3. How long have you been participating in those?

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4. Do you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate, or advanced?

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5. How many times a week do you go surfing and or other water activities?

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6. How long on average are your surf sessions?

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7. What goes into your decision on where to go?

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8. How long does it take you get ready and go to your surf break?

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9. Do you plan out your surf session or are you spontaneous?

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10. Do you currently have a weather/surf prediction app or website that you use?

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11. If so, what is it called?

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12. How many times a day do you check your app/website?

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13. Do you check one app to get your information or do you have to check multiple?

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14. How accurate are the predictions for your specific surf location?

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15. What components are usually inaccurate?

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16. Do you look at the predictions on your app or do you read the charts and graphs and then you predict yourself?

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17. Do you know how to read the charts on the app/website?

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18. Are the charts easy to read?

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19. Do you check the app for the water temperate before going out?

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20. Do you check the algae reports?

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21. What is something missing from your current app that you would like to see in the future?

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Interviewee #1

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Greg, 55, Business Intelligence Developer, Encinitas, California

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• Greg participates in primarily surfing, and has been partaking in this sport for about 10 years. He would call himself an intermediate surfer.

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• He surfs about 2-4 times a week, and his sessions last 1-2 hours on average. 

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• When he is deciding where to go it depends on the swell height and swell direction, and for his specific area the wind and water temperature makes a big difference for him. 

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• It takes Greg about 30-45 minutes to prepare for his surf session, and he likes to plan his out a few days in advance. A quote from Greg, “I honestly plan my whole life around surfing.”

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• He currently uses Surfline and sometimes the site Windy. He checks his app about 6-8 times a day. He usually just relies on Surfline but more recently was introduced to Windy, which he’ll additionally check for more information. 

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• He would say that the apps are mostly accurate, and the components that are inaccurate are usually the wind and swell.

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• Greg relies on the predictions provided by the app, he doesn’t really know much about the charts and considers them difficult to read and says it takes too long to look at all of them. 

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• Greg said he will double check the app right before going out to make sure nothing has drastically changed, and he does not check the algae reports.  

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• Something Greg would like to see in the future is “ideal spot conditions” for new surf spots that he might be traveling to and not have prior knowledge on 

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Interviewee #2

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Kelly, 28, Zip-line Tour Guide, Maui, Hawaii 

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• Kelly primarily participates in surfing and some stand up paddle boarding, and has been partaking in paddle boarding for 2 years and surfing for about a year. She would call herself a beginner surfer.

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• She surfs about 1-2 times a week, and her sessions last about an hour.  

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• When she is deciding where to go, it depends on the swell direction and height. She said she only surfs on a certain side of the island so it really just depends on if there’s waves in her location. It also depends on her mood and how she’s feeling. 

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• It takes Kelly about 45 minutes to prepare for her surf session, and she tends to plan them out the night before and is sometimes more spontaneous and will just plan them the same day. 

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• She currently uses WillyWeather and checks it about 3-4 times a day on the days that she’s surfing. She sticks to just the one app for her information. 

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• She would say that the apps are mostly accurate, and the components that are inaccurate are usually the swell height.

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• Kelly relies on the predictions provided by the app, she doesn’t really know much about the charts and considers them difficult to read and says it takes to0 long to look at all of them. 

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• Kelly said she will double check the app right before going out to make sure nothing has drastically changed, and she does not check the algae reports.  

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• Something Kelly would like to see in the future is suggestions on where to surf if you're new to a location and are a beginner. A quote from Kelly, “It is very intimidating to begin surfing, and I had no idea where to go when I first started.”

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Interviewee #3

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Nora, 23, yoga teacher, Maui, Hawaii 

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• Nora participates in surfing and has been partaking in this sport for about three years. She would call herself an intermediate surfer. 

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• She surfs about 3-5 times a week, and her sessions last about 2-3 hours.  

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• When she is deciding where to go, it depends on the swell direction and swell height. It also depends on her mood if she’s wanting to just take it easy and longboard or get a workout in and short board. It also depends on the tide and what time she’s wanting to surf. 

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• It takes Nora about 45 minutes to prepare for her surf session, and she tends to plan them out a few days in advance and sometimes the night before. 

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• She currently uses Surfline and Magicseaweed, and checks them about 4-6 times a day. She always checks both apps to get more information. 

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• She would say that the apps are mostly accurate, and the components that are inaccurate are usually the swell height and the wind. 

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• Nora primary uses the predictions but sometimes she will take the time to check the maps and graphs to make her own predictions. A quote form Nora, “once I learned how to read all of them it isn’t too difficult to understand.”

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• Nora said she will usually double check the app right before going out to make sure nothing has drastically changed, and she will sometimes check the algae reports if there has been a recent storm.  

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• Something Nora would like to see in the future is the option to communicate with other surfers, like a chat feature or a way to comment and suggest things for certain breaks.