Revision 90718391 of "Nathan Cool" on enwiki

{{Wikify|October 2006}}

'''Nathan Cool''' has been recognized as a leading pioneer in long range marine forecasting and surf prediction.<ref>Santa Cruz Sentinel, June, 4, 2006, Section C.</ref>

Working as the Chief Forecaster for WetSand Inc. and founder of the forecasting service WaveCast, Nathan's affiliations include the American Meteorological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Weather Association.

Nathan is most well known as the author of the world’s first comprehensive book on surf forecasting:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059530365X/104-1515461-6236701?v=glance&n=283155 The WetSand WaveCast Guide to Surf Forecasting.]<ref>iUniverse Publishing, ISBN# 059530365X</ref>

Nathan is also the author of the award-winning The Four Keys to Successful Design<ref>Editors Choice Award, iUniverse Publishing</ref>, the highly acclaimed Cherished Memories, and most recently, Rhythm of the Ocean.

Nathan has been featured in various periodicals including the Los Angeles Daily News, Associated Press, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Ventura County Star, and the Conejo Valley's Acorn. Since the mid 1990s, Nathan has been a regular guest on the Surf Talk Radio Network, which has had a listening audience in Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Louis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and San Diego California counties and Hilo Hawaii, providing long-range seasonal forecasts.

==History==
Nathan, an engineer by trade, moved to California in the mid 1980s from the Midwest. Once in California, he quickly picked up surfing when we realized that there was something missing: accurate and affordable surf forecast information to effectively schedule his time in and out of the water.<ref>WetSand author bio, www.wavecast.com/guide/author.shtml</ref> 

In the late 1990s, Nathan founded his initial forecasting service WaveCast®. Combining his engineering skills with that of ocean wave principles, Nathan developed a unique and accurate method for forecasting surfing conditions.

Nathan’s approach, viewed from an engineer’s perspective, brought the latest technology on the Internet into the hands of many surfers, just like him. Starting out as a pay service, WaveCast® quickly became a popular forecasting service for Southern California, providing members with inexpensive forecasts which many say were more accurate than anything available at the time.<ref>Marc Kent, Surf Talk Radio Network, interview June 1999</ref> 

The WaveCast® service continued to bring accurate forecasts to Southern California surfers, and received accolades throughout the media with articles published by the Associated Press, LA Daily News, Ventura County Star, and Marc Kent’s Let’s Talk Surfing. WaveCast® was seen as an innovation in the surfing community, and its momentum continued to build throughout the late 1990s. 

The pay-per-view model that the original WaveCast® service provided was keeping valuable information away from may surfers who could not afford another subscription. After seeing many hazards that needed to be broadcast to the masses, Nathan looked at alternative business models to help promote the WaveCast® service. The goal was to bring the forecasts to everyone for free, and expand the service to all surfers worldwide. 

The goals were high, but not insurmountable. After many attempts and offers, Nathan decided to team up with WetSand, a new one of a kind portal for the surfing community. The amalgamation was a hit. The business model was conducive to providing free forecasts, and the combined expertise brought the availability of demographic expansion while placing crucial information regarding coastal conditions in the hands of surfers around the globe. 

==Forecasting Achievements==
During the El Niño of 1997-1998, when Internet WAM models were still in their infancy, and doubted by many using them for more than 60 hour projections, Nathan forewarned that an ominous system could be headed to the California coast, bringing with it surf that could reach over 20 feet in Southern California. Taking no chances, the Port Authority at Port San Luis released its boats prior to Nathan's forecasted arrival for the excessively large wave heights, and was honored to receive an email of thanks from the Port Authority for his accurate predictions and early warning calculations.

In recent times, Nathan has given fair warning to areas of Central America for damaging surf from anomolously large southern hemisphere storms, in particular, one that formed under Easter Island with 40-50 foot seas that brought 20+ foot waves to beaches in Costa Rica, and larger surf around Peru.

Along with these storm forecasts, Nathan has also provided seasonal forecasts, including a [http://www.wavecast.com/greenroom/state_of_surf_summer_2006.shtml State of our Surf report ]which caught the attention of the media, including the Los Angeles Daily News.<ref>LA Daily News, June 3, 2006, Summer's looking swell for LA</ref>

Nathan is also recognized as one of the first surf forecasters to design and develop unique automation software that can predict wind and wave height information around the globe. Utilizing various buoy data as well as raw modeling input parameters, Nathan's software has assisted in the creation of various swell models, in particular, those used on WetSand.com.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nathancool.com/ NathanCool.com] 
*[http://www.wetsand.com/ WetSand.com] Free surf forecasting serivce providing long range surf predictions, swell models, wind forecasts, and other various surf-related content.
*[http://www.wavecast.com/ WaveCast.com] One of the pioneering surf forecasting services working with WetSand.com to provide free surf forecasts to the worldwide surfing community.
*[http://www.globalsurfers.com/ Globalsurfers.com] A  surf-travel site with an atlas of surf spots around the world.
*[http://nssia.org NSSIA.org] The National Surf Schools and Instructors Association
* [http://www.clubofthewaves.com Club Of The Waves] - Surf Art, History & Culture site with featured surf artists & photographers.
* [http://www.SurfGSD.com SurfGSD] - Surf Schools in The Gower & Cornwall
* [http://www.spitcast.com Spitcast] - Surf reports and forecasting.

[[Category:Extreme sports]]
[[Category:Water sports]]