Do-it-yourself forecasts

Surfline.com guru Sean Collins has written a guide to state surf spots, but don’t expect him to do all the work for you.The more Sean Collins teaches us, the more he wants us to learn for ourselves.

Take his new book, “California Surf Guide: Secrets to Finding New Waves.� Packed between the 200 pages of high-resolution graphics and surf images are condition descriptions of nearly every Golden State surfing location, from the shark-infested Russian River mouth to the stinky surf ghettos of Imperial Beach.

Readers learn about optimal swell direction, ocean floor bathymetry and wind conditions -- all important variables when making the call. But is it enough information to score epic waves?

“The goal of the book is to help people learn how to read their own local spots,� said Collins from his oceanfront office at Surfline.com headquarters in downtown Huntington Beach. For more than a decade, Collins and his team of forecasters have run the popular site, which provides wave conditions for spots all over the world.

Steeped in a tradition of self-restraint, Surfline.com and Collins’ new book only provide the benchmarks to understanding how different swells affect different regions. What he won’t do is give you exact conditions on a spot-by-spot basis.

“If I did that, we’d have a thousand people at one spot and everyone would be mad at Surfline,� he joked.

Instead, Collins gives readers the tools to determine the ideal conditions for their favorite surf spots; they just have to figure the rest out for themselves.

Collins book posits that there are three main factors to forecasting waves: the size of the wave, the time between swells -- or swell period -- and the direction of the swell.

Basic forecasting interprets how these three conditions interact with underwater bathymetry -- basically the topography of the ocean floor -- and outer islands that might block distant swells from reaching California’s shore.

The simplest way to learn your local surf spot is to monitor the beach for the most ideal conditions -- Collins calls it “the Perfect Day� -- and then visit Surfline.com and record the swell’s size, time period and direction. When similar conditions return, surfers can be prepared to get back into the water.

Collins’ new book goes to the next step by providing an index of swell windows -- basically wave charts -- that show how every major surf town in California is affected by various direction swells of different lengths. It’s up to the reader to interpret the charts and determine when their spots will be epic.

The California Surf Guide also give readers fun surf-town breakdowns on ability level, crowd conditions, local vibe and water quality. Collins affectionately dubs the last item “Poo Patrol.�

So how did Collins’ home break off the pier stack up? Besides a full two-page spread, Collins deemed Surf City the “most consistent surf spot in Southern California� because of extensive exposure to multiple south and western swells.

On Friday, Collins will be signing copies of his new book at Huntington Surf and Sport in downtown Huntington Beach from 5 to 8 p.m. All proceeds from the event will go to local surfer Timmy Turner, who is recovering from an aggressive staph infection.

“We tried to connect the science of surfing with what happens in the surf in real simple manner,� Collins said.20060202itzqsbncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Surfline.com’s Sean Collins has written a book, “California Surf Guide: Secrets to Finding New Waves,� which he’ll sign tomorrow from 4 to 8 p.m. at Huntington Surf and Sport downtown. 20060202itzqqmncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Surfline.com’s Sean Collins has written a book, “California Surf Guide: Secrets to Finding New Waves,� which he’ll sign tomorrow from 4 to 8 p.m. at Huntington Surf and Sport downtown.