Donation Progress
May 1, 2026



After a couple months of declining donations, there was just enough uptick in April to stabilize the donation goal for this point in the year.

I'm thankful for everyone who's donated. But we have eight months to go and we're at about 1/3 of the amount needed to sustain my WaveCast report this year. So if you haven't donated in a while, now would be a great time to contribute to keep WaveCast alive. And here's why.

When Surfing and Surfer magazines shut down in 2019, I made the decision to continue my WaveCast report independently — as long as it could sustain itself through reader support. For over 30 years, tracking storms and forecasting surf has been part of my daily life. Today, reader donations are the only thing keeping this report alive.

For context, my donation goal is less than one percent of what some forecast sites pull in every year from subscriptions. While those operations pull in tens of millions of dollars a year, my monthly goal for 2026 is merely $2800 — just enough to justify the hours of work I put into each report.

We all reach a point where we have to be protective of our time. With my health issues and the natural shift in priorities that come with age, I have to weigh where my energy goes. I want that to be here — tracking storms across the Pacific for surf, weather, and wind in SoCal. But that only makes sense if the report remains self-sustaining.

I would like to thank everyone who has donated to support this report. You are the reason this report continued and I can't thank you enough.

I'll post my next progress update after the first of June. Until then, I truly wish the best for all of you, and I hope that you too will decide to make the best use of your most valuable asset: Time.

Nathan Cool