Kevin McCalley
Kevin McCalley, founder of Groundswell
Founder & developer, Groundswell
Kevin McCalley
Founder & developer, Groundswell
Kevin is an independent developer and surfer based in Lourinhã, on Portugal's west coast, and surfs the breaks around Peniche and Ericeira. He builds and runs Groundswell himself, from the forecast pipeline and the daily tide-accuracy checks to the translations and the support inbox, with no investors and no ads. Messages to support go straight to him.
What Kevin has built
- The Groundswell forecast: live conditions and 10-day wave forecasts for any surf spot on earth, built on Open-Meteo, ECMWF and ERA5 open ocean data.
- A daily accuracy check that compares Groundswell's tide predictions with NOAA's official predictions at 16 US stations and publishes every result. groundswell.surf/accuracy
- The whole site in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese.
Articles by Kevin McCalley
- The Fiji Surf Trip Guide: Cloudbreak, Restaurants, and the Mamanuca ReefsPublished October 29, 2026.
- Eleven of the Best Breaks in the World for Beginner SurfersPublished September 28, 2026.
- Eleven of the Best Waves in the World for ShortboardersPublished September 24, 2026.
- Eleven of the Best Waves in the World for LongboardersPublished September 20, 2026.
- Eleven of the Best Beach Breaks in the WorldPublished September 16, 2026.
- Eleven of the Best Left-Hand Waves in the WorldPublished September 12, 2026.
- Eleven of the Best Right-Hand Waves in the WorldPublished September 8, 2026.
- The Indonesia Surf Trip Guide: Bali, the Mentawais, and BeyondPublished September 4, 2026.
- Baja Offroad Surf Adventure: The Complete GuidePublished August 31, 2026.
- Best Time of Year to Surf FrancePublished August 27, 2026.
- Best Time of Year to Surf MoroccoPublished August 23, 2026.
- The Best Time of Year to Surf Southern CaliforniaPublished June 30, 2026.
- The Best Time of Year to Surf the North Shore of HawaiiPublished June 23, 2026.
- What Is Swell Period and Why Does It Matter?Published June 16, 2026.
- How to Read a Surf ForecastPublished June 9, 2026.