Surfline is one of the biggest and most-visited websites in the United States, attracting over 175,000 daily visitors across its family of surf-related sites.
It was founded by Sean Collins and provides surf forecasting updates for beaches all over the world.
If you’re a surfer, you probably know all of that already.
But what you might not know is just what LOLA means.
It’s a global swell model used by the company, but what does it stand for?
What Does LOLA Mean?
In answer to the question of, “What does LOLA stand for?” a representative from the company stated that it was a ” a computer model that crunches data…from offshore buoys” while also “orbiting satellites to measure hurricane-force winds and tremendous wave heights around the world”.
The rep noted that LOLA forecasts can change every day.
But let’s forget about buoys, surf forecasts, and related science stuff for a moment.
What does LOLA actually stand for?
That isn’t as easier to answer. It has been jokingly referred to as “Lots of Lip Action” by Sean Collins, who claimed it to be the sister of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey (which stood for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”).
Others have said that it stands for “Longitude Latitude” and Collins relates stories of individuals referring to it as “”Lots of Lousy Arithmetic” or “Lots of Linux Arithmetic”.
But it doesn’t seem to be any of those things.
It’s just a name that had a HAL-like ring to it and sounded cool to a few forecasters who wanted to attach a name to a project.
Surf Forecasting with Surfline
If you have yet to be introduced to Surfline, then it’s time to check the site out!
Not only is it the world’s largest provider of HD streaming cams, but it has stacks of surf reports, surf forecasts, and more.
Sean Collins changed the game when he launched Surfline and it remains one of the most important sites for surfers worldwide.
Surfline’s surf forecasting features will tell you about everything from wave heights, swells, winds, temperature, and more, and it covers destinations all around the world.
You can even check its HD cams, and as noted above, there are also LOLA charts to check in with!
