About.
A little bit of our story
Harper is a free forecast platform for surfers, kitesurfers, windsurfers, bodyboarders, SUPers, sailors, and anyone else who plans their day around the swell. No accounts, no ads, no clutter.
Who am I?
I'm Felipe — a Brazilian software engineer based in Amsterdam, bodyboarder whenever the swell cooperates, full-time ocean nerd. I built Harper because I wanted a forecast that didn't shout at me, and I'm keeping it that way.
It's where I combined two of my passions: surfing + tech.
If you want to say hi or invite me for a surf session, find me at benevides.pro or hello@harper.surf.
Our story
I started Harper during the Peniche Pro in 2025, out of the same small frustration most of us know. Free forecast tools feel overloaded, with dials, colour bars that are harder to read than the ocean they describe, and ads. Lots of ads. They're everywhere, and I get why.
Then it hit me that most of that information is already public. I'm an engineer. Felt dumb not to try. So here we are.
Harper is built around three principles:
- It must be free for everyone.
- It must be fast. Real fast.
- No accounts, no ads, no data collection. Ever.
The ocean has always been about sharing, waves, spots, wind, conditions, and a forecast site should carry that same culture.
Harper will always be free, but for some reason if you feel like helping me buying a new board, a wetsuit or maybe planning a new surf trip to Indonesia, you can donate whatever you want below :)
Buy me a new boardCredits
Forecasts are built from NOAA's WaveWatch III model, refreshed each time NOAA publishes a new cycle (roughly every six hours).
Weather information comes from Open-Meteo data, an open-source weather API.
Oh, so you're a surf nerd?
Curious about the look and feel? Read about the design system behind Harper.