Privacy, cookies and browser storage

Last updated 5 September 2026

This is Surfhog's privacy and cookie notice. Surfhog does not use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking. It uses limited first-party browser storage, an optional feedback cookie and privacy-preserving analytics as described below.

The controls below let you object to saved site preferences and anonymous analytics on this browser. Third-party Google content is held back until you choose to load it.

Dave Barnwell runs Surfhog. For privacy questions or requests about your information, email dave@surfhog.co.uk.

Contact messages

Dave Barnwell uses your message and email address to respond to your enquiry. Submitting the form is optional. Your email address is needed so Dave can reply. Vercel processes the submission and Amazon Simple Email Service delivers it to Surfhog's receiving mailbox. Your email address is also used as the reply address. The form does not save your message in Surfhog's application database.

Messages are normally actioned or deleted within three days. Replies and follow-up correspondence can remain after that. To ask about or request deletion of correspondence, email dave@surfhog.co.uk.

Hosting and security

Requests include information such as your IP address, browser details and the page requested. The contact service uses request and client-address information to limit repeated submissions and prevent abuse. When Cloudflare Turnstile is enabled, its verification request can include your IP address alongside the challenge token.

Browser preferences

Surfhog stores four preference values in your browser's local storage: surfhog-theme for your colour theme, surfhog-units for your height and wind-speed units, and surfhog-homepage-wave-buoys for the four wave buoys you chose for the homepage, and surfhog-favourite-webcams for up to 10 favourite webcam identifiers used by the quick links, beginning with Gwithian and Godrevy defaults. The values contain only setting names and Surfhog page identifiers. They do not contain your name, contact details, precise location, account identifiers or free text.

Local storage is not a cookie, and your browser does not automatically attach these values to every request. Surfhog reads them only to restore your choices between visits. These appearance and functionality preferences have no fixed expiry date. They remain until you change them, object using the control above or clear Surfhog's site data in your browser. Surfhog does not use them for advertising, profiling or cross-site tracking.

Charts store whether percentile ranges are visible under surfhog:chart-view-settings in session storage. This setting survives reloads in the same tab and normally ends when the tab closes. Turning off Remember site preferences clears this tab's setting and stops charts reading or saving it. Settings in another open tab are ignored while the objection is on; closing that tab clears its session storage.

If you switch off Remember site preferences, Surfhog deletes the four local settings and the chart session setting in this tab, and stores only surfhog-preferences-opt-out with the value true. This is needed to remember your objection. Preference controls will still work for the current page, but Surfhog will not save new choices between visits while the option is off.

Daily forecast feedback

The forecast page does not set a feedback cookie merely because you view it. If you select Yes or No, Surfhog sets a first-party, HTTP-only cookie named surfhog_forecast_feedback. It contains a random identifier and is sent only to the forecast-feedback service so that it can remember one current response per browser and forecast date. The cookie lasts for up to 30 days after your latest response unless you clear Surfhog's site data sooner.

No name or email address is collected for forecast feedback. The database stores your selection, the forecast date and update time, and a different date-specific hash of the random identifier for each day's feedback. It does not store the identifier itself. The stored hashes are not designed to link responses across forecast dates, and the feedback is used only to remember selections and produce aggregate reports that help improve the forecast. It is not used for device fingerprinting, advertising or tracking activity elsewhere on the site.

Raw feedback records become eligible for deletion 24 months after the forecast date. An automated cleanup is scheduled weekly on Sunday at 02:20 UTC, so records can remain until the next successful cleanup. The request is processed by Vercel, and the feedback record is stored in Surfhog's database hosted by PlanetScale. Clearing Surfhog's site data removes the browser cookie; existing date-specific database records remain until that cleanup and can no longer be retrieved using the cleared browser cookie.

Third-party services

Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights collect anonymous page-visit and website-performance information for aggregate statistics used to improve Surfhog. Web Analytics does not use cookies. It uses a hash derived from request information to distinguish visitors within a day; Vercel discards that hash after 24 hours and does not use it to recognise a visitor across different days or websites. Speed Insights records performance data points without reconstructing a browsing session or identifying a visitor. Web Analytics also receives feature-usage events when you open homepage buoy settings, change or reset buoy choices, add or remove favourite webcams, open webcam links, or restore saved buoy and webcam selections. These events include catalogue identifiers or names, card positions, selected buoys, favourite counts and whether restored selections match the defaults. They do not include search text or account identifiers. Speed Insights does not read saved site preferences.

You can object using the anonymous usage and performance control above. If you switch it off, Surfhog stops sending future analytics and performance events and stores only surfhog-analytics-opt-out with the value true so that the objection is remembered on this browser.

When one of these interactive maps loads, your browser connects directly to OpenStreetMap to request the visible vector map tiles. OpenStreetMap may receive ordinary request information such as your IP address, browser details and the tiles requested, as described in the OpenStreetMap Foundation's privacy policy. Surfhog does not send your name, contact details or precise device location with these requests.

The St Ives Bay forecast page shows a placeholder instead of loading Google automatically. If you select Load Google map, your browser connects directly to Google. Google may receive technical information such as your IP address and may use cookies or similar technologies in accordance with its privacy policy and cookie information.

When enabled, Cloudflare Turnstile is loaded on the contact page to protect the form from spam and automated abuse. It processes limited browser and device signals and creates a short-lived challenge token that is checked when the form is submitted. Cloudflare describes this processing in its Turnstile Privacy Addendum. Blocking these third-party services in your browser may prevent the map or contact form from working correctly.

Your rights and complaints

You can ask to access, correct or delete your personal information, or restrict its use. The rights available depend on the information and how it is used. Email Dave using the address above to make a request.

You can object to the use of your personal information. The controls above let you object to saved preferences and analytics immediately on this browser; contact Dave about other processing.

If you are unhappy with how Surfhog handles your information, you can contact Dave or complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.