Terms and Conditions

1. Agreement

Seahound is an independent project and brand, not an incorporated company. In these Terms, “Seahound,” “we,” and “us” refer to the project’s operator.

These Terms govern your access to Seahound’s website, progressive web application, maps, scores, forecasts, alerts, and related content (the “Service”). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. You must be at least 13; if you have not reached legal majority where you live, a parent or legal guardian must permit your use.

2. Informational service only

Seahound is a coastal decision-support product. It is not a lifeguard, emergency service, maritime navigation system, official weather service, or substitute for your own judgment. Scores such as GO, MAYBE, SKIP, and STAY OUT summarize model outputs; they are not instructions, guarantees, or certifications that conditions are safe.

3. Ocean and outdoor risk

Surfing, swimming, boating, and entering coastal environments involve inherent risks, including drowning, rip currents, changing tides, breaking waves, submerged objects, wildlife, pollution, weather, equipment failure, and injury or death. Conditions can change between observations and your arrival. Observe from shore, assess your abilities, obey closures and lifeguards, and use official NWS, NOAA, and local emergency guidance. Call 911 or the appropriate local emergency service in an emergency.

4. Forecast and data limitations

The Service combines third-party observations and forecasts with modeled, transformed, inferred, and scored information. Data may be delayed, unavailable, incomplete, inaccurate, synthetic, or affected by sensor, network, model, coastline, and bathymetry limitations. Nearshore conditions may differ materially from buoy or model values. Source age and provenance are provided where available, but no data source or update interval is guaranteed.

5. Third-party sources

The Service may use or link to data and services from NOAA, the National Weather Service, NDBC, NOAA CO-OPS, mapping providers, and other third parties. Third-party terms and notices may apply. Seahound is independent and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or an official publication of NOAA, NWS, or any government agency. Government information must not be understood as modified official government material. See the NWS disclaimer for official source-use information.

6. Acceptable use

You may use the Service for personal, lawful purposes. You may not interfere with its operation; bypass access or security controls; scrape or overload it in a manner that harms availability; introduce malicious code; misrepresent Service output as official government information; or use it to build or operate a safety-critical, emergency-response, navigation, or autonomous decision system.

7. Intellectual property

Except for public-domain or third-party materials, the Service, its design, software, branding, transformations, scoring presentation, and original content belong to Seahound or its licensors. These Terms grant a limited, revocable, non-exclusive right to use the Service, not ownership. “Seahound” and associated branding may not be used to imply endorsement.

8. Availability and changes

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service, data sources, geographic coverage, scoring logic, or these Terms. Material Terms changes will be identified by a revised effective date. Continued use after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

9. No warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of accuracy, timeliness, availability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, merchantability, or safety. We do not warrant that any forecast, alert, score, map, or recommendation is complete or error-free.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Seahound and its operators, contributors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages; loss of data or opportunity; or injury, death, or property loss arising from reliance on the Service or participation in coastal activities. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.

11. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend and indemnify Seahound and its operators from claims arising from your unlawful misuse of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your infringement of another person’s rights. This does not require indemnity for claims caused solely by Seahound’s unlawful conduct.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute not resolved informally will be brought in a court with jurisdiction in San Diego County, California, unless applicable consumer law requires otherwise. If one provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in effect.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to info@seahound.app.