Want to get wet and slide down some lovely green waves, get the girls and generally be a cool dude? If you answered yes then you are halfway there to becoming a surfer! Seriously though, surfing is fast becoming a mainstream past time in the UK. Despite frigid waters and bad weather, on the right day the UK can be a surfers dream. Surfing can be expensive at the beginning as you will need to
buy a surf board and a decent wetsuit. After you have these items, all you need to do is buy fuel (expensive these days!!) and have a car to get to the beach!
The main areas for
surfing in the UK are undoubtedly the south west, namely Cornwall, Devon and South Wales. Cornwall has the most consistant surf, unfortunately it also has the largest crowds. Here are a few of the main beaches in the south west as an aid to your quest to become a surfer.
Newquay's Main Surfing Beaches.- Fistral Beach - Probably the most famous surfing beach in all of Britian, very crowded in the summer time and in my opinion somewhat overated! Has good facilities and can be good on it's day, but just too crowded for me! In the past I used to head to South Fistral via Pentire headland, but it's even mayhem down here now, hence I tend to avoid Fistral completely these days.
- Newquay Town Beaches - The main surf beaches of Newquay are Tolcarne, Towan, Great Western and Lusty Glaze. At low tide all 4 beaches become one massive expanse of sand. Facilities are great, as you would expect; but parking can be difficult especially in the summer. In terms of wave quality these breaks tend to close-out but are well worth a look when Fistral is blown out and messy.
- Crantock - A nice beach just south of Fistral, gets gentle rolling waves so is a good place for beginners. The North end of the beach has a river mouth (The Gannel) emptying into it. This can produce some gnarly hollow sections at certain stages of tide. However the river also creates a powerful rip, so if you are new to surfing, please avoid this area and move up the middle of the beach.
- Perranporth - The beach at Perranporth is huge, one of the largest in Cornwall at around 2 miles. This means it picks up heaps of swell from the Atlantic, it also picks up the wind so if it's a windy day forget about Perranporth. The wave is of average shape, quality but can
produce some hollow sections at low tide or when the sandbars are perfect. The northern end of the beach (accessed via the holiday camp) is known as Chapel Porth, the wave quality tends to be higher up this end and it has a tad more protection from the wind!
- Whipsiderry - A small beach north of Porth on the outskirts of Newquay, this was my local break whilst living in Newquay in 1998 and I loved it. Not many people bother with Whipsy! as it can only be reached via a steep walk and has no lifeguard service. Please keep an eye on the state of tide as there is only one way off the beach and it is very easy to get cut off. The wave is ideal for beginners but please use caution regarding the tide!
- Watergate Bay - Another massive expanse of sand, that provides great rolling waves for beginners and intermediates, the parking facilities are great and with the new extreme academy on the beach there are lots of things to look at. As with Whipsiderry please be aware of the tide so you don't get cut off. Watergate has a lifeguard service in the summer so remember to keep between the flags.
Devon is also known for it's quality surf breaks and has arguably the best beach break in the country (well the south west!) at Croyde Bay. Croyde is not ideal for beginners, having said that, it's where I learnt to surf myself on family holidays to Ruda and Cherry tree farm in the 80's.
In retrospect learning to surf at Croyde hampered my progress as the locals were far too
gnarly and at low tide the waves often resembled something from Hawaii (everyone knows low tide Croyde is Awesome!). Fear not! as there are some really mellow waves to be had in the surrounding area, namely Saunton, Woolacombe, Putsborough and Westward Ho!
Saunton is an absolutely amazing wave to learn on, it is slow, fat and peels perfectly (some of the time!) just watch out for long boarders and goat boaters (canoeists) and you should do well at Saunton. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, it is always worth a trip over to Putsborough or 'puts' as it is known locally. The headland at puts protects it from all but the very worst
of SW gales, this means you can get a clean wave while everywhere else is blown out.
As for South Wales, well I will leave that up to you! search and ye shall find! It's all part of becoming a surfer!
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