UK - Southwest

[Sarge]

Hey

After enjoying the pleasures of a SW Vicco summer and Autumn I find myself back in the Nth Hemisphere for the next 6 mth, the UK to be exact. Anyone here got any little nuggets of knowlege that may help me track down a few waves. Will be spending a bit of time around St Ives, Cornwell but have wheels so will travel.

Cheers

[monkeyman]

You don't need any advice for North Cornwall, ie. St Ives is in the thick of surf country - there are obvious beaches everywhere with blue water, white beaches and good waves all around (although not really St Ives itself which closes out, but porth towan is only 5 mins away). Head to Sennen Cove near land's End at the end of the peninsula when there's no swell - its a swell magnet and a magic spot. Check wannasurf for north Cornish spots. The south of cornwall is generally not so good. Offshores are fairly rare, no catabaric offshores in the morning unlike our big continent, but the big sou'westers bring swell so you can find a tucked away corner somewhere. water is cold, boots and gloves around october onwards and then maybe a hood.
A 3:2 steamer for summer and early autumn but you really need a 5:4 from october. check shore dot co dot uk for some bargain steamers and get one delivered if you need one - being a vicco you might already be ready. water is 8 in winter and 15/16 max in summer.

if you are in London I'd recommennd the quicker trip to south wales on the M4. Go to Llangennith on the Gower Peninsula - once again wannasurf has the details. Further west in south wales is Freshwater West - a quality spot with blue water (unlike Llangennith and the other breaks in the bristol channel). Wales is magic but a little less consistant than Cornwall. You can surf in 3.5 hours from London at Llangennith, St Ives is 7 hours drive away from London.

Also check Croyde and Woolacombe in north devon - up the coast from cornwall, you can get there fromn London in abotu 4 hours.

You will get good waves and will be surprised - there are some mind blowing places to surf there and the history and backdrops are magnificent.

The season cranks up again in September - before then it's very inconsistent on all coasts.

Good luck and don't forget Ireland!

[stylefirst]

My mate and i lived there for a month or two in winter...
We got some great waves in Porthleven which is more towards the south but we also searched approx 100 kms either side of Newquay (party central ) which has some good waves, just seek and ye shall find..
Dont be afraid to go through some farms as we did. found some gold at the end of that rainbow...
good luck and keep us updated on what you find...

[drowningbitbybit]

Offshores are fairly rare, no catabaric offshores in the morning unlike our big continent, but the big sou'westers bring swell so you can find a tucked away corner somewhere.

Offshores arent all that rare - they're just different from Oz. You're looking at weather patterns, rather than temperatures, to tell you when its gonna go offshore. And, more to the point, you can go to a north/south/east/west facing coast within a few hours, so somewhere you can find an offshore.

Thousands of breaks in devon, cornwall, south wales - the trick is avoiding the crowds. St Ives is a nightmare in summer (you'll learn to love the blue and yellow foam learner boards..) and its a whole lot trickier to find a quiet break.

Summer gets its flat spells, but Hurricane season (sept - nov) can produce some spectacularly long period swells if you're lucky. Think 17 seconds. But it'll only happen a couple of times a year.

[monkeyman]

True on the wind - you'll have a ball. There's a great brotherhood in surfing there depending on the area... over a rediculous decade there I've surfed Newcastle, Hells Mouth, Brighton, Witherings, Bournemouth, Kimmeridge plus all of the usual SW and Welsh spots and never had any hassle once they can see you can surf... they tend to have that 70's/80's blonde dreadlock combie-van Bodie fake surfer thing happening in cornwall, but don't write them off even if they appear a bit front footed and kooky when you see them surf, cause they are really keen, put up with hell conditions and so many learners in summer it's unbelievable and love surfing! Don't assume that you are the only aussie around though because there are a million of us sneaking around snaffling some good waves with their london induced flabby bellies and spaghetti arms.

[monkeyman]

Porthleven is an onshore hell better suited to our bodyboarding brethren... so I wouldn't make the trip without chilly winter northerlies blowing. I've never caught it on but seen insane pics of barrels.

[stylefirst]

I've surfed Newcastle

Now that must have been freeeeeeeeeezing

[mr vic]

southwest Uk is nice.

i spent a week down there, got some ok waves, but i know that it gets pretty good down there! even if the waves are no good, the coastline is spectacular and rugged.

after going down there i swore that i would never give my english mother shit about the nature in the UK!

[philw]

uk is all about huge tides and spotting windows in the weather. no shortage of swell in winter but you need the time to check sheltered spots and - obviously - lost of rubber.

summer is often flat. spring is horrendously cold and windy. sept thru to jan if you can handle lower temps can be really good.

stormrider guide details all breaks. ordanance survey maps will get you to the very few uncrowded spots.

unless you get extremely lucky and catch porthleven on or you want to sit at the end of fistral beach and wait for the cribbar to break you definitely don't need a gun. a fat, curvy fish will cover nearly everything. bit like socal in late fall.

don't write it off automatically. if you follow the forecast and go on the right days you will be super stoked.

cribbar shots below. this is as big a surfable wave as uk gets but as rare as pommy pro surfers on the wct.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/p ... html/1.stm

[chrisb]

as rare as pommy pro surfers on the wct.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/p ... html/1.stm

..............Martin Potter

[Marine Jacket Spud]

as rare as pommy pro surfers on the wct.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/p ... html/1.stm

..............Martin Potter

South African

Pottz is a Pommie he moved to SA when he was a kid... (he surfed for the Poms...)

As for the UK - if you are there when a swell sweeps down through the North Sea from the Arctic, as well as taking a nice warm wetsuit, boots, hoodie and gloves head for the North East. People drive up from Cornwall to surf here in the winter!

Check out one of many spots:
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Europe/UK ... how&page=3

The great thing up here is; it is usually offshore and clean all day long!!

Summer is pretty pooor mind.

Apparently there can be a few heavy locals on the better beaches the North England v South England thing. (Aussies are generally well received - just start up some banter about the cricket and you will be fine...)

[drowningbitbybit]

uas rare as pommy pro surfers on the wct.

If there was a "1ft windslop, 5mm rubber round", us poms would be all over it

[Chong]

Russel Winter was the last true pomgolian on the 'CT. Surfed good, although I heard he had a few personal "issues".

SW England does get fun waves. I scored smoking North devon off of a late August Hurricane swell a few years back (which is the Nth Atlantic equivalent of a Cyclone Swell).

I also remember my first surf in England after 3 months living in southern Portugal. It was January, 2-4 foot and Offshore. The water was 9 degrees, the air couldn't have been much over 4-5 degrees and the offshores were courtesy of North easterly that felt like it was coming straight from the Arctic. I was in an ill fitting rented 5/4/3 with thin booties. It hurt to touch the water and duckdiving was like getting smacked in the head with a soft lead pipe. I got a couple of waves and then started to descend into a pre hypothermic punch drunk state where my co-ordination went to sh*t and I was falling out of the lip. Basically a nice intro to surfing in England.

England can be fun however you must be prepared to do a lot of driving, surf a lot of soft shitty closeouts and battle the cold in a 5/4/3 with booties, gloves and hood in Winter. A good wetsuit is essential.

You will get waves, but you are going to have to work for it. Head to Wales/Nth Devon/Cornwall at weekends, but save your bucks and holidays and head for hossegor/nth spain/portugal/the canaries when you can to really get a taste of what Europe.

[getxo]

It hurt to touch the water and duckdiving was like getting smacked in the head with a soft lead pipe. I got a couple of waves and then started to descend into a pre hypothermic punch drunk state where my co-ordination went to sh*t and I was falling out of the lip.

Memories!

Traveling throws up great challenges, but there is nothing quite like the first surf in a cold climate, no surf in the recent past, a decent wave and all factors conspiring so you just can't pull it together to meet what is on offer.

Every surfer has to experience this once in their lives.

[philw]

yeah. i wouldn't swap oz for the uk for a million euros but i do remember a few good surfs there.

once had a freakishly perfect 4ft offshore day in cornwall early jan. air temp around 5 degrees but water still around 12 - even took my gloves and hood off! and only 3 people out across 5 miles of beach...

[Marine Jacket Spud]

as rare as pommy pro surfers on the wct.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/p ... html/1.stm

..............Martin Potter

South African

Pottz is a Pommie he moved to SA when he was a kid... (he surfed for the Poms...)

Pottz is seen as an english surfer as russell crowe is seen as a new zealand actor

He he: Like Harry Kewell - seen as an Aussie actually a Pom...

[Sarge]

Thanks heaps gents!
Things are looking half decent this weekend so look out Fistral!

[drowningbitbybit]

Thanks heaps gents!
Things are looking half decent this weekend so look out Fistral!

Fistral? At this time of year?
Yuck, forget it. More crowded than you could believe, and barely a decent surfer amongst all the foam boards.

...And the UK forecast, which I cant help but keep an eye on, is looking like a knee high summer slop fest. :?