Surfing Decisions - Choosing your Beach

Every surfer knows the scene. Eight foot waves pounding the shore, white horses as far as the eye can see, and a wind that would send a brass monkey scuttling to an arc welder looking for two quick spot welds. The only people going out are either a soggy ham sandwich short of a picnic, or have a death-wish.

Or maybe not. Maybe they know a little something about the weather and the coastline that can rescue just such a blow out.

Before deciding on any surfing destination, it's worth checking a regional map, as well as the weather forecast. Even in the depths of a mid-winter gale, knowing a little bit about the weather, and the local geography can open up a surfing wonderland!

If your main beach is closed out by the prevailing wind, there might be another near by that is sheltered by a headland, or just by the natural shape of the coastline. If so the waves will get bent or refracted around the headland or coastline, and the beach can be spared the full power of the storm. Eight foot raging white horses can be transformed into four to six foot clean waves. If you're lucky, and the natural shape of the beach is just right, the wind can actually blow across or even off shore.

The most obvious example of this is when western Europe gets hit by the prevailing southwesterlies. Beaches facing west or south west bear the full force of the storm, and are usually unsurfable. Only the foolhardy, terminally stupid, or those hoping to meet and maybe go out with a lifeboatman, hit the water when it's eight foot and blown out.

However, find a beach that faces north-westerly, or northerly and the surfing trip can be rescued. Devon, Cornwall, western Scotland, and the west coast of Ireland are just littered with examples of beaches that face north-west, or northerly, and are thereby spared the full force of our usual south-westerly winds. This makes them potentially surfable when the more exposed beaches are blown out.

Also, if you look at the shape of the weather system (on the web, tv, or in the newspapers), and check out the isobar pattern, (roughly speaking the winds follow the isobars) you'll usually see north-westerly winds far offshore. These winds generate a swell that can arrive after the prevailing south-westerly wind has died down. So while everyone rushes to popular beaches to catch the last of this swell, those in the know can have a deserted beach all to themselves with a gorgeous, consistent, and well spaced swell arriving from the north-west.

Although maybe those beaches won't be quite so empty now...

Don't forget you can look up Simon Alexander's surf nowcasts on this website or on Ceefax page 429 for a quick spot check of conditions around the UK.