The geography of this coastline allows for a variety of different breaks that on their day, however rare that may be, do offer up quality waves.

When to go

Winter is obviously the most consistent but as any Brit resident is aware our climate can throw up a raging storm at any time. Look for a solid low in the south west approaches and light or winds with a bit of east or north in them. Alternatively go on a raging south westerly gale get some sheltered spots then wait for the wind to swing to the north and enjoy a day or two of offshore perfection. The channel coast also works on south easterly and easterly swells, this is obviously wind generated but can chuck up a fun wave.

What sort of breaks

Most of the spots are beaches but the really class spots are reefs. Kimmeridge is probably best known but the local boys tend to keep all the other reefs well undercover. The chances are that in the brief windows of weather and swell when these reefs do fire, without any local knowledge you have no chance of scoring. You can’t often talk about breaks that will appear in the future but Boscombe has had an artificial reef approved which should be interesting!

Local/Crowd factor

The two main surfing areas of the south coast, Bournemouth and Brighton are two sizey towns so there is obviously a lot of people who surf when it’s good. The locals are generally a pretty friendly bunch but with increasing crowd pressure on limited and inconsistent waves, localism does occasionally rear its head.

What to bring with you

A standard shortboard should do the trick, the reefs are sucky as are the beaches. If you find it a bit on the sloppy side it could be well worth packing a board with a bit of extra foam.

Quality food and drinking establishments

Bournemouth and Brighton are renowned for good eating, clubbing and wild nights with the opposite sex. They are not cheap though so if you are hitting one of the two for a weekend on the tiles, make sure your wallet is suitably stacked.

WHEN IT’S REALLY SMALL OR FLAT

If you turn up with only a small clean swell running you’ve got two options. Number one is jump on the ferry to the Isle of Wight, the island picks up more swell than the rest of the coast and has a good number of spots to check out. Alternatively drive three hours west to Cornwall or Devon where the swell will almost certainly be a bit bigger.

Further info

For reports and webcams etc. check out www.a1surf.com, or for a direct webcam link check out:

www.bournemouth-surfing.co.uk or www.sharkbait.co.uk for a regular report for Brighton.

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