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| Wales can be divided into three
main areas; Porthcawl, the Gower Peninsular and Pembrokeshire. There are
a few northerly breaks too. Porthcawl is major surfing and bodyboarding area. It breaks on most swells so most surfers don't venture out of the area much. Consequently it does get crowded but because of the nature of the coastline, with many small bays and points, there are still some uncrowded spots near the main areas. The most consistent place and most crowded break is... ...Rest Bay, which works on an incoming tide on a NE wind. Next is Sker which is always uncrowded; It works best at low tide when the waves peel off the mussel bed exposed at low tide. Pinkies is a left hand reef break which barrels all the way to the beach; It works from two foot, less than that and you will take off and land on bare rocks; Not for beginners. ESP is another popular spot which gets crowded. Coney Wedge in front of the fair ground works on large swells during the winter and can produce a wedge of up to four feet off the pier. Often crowded. There's a river mouth break south of Porthcawl called... The Mouth. It needs a swell above three feet to work; it's not for beginners and is badly polluted. Along the coast the Gower Peninsular has numerous breaks. The best known surf spot on the Gower is... Llangennith, in Rhossili Bay. It's a beach break, and local surf shop owner Pete Jones describes it as "...a good closeout. It will hold a big swell but anything over six feet and it's very hard to paddle out. When it gets maxed out here though, Rhossili at the south end of the bay is more sheltered. One good thing about Llangennith is that it can work quite well when it's on-shore." There's a car park and campsite directly behind the dunes so at weekends it gets pretty crowded. However a few minutes walk north and you can find an uncrowded wave... ...Burry Holmes, a consistent classic spot at the north end of the beach which gets hollow with long rides. On the south side of the Gower, reefs abound; however we're not telling you were they are; check out an ordnance survey map and you can find them yourselves. The bays and beaches are better known , with... ...Oxwich Bay being the choice spot at high tide on a big swell. Caswell is another popular high tide beach break spot. When Llangennith is over six foot... Langland Bay starts to work, but this can get extremely crowded. Nearby Crab Island is a right hand point break which works at low tide with a N winds. It can get nice and hollow with long rides. Click here to see a photo of James Jones at Langland. Pembrokeshire's best known beach is Freshwater Bay, a consistent W facing bay with a central beach break area; It needs a clean swell and winds from the E to work well, and when it does it's excellent. Whitesands Bay is a consistent beach break which works best on an outgoing tide or on a small swell at low tide. Newgale is a SW facing sand and shingle beach which works at all stages of the tide. Further north there's Tywyn, an average SW facing beach break, and... Barmouth which works on all tides. In North Wales Hell's Mouth is a consistent SW facing beach break, best around mid tide. There are a few breaks on Anglesey, namely Aberffaw, Cable Bay, which works at high tide and Rhosneigr which works on all tides. Swells are pretty inconsistent up here, though. |
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