The south coast of Cornwall is more subdued and indented than the north coast, and receives waves generated by winds across the English Channel as well as south-westerly ocean swell from the Atlantic (Bird 1998).
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The most famous for surfers is the north coast, which includes the legendary spots of Bude and Newquay, mainly because it gets the full hit of the NW Atlantic swell system. That brings big waves and great consistency. Sometimes, when the stars align right, the south coast can also go off.
For anybody interested in surfing in the UK, Cornwall offers the best bet for scoring good waves thanks to it's range of breaks along two coasts, and large North Atlantic swell window.
Just to the east is the harbour town of Porthleven, which is where all of the storm-watchers and photographers go when huge winter storms send enormous waves crashing up over the clock tower.
Huge Atlantic swells and the infamous Cribbar, a reef off Towan Headland, can create waves in excess of 9 metres high. The beach can become quite crowded in the summer, but the surf is usually good year-round, so worth a trip at any time of year.
Turbulent water and rushing waves create quite the setting in County Sligo. Mullaghmore Head might just be the biggest wave in the British Isles, it's certainly one of the biggest waves in Europe! Often whipped up by high winds and bracing rain, this left-hand beach break only forms at high tide.
But when it comes to epic waves, there's only one place on earth known as the “surf capital of the world.” The epic beach we're talking about is Pichilemu. Pichilemu is located in the center of Chile, right by the coast. It is a rough three-hour drive from Chile's capital, Santiago, to Pichilemu.
1. Nazaré, the surfing capital of Europe. Nazaré, on the west coast of Portugal, is probably the most famous surfing spot in Europe. The town owes its reputation as the surfing capital of Europe to the Nazaré Canyon, an underwater ravine that reaches a staggering depth of 5,000 metres.
Hannah continues: “The clarity and turquoise colour in west Cornwall compared to say the North Sea or Bristol Channel is also because of the heavy sand particles which sit on the seabed, and lack of sediment swirling around in the water column.”
Among surfers, the term “heavy” can refer to any wave that is particularly dangerous. That includes waves that are literally heavy, heaving a crushing amount of water toward the shore and onto unlucky surfers. The waves off the coast of Teahupo'o in southern Tahiti have been called the heaviest in the world.
Sitting on the west coast, Carbis Bay is one of the more famous beaches in Cornwall but is still as outstandingly beautiful as others in the county. The crisp, white sands are a delight in the warmer months and the sheltered cove is safe for sea swimming.
Generally the water quality is good in Cornwall. After periods of high rainfall, seawater can become contaminated with farmland or urban runoff. There is also the risk of sewage overflows releasing raw, untreated human waste into the ocean.
Mavericks Beach, CaliforniaMavericks Beach in Half Moon Bay, California is renowned for its powerful waves and is considered to have some of the largest surfable waves in the United States.