stuff in the sea

[voyager]

dunno if anyone else here surfs Saunton in North Devon, but over the last 8 months [ish] I've noticed an awful lot of brown froth washing up in sections on the water's edge,
when you go through it it seems to leave a waxy slippery texture over the board. Anyone else noticed this? Or better still , know what it is?

[BaNZ]

Yeah I saw them, I thought it was just some kind of plankton. My board becomes so slippery because of it.

[beachbumuk]

We get this a lot up around our muddy sections of coast (was at Saunton for a dawny on saturday and it was lush!)

It is probably a mixture of run off from the feilds and frothing from the wind whipping uo the sea (like bubbles in washing up liquid)
We tend to get it at its wrost from the mud being heated up on the flats in the summer....I wouldnt go and lick it...but i dont think it will do you too much harm.

[voyager]

......that's a shame....er I think it might be bit late for the licking thing...................

[beachbumuk]

looked like frothy cappachino? nom nom nom

[voyager]

hee hee hee yeah, that or sh*t!

[jaffa1949]

Consider that fat and faeces and pubic hair and oil and grease and other stuff all enters the sewer systems, Britain still uses quite a few flush it out to sea programs ( Surfers Against Sewerage SAS are fighting this) So your murk stuff could be any or all of this, even rains in drains flush out dog turds and cigarette butts.
Recent found in a junction of the London sewers a fat fur etc. ball the size of a double decker bus.
Take your thermonuclear strength antibiotics and go out undeturd!

[voyager]

man....I coulda gone all day without hearing that, as Saunton is looking like 2-3ft tomorrow 6mph wind, I guess I'm just gonna have to get amongst it,
........fur balls 'n all

[benjl]

I used to notice the same thign surfing at one of my local beaches during winter when it got big and heavy.

My mate said it was a combination of run-off, + heavy disruption of the sea bed from big waves dredging it up.
It was identical to what you described- brown, smelly, frothy and left your board a bit slippery