Surfing Waves

Given the current flatness, I've been thinking. The next time there's any decent swell on the west coast the world and his dog will descend on Croyde / Saunton.

It is time I feel to find somewhere less crowded. I'm trying to work out what makes a good break.

Is this a good example?



I'm working from this:


So, I've been looking at satelite images of various different coasts trying to spot good secluded breaks. Some of them it's easy because I can SEE there's waves, also camper vans & tents.

These photos are from all over the place, and I'm not naming where they are. Can I have some opinions please?

I'll start off by explaining roughly what i was looking for by showing your Croyde bay and putsborough.



Croyde bay. Visibly 'lumpy' - you can see from the shading the increasing depth of the water. You can also clearly see waves.



Puts looking distinctly limp.

What'd I'd like ladies and gentlemen, is your opinions on the images I'm about to show you:



My first effort, not so good a photo. From it's location, it's coast and it's orientation I think that it should get some, but it looks flat while in's neighbouring bay is 'lumpy' so would I be correct in assuming that while it recieves the same ocean swell, the difference in the contours of the bottom means this is flat?
Unfortunately I didn't take the photo far enough out to get to much of the topography in.



From the darkness, I'm guessing it goes from very deep to very shallow very quickly, meaning it gets quite big?



This from the shading appears to go from deep to shallow quite quickly, and the bottom appears fairly smooth (apart from the spires of rock) but doesn't seem to lumpy?



Just round the corner from the last one, but the gradiation on the bottom seems a lot more gentle, hence only a hint of a wave. Does this mean it won't ever kick off?



again, same area as the last two. I saw the quick change from dark to light from quite a high altitude. Until I zoomed in a bit I didn't notice the wave formed just after the shelf (or all the cars!)



Looks like it could be good, but lacks the shelf. By this point I started thinking that the shelf theory is right? I do see waves here though, would it be worth coming here if the whole coast was kicking off? Or do you guys reckon it won't compete with other, more dramatic breaks on the same coast.



Not quite sure what to make of this, looks shallow, but distinct waves are visible? Why do they look so white? And what's the big brown blur? Possibly smoke? Or something underwater?



Beautiful. But flat. And no visible access without cross countrying a mile or so through wilderness. Pretty though.



Maybe I should stop looking for shelfs so much? I see loads of cars here, so I'm guessing they know something I don't since there's nothing else for fleshin' miles, they've GOT to be there for the surf!

just a word of warning, showing up at spots you have found on google earth is all good and well if you can surf them.

best to stick to all the popular breaks or youll just piss off the locals and worest case get your tires slashed

also its impossible to look at google earth and get an idea of what makes a a decent break

each wave is diffrent on every beach, it is all to do with the slope of the beach steeper beaches tend to produce hollower waves, you also have the sandbanks, if not set up right will likely cause the wave to close out

Stone Fox wrote:

Ok, it's difficult to tell from the aerial view and stuff.

1st one looks like a reef, kinda sketchy, bit peaky but still surfable if you don't mind paddling for a week.

2nd one looks like a left point break. Kinda shallow'ish rockbed, with a few rocks poking up outta no where.

Best bet is the 2nd one, but hav a look and ask around.

balls to google earth. look at a map. the ordnance survey landranger ones are good. they show where flat rocks stick into the sea.

SAt Pics will be less usefull to a degree becuase your not able to see the rocks at low tide. I'd still say with the current knowdege you have of rock set ups that you use a close scale OS map and visit the potentials.

Now , Know where the areas and the paricular locations you've shown so far I tel tell you that only 2 of them produces a consistantly ridable wave. The rest will have a wave of sourts but usually only for boogers or not worth it at all. Again with sat pics he conditions on the day or the pic being taken will throw you off so much. So when looking at OS maps use the knowledge of what sets up known near by locations and adjust them according to the changes in shelter, break orentations etc. You also need to know that with Reefs the Swell Direction places a way way bigger part than on sand.

PapaW wrote:Now , Know where the areas and the paricular locations you've shown so far I tel tell you that only 2 of them produces a consistantly ridable wave

Ummm.... Have you been drinking? I'm taking this to mean you reconise the spots I've pictured, and know that only two of them are decent? If so, which ones? And are they likely to be as 'localy' as phil seems to be trying to warn me?

Btw Dec, that picture you said "1st one looks like a reef, kinda sketchy, bit peaky but still surfable if you don't mind paddling for a week. "

That's pipeline, Hawaii.

surferdude_scarborough wrote:balls to google earth. look at a map. the ordnance survey landranger ones are good. they show where flat rocks stick into the sea.

So I'm looking for shelves created by the edges of flat planes of rock?

sorry mate dont mean to be warning you off, just feeling a little cranky seeing pics of possible waves and knowing theres no surf till the end of the week

i am 98% positive i know where this one is, is it taken from the south coast?



i mean just be carefull picking spots and surfing them knowing nothing about the area where the rocks are, where the rips are etc

Wow.. what was the question???? Oh yeah, surfing ain't science. Just go where it breaks the way you like it. There nice and simple.

Oh yeah, every break will dramatically change as the tide, swell direction, wind and numerous other factors change.

I'm liking the pic above as it suits me (being a left hander) but I don't see a way down to the 'beach' and I'm guessing the rocks that form that wave aren't the most friendly things in the world!!

Just to reitterate what the others have said - before you even think about surfing a break based on some sattelite images, make sure you know what nasties are waiting for you at low tide..........

Phil wrote:i am 98% positive i know where this one is, is it taken from the south coast?

Absolutely not.

Can I have a quick rant? I asked for opinions on the photos in question, and if you guys think they're worth exploring

Yes I know every wave is different depending on different conditions.

Yes I know locals can be cranky.

Yes I know I need to have a good look at the spot before I even *think* of getting in the water. That's why there was a thread not so long ago about me going and having a look at K-bay. Didn't surf, just drove for two hours to go and look at it. Spent hours wandering round the bay looking at it, asking people questions (predominantly what's the bottom like!?)

[/rant]

This is just early recon. Any of these that the consensus is good on is gonna get recce'd. Given that some of these are fookin' miles out the way, I'm not just gonna drive to them all just to have a look, equally I'm not gonna just rock up at 'em with a board either.

Oh, phil, I'm not lying either, that's not the south coast. These are from all over England but that one's not south coast. Some of the images have been rotated, and there's one or two odd ones out not as tricks, but just to confuse the issue. (Pipeline for a start!)

The reason for this is I want them to be impossible to locate incase someone here gets the banging hump with me and starts screwing that I've given away his ultra secret spot!

Surfing-Innovation wrote:I'm liking the pic above as it suits me (being a left hander) but I don't see a way down to the 'beach'

There's cars, I could just about make out what looked to be a couple of boards in the water, so there's GOT to be a way down.

And this spot is so fleshin' far from civilization anyone claiming to be a 'local' is f**kin' lying or mad. The nearest habitation (which is a mission) is 1 farm.

ITs a fun drive to get there tho :p

PapaW wrote:ITs a fun drive to get there tho :p

I'm guessing you recognise 1 or 2 of these?

yep

I quite like your approach for finding new breaks - I don't see anything wrong with it to lay down some possible spots. You could be saving yourself loads of time by making some educated guesses using this method. You will still have to put yourself out in the end and actually go to the spot when there is some swell - if you find a nice new spot good on you.

I don't think your surfing standard should hold you back from going looking and even surfing a new break you have found. I don't think most people would mind someone turning up and not being able to surf very well as long as they behaved themselves out in the break and did not invite all their mates down there next time.
If you find a spot you should be able to surf it just like anyone else.

I think that's a great idea, but I'm not sure how well it would work. I've just checked out a few spots I know, reefs, points etc, and there's nothing on most of them that would make me go looking, apart from Mangamaunu in NZ, which is off its nut on the Google Earth pic. Likewise a couple of reefs on the South Coast of the UK that I used to surf, just look like nothing special at all on the satellite pics.

I wonder if it's hard to see the real depth and contour of the bottom on a satellite picture, which makes it very difficult to actually know what a swell would do when it hits it.

However, I've spent many nights with a few beers pouring over Google Earth, working out where some choice spots near where I live could be. Problem is access for me, without a boat or a helicopter, you just can't get to them. Luckily, there was a bit of a swell running when a lot of where I live was photographed, so it's possible to actually see it breaking.

I really would'nt try working out good breaks from these pics, if you can't see that pipeline is good, then that says it all.

It seems like a cop-out to look at satellite pics as well, there's much more excitement in travelling to find breaks on land.

scuba steve wrote:I really would'nt try working out good breaks from these pics, if you can't see that pipeline is good, then that says it all.

It seems like a cop-out to look at satellite pics as well, there's much more excitement in travelling to find breaks on land.

Dude, you're missing the point. If you read what I said to start with, that pipeline photo may not be kicking off, but you can see from the sharp shading gradiation that it WILL. It's the most extreme example of what I'm looking for and a perfect explanation. I'm looking for the shading gradations in the water indicating a shelf that will spawn a break.

And for the tenth time I KNOW I'll still have to go and look at these! This is just preliminary work! And the fact that a certain person is actually familiar with some of these 'unknown' spots is a good indication I'm on the right track.


What I was asking for wasn't people warning me about locals or telling me I'll have to look at it, what I want is constructive opinions about the pictures, i.e can anyone spot sand banks, good shelves, which ones people think will be best, guesses about how each spot will work, etc...

please guys & girls? just pick the picture you think would make the best break (NOT INCLUDING THE PIPELINE PHOTO!) and tell me why...

lol its compelty imposible to tell from a satilite picture, how a break is going to work unless theres a wave in it, even then its hard to tell, ive looked up countless spots i know work and they look xxxxx from the satilite pictures.

the only way is to go check them out and prob not publicly put pictures up on the internet

i now know where 2 of those shots are should have twigged the first time i sudjest you read this

http://magicseaweed.com/surftalk/viewtopic.php?t=9753


sorry im just agesnsed people puting pictures up or talking about possible secret spots on a public surfing forum that can be read by thousnds of people.

fair play if you want to go out and find these spots but keep them to your self and dont share them with the entire internet.