Banks?

[surfinforlife]

Hi all, when i go out surfing i tend to ask the people who are heading in what the swell is like and quite often they will talk about banks. Im just wondering what these are...

[Hopupu]

A (sand)bank is what makes a wave grow and break (beachbreaks). There should be some info on it floating around on the net. If you know where the good banks are, you know where the right waves are going to break.

[PapaW]

Sand banks....

Currents on beaches and coves are all different and the movment of the sand creates rased areas on the beach. These of course are what create the peeks on the waves that come through (where they start breaksing) If the banks are in poor condition, ie theive been washed flat then the waves tend to jsut wall up and close out at once. where as if they are well built up then your'll get nice peeks and peeling waves from eather side.

Most banks are created in calm conditions where light surf and tidal movinng shift the sand into the mounds. Storm conditions also do this but its alot faster and often leaves the sand banks dredged to different areas.