What makes a good break?

[scuba steve]

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...

I don't want to arguewith you about this so chill.
But, you've missed the point, that photo of pipe tells you s*** all about the quality of the break, you cannot see a 'ledge' and you cannot tell whether these breaks will work or not from google earth pictures.

[drowningbitbybit]

StoneFox is a london(ish) surfer.... this strikes me as one of those things that people who dont live near the beach do, as it feels a little closer to the water than watching eastenders and popping to tesco metro for some beans.

I've done it myself. Although Ive done it to look at the lack of continental shelf off east coast australia (mwah ha ha ha). While a break could be found like this, a travelling surfer will waste a great deal of time of his precious weekend checking out all these potential spots.

And, realistically SF, these 'shelfs' that you're looking for are gonna be reef breaks that you wont be able to comfortably surf yet. There are hundreds of beginner-friendly breaks out there, already well known, so try them. And if you want to avoid the crowds (who doesnt?) then move away from the obvious ones, surf mid-week, surf in winter bla bla bla.

If, on the other hand, it helps you kill time while at work and before your next trip to the beach, then happy hunting.
But dont expect everyone on here to take it too seriously.

Especially Phil. He's grumpy.

[Jimi]

I too have spent a LOT of time (mostly when the weather/time of day is unsuited to doing anything productive) looking at breaks, and potential breaks along the east coast of australia on Google Earth and a few other sites I know of... (DBBB, check out http://imagery.maps.nsw.gov.au/ Breaking waves show up in aqua blue on the med res satellite imagery, and bottom contours are accurate)

The problem is this:
Google uses overlapping images with different tidal conditions, different wind conditions and different sea conditions, and they only use 1 photo per area, so you can't see whether a break is any good at different tides etc.

To complicate matters, sometimes the areas of water are blurred with the baseline ocean colour, so this doesn't give a true representation of water depth.

Photos taken in the afternoon with a westerly or easterly swell will make the waves look awesome, long and rideable, while photos taken around midday look pretty flat and crappy regardless of break quality (all due to the shadows cast).

Best you can hope for is to identify whitewash that makes the right shape to indicate a peeling wave, rather than a closeout, and look for distance away from shore as another indicator of surfable water.

[Stone Fox]

StoneFox is a london(ish) surfer.... this strikes me as one of those things that people who dont live near the beach do, as it feels a little closer to the water than watching eastenders and popping to tesco metro for some beans.

Uncomfortably close to the mark. I don't watch TV, and this at least feels constructive. That and I haven't surfed in about a month so I'm starting to get a bit twitchy.

[Otter]

For my money, this is where I'd like to go. Nice point break, looks like a fun left. 'Course I'd want to scope it out before heading out.

[PapaW]

It doesn't work...

[Sillysausage]

good, clean, powerful swell makes a good break (as long as you don't mind taking risks)

[Hang11]

Here's one near to where I live - it's a really well known spot, next to the main road, so not giving away any secrets, never gets that busy, quality right point. Google Earth caught it on a pretty good day.

[keef]

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 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.

Mmm, 'Local' has nothing to do with where you live, or how close to a break you live.

It's all about how long you have surfed at a particular break on a regular basis. How many epic swells you have had there, how many of the other surfers you know, and more importantly how many of the other locals know you and what they think of your surfing ability.

[Surfing-Innovation]

Eh??

I've surfed Anglesey reasonably consistantly for over 5 years - mainly on one or two breaks that I happen to like. I don't 'know' anyone but I do recognise a couple of faces occasionally (oddly, surfers who travel from the Midlands, but just happen to be there when I am). I've had some shite days and some truly classic days (small, but otherwise perfect) and I surf all year round. I might even surf there more often than many who live on the island, but I wouldn't class myself as a local unless I did all of the above AND lived there ........