Entry

Where is the best surfing in the UK?

May 1st, 2007 10:35
Harish Kohli, http://www.awimaway.com

Bournemouth in Dorset is building an artificial reef, costing (at 2003 
prices) £800 million, to create a lagoon for sheltered bathing and to 
attract surfers by doubling the number of good surfing days. The reef 
is to be constructed from enormous submarine sandbags and should 
generate waves up to 4 metres high. There are unanswered environmental 
questions about the effects of building an artificial reef, among them 
whether beaches could be starved of sand washing ashore. Bournemouth’s 
seven-mile beachfront is already an artificial creation that has to be 
renewed every 13 years or so by piling 20,000 tons of fresh sand on 
the beaches. Regardless, construction on the reef began in April and 
is due to be completed in September 2007; shops, restaurants and 
changing rooms should be ready in summer 2008. 
For catching the best waves in the UK, Newquay in Cornwall is the top 
spot, offering 11 sand beaches each on average a kilometre long. 
There’s a kite-surfing school, among other training facilities, and a 
Jamie Oliver restaurant. Other big surfing beaches in the UK are 
Polzeath, in north Cornwall, Sennen Cove near Land’s End, also in 
Cornwall, Woolacombe and Croyde Bay in north Devon and West Wittering 
and nearby Brighton in Sussex.
Harish Kohli
http://www.awimaway.com
With the introduction of accreditation by the British Surfing 
Association (founded in 1966), the UK surf school business has 
blossomed. There is a wide range of experienced and trained 
instructors, who can help beginners to learn the sport and have fun 
into the bargain. Most schools offer residential courses, as well as 
providing equipment and transport. Surfing is now a multi-million-
pound business, and surfers can now buy their top-of-the-wave 
sophisticated surfboards and high-tech wetsuits from British 
manufacturers.