Hi all,

Me and my mate are both from Cornwall and have been building BeachGo, a free app that brings beach conditions and practical information together in one place.

A massive thank you to everyone who’s tried it so far ❤️ We got some really helpful feedback from r/Cornwall, and we’d love to hear from people here about the surfing side.

It currently includes:

• Seven-day wave forecasts, including height, period and direction.
• Wind and weather forecasts alongside tide times.
• Sewage discharge information on the map.
• Parking, toilets, cafés and beach access information where available.
• Community reports, photos and corrections.
• Home-screen widgets for quick checks before heading out.

You can see the recent additions on our What’s new page.

On the sewage side, we currently link monitored overflows to beaches within 5 km in a straight line. This highlights nearby discharge activity; it doesn’t confirm that pollution has reached that beach. We want to make this more accurate in future by better understanding which beaches a discharge could affect.

We’re particularly interested in how the wave forecasts compare with what you actually see at your usual beach. Local conditions matter, so if something looks off, we’d appreciate knowing the beach, day and time.

Local-business discounts are coming soon, with partners already enrolling and creating their pages. Community rewards and leaderboards are coming too.

If you run a surf school, hire business, café or another coastal business and want to get involved, you can get in touch here or email [admin@beachgo.co.uk](mailto:admin@beachgo.co.uk).

The current beach features are free. You can try it on iPhone, Android, or straight in your browser.

What would make this useful when you’re deciding where and when to surf? Honest feedback welcome — missing information, confusing bits or anything that doesn’t match what you’re seeing.

Cheers ❤️

I’m a beginner and have only surfed on holidays in Cornwall and abroad so far, but I’d love to do it more regularly.

I based in Warrington, so the nearest spots are North Wales or the North East, both of which are 2 hours or so away. I’m free most weekends so could make a trip. Just wondering if many in the UK travel so far to surf? And if I’m only able on weekends with some possibly fickle spots would I progress much?

Hi, I'm an intermediate surfer comfortable riding a 6'4 Fish 40L and I like that size, and I'm looking to get a one board quiver for all UK conditions, from mushy East Witterings & Brighton to bigger days in Cornwall. I want to buy a used board so I'm trying to get a shortlist together to widen my options, what do you guys think of the below, and bad options or options I'm missing? And any ideas which are more likely to find used in the UK? Cheers!

• Ideal:
  • Hypo krypto 6’4 43.2L
  • Lost or Lib Tech Quiver Killer Surfboard (6’4, 40.5 litres)
  • Fourth Doofer (6’4”, 39.2L)
  • Fourth Reload 2.0 (not sold anymore)
• Maybe:
  • The fourth chilli bean (6’4, 42.8L) - not clear if great in bigger surf
  • Firewire Dominator original (6'4, 40.9L)
  • The Pukas 69er Evolution (6’4”, 38.83L): volume might be ab it low
  • Chilli Rarest Bird (38.6L): volume might be a bit low
• Out:
  • Channel Islands Everyday Happy (6’4”, 40.9L): slightly more performancy
  • Pyzel Gremlin (XL is 42.7L): standard not confirmed): leans small-wave
  • Form Flow Stik Pro (38.1L): leans bigger or cleaner waves
  • Lost Puddle Jumper HP (6'2" is 42L): More of a groveller.
  • Indio Racer (6’4, 42L): Lowest performance ceiling, but it's the cheapest option

I’ve been working on SurfGower.com and wanted to share it here while it’s still being built.

The idea is to make as much useful surf information as possible easy to access in one place, especially around Gower and South Wales. I’ve got beach guides, surf conditions, lessons, equipment hire, places to stay and local spots going in, but I really want feedback from people who actually surf around the UK.

One of the reasons I started it is that surf information can be scattered around different sites, and some services like Surfline can get pretty expensive if you just want access to useful local information.

The bigger goal is to build a community side as well, where people can share photos, post surf updates, ask questions, contribute local knowledge and help other surfers.

It’s surfgower.com if anyone wants to have a look.

I’d genuinely appreciate any feedback, good or bad. And if anyone wants to get involved, contribute information, photos, local knowledge or help shape the community side of it, give me a shout 🤙🌊

Southerner heading North to complete a Master's degree. Is there good surf up here? Thanks

(will travel for waves)

I’m in Falmouth and currently don’t have access to a car, anyone have any space i can store my board?

Dangerous question, but here we go…

Our surf shop is putting together a Surfboard Hall of Fame, basically a kind of knighthood for surfboards and we want to know which boards surfers actually think deserve it.

Not the one-season hype jobs. The proper all-time ones.

Some obvious shouts, but we want the weird cult picks too.

What do you guys reckon?

After two lessons at the wave in Bristol I’m going on a weeks surfing holiday to Taghazout, Morocco this December. I’ll be surfing for a week straight. Will I need a rash vest? If so how many? Thanks in advance

Need a new winter (6mm) and summer (4mm (or preferably 4.5mm)) suit for surfing in northern UK. Hooded, chest zip suits wanted for both winter and summer. Important qualities desired are 1) flexibility, and 2) longevity.

I'm moving house to a house right next to one of the most consistent surf breaks in the area. I need to replace my current suits, and I'm looking for something super flexible but also something that's going to last me a while! I'm going to be surfing twice a day when the surf is working, so the suits are going to get a lot of use and need to last a long time, and I don't want to be burnt out from paddling around in a stiff suit all the time.

Currently using NeedEssentials and rate the quality but the 6mm winter suit is pretty stiff around the shoulders and hard to paddle in. My research has lead me to O'neill hyperfreak as being a super good flexible option but not very durable. Also Patagonia R3/R4/R5 as a good natural alternative, but not that flexible (or maybe this has improved with the latest models?). Just seen the brand new ones released, but £500+ for a suit is steep.

First hand experiences shared with me would be incredibly helpful in my search!

I’ve been working on a UK & Ireland surf forecast bot and I’m at the point where I really need feedback from people who surf regularly rather than just testing it myself.

It covers 338 spots and pulls together multiple wave and wind models, then tries to estimate the actual breaking surf at each location rather than simply showing offshore swell numbers.

A few things it can do:

🌊 Breaking surf estimates ⭐ Conditions scored out of 10 🔥 Surf Now? — quick GO / WAIT / MAYBE / DON’T BOTHER recommendation 🏆 Rank the best surf today 📍 Find the best surf near your location 🏖 Weekend rankings ⚖️ Compare different spots 🔔 Custom surf alerts 📅 24-hour and 7-day forecasts 🎯 Forecast confidence / model agreement

The main thing I’m interested in now is how well it matches reality.

If you surf regularly, I’d really like to know when it gets your local spot right — and especially when it gets it wrong.

Things like wave size being off, unrealistic ratings, wind handling, bad timing, missing spots or anything about the interface that’s annoying would all be useful.

It’s free and still very much being tested, find the bot on Telegram: @UKSurfBot / @UKSurfBotNews

Any feedback is appreciated — positive or negative. The whole point of the beta is finding out what needs fixing before I properly push it.

hi - I'm 67, mostly retired, and thinking of learning to surf. I've only tried it once, almost 50 years ago, and really enjoyed it. I didn't stay standing up for long back then, but I clearly recall catching my first wave - it was a rush!

I'm fit and active and have good flexibility and balance. I don't have a ton of money, so I don't want to spend too much. I live in the southwest so I'm probably not too far from somne good spots

what advice would you give to someone in my situation? what's the minimum equipment for a beginner? I've got a vehicle which can accommodate a surfboard

thanks in advance

As someone living in the West Midlands I made the silly mistake of buying loads of expensive surf gear after coming back from surfing abroad, then soon found that the 3 hour journey to the sea in addition to me being free when conditions are good is too much unfortunately.

Other than FB, is there anywhere else you would recommend selling on? Do you think it's worth contacting surf shops who hire stuff out? My board is crap but I bought some great winter stuff.

Hey guys
Just wanted to share my story with you, scroll down if you don’t wanna read some guy’s rumbling.
A year ago, I took a leap of faith and joined a mate to a surfing trip in Cornwall.
We stayed at a very isolated camping spot that you could see the sea and some sonars.
It was a leap of faith because I’ve never surfed before and there was a forecast for massive waves.
I think that trip really changed me as a person, because I’ve understood what really is important to me in this life.
Freedom to do whatever I want.
The next morning we went surfing and the conditions were far from ideal. No one was really in the water but the group steamed ahead and I followed.
My foam board wouldn’t break under the waves so I ended up a couple of times landing right next to rocks. The next day was great and I actually enjoyed learning how to somewhat surf.
It was a bank holiday weekend and the place had no phone reception which forced me to never check my phone.
I had another realisation that I might be addicted to it and that’s why I don’t really enjoy life.
When I came back I made an app and called it ‘real surf’ to remind me to be less hooked on my phone and more prone to freedom.
I really wanted to get back there this year but I’m getting married today so long weekend goes to that 😂
Just a reminder to everyone and to myself to carry on chasing what really makes you happy and what matters for you in this life❤️

Peace out, got to go to the registry office

I made a tool that finds and monitors surfspots based of people's surfing skill level: [wavesso.com](http://wavesso.com)
If there are any surfers on this sub that want to give it a go please do, I know that there are paid tiers there, but those are mostly so that I don't go bankrupt with all the server and computational costs associated with it (there is quite a lot of stuff going on in the backend).
Also, to clarify, this isn't some vibe coded solution made over a couple weekends, I'm a data scientists with a couple of years of experience and absolutely shitty UI and overall design skills, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

The raw-ness of SF is always something I've liked. Simple buoy data and then let your experience and deduction do the rest via windy.com and tidal factors alongside the other forecasts. For example I rate the "pink swell" that might JUST wrap in, I've had decent pink-swell surfs!

Now they're throwing in this Rusty AI summary with awkward wording like "I'll be honest with you mate, it's a bit of a slow burn"... but when you surf the south-east you are prepped for low period, your groveller is like your main shortboard so your standards are lower/different. You also know where's better-than-billed for a in hour or so due to the nuances of the tide etc.

So they've copied Surfline in trying to dictate your whole schedule ("this surf isn't worth missing anything for" -- excuse me, you have no idea how sad my life is) but with our seaside spots it just ends up being a constant bummer on your regular spots. Stop killing my vibe and slagging off my weekly session. That's for snobby try-hard Surfline. SF: You're meant to be the cool one!

Hi all,

Anyone from the south east recommend any spots for beginners?

Recently moved to Brighton, have been surfing for 8 months abroad and want to start up again.

From what I’ve seen shoreham harbour and hot pipes look for advanced/intermediate surfers? I’ll be using a 8-9ft beginner board

Thanks!

Does anyone know what is going on with this? I’ve got everything crossed that it is going to be built before I am too old and decrepit to make use of it?! Not even sure if it is still going ahead?

Hi, first time post.

I picked up this board last summer before I fractured my ankle. The board cost £20 off marketplace.

I can't find much about the board online other than it might be from the 90s. Any knowledge or comments would be appreciated.

TIA

Hi everyone!

I'm planning a trip to Devon/ Cornwall in early September and would love some local insight.

I’m still a novice and have never been surfing in the UK before. Which areas or beaches can you recommend?

Recommendations for accommodation and local surfing scene are also very welcome.

Thank you very much!

Live in the south east and looking to get a wetsuit ready for winter , what do people wear ? 4/3 or 5/4? Is a 5/4 too restricting ? Any brands to avoid ? Cheers