Jim Brooks-Dowsett – Owner of Puravida Boardriders – Wavesailor -South Wales

I live in Penarth, South Wales just outside Cardiff where our shop is based. Just 5 minutes away is Barry Island (Great in a storm or episode of Gavin & Stacey) and the Knapp where you get the first sign of waves and consistent wind…..but I tend to travel wherever it’s looking good! The further west you go the more the swell tends to hit. Our coastline from Barry all the way to West Wales has break after break and I spend a lot of time at all the good spots, in the winter storms some magic locations come alight!

This week I had a great session in Swansea Gower that is a really consistent area for waves, home to some of the most well visited surfing spots in Wales.

To get the best forecast a few days ahead I always look at XC Weather, and type the name of the local spot in for the most detailed information. In our area this tends to get the wind pretty much spot on from 3 days in advance as a guide. Then I check the swell size and direction on wind guru and work out which spots to hit from there! If I literally just want to sail close to home there is a great live wind reading at Cardiff Wales Airport that basically tells you what’s actually happening on the coast…..

http://www.windfinder.com/report/cardiff

This can be really useful as well as a host of surf sites and webcams for eyeball reports. Another good site for Swansea Gower area for forecasting, local reports and webcams is:

http://www.gowerlive.co.uk

Sometimes I use the live data from various sites and especially the wave buoys up and down the coast to help me decide if they are on forecast, or even from my smartphone if it’s time to change beach and help me make the right decision!!

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=62303

South Westerly and Westerly winds work best for the southern coastline and then as you head up the west coast Southerly or Northerly winds, but to be honest there is somewhere to sail on almost any wind direction along our coastlines. Only easterlies rarely have wind and swell together so that’s the one I wouldn’t be too fussed on for wave sailing.

There are lots of great forecasting sites like Big Salty, Magic Seaweed and Surf Forecast and I wouldn’t say I have come across any you really need to avoid a yet. My advice is just t use the data from the other weather sites I mentioned to get it more accurate…

If anyone is thinking of making a trip to Wales they are always welcome to call the shop from a bit of friendly advice on the forecast and which spots to hit – 02920711946