Summary: |
Uncrowded beach/reef break which on a good day can produce clean fast waves. |
Location: |
About 2 miles east of Lyme Regis and 30 miles east of Exeter. |
Name of Break: |
Charmouth. |
Direction Of Break: |
S.
Best wind direction is any N'ly component which is offshore. E or W winds which are cross shore can be OK if they are not too strong. |
Comments: |
The beach consists of sand and shingle at high tide and various rock reefs at low tide. The best conditions last for about 2 hours starting around 1 hour after high tide. At full high tide the waves tend to close out directly onto the car park sea wall or the shingle bank. At low tide the numerous rock reefs produce confused waves with little form. In my experience the best peak is the one that breaks in front of the river mouth. On larger swells this will start to break some way out and go through reforms before reaching the shore. Quite long rides can be had in these conditions. Various peaks break in front of the car park but unless there is a reasonable sized swell these waves tend to back off after the intial peak has broken. Steep, fast take offs are the order of the day at this break followed by more mellow shoulders as the waves roll in. If you are driving from Exeter you will find that Sidmouth is a good indicator of the swell size at Charmouth as they break at almost the same size. To produce good swell at Charmouth you need similar swell generating conditions as for Sidmouth. This means a good ground swell coming from the Bay of Biscay or catching the NW offshores after a SW gale. In summary, on a good day this break can produce classic surf and it is uncrowded. However, make sure you get there at the right time as for most of the tide the waves are of poor quality. |