Fistral Surf Report

Surf report for Tue 15/10
  Swell Period Swell direction Wind direction Wind speed
6:00 4ft 11s  °  ° 13mph
12:00 4ft 10s  °  ° 20mph
18:00 4ft 9s  °  ° 19mph
Tide times
High 4:17am (5.46m)
Low 10:57am (0.88m)
High 4:36pm (5.81m)
Low 11:22pm (0.63m)
Daylight
First light07:10
Sunrise07:43
Sunset18:28
Dark19:01
Surf report for Wed 16/10
  Swell Period Swell direction Wind direction Wind speed
6:00 5ft 12s  °  ° 9mph
12:00 5ft 12s  °  ° 10mph
18:00 7ft 17s  °  ° 14mph
Tide times
High 4:59am (5.73m)
Low 11:43am (0.63m)
High 5:18pm (5.99m)
Daylight
First light07:12
Sunrise07:45
Sunset18:26
Dark18:59
Surf report for Thu 17/10
  Swell Period Swell direction Wind direction Wind speed
6:00 8ft 14s  °  ° 14mph
12:00 8ft 13s  °  ° 19mph
18:00 10ft 13s  °  ° 19mph
Tide times
Low 12:07am (0.49m)
High 5:40am (5.88m)
Low 12:28pm (0.52m)
High 6:00pm (6.03m)
Daylight
First light07:14
Sunrise07:47
Sunset18:24
Dark18:57
Surf report for Fri 18/10
  Swell Period Swell direction Wind direction Wind speed
6:00 8ft 12s  °  ° 16mph
12:00 7ft 11s  °  ° 22mph
18:00 6ft 9s  °  ° 22mph
Tide times
Low 12:51am (0.51m)
High 6:21am (5.90m)
Low 1:12pm (0.56m)
High 6:42pm (5.92m)
Daylight
First light07:15
Sunrise07:48
Sunset18:22
Dark18:55
Surf report for Sat 19/10
  Swell Period Swell direction Wind direction Wind speed
6:00 9ft 12s  °  ° 11mph
12:00 9ft 13s  °  ° 11mph
18:00 9ft 14s  °  ° 12mph
Tide times
Low 1:33am (0.66m)
High 7:02am (5.79m)
Low 1:56pm (0.74m)
High 7:25pm (5.68m)
Daylight
First light07:17
Sunrise07:50
Sunset18:20
Dark18:53
Surf report for Sun 20/10
  Swell Period Swell direction Wind direction Wind speed
6:00 11ft 12s  °  ° 36mph
12:00 10ft 12s  °  ° 20mph
18:00 9ft 11s  °  ° 15mph
Tide times
Low 2:14am (0.94m)
High 7:44am (5.57m)
Low 2:38pm (1.04m)
High 8:08pm (5.34m)
Daylight
First light07:18
Sunrise07:51
Sunset18:18
Dark18:51
By . Last updated

As the UK's best known surf beach and birth place of surfing in Britain Fistral has a lot to live up to. The spotlight on Newquay's premiere surf beach has often led to people being dismissive about the actual quality of the waves - don't believe the hype! Fistral really is one of the best beach breaks in Cornwall capable of producing powerful, hollow waves and working under a variety of conditions.

Facing WNW means Fistral picks up a good deal of any north coast swell running. It is also capable of holding it - there are often surfable waves here at 6-8ft and when it gets really huge there's always the Cribbar! As with all beaches the quality of the waves is dependent on the quality of the sand banks. Fistral seems to have fairly consistently good banks.

The beach works through all states of tide, except for Little Fistral (at the northern end) which only really exists at low tide. Little Fistral usually picks up a little more swell than the rest of the beach so can be a good call.

Perhaps the biggest negative aspect of surfing at Fistral is the crowds. As surfing becomes increasingly popular, Newquay and in particular, Fistral, are bearing the brunt of this. On small summer days it's probably a good plan to try somewhere else. It does quieten down a lot in the winter, but not as much as it used to so you'd be pretty lucky to score epic Fistral to yourself.

At the northern end of Fistral in front of Towan head is the Cribbar, Cornwall's legendary big wave spot. Unlike many potential big wave spots around the coast the Cribbar has been surfed, and at over 20ft. Only a handful of surfers have braved the monster that is the Cribbar. The first were Jack Lydgate and visiting Aussie surfers Johnny McIlroy and Pete Russell back in 1966.

Check out our detailed Fistral surf report here.