East Wittering & Bracklesham
East Wittering and Bracklesham can often deliver some great surf conditions which
is the reason why there are so many more surfers at East Wittering & Bracklesham
compared to other locations.
The swell tends to be far more consistent and reliable when there is an underlying ground swell running, and in the
Autumn and Winter months windsurfers, kitesurfers have to jossle for car parking space along with the
established surfing fraternity, though on a recent outing there were just as many Surf Kayaks as surfboards!
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Bracklesham car park - a better bet than E Wittering |
Bracklesham, looking towards E Wittering |
The big negative is the car parking, rigging and state of the beach
at high tide, nigh on impossible to get out depending on tidal conditions
and wind direction.
On a good day, both Bracklesham & E Wittering can be epic, with
good down the line riding on fast moving swells, that's why it's worth
the drive, but is really a haunt for good intermeiates to experts for those seeking out one off places to sail when considering specific wind and swell conditions.
Though be warned, if you fancy exploring either of these locations
and then maybe Pagham & Selsey you're going to be driving around
for quite some time. Even though geographically they are all really
close, the size of Pagham Harbour and other features means you have
to drive around them, which takes a damn long time! I did it recently
for these reports, nigh on all bloody afternoon!
| As you can see from the pictures, both beaches
look pretty similar, at the weekends and in the summer opt for
Bracklesham, only because of the larger car park and its position
being right on the beach, East Wittering is some distance back,
though you can drive down and drop your kit off.
With regard to kitesurfing at these locations, I'm not too sure
about the suitability, as there is not exactly a great deal of
room for laying out kites and lines - plus sea defenses abound
with solid brick walls and metal poles as well as good old wooden
groynes - though I'm sure a kiter will add a review if they have
been out at either of these two spots.
The current running along the beaches here is not affected so much by the ebb and flow of Chichester
yacht basin.
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Bracklesham looking towards Selsey Bill |
Confused - this is either E Wittering or Bracklesham |
East Wittering looking towards West Wittering |
| Usual wind rules apply, sea breezes through May to September
and a prevailing SW - which is onshore, so can be a bit of a mare
getting out at high tide - so check your tide tables before venturing
down here.
Where both of these locations come into their own is in a North
Westerly, so you can be sailing at Pagham in a SW, then as the
front tracks through, wait 12hrs or so and the wind will go round
to the NW, then go to these two spots - well at least that's
what you'd do if it was a computer game, real life is a little
bit different! |
East Wittering Beach |
 Shore
Watersports, based at East Wittering stocks a huge range, though apologies
do not know about kite surfing product lines. Years ago Shore was based
in the smallest of shops....similar to Surladdle in Shoreham.
If you want to add your own comments see the link at the top of this
page.
Feb 2003
South Coast Beach Breaks
Hover over any red dot for details
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