Longboarding on the Isle of Wight by Jason Swain. Plenty of people come on an Isle of Wight holiday in the summertime looking for waves, but the reality is that its ‘out of season’ when the island really gets its best waves.
You might get the occasional bit of wind-swell here in the summer and there are plenty of surfing options on those windy days with breaks ranging from Compton Bay (where the prevailing south-westerlies will be onshore) through to Niton, Ventnor and all the way round to Shanklin and Sandown where the winds can work in your favour. But it’s the Autumn and Winter seasons when the Island really comes alive for surfing and the long range groundswells from North Atlantic low pressure systems finally make their way back up the channel and bring the beach and reef breaks to life again.
The colder water tenses to keep the crowds down, but if you are lucky, there are still days, even in November when the sun shines and you can get away with wearing just a summer wetsuit without the boots and gloves that become essential as winter really sets in.
Looking back here at some recent waves we had at Compton Bay, with local rider Alan Reed on his longboard making the most of a small, but lovely clean groundswell with just a light easterly wind (offshore) grooming the wave faces. Shot with the Sigma 50-500mm telephoto lens on a Canon 7d Body (1/800 f6.3)
Take a look at the endless summer blog for a few more surf photos from the day.
Longboarding on the Isle of Wight, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.
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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
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