A crescent shaped bay with Bigbury-on-Sea the most popular launch point with excellent access and a car park close by. Bigbury upwind of the main break at Bantham so getting back to the beach involves some hard upwind work in prevailing winds.

When it’s flat the beach is very popular with short board cruising but as the size of the waves increase, the locals tend to pull off the water as the waves and rips become harder to handle. It works in a wide variety of wind directions. SW, cross on can create big waves at high tide. S can be hard work but W is good, again at high tide. WNW with the right waves gives frontside wave riding.

A local effect here creates more wind than on surrounding beaches especially in E – NE winds which funnel down the river valley with a fair bit of power – the result is a flat water blasting area. In summer there is a bathing area marked by a line of buoys, sail on the river side of it unless you’re headed towards Murray’s Rocks in the South West of the bay. There is some waterside parking but don’t leave your car on the slipway, it will either get scratched or pushed onto the beach in an emergency.