THE BENCH
The ‘Bench’ is one of the best surfing and windsurfing waves in the UK and situated right in front of one of the most visually stunning areas of the Jurassic Coast. It is also located on the edge of the Lulworth Ministry of Defence firing range and except for weekends and public holidays is totally out of bounds to the public by land and water. The rule is, if the red flag is flying then all access to the ‘Bench’ is strictly off limits. Surfers tempted in by epic waves have caused all sorts of problems in the past and a few years ago the Army even threatened to totally close any public beach access to the area. A campaign was launched under the ‘Save The Waves’ project to try to persuade the Ministry of Defence to slightly change the trajectory of their shooting range which would allow 100% access for surfers to the ‘Bench’, but so far to no avail. As it stands local windsurfers and surfers still have to strictly adhere to the rules of the red flag and consequently during many of the best days of the year, access to the ‘Bench’ is totally out of bounds. According to the Ministry of Defence the ‘Bench’ is open to the public 137 days a year and during the protests their reply to the surfers was – “The area is a vital training ground for British servicemen and women, allowing them to prepare for live firing situations in Afghanistan. A reduction in this training time would ultimately endanger their lives. We have taken steps to make the Broad Bench wave available to the public where it is practical and safe to do so.” The wave itself is fast and hollow due to breaking on a shallow shelf and can hold XL surf on its day. Combined with the fact the ‘Bench’ needs a big southwest or west swell, the military not to be firing and the necessary northwest winds, it really is a fickle wave to score for wave sailing. Hence we were up, packed and ready, at 06:00 to catch it at dawn.
“The ‘Bench’ is one of the best surfing and windsurfing waves in the UK.”