Hayling works with wind from south to west, but southwest seems to work the best. As for tide, if you like mellow waves out on the sand bars, low tide can be fun, especially for jumping; the wave is very soft and is constantly reforming. I like to get in about three hours before high tide. That is when the swell is starting to make its way over the sand bar and into the beach. We had hit it on a decent long period ground swell, so it was action right from the moment I hit the water. The wind had a little too much south in it, so was a little bumpy to start with, but got cleaner as the tide pushed. The negative I guess is the shore break, if you launch when the tide is high you have to walk a good 100 meters west on one of the most uncomfortable shingles known to man. If you head out straight in front, it looks like the infamous Brighton PWA shorebreak from back in the nineties. New Year’s Eve was a little more south than I would have liked but it made for some epic jumping, still some great waves to ride and all in a 4.3 wetsuit under the sun. It doesn’t get much better than that and we even made JC’s ferry – he actually shook my hand to congratulate me on calling it – I’m still in shock!”