Home / Devon / Devon

Saunton

★★★★★Small
Beach break Faces W high tide Offshore east Best swell west

Best of the week: Monday around 06:00, 4–5 ft and offshore.

Surf now14–19ft0.1 m at 11 s from the NW, wind sea 5.1 m from the W
Wind30mphW · onshore · gusts 52
Tide 5.4mFalling · low 00:38 (0.4 m). Works high tide.

Live webcam

Walking on Waves

Open the Saunton Sands cam by Walking on Waves. Opens in a new tab.

Seven days

best session each day · swipe
Sat
14–19 ft Swell W 9s Wind 30 mph ★★★★★
Sun
8–10 ft Swell W 10s Wind 11 mph ★★★★★
Mon
4–5 ft Swell W 9s Wind 17 mph ★★★★★
Tue
10–14 ft Swell W 7s Wind 23 mph ★★★★★
Wed
6–8 ft Swell W 9s Wind 11 mph ★★★★★
Thu
4–5 ft Swell W 8s Wind 9 mph ★★★★★
Fri
2–4 ft Swell W 8s Wind 15 mph ★★★★★
Sat 24 Sun 25 Mon 26 Tue 27 Wed 28 Thu 29 Fri 30
Time 19 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18 06 09 12 15 18
Surf ft 14–19 15–20 14–19 13–17 10–14 8–11 4–5 3–5 6–8 6–9 6–9 10–13 10–13 9–12 9–12 9–12 7–10 7–9 8–10 7–9 6–8 4–5 3–5 3–4 3–4 2–4 2–3 2–3 2–3 2–3 2–4
Swell 9s 9s 9s 9s 8s 10s 9s 9s 6s 9s 9s 11s 11s 11s 7s 7s 6s 6s 10s 9s 9s 8s 8s 8s 8s 8s 7s 8s 8s 8s 8s
Wind mph 30 29 29 25 21 17 17 17 24 22 21 26 24 29 25 24 22 20 19 16 11 9 10 17 15 19 16 16 16 16 15
Tide m 6.0↓ 6.3↓ 2.9↓ 0.4↓ 4.2↑ 6.8↓ 7.0↓ 4.0↓ 0.5↓ 2.9↑ 7.3↓ 7.2↑ 5.1↓ 1.0↓ 1.6↑ 7.1↑ 6.7↑ 6.0↓ 1.8↓ 0.7↑ 6.1↑ 5.6↑ 6.6↓ 2.7↓ 0.4↑ 4.7↑ 4.2↑ 6.7↓ 3.6↓ 0.5↓ 3.0↑
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★

Surf is the face height at the beach after the swell is filtered for the way Saunton faces. Arrows point to where the swell and wind come from: an arrow pointing up means from the north. Tide is the height at Yelland Marsh above chart datum, rising ↑ or falling ↓; the rating drops when the tide is outside the window this break works on. Amber marks the sessions worth setting an alarm for. From Wednesday the swell comes from Météo-France's 10-day model, which is coarser than the 5 km German model used close in. Hours no model reaches are left blank, not shown as flat.

Exposure

Saunton faces west. Measured from the seabed, it is open to swell from S round to NW; the brighter a wedge, the deeper the water in that direction and the more of the swell gets in. Anything from behind the headlands scores nothing, however big the buoy says it is.

NESWfaces WNWW
NW
0.1 m at 11 s (swell) · 100 % reaches the beach
W
5.1 m at 9 s (wind sea) · 100 % reaches the beach

How Saunton works

Swell
Best from the west.
Wind
Offshore is from the east; anything with west in it is onshore and messes it up.
Tide
high tide.
Getting there
from Barnstaple look for sign to Braunton then from Braunton signs for Saunton sands

A flat beach on the Atlantic some of the best surf on a good day. A three or more mile long beach with an estuary at one end.

Tide times

  • Sun 00:38Low0.4 m
  • Sun 05:00High6.6 m
  • Sun 12:07Low0.4 m
  • Sun 17:21High7.0 m
  • Mon 00:24Low0.3 m
  • Mon 05:39High7.0 m
  • Mon 12:51Low0.3 m
  • Mon 18:00High7.3 m

Yelland Marsh station, 7 km away. Heights above chart datum, UK time.

Photos

In the gallery
Surfers at Saunton Sands - geograph.org.uk - 2337863 Surfing at Saunton Sands - geograph.org.uk - 2337848

Tom Jolliffe, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Tom Jolliffe, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Comments

16 Oct 2004 · stevio really gud wen the swell is there the beach stretches for a few miles right round to its nieghbouring westward ho! with just the river mouth between them plenty of room to play!

Log in or join to comment.

Nearby