8 articles
Surfing, sailing, land yachting and snorkelling: enjoying the coast and the sea with the right habits.
On the coast, very little stays put for long. The tide comes in and goes out, the wind shifts, and a beach with lovely waves at breakfast can be a different place by mid-afternoon. This section helps you read those changes before you head out with a board, a dinghy or a land yacht. Bodyboarding, windsurfing and wing foiling have their place here too, as do the big lakes and lochs where people sail as well.
You will find help with planning a session: reading a tide table and a marine forecast, knowing where the official versions are published, and making sense of swell and wind predictions. Then comes choosing kit, from a snorkelling mask to a first board, by way of a wetsuit suited to the season. The rules that decide who uses which stretch of water have their own guides too, from bathing areas to surfing etiquette, not forgetting the protected areas where wildlife comes first.
Simple habits matter, such as watching the water for a while before going in, or telling someone when you expect to be back. So do the classic mistakes, whether it is a board that is too small for a beginner or a session planned around your diary rather than the tide. To learn the techniques, a school or a club remains the right place, and our guides mostly help you choose a good one.
Our approach is the same across the magazine: practical guides, official sources named, and figures explained rather than thrown at you. A swell period or a wind force only means something once you know how to read it, so we spell out what it tells you about your session. Rules are quoted from the official texts, with the date we checked them and a box for Scotland, England and Wales, Northern Ireland or Ireland when the law differs. When a session is described, it is told by the person who was in the water. The section is written for newcomers to the sea and for regulars who check the swell forecast before the kettle has boiled.
SeaRules and regulations
Since 1 March 2022, the mast of supervised French beaches has flown rectangular green, yellow or red flags set by decree: yellow took the place of the old orange pennant. Purple is not in the decree. Two red-and-yellow flags mark the supervised zone, and everywhere else you swim at your own risk.
Chloé Schmidt··6 min
Cold water swimming for beginners: why the first minutes are the danger, why no safe duration is published, who should see a GP first, and what research shows.
Arnaud Couderc··8 min
Work out your surfboard volume in litres from your weight and ability: the tool, Firewire’s chart, Lost’s ranges and where each one stops being reliable.
Julien de Jurquet··7 min
Significant wave height, period, direction, swell and wind sea, offshore wind: what the figures in a swell forecast mean, source by source.
Arnaud Couderc··16 min
Accredited schools, qualified instructors, foam boards, priority rules, beach flags and rip currents: a guide to learning to surf, country by country.
Arnaud Couderc··16 min
3/2, 4/3, 5/4: which wetsuit thickness for which water temperature, when to add boots, gloves and a hood, and how warm Britain’s coastal waters get.
Nolwenn Bastide··7 min
Work out your surfboard volume: your weight times a coefficient for your level, the charts from Firewire and Lost, and why the board’s shape matters too.
Nolwenn Bastide··8 min
High and low water, tidal range, France’s coefficient from 20 to 120 and the rule of twelfths worked through: how tides work and where to find tide times.
Nolwenn Bastide··8 min
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