Home / Cornwall / Perranporth

Penhale

★★★★★Small
Beach break Faces W high tide Offshore South East Best swell South West

Best of the week: Sunday around 06:00, 3–5 ft and cross-off.

Surf now2–3ft0.8 m at 8 s from the W, wind sea 0.1 m from the W
Wind7mphW · onshore · gusts 11
Tide 3.2mFalling · low 20:18 (2.4 m). Works high tide.

Seven days

best session each day · swipe
Mon
2–3 ft Swell W 8s Wind 7 mph ★★★★★
Tue
2–3 ft Swell W 8s Wind 5 mph ★★★★★
Wed
2–4 ft Swell N 5s Wind 12 mph ★★★★★
Thu
4–6 ft Swell N 6s Wind 18 mph ★★★★★
Fri
5–8 ft Swell W 7s Wind 15 mph ★★★★★
Sat
5–7 ft Swell W 7s Wind 11 mph ★★★★★
Sun
3–5 ft Swell W 7s Wind 15 mph ★★★★★
Mon 5 Tue 6 Wed 7 Thu 8 Fri 9 Sat 10 Sun 11
Time 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 06 09 12 15 18
Surf ft 2–3 2–3 2–3 2–3 2–3 2–3 2–3 3–4 3–4 3–5 4–6 4–6 2–4 3–4 2–4 3–4 4–5 4–6 5–7 5–7 5–7 5–7 5–7 5–7 4–6 4–6 3–5 3–5 3–4 3–4 2–4
Swell 8s 8s 8s 8s 9s 9s 5s 6s 6s 6s 6s 6s 5s 5s 5s 6s 4s 5s 6s 7s 7s 7s 7s 7s 7s 7s 7s 8s 8s 8s 8s
Wind mph 5 5 5 2 8 7 12 20 25 26 25 18 17 13 13 11 23 23 22 20 16 11 11 9 6 3 15 17 18 17 16
Tide m 3.1↓ 3.5↓ 2.4↑ 4.2↑ 5.7↓ 3.9↓ 4.4↓ 2.0↓ 3.2↑ 6.1↑ 5.0↓ 5.4↓ 2.1↓ 2.1↑ 5.9↑ 6.0↓ 6.3↓ 2.6↓ 1.3↑ 5.2↑ 6.8↓ 6.8↓ 3.4↓ 0.9↑ 4.2↑ 7.1↓ 7.0↑ 4.3↓ 0.9↓ 3.3↑ 7.0↑
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★

Surf is the face height at the beach after the swell is filtered for the way Penhale faces. Arrows point to where the swell and wind come from: an arrow pointing up means from the north. Tide is the height at Perranporth 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 Thursday 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

Penhale faces west. Measured from the seabed, it is open to swell from SW round to N; 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 WWW
W
0.8 m at 8 s (swell) · 100 % reaches the beach
W
0.1 m at 2 s (wind sea) · 100 % reaches the beach

How Penhale works

Swell
Best from the south west.
Wind
Offshore is from the south east; anything with west in it is onshore and messes it up.
Tide
high tide.
Getting there
Head through the Holiday Cap on the northern end of Perranporth Cliff.. Weave your way through tourist and security untill you think you'll drive off the cliff.. kepp going for another few feet and you should hopefully be somewhere near.. new tackle the massive dunes and you should be almost there... Almost! beware the climb back up! its knackering!

The far northly end of Perranporth Beach. Has breaks all down this stretch but the right in the far corner are the best.. the fact you need suvival equipment to survive the walk keeps down number of surfers except in summer when the holiday camp is in full swing!

Tide times

  • Mon 20:18Low2.4 m
  • Tue 02:15High5.2 m
  • Tue 08:46Low2.4 m
  • Tue 14:48High5.7 m
  • Tue 21:28Low1.9 m
  • Wed 03:25High5.7 m
  • Wed 09:47Low1.9 m
  • Wed 15:48High6.2 m

Perranporth station, 2 km away. Heights above chart datum, UK time.

Photos

In the gallery
Penhale Penhale

Members' own photos of Penhale. Credits: Jane McCarthy.

Comments

1 Jan 2010 · silvabak cross to offshore on S-SE winds, long point break , all abilities, mid-low tide, careful of the rip which runs in the same direction as the wave make getting to the peak a hassle!
18 May 2005 · Ian gloucester fantastic low tide surf at 7.00am! clean glassy waves, neat line ups 4-5ft april 04! good atmosphere welcoming locals, be careful of the rip at high tide or youll find yourself in the rocks!
7 Jan 2005 · Nail Deffo had my session of '04 here in December. Big surf, long racy walls and plenty of space for everyone. I give it four stars.

Log in or join to comment.

Nearby