Over
the past few years, Caithness waves have dragged surfers hundreds of miles,
sometimes only for weekends, to enjoy big fast powerful waves in the beautiful
settings of Thurso Bay, Dunnet Bay, Sinclairs Bay,
Freswick Bay, Murkle
Bay; Brims Ness, Sandside
Bay, Melvich Bay, Strathy
Bay, Armadale Bay; Farr
Bay; Torrisdale and
many other prime spots further West.
Surfers
from all over Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, America,
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have sampled the waves and run out of
superlatives with which to describe them - “classic, superb, epic, unreal,
beaut” are just a few examples.
All
the beaches can be surfed all year round, if you can handle the cold which
intensifies in March/April, but the swells can be breaking at 20 ft. Plus. The
Winter water temperature varies between 4 - 70C In the summer, the
waves are smaller but the water is warmer (temperature 13 - 160C),
leading into September/October when the waves start to pick up and the water is
still warm from the summer.
For a map showing the surf breaks, click here. The
most consistent “breaks” are on the north coast, starting with Dunnet
Bay,
Thurso Bay (with three separate breaks: Thurso
East; Pipeline; Thurso
Beach),
Brims Ness, Sandside Bay, Melvich
Bay, then into Sutherland with Strathy,
Armadale, Farr,
Torrisdale Bay, all within easy reach (25 miles) of Thurso.
There are other breaks further
West. Thurso East, opposite the Castle is
the “mecca” with long, fast walls peeling toward the river mouth.
At certain times of the tide, the surfer can find solitude inside the
most sought after of refuges, “the tube”.
The
Scottish Surfing Federation staged the 1981 Eurosurf in the Thurso area and this
event put Caithness on the British surfing map. Since 1984, the Scottish Canoe
Association (SCA) has held their National Surfing Championships in Caithness.
The SCA has made Caithness the home for major competitions, as the surf has
proved so reliable around Caithness. In
September 1987, the SCA hosted the Home International Championships and the
European Wave Ski Championships. In 1991 the World Kayak Championship were held
in Thurso and the competition returned to Caithness in 1997.
So Caithness surf is now internationally accepted as among the best in the world and can only gain in notoriety in the future.