Broughton Previsiones de Olas e Boletín de Surf

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Broughton is one of only a few spots where local surfers congregate when a there is a big swell running but SW winds are blowing out most of the other Gower breaks. In these conditions, which most commonly occur when autumn and winter storms roll off the Atlantic, the best choices for a sheltered wave are Langland, Oxwich and Broughton. Broughton doesn't need as much swell as Oxwich, and is surfable perhaps two or three times as often.

Broughton is best from mid to high tide wave and it needs a fairly solid swell to get going; say 3.5m West or 5m SW. The bigger the better really. It's primarily a slow left hand point break and on a good day longboard surfers can achieve rides of more than 500m, sometimes much more. It's not quite as good as it sounds because Raglan this is not. The shallow sandy sea bed makes for very soft surf that is prone to backing off. Surfers on shortboards struggle to make it through the softer sections of the wave and so they tend to congregate in the areas where the wave is steepest and kick off after relatively short rides.

Occasionally a big one will come through that stays steep all the way through to the inside and very occasionally the inside section can actually turn on a bit of power. More often than not, when a big set does arrive, you'll be way out of position. It can be a frustrating wave for a shortboarder but for longboarders it's really excellent.

There's usually quite a bit of current at Broughton so it needs some effort to stay in position. Long rides make for long and tiring paddle-outs and it sometimes makes more sense to get out of the water and walk back to the obvious little rocky point that provides a convenient jumping-off point at high tide.

When the tide drops too low for Broughton, as long as there is no west in the wind, consider Bluepool corner, another left point that is much more exposed to the wind but otherwise a steeper and bigger wave.

The setting is scenic enough, spoiled somewhat by caravans. Access is usually via the long narrow lane north from Llangennith village to a car park that is sometimes offers free parking. From here it is a short walk through a caravan park. Turn left onto the coast path once you can see the beach and after a little way scramble down onto the obvious jumping-off rock.

Located at the mouth of the estuary with the big industrial town of Llanelli upstream, it is hard to imagine that water quality is perfect. Even so, I am not aware of any health issues and although the estuary water is naturally muddy, I have never seen any obvious pollution.

2010-03-18