We’ve just arrived back from a couple of weeks in the South West, we ran a beginners surf camp in North Devon and made our way down to Cornwall. After the camp, we didn’t score any waves in Devon or Cornwall so our time spent at The Wave in Bristol definitely felt worthwhile.

By the end of the trip myself and Emma Tweddle had surfed Advanced, Advanced+ and Expert and I thought it was worth writing this independent blog post with some detail about our experience on each setting.

To set the scene before getting into specifics-

The Wave is located just off the motorway and is on the way to Devon and Cornwall from the North
There are various ‘settings’ that cost varying amounts of money, Expert being the most expensive
There is a left and a right side of the pool which you select when you book
It’s a fairly long walk from the carpark to The Wave - leave 10/15 mins and don’t take loads you don’t need, but don’t forget your towel either…
The water is fairly cold, be prepared
It is mentally pretty strenuous, you need to get your head in the right space and keep it there.

Waikiki/Intermediate

For foamie surfers and beginners progressing onto green waves, Waikiki provides gentle peeling waves and intermediate is similar. Technically, intermediate is a little ‘harder’ but I personally think it would be a little easier for mini-mals and longboards as it maintains a bit more of a wall whilst remaining fairly gentle. There are staff in the pool helping you take off on Waikiki. Both of these are ‘open’ sessions, not lessons.

SJ on the Waikiki Session. Mellow guaranteed gently peeling green waves.

Advanced (left)

I took a more ‘groveller’ style thruster out, a 5’8 x 21 x 2.5 Lost after watching the first advanced session, I decided a little width and volume would help, I think it did.

There were around 14 people in the session, the right was more popular and full with 18 people.

There are defined sections of the wave. It starts off with a fairly mellow take-off, goes straight into a fat section that caught lots of people out and then throws up about 10-15 metres of good shaped wave for a couple of turns. The take-off and first cutback are the key to a good wave. It pays to stay tight and nurse the first turn a bit, so many people bogged and lost the wave.

Here is the Advanced take-off. Fairly mellow and easy to make.

This is the fat section. Stay tight to the pocket and don’t try to lean into a cutback.

The inside section has a wall to do turns on.

Good shape and size on the inside section.

I feel that the advanced would be a challenge for anyone who isn’t confident taking off and popping up and going down the line consistently, if you’re just at that stage, perhaps go for intermediate for more fun. For more advanced surfers, advanced is a good one to get a feel for the way it all works. Personally, it left me wanting a little, I never felt like I could do anything much on it but it was a good experience. Advanced would be fine for mini-mals, eggs, longboards or any other bigger boards.

Advanced Plus

Advanced plus steps up the take-off up a touch and seemed to get rid of the initial fat section giving some face to turn off from the take-off. The take-off is more critical, I ended up surfing my 5’10 Lost Thruster and this time Emma Tweddle was there for the session too, she was on her normal shortboard- anEPS/Epoxy 5’8 Lost Subscorcher.

Advanced plus was a great setting for turns, it had power, speed and good shape. It was a definite step-up from Advanced and would favour surfers who are more confident short boarders. I would be more hesitant to book onto this session on a bigger board like a longboard or mini-mal unless you are used to steeper, faster waves.

Emma showing that the first section had much more to lean into on the first cutback.

The Advanced+ wave maintains good size and shape throughout. There is consistent power to make use of.

Emma was surfing great and its so cool to watch from the pier.

13 Year old Belle Betteridge was ripping, tubes were there on the Adv+ session but hard to find

Advanced Plus was probably the most ‘fun’ for experienced surfers used to surfing reef breaks or faster beaches. It’s challenging and has good shape but most importantly, it’s consistent.

Expert

I surfed my 6’2 diamond tail channeled single fin on the left and the right. This is a board Visionary shaped me for good waves, fairly foiled, bit more rocker and what I surf on the reefs of the north east and Scotland. I’d recommend surfing a ‘good wave’ board on Expert. This is the highest setting and was definitely more challenging. There were lot’s of good surfers not making take-offs, boards getting smashing off the wall and some great waves getting ridden too. There was definitely an element of ‘carnage’ to the session. On my second expert session I really listened to the briefing and shouted up to ask about the cycle they put the session through, it changes every few waves and therefore so does the take-off. I made all but one wave after doing this, my first expert session was maybe a 50-60% make rate, the slams varied from bad to really bad.

High pressure take-off make sure you are at least one metre from the wall.

The first section is great to set up for the second, hollow section but if you want to get a tube don’t make your turns too critical.

It’s easy to see how boards get trashed off the wall on this setting - I got away with this, Emma lost her nose sadly

The mid-section has a great barrel section

In my head, I had gone to The Wave to practice something in consistent waves that I couldn’t guarantee in the sea. I approached it as a training session, sort of investing in my surfing (cringe*) and the Expert mode gave me what I wanted. No hassling for waves, (though I’m not going to pretend that the take off wasn’t highly pressurised but the pressure was more of one that I put on myself, you can take off where you want so long as you paddle hard and knowing there was always a barrel section to set-up for great. It was the most challenging, it pushed my abilities and my comfort levels but I got what I came for out of it I think.

Some tips/observations.

Listen to the staff, ask questions about which markers to use for the take-off and distance from the wall
Don’t look back, use the markers and trust in the mechanics
Back to back sessions aren’t a great idea, try to leave a couple of hours between sessions
As harsh as it sounds, try to be behind a good surfer who is making the take-offs, a messed up wave in front of you is a real off-putter
Get in the right headspace, once your head switches, your session is finished. Stay sharp, stay positive
Like all waves, The Wave is wind-effected, not a lot to be done about this when booking in advance, but an observation nonetheless.
Check out the nearby pub called The Plough, they let us stay in their carpark if we had a drink or food in the pub. This is a good tip if you have a van, it’s five minutes away.

Give us a follow for updates on a Yonder trip of some form in the future.

The Wave Bristol