Hey all - I may be travelling across the pond to London for work the first week in Feb and will likely have a free day. I was thinking of heading to the coast (south?) to get in the water because, well, how often will I get to dip in UK waters? Anyhow, is there anyone out there with a contact in the area I may be able to meet up with? Or has anyone tried this on their own? I’ll be without a car and a board, so a rideshare and rental shop would be of great help as well (I live in new england, so I have some cold water gear I plan on bringing).
I would suggest the train to Newquay, Cornwall. I’m not normally a big fan (I used to live there), but in this case it’s a good option as you have no car, and you will get to see some of england. About 6 hours or you can train to Bodin (which is a more frequent train) and take a taxi from there to Newquay. There is also a (small) plane I think from London City airport and (I think) Gatwick. Plenty of places to stay even out of season, you can walk to the town beaches and the whole town, plenty of shops renting stuff, but a used board would be a better bet as rentals in cornwall are generally popouts or foamies. Also it has a variety of beaches facing different directions which can be a plus if the wind is blowing (which it nearly always is in the winter).
Another option for a day trip would be to head to Brighton - if you are luckly you might get some windswell there, and it’s a day trip (about one hour on the train). It’s not going to be as good as cornwall, and you might have issues locating equipment. Plenty of people drive to Cornwall or Devon from London on the weekends to surf, you might be able to get a ride there and back with them if you ask around. Other places further west than Brighton do get decent swell up the channel in winter, but it needs the low pressure systems in the right places to get truely good.
It goes without saying it will be cold in feb. Minimum gear would be a 5/3, boots and probably gloves unless it’s a warm year.