Fistral Beach
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Fistral Beach is a major surfing beach of Britain, located in Newquay, Cornwall. The beach is particularly straight and is about 2500 feet (750 metres) in length. It is mainly sandy and faces North-West towards the Atlantic Ocean. It is also backed by steep sand dunes.
During the summer period it can get extremely crowded, both on the beach and in the sea, especially at high tide when most of the sand is covered by water. It is popular with surfers for its large clean breaks and a good right hander.
The word "Fistral" is enigmatic and has no known meaning in any of the Indo-European languages (including Cornish).
The British Surfing Association is based at the north end of the bay, alongside the Newquay Surf Life Saving Club and the Newquay Boardrider Club. The bay is also overlooked by the famous Headland Hotel which was used in the film The Witches.
The beach is a site for major international surfing competitions and a competition suite for judges and competitors has been built at North Fistral along with a surf museum, surf shops and daily board and wetsuit hire facilities.
[edit] Competitions
On 21 September 2006 Fistral Beach hosted the BSA's invitational Gold Rush Big Wave Competition. During the competition, which was scheduled to coincide with a large swell, Fistral saw surf of over 8ft caused by the weakened Hurricane Gordon reaching the UK. The winner of the £1000 prize money was 28 year old Scott Eastwood of the Channel Islands, who scored a perfect 10 in the final.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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