Fistral Beach Swell Window
Cornwall, United Kingdom · part of the Fistral Beach spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 220°–330° (SW–NNW)
- Best direction
- ~260° (W)
- Period sweet spot
- 10–16 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–12 ft
- Resulting faces
- 2–10 ft
Open-ocean vs. the face: the heights on buoys and forecast models are significant wave height (Hs) in deep water. What you ride is the breaking face, which depends on period, direction and this break's bathymetry — that's why the two rows above differ. PierMonkey's spot ratings already do this conversion for you.
Fistral takes west-southwest through north-northwest, best from the west-to-west-southwest around 245–275°, with northwest also excellent and often cleaner and bigger. Period of 10 to 16 seconds is ideal, though it breaks on 8-to-9-second windswell.
The open-ocean height converts to a face of roughly the same order on the banks: a 1-to-1.5 m reading is everyday 3-to-5-foot surf, 1.8-to-2.5 m is contest-grade, and beyond about 3 m it closes out — while a 7-metre-plus swell is Cribbar territory, not the beach.