With a strong south westerly wind the day before there was potential for a good wave for foiling at Camber Sands. The wind was due to turn offshore overnight and then drop, promising a good chance of some foil surfing. The north westerly wind did however indicate that things were going to get chilly. With waves dropping as the day went on and tide continuing to drop sunrise was the only option.
An early start
Alarm set for 6am and a cursory check of the wave height before setting off, things looked promising showing over 4 foot. Wetsuit on before leaving and scraping ice off the windshield, off I went.
Arriving at Camber it had paid off, the rare lesser spotted Camber wave had appeared! Setting up under the moon still visible at the eastern end of Camber (it was mid-tide dropping) and then on the water before the sun appeared over the horizon.
Great waves for foiling
The waves were good for foiling at Camber and were breaking on the sandbanks. This is the best time to be foil surfing Camber with the waves breaking on an outer sand bank and then reforming. Normally this is immensely frustrating but the foil opens these out.
After ten minutes acclimatising to where the waves were breaking and forming I caught the first one. I was greeted with a quick take off and a step back and pump of the board and the foil was up. The foil really picked up speed here and I was racing along in the reform grinning all over. Before getting too shallow though a quick bail into the white water and things were set to go. The next 30 minutes were great with a few more rides, sometimes managing exits over the back of the waves and a couple of heavy bails into breaking waves were I went for a bit too long.
A little break
Sadly, as often is the case, as the tide dropped the wave moved and there were 20 minutes of waiting before it started working again. This time it formed in a small ‘v’ that I could ride into a slight channel and, although the rides were shorter, they still offered lots of fun. Unfortunately after just over an hour or so the waves really dropped and there was little happening at the end.
Overall some good waves for foiling at Camber (this is not something overly regular) blue skies, the moon and sunrise. Made it all well worth the cold and early wake up.
Setting up under moon light 
Well worth the early start
Read my next blog Wing surfing at Camber
