The last week of May in the south west of the UK had it all: swell, a heat wave, and the school half term holidays. Searching for quiet waves away from the crowds on the hottest recorded day of 2026 so far, North Cornish surfer and C-Skins team rider Barnaby Cox linked up with surf photographer Luke Gartside who, judging from his prolific output across that swell managed to be in three places at once and didn’t sleep all week. They headed to a quiet beach on the North Cornwall coast, a 20 minute hike in from the nearest lane where they could leave their cars. Crowds were thin. The waves were good. Barnaby left his dog Taffy on the beach with Luke, and Taffy caused havoc and was subsequently banned from joining them the next day…
Date: 25/05/2026
Swell height and period: 3ft @12 seconds the day before but by the time we got down there the Perranporth buoy was reading 4ft @16 seconds
Wind direction and strength: Light offshore but it was so hot that by the time we got out it had got all misty and started to go onshore.
Location: North Cornwall (redacted)
Surfboard: Channel Islands Fever round tail
Wetsuit: 3/2 NuWave Rewired chest-zip steamer
Can you tell us about this run of swell...
So this was in May half term and I was so surfed out. It had been pumping already for like a week, hot and pumping, and I was already pretty fried but when Luke said let's do it I had to say yes because the waves were going to be good! The banks were sick but it was probably a bit big for it really because it was almost breaking a bit out to sea, off the bank, and then there were medium-sized insiders and they were the real nuggets.
And this particular day?
When we arrived it was early morning, like 7:30 or something, and we thought from the day before that it was going to be like 2 to 3 foot and kind of mellow. I actually had a small wave board with me and then we got down there and Luke was like, “No the Perranporth buoy’s way bigger, it's like 4 at 16 or something!” There were loads of lines out to sea and it was actually pretty solid.
Talk us through the wave...
This wave was right at the end of the session and the tide was coming in really fast. It just came onto the inside of the bank and there were some little ramps. I found a nice ramp and did an air. I was trying quite a lot and getting smashed. It was actually way more powerful than it looked, or than I thought they were going to be, but yeah this was a nice little one.
After the tide had come in and we’d got out, I discovered that my friend Cayden who had come with us had brought with him a load of homemade scones, and jam and cream, so we ate them on the cliff top to fuel up ready for the hike back to the cars.
Photos by Luke Gartside
