GALLERY: The Best February Anyone Can Remember In Cornwall

If you were to ask almost any south-west based surfer to design their perfect February, they’d probably come up with something that looked extremely similar to the one we’ve just had.

After kicking off with an excellent day at everyone’s favourite south coast reef break, February morphed in three weeks of almost non-stop groundswell and offshores, and for the last fortnight at least, the waves were accompanied by clear skies and ridiculously balmy weather, with every day rounded out with a mural-worthy sunset.

Lineups from Lands End to Croyde have been filled with a mood of unadulterated jubilance as the surfers of the south-west stroked into day after day of sun-dappled, beautifully shaped Atlantic rollers.

Aussie Beau Young (two-time long time world champ and son of the legendary Nat), who was doing a week-long shaping residency at Open Surf in St Agnes, said the swell had been so good he wasn’t even upset to have missed Hurrican Oma back on the Gold Coast.

And we agree, if you got lucky with your spot selection, there were waves around that were not a drop of water short of world class.

Sure, twenty degrees C temps in February might be a grave tolling of the bell for mother earth, but as some smart-alec on my facebook feed put it, every dying planet has a silver lining.

A brief look at the chart suggests we’re now back to regular scheduled programming and with two weeks of huge storm swell and howling westerlies on the cards, it won’t take long for the February run to feel like a distant memory. 

Here’s a selection of choice moments from the swell for you to cling to on those wintery days ahead:

(Of course, this is just b-roll, for the very best imagery from this swell and many others, captured around Europe and beyond, be sure to keep an eye out for our 256th print edition, landing April.)

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