Continent |
Europe |
Country |
England (UK) |
Next Big City |
London Gatwick |
Next Town |
Rye |
Type: |
Ocean |
Rider Ability: |
Beginner, Intermediate, Expert |
Features: |
School, Repair, Parking |
Type: |
Shallow, Chop, Small wave, Medium wave |
Hazards: |
Swimmers, Currents, Wave breaker |
Quality: |
Clean |
Best Tide: |
Low tide |
Clean water. The water is shallow for 200m out to sea. The tide comes in very quickly, so care needs to be taken with kit, and there are often sand islands which form and disappear accordingly. Lagoons of flat water appear behind the sand bars at certain tide states. Camber can have waves when windy. Slight easterly long shore drift current that can be felt during westerly winds, otherwise no strong currents at all apart from at very high tide. Please park in the pebble car park at the Eastern end of the beach, this is the kite zone. Groynes dangerous on high tides, avoid 2.5 hours either side of high tide.
Type: |
Sand |
Size: |
Big |
Hazards: |
Other |
Beach Users: |
June, July, August |
Kite surfers should stay withing the bounds of the concrete outlet at the East end of the beach and Camber Sands to the West. Clean golden sands. Here you will find the only sand dunes in Southeast England. On low tide the beach is very wide, so you have to walk for about 200m to the water line. Plenty of launch space, plenty of room for buggies, very busy in summer, so advisory to go to the far ends away from the car park and people. The beach itself is huge, there is plenty of space. At the top of the beach there is about 30m of soft sand to rig gear up, before a small belt of rounded stones, then more compacted sand which gradually gets damper until you reach the sea.
|
Spring:
|
Normal, Thick |
|
Summer:
|
Shorts, Shorty, Normal |
|
Fall:
|
Normal, Thick |
|
Winter:
|
Thick |
Typical British weather. Shorty in the summer, 6mm steamer in winter. Off-season possible. The water temperature isn't too bad due to the depth of the water, it stays above about 14°C for nearly all of the year. However, the air temperature can get very cold at points during the winter, down to minus numbers at points with wind chill.
Best Months: |
April, May, June, July, August, September, October |
Wind Type: |
Thermal |
Best Direction: |
SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW |
Main Direction: |
SW |
Sideonshore to onshore. The day usually starts with a very light offshore breeze, which turns as it gets stronger, normally at about 13:00. It then blows until about 18:00. Sailable in southerly wind directions, SE-S-SW all good. There is wind for (on average) 4 days a week all year round.
Transport |
Car, Bus, Train |
|
Access
|
Short walk |
Trains run from Ashford International to Rye every hour at 24 minutes past. It is then a 1/2 hour walk to Camber sands. Trains return at 48 minutes past the hour from Rye. Trains come from London to Ashford very often. It is signposted from Ashford, which is accessible by the M26/M20, A20 or M2. Buses run from Dover, Folkestone, Hythe, Camber, Rye, allowing you to get off the boat at Dover from the continent easily. You can park in the pebble car park which is free.
Rules |
Zones |
Surfzone to the east part of the beach. Please do not go kiting on the dune area of the beach, the kite zone is up at the eastern end.
