Carve Crew · September 2026

Return of the Waves

It's been a flat flat summer. September has finally delivered the waves we have been craving for so long. The Carve crew wasted no time, we've been out and about chasing some early morning banks and getting the most of favourable winds.

September Wakes Up

September has a reputation as the month the UK and Ireland wake up. Atlantic low pressure systems begin to send more regular groundswell towards the coast, and the sea is still holding some of its summer warmth. After a flat few months surfers have been drawn to the best spots like moths to a flame.

Reading the Charts

The first sign came on the forecast. It showed a northwest groundswell building to around 2m with a 12 second period. That made it the strongest swell Cornwall had seen since the start of summer. Tuesday through Friday looked best, with offshore or side-offshore winds along the north coast.

Cornwall never gets the full force of a northwest swell. Ireland blocks a good chunk of the energy, so the numbers arrive here smaller than they look further north. A Twelve second period was long enough to carry real push through the water, which the short wind chop on a summer chart never manages. We covered it in more detail in our Cornwall swell forecast. The Carve guide on how to read a surf forecast breaks the numbers down in plain English.

"Checking the charts and seeing something to plan around was a treat in itself. The waves were not all time. Wetting the rails in the late summer sun with a bunch of the younger crew was great."
Joel, Carve crew

Joel

Chasing Wind and Sand

The wind was the deciding factor each morning. When the wind swings mid-swell, it can wreck a bank that was perfect at dawn by mid-morning. The crew kept moving to whichever stretch of coast offered some shelter.

Early starts were the name of the game with light winds around dawn before being slammed by a front of changing conditions.

The banks have had a summer to settle. Sandbanks move with the sea. A quiet few months lets the sand sit and pile up before the first proper groundswell starts reshaping it. That can leave beaches with cleaner banks than they had in spring. It is part of why the quiet ones have been worth hunting down.

"A long wait ended with some really fun waves. We got lucky and found 'empty-ish' banks, and the weather played its part too."
Finley Donovan, Carve crew

Finley Donovan

A Photographer's Note

"My housing had other ideas on the first session. It leaked after weeks sat unused, so lesson learned, dust your gear off before the swell turns up. Apart from that, it's been a joy to be back in the water with some decent conditions."
Fyn Caudery, Carve

Sundown Sessions

The clocks go back on 25 October, and after that the sun is down before many people finish work. Until then a sundown session is still on the table. The low autumn light sits gold across the water and the lineup thins out as people head home.

Harry Timson

To the carve audience, hope you've had some waves of your own. Let's make the most of these sundown sessions before the early nights draw in.

Let's hope there is no sequel, The Onshore Strikes Back.

If you scored some of September's waves yourself, tag @carvemag in your photos and clips. We would love to see them.

Carve Crew · September 2026 · Photos and words by Fyn Caudery

Regional Report — North Coast Scotland

North Coast Scotland

This region's report usually rounds up a spread of results, trips and comp news. This time there's just one story, and it's worth giving the full space to. Phoebe Strachan coaches at North Shore Surf Club in Thurso, and what started as a cancelled session because of a sewage alert has turned into something bigger. Here's her dispatch.

Sewage, Silence, and a Letter to Parliament

Three months ago, right in the middle of summer, we had to cancel one of our North Shore Surf Club sessions because of a sewage alert.

It's never an easy decision to tell a bunch of excited kids that they can't go surfing, especially when they've been looking forward to it all week. But when you're responsible for a group of young surfers, their health has to come first.

Rather than just packing up and going home, we decided to use the time to do something about it. We got the kids to put pen to paper and write to our local MSPs, David Green and Maree Todd, explaining why they were worried and what the situation was like for them as young surfers.

A few months went by without hearing much. Then, a couple of weeks ago, David Green got back in touch. He said he understood the kids' concerns and wanted to help take the issue forward.

On 15 September, he raised the issue in the Scottish Parliament, and, incredibly, quoted some of the letters written by our groms. He talked about Scottish Water recording more than 100,000 sewage spills last year, while pointing out that because not all overflows are monitored, we still don't have the full picture. He called for a Clean Water Act and for much more serious monitoring and regulation of Scotland's waters.

"They'd sat in the surf club writing letters about something that directly affects them, and suddenly their words were being read out in Parliament."

For the kids, that was pretty massive. They'd sat in the surf club writing letters about something that directly affects them, and suddenly their words were being read out in Parliament.

The response from the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs, Gillian Martin, left me frustrated, though. Her advice was that people should avoid swimming or surfing after heavy rainfall. We understand the reasoning behind that advice, but for surfers in Thurso it isn't exactly straightforward.

We live in the Highlands. It rains. A lot.

And our best surf season is through the winter, when rain is pretty much part of the package. Telling young surfers not to go in the sea whenever there has been heavy rain could effectively mean telling them not to surf for a huge part of the season.

And that's really the bigger issue here. How are we supposed to make sensible decisions about using the sea if we don't have enough information about what's actually in it?

A Gap Between What's Happening and What We Know

Along the North Coast we have incredible beaches and blue spaces being used every day by surfers, swimmers, paddleboarders, kayakers, tourists and local families. But only a small number are designated bathing waters, meaning there are huge areas of coastline where people are using the water without the same level of information about water quality.

It feels particularly important as tourism continues to grow along the North Coast. The NC500 has brought huge numbers of people to this part of Scotland, and more and more people are discovering our beaches and coastline. Surely people should be able to find out what they're getting into before they get in the water.

You shouldn't have to wait for your local beach to become a designated bathing water before you get meaningful information about its water quality.

There's also the issue of monitoring sewage overflows. Scottish Water has been increasing the number of monitored overflows and now provides a near-real-time overflow map, but the data still only covers sites where monitoring is in place.

That means there is still a gap between what is happening in our sewage network and what we actually know about it.

For me, monitoring isn't about pointing fingers or saying that infrastructure investment isn't important. Of course investment is needed. But monitoring and investment aren't either/or. We need both.

We need to know where the problems are. We need to know how often they're happening. We need to be able to see whether investment is actually making a difference. And, most importantly, communities need access to honest, useful information about the water they're using.

The thing that has struck me most through all of this is how engaged the kids have been. They're not just learning to surf at North Shore Surf Club. They're learning to care about the place they surf, to ask questions and to stand up for their local environment.

These kids are going to be surfing these beaches for years to come. They shouldn't have to accept that sewage in the sea is just part of surfing in Scotland.

We're not asking for special treatment. We just want clean water, proper monitoring and the information we need to make sensible decisions about when it's safe to get in.

And if a bunch of kids from a surf club in Thurso can find the time to write letters about it, surely the adults making the decisions can find the time to listen.

North Coast Scotland Regional Report — Autumn 2026 · Words: Phoebe Strachan, North Shore Surf Club