Half day off, surfing on a lovely sunny afternoon.
I was being waved at from the beach to come ashore. Looking around I could see it was not just me, but everyone was leaving the seashore. I began wondering if the sea was contaminated.
Not quite, we were being cleared by the local coastguard to allow a Navy Bomb Disposal team to blow up a WWII marine mine that had been discovered on the beach.
I'm not sure if it had floated there or had been uncovered, as I didn't go over and have a look. Apparently it was one of the kind with spikes like the picture above.
Over 60 years on, a stark reminder of the debris of war.
After the bang, we were allowed back onto the water, but by then the surf had died down.
Photos (except the mine) by Chris with his new camera.
4 comments:
Look's a real blast (excuse the pun!), what a excellent photo, your friend managed to capture the exact moment of detonation! and what an exciting day to choose to take off work. Just out of interest, is this Southerndown? If so could you recommend the best state of the tide to launch from here?
Regards
Richard
Richard
Yes it is Southerndown.
Chris managed to get video footage of the blast, and the picture is the first frame of the video. He just managed to start in time.
It is possible to launch here at any state of the tide, but take this with a few provisos.
The tidal range as you probably know is large.
Depending on Spring/Neap and state of the sand erosion, the easiest time is 2-3 hours either side of low tide. It is a nice sandy launch then, but more of a carry the closer to LW you launch/land. There is a wide concrete path to the RHS of the beach making easy to carry over an otherwise steep pebbled area. Then you are on flat sand.
If the sea is fairly calm, at higher tides you can use the flat concrete path to launch from, be mindful of being side-swept off onto the rocks. Timing is everything, or a helping hand.
To the middle of the beach below the car park there is a fairly flat rock/bolder free area that can also be used to launch/land from. Normally this area is covered in sand, but due to sand erosion over the winter it is uncovered at the moment. It will regain the sand later on in the summer, but sadly it seems each year less and less returns. Could be caused by the intense sand dredging that still continues just off Nash/Porthcawl,
If you fancy some company on a paddle, get in touch. Nash Sands and Tusker Rock at spring low tide and Nash Point are interesting locations close by.
Thanks very much for all the info, and for the offer of a paddle, might just take you up on it.
Cheers
Richard
Charlie don't surf.
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