& courses – chichester, pagham, west wittering, bracklesham west sussex
where do we run our watersports lessons to enjoy the best conditions in West Sussex
- Chichester Canal
- Chichester Harbour
- Prinsted
- Hayling Island
- Pagham
- Bracklesham Bay
- East Wittering
- Emsworth
- Bosham
- Bognor Regis
We’re lucky to have some amazing spots for windsurfing, wing foiling and paddleboarding that really deliver some amazing conditions. This suits total beginners to advanced watersports lessons, so we really do have something for everyone.
Our paddle board lessons are run on Chichester Canal, Chichester Harbour and Bracklesham Bay..
Downwinding lessons run on the sea, so we head out of Chichester Harbour to Hayling of Bracklesham Bay..
SUP surfing is all about waves and we head to Bracklesham Bay, Hayling Island or saunton in Devon..
Enjoy your Hen or Stag Party celebrations on Chichester Canal or in Chichester Harbour.
Chichester Harbour, Pagham and Bracklesham Bay are perfect for Wing sup lessons.
Wing foil lessons take place in Chichester harbour or Pagham which offer smooth water and clean wind.
Windsurfing could be in Chichester Harbour, Pagham or out on the sea at Bracklesham Bay, depending on the level of lesson.
Our Corporate, Team building and wellness sessions run on Chichester Canal or in Chichester Harbour.
Chichester Canal
The Prettiest Canal in West Sussex
Chichester Canal has an amazing history for such a small waterway. Having gone from being a commercial route to a little area of outstanding beauty leading right into Chichester.
The famous painter, Turner has painted it, elephants have walked and drunk from it and barges carried goods on their way to London.
Heading into the tourist area at the basin, you’ll see amazing imagery showing just how the canal was built and how it was used over the years, with steam trains and workers living on barges.
So what makes Chichester Canal so good for stand up paddle boarding?
The truth is, it’s perfect for all sorts of activities including paddle board lessons, hen parties, team building and wellness events. In fact anything where we need a really easy and safe space such as kids paddle board lessons and family paddleboarding lessons.
Our use of the canal, mainly runs through the summer and spring and we have permission from the guardians of the Chichester Canal to use it commercially.
There’s plenty of parking and when running lessons, we setup on the pontoon at Hunston, which gives us a clear grassy space to setup and do land based work before hitting the water.
Chichester Harbour
A bit about our wonderful Chichester Harbour
What’s not to like about Chichester Harbour in West Sussex, with it’s many launch points, flat water and clean wind, perfect for enjoying time on the water.
Aside of teaching windsurfing, paddle boarding, wing foiling in Chichester Harbour, you’ll also find a lot of other stuff to do on foot or for friends and family who may have come down with you.
At over 900 acres or 72km² the harbour is an mega playground for boaters and sailors, kayakers, paddle boarders, bird watchers, walkers and holidaymakers. Known as an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, there really is something for everyone to enjoy if you love the outdoors.
For those of you who love the outdoors, Chichester Harbour has 10 different types of habitat, with everything form deep sea channels to woodlands which support a huge array of wildlife and organisms.
The harbour support many businesses including fishing, tourism, farming an sport which includes Surfs SUP Watersports and our lessons.
The are over 450 historic sites within the area with very unique sites dating back to roman times. There are around 5000 moorings, about 100km of rights of way for walkers, sailing clubs, but to dwarf those numbers is the 1.3million visitors per year.
We have a few spots to choose from in the harbour
First thing to realise is Chichester Harbour and Bracklesham Bay is really close to places like Portsmouth, London, Southampton, West Witterng, Poole, Brighton, Guildford, Hayling Island and other places in the south.
Prinsted
This is a super little bay where we run a lot of our windsurfing lessons. The water is very flat and the shape of the bay means you can windsurf from side to side, take a break and then set off again. We also run our paddle board lessons here, but it’s no so good for foiling as it can get shallow very quickly.
East Head, West Wittering
The most exposed area right out by the entrance to the harbour, tucked back around a sandy corner and offering a stunning little space for paddle boards, windsurfing and foiling lessons. During the summer we sometimes head here to hang out with the moored up yachts and enjoy the shallow, warm sandy water.
Chichester Marina
This is the inner hub of the harbour, where you will find all the boats moored up. It works a couple of hours before high tide, so we mainly run windsurfing and foil lessons here or run a our paddle board tours that run for a few hours. At the end of the session you then have a nice restaurant or cafe.
Itchenor
A very special spot as an be used at all states of tide as it has a slip ramp and is where we launch the RIB from. We often launch our paddle board adventure tours from here.
Dell Quay
Based deep in the harbour, it’s not somewhere we use that often as parking is tricky, but it does have a great pub where they do some lovely grub.
Hayling Island Sailing Club HISC – we sometimes head over to HISC in our RIB and run our lessons from the beach. It’s a bit more tricky here due to the space available, but does offer super flat water and a sandy beach to teach on.
Other local spots to Chichester Harbour
For those of you based locally, we are close to Bosham, Emsworth, Prinsted, Fishbourne to name just a few of our local coastal towns and villages near Chichester.
Bracklesham Bay
What is Bracklesham Bay like for watersports Lessons
Bracklesham is a legendary spot, for watersports enthusiasts. We’re talking a wide range of conditions be it flat water in the summer or waves, big waves and wind from autumn onwards.
This is our home spot, during the winter as we love the wave sailing conditions and wave foiling, but during the summer when the winds die down, you have some fantastic warm water, flat water, sand and sun. The perfect combo for wing sup lessons and paddleboarding or even some windsurfing lessons. And don’t miss reading our blog on an Introduction to Windsurfing.
Previously we ran kitesurfing lessons and kiteboarding lessons but since wing surfing and wing foiling has taken over, it has given so many more chances to get on the water more safely and easily.
During autumn and winter months you’ll get golden days when wind and waves are in perfect sync. Surfers from all over the south coast come down to pic some epic conditions whilst windsurfers, kiters and foilers are offered up a tasty playground. In fact, during the autumn we run a lot of windsurfing lessons for sailors coming from London.
What’s the Bay and Beach like
The beach and main launch spot is on top of the main car park, so you are literally at the waters edge when you arrive. It’s pay and display parking and out of season you’ll have problem parking.
We’ve got Billys on the Beach, which is our local beach front restaurant that offers up indoor dining along with chips and snacks for outside if you’ve not brought a packed lunch as well as the GOAT cafe, just 2 minutes away that serve up paninis, pastries and coffees.
We have a lovely grassy area, right next to the car park, for on land training and it gives us room to lay the kit out and work on theory if necessary.
West Wittering
How far is West Wittering Beach from our Watersports Centre
Whilst we don’t teach watersports on West Wittering beach, we are just minutes from it.
What you will find at West Wittering is a massive sandy beach, right next to Chichester Harbour mouth, a huge car park and restaurant.
Unfortunately, due to rights of way, we cannot teach down here, but it’s not all bad as we have better venues throughout the harbour that offer better conditions, depending on the wind and tide.
Depending on the activities you want to take part in, you might find that it is too windy or the tide isn’t right or the tide is running fast as there’s a really strong current coming out of the harbour when it is running and that is risky.
The other issue through the summer is the car park as the price go through the roof and the place gets insanely busy. You may find you’re queuing for a very long time to even reach the beach let alone park.
During the summer you cannot just turn up and go wing foiling or windsurf or kite as you would need to pay a days membership fee. If you do try to sail you will be asked to leave the water. That said, paddleboarding is free as is surfing.
Pagham
Heading to pagham is another option
Pagham is quite a sheltered beach that generally gets flat water during the summer, but during the winter you can get some pretty big waves.
We love Pagham for paddle board adventures, wing sup and wing foiling lessons and windsurfing lessons, especially during the summer months as it is a very predictable place.
What you can get is a large shore dump so we always assess the conditions here to make sure conditions are going to be favourable for the lessons we’re running.
What we’d say here is if you come without us, beware of the currents rushing out of the harbour. It is super strong and not to be played with. You’re best keeping well clear.
Hayling Island
Hayling has a long history of watersports
We’ve used Hayling for years and run lessons in Langstone harbour and off the beach front by Inn on the Beach pub.. It’s really good all year round offering flat water to big waves.
We can run intro to advanced sessions at Hayling, for windsurfing, paddle boarding and foiling for flat and wave sessions, depending on the wind and state of tide, but again we plan this in advance.
During the summer months for our intro paddle board lessons we recommend coming over to Chichester Canal as it offers a wind free and safe venue for total beginners.
Summary
Service Overview:
Surfs SUP Watersports offers a variety of paddleboarding, windsurfing, wing foiling and sup surfing lessons around Chichester, Bracklesham Bay, Hayling Island, Bognor and West Sussex.
Lessons Offered:
- Windsurfing : Our beginner to advanced lessons take place in Chichester Harbour, Prinsted, Bracklesham Bay, Pagham and Hayling Island.
- Wing foiling and surfing: Much like other wind sports, we use Chichester Harbour for most of our sessions and occasionally use Bracklesham Bay.
- Paddleboarding: Most of our lessons happen on Chichester canal as it offers a safe and controlled environment. We also head out into the harbour for tours and more advanced sessions.
How can you find us:
We’re a mobile centre as many of our session locations are based on tides and wind direction so you’ll find us using various locations around Bracklesham Bay in West Sussex.
From London, we’re down the A3, then east along the A27, which is around an hour and three quarters, whilst Brighton is about 50 minutes away. Portsmouth is a short car ride away and Hayling is right next door.
For more details, visit Surfs SUP Watersports Lesson Locations.