Phuket has waves!
Cool man. Thanks for sharing.
I saw rideable waves in Vietnam once as well and a mate showed me some photos of pretty good surf in South Korea. Goes to show that if you're there right tide, right time and keep your expectations low, any bit of coast facing a bit of open water can throw up a decent wave sometimes.
The best wave in Phuket imo is a left hander at the north end of the beach at the Le Meridien hotel. Its always there and often good in wet season. The hotel is cheap to stay - private beach so hardly any other surfers and elephants on the beach to keep the other half happy. Stayed there a few times for trips out to the Andamans.
as title says.......
Last time I went to Phuket in AUG i saw some ok surf. this year I went back for 2 weeks took a board with me. Rentals ava but I prefer my own stick. The 9,1 was never going to happen so I took my 5,10 egg with a few fin options.
Phuket is mainly wind swell and it was on shore each day i was there. but it got to 5foot with a few slightly bigger ones for a few days. it's not a place you will get cracking waves but there's uncrowded surf and the water is 29 degrees.
I got in on the 11th of AUG at Karon. Karon sucks, as a holiday place and for surf when it's over 2 foot. It's a 3km beach with very shallow sand bars. very hard paddle out when 4 foot, as there's not real lull and everywave break on this shallow sand bar. but picking the right one was a very steep take off with some decent sucky wall to work with. Surfed Karon 5 times, with day trips in-between, before i moved to new town.
While at Karon I went to Patong, 2 days patong was a solid 3 under light side shore winds. the waves were still clean and a heap of fun. one afternoon had a cracking time. thing with phuket waves is you have to pick the ones that come in on an angle they peel well for a beachie. 1 click north from patong is kalim beach, it has a long right-hand reef break. needs decent swell to get going on med- high tide. I got it on my own biggest day i was there under side shore light winds. was fantastic. long rides with two take off areas. end of the reef can be shallow but i avoided. main issue is the sweep it's a decent current. some decent sets came through peeled for ages with some sections very fast. reminded me a lot of taking off mid at winki and racing though to little button. top wave and highly recommend it. I had it all to myself for 21/2 hours. till I surfed there and patong, Karon made me think i had wasted my time and money coming to Phuket to surf. Kalim pick of them all but the current was fierce. would love to surf there more maybe next time.
Karon i was told is great in no wind and small 2 foot surf on mid time. can produce very sucky fun beach breaks. it was always too big while i was there.
Kata, I spent the rest of my trip at Kata. Kata is the official surfing mecca of phuket. 2 km bay with an island at the north end. it's all beach breaks. The surf is bigger at the south end and middle. on the south head land there's a deep channel and it's an easy paddle out. a shallow sandbar edges into the channel and produces a decent right reform. I was surfing it on day one. Day one decent size was still there but smaller than Karon, had a blast surfing right reform was very whackable. day two swell was declining but still consistent 3 foot. morning session was ok but tide a bit full. arvo session was great still 3 foot wind dropped out lovely sunny day aqua green water with shifting peaks that were mainly aframes. I was spending my time looking for rights, a lot of nice lefts also on offer. spent 5 hours in the water that day. day three less consistent but the same in the afternoon, perfect conditions. had another three hours in water that afternoon and heaps of waves. that night i ate something very bad and was hit by solid food poisoning. spent the next 2 days wishing i was dead! after the worst i started to get better but i was too weak for any surfing wich soured the whole trip. I missed out on surfing Kata Noi which is a right point just around from Kata.
Kata got busy a few times i was out, nothing like we deal with but busy. The Thais are lovely people and a few them can surf. not bali level but a lot better then i expected. I apart from a mal rider nearly running me over surfing at kata was laid-back and a pleasant time. there was no agro or localism i could see. The expats that live there have all taken to surfing in the monsoon so you talk to all sorts of cats. was surfing with a Russian guy that lived there as a graphic designer.
Patong is nuts as you have heaps of rubbish in the water and speed boats and jet skis flying around you!
Kata on those two afternoons gave me waves on par with Australia it was not exceptional word class surf. but it was a heap of fun and if you wanted uncrowded. while i am not recommending Phuket as a kick ass surf destination its perfect for intermediate or good surfers looking for something differnt as long as you don't expect to much. Kalim ha a lot more to offer and if i did go back i'd be looking to stay at Kalim as imo that right was the best on the island. (what i saw)
Kata is a great place to stay not wild like Patong but has a good vibe and feel unlike Karon which was as dull and boring as. i'd definatly go back to Kata and Kalim, but i feel a wetseason trip to Bali is my next trip.