58 degrees North - Thurso East

The Northern tip of the UK is getting set to welcome some of the world's top surfers as the O'Neill CWC Scotland starts its waiting period at Thurso tomorrow. Following one of the coldest European winters on record the water temp will be uncomfortably low and may shock some of those more used to surfing Hawaii's North Shore. Sunny Garcia and John John Florence will be fully suited up and joined by a crew of ex-WCT guys like Marlon Lipke, Aritz Aranburu & Tim Boal. There's also a good bunch of UK surfers including former WCT pro Russell Winter and current UK Pro Surf Champ Alan Stokes.

There's a decent swell predicted for later this week so we're looking forward to seeing some classic Thurso conditions. Here's our take on one of the UK's best waves:

"Thurso East: Lined up, often perfect, long reef break that delivers square pits best on very solid West to Northwest swells (North more lumpy and fun, but big Wests deliver the barrels and often come with nice southerly air-flow). On low to mid it's a relatively easy if tight take-off, then an incredibly hollow, fast bowl section. Mid tide is when it hits the ledge at the perfect depth to toss up wide barrels. The reef sits close to your fins; disconcerting on a winters day with the water at 5 degrees and flakes of snow floating about! Summer visitors might get disappointed because the reefs don't pick up the swell unless it's big, or straight out of the North-Northwest. The prevailing south-westerlies are cross-shore so a lot of the time there's a feathered lip firing spray into your eyes. Advanced, 2-8ft plus. Not always crowded, but tight take-off spot means it can't handle numbers.

At the turn of the last century the middle of the reef was dynamited for boat access, and this area now forms a nasty lump; imaging how long the wave would be if Thurso hadn't been a fishing port! There are quality reefs to be had out in the bay and around towards Castletown, some of them named and handling considerable size, others hardly ridden."

Click here for more info on surf spots around the UK & Ireland.