Bournemouth's Boscombe beach surf reef opened for surfing in November 2009 and is the first of its kind to be built anywhere in Europe.

The reef lies beneath the surface of the ocean some 220m out to sea to the east of Boscombe pier, its made up of over 50 huge sandbags covering an area of about one hectare. The reef does not do anything by itself, it simply pushes water heading in shore upwards thereby increasing the size and consistency of surfable waves coming in towards Boscombe beach.

The reef is best suited to those with some good surfing experience, due to the wave size, and distance from the shore, beginners are not advised to make use of the waves until they are well practised in at least the basics of surfing, and all who aim to use the reef should be physically fit as simply getting out to the reef can be tiring!

The reef provides a great centre point for Bournemouth's thriving surfing community, and with the reef making Bournemouth the best place to surf on the south coast the community continues to grow as surfers from all over the south come along to try it it out, no more 5 hour drives down to the west country for a days surfing!

As the reef settles and sediment and sand build up on the open ocean side of the reef, it is expected the wave conditions the reef generates will improve for surfers, with longer more consistent waves appearing after the reef has been in place for 6 to 12 months. The surfing conditions produced by the reef are initially great for body boarding, and during 2010 the waves are expected to become much more suitable for good surfing.

The Boscombe surf reef is environmentally friendly and free to use, it uses no moving parts and maintenance costs are expected to be minimal, with a great boost to the local economy as more people come to Bournemouth and use holiday accommodation, shops and other facilities during their stay.

If you are an experienced surfer who lives in South of England the Bournemouth's Boscombe Surf Reef is a great place to go for day surfing, and for those who live further away it makes a great holiday destination for a few days or even weeks to come and surf and enjoy the great Bournemouth surfing community.