Fletchers Beach Reviews and Ratings

“A stunning place. Apart from a few seals, the chances are you will have the beach to yourself. Park at the Cape Farewell car park and walk 100m to check the wind and swell conditions from the nearby viewpoint. There are sometimes tasty waves breaking over reefs in the cove here but sheer cliffs prevent access so this is just an indicator. If it looks like there is clean swell, Fletchers is a 10 minute walk east, across the paddocks on the marked trail in the direction of Fossil point and Farewell Spit. The west end of the bay is an enormous cave entrance and there is a lovely grassy balcony overlooking the waves in the mouth of the cave.

Like all Nelson West Coast waves Fletchers is fickle, needing wind, tide and swell to cooperate. In its favour, it faces due north which means it has a fair proportion of SW offshore days. Because the prevailing Tasman Sea swell is also from the SW, Fletchers is less exposed than any of the other breaks in the region apart from Fossil Point (head here if Fletchers is clean but too big).

Since this swell is often too big for more exposed breaks, this shelter is a good thing making Fletchers and nearby Pillar Point the only surfabale waves this side of Westport when a medium to large Tasman Sea swell is running.

Fletchers likes a SW swell of between 1m (will be knee to waist) and 3m (will be just overhead). Any bigger than that and there will generally be too much surging water as the swell hits the coast almost sideways here. In big swells you sometimes see waves peeling vast distances over sandbars far offshore but you would really need boat support to take these on.

Like most breaks in this region, waves break left (perhaps not in a NW swell - I have never checked).

It's best at about mid-tide when waves peel from an obvious 5m high rock below sheer cliffs at the west side. Waves peel right across the bay, allowing rides of 100m+.
As the tide rises, backwash from the cliffs increases and getting in and out of the water becomes tricky. Low tide can be ok but there is less shelter from any wind.

Sometimes wind and currents make the long paddle back too difficult so a better option is to walk around to the cave mouth for an easier, shorter paddle out. On big days, take care not to ride past the end of the beach as the surging current may prevent you from getting back and exiting on the kelp and mussel encrusted reef here is very sketchy. If things look desperate, it is probably safest to paddle away from the shore and let the wind and rip take you to the base of Farewell Spit. Then walk back along the coast path.

East winds are fairly common here but they make it very choppy. In these conditions, nearby Wharariki is a better bet. West winds are not so bad but ideally wind should be from SE to WSW.”

Rob Davies from NEW ZEALAND - 18 Apr 2013