September is the changeover. The Welsh schools go back in the first week, the peninsula empties over a weekend, and the sea is still at 17°C because it takes until November to give up what the summer put into it.
The swell comes back at the same time. The first autumn lows reach the Bristol Channel, Llangennith starts producing something worth checking again, and for a few weeks the west end has waves and space at the same time, which is not a combination it offers often.
It is also the month to learn what this coast is like when it is working, if you have only surfed it in summer. The size steps up without the winter wind arriving yet, so the days are bigger and still clean, and nothing has closed for the season.
