Riyue Bay (Sun and Moon Bay)

The Centre Of Surfing In China; A Free Public Bay On The Eastern Hainan Coast With A Reef Point Break, National Team Training Base And An International Competition · Wanning, Hainan

Chinese surfing effectively began in this bay. Around 2010 a handful of foreigners and a smaller handful of locals worked out that the point at the northern end of Riyue Bay produced a long, reliable right-hander through the winter monsoon, and within a decade the place had surf schools, board shapers, a hostel scene, an international competition and the national team training here. It remains the centre of the sport in China and the reason to come - a wide crescent of pale sand between headlands on the quiet eastern coast of Hainan, an hour up the road from Sanya and a world away from it in feel. Two things need saying plainly. The wave breaks over reef rather than sand, which is what makes it good and also what will take skin off a beginner; and lifeguard cover on this stretch is limited to non-existent, which is not what most visitors to a Chinese beach expect.

Riyue Bay, Wanning, Wanning, Hainan, China

THE BEACH IS FREE, UNGATED AND OPEN AT ALL HOURS - there is no ticket, which is unusual on Hainan. Surf schools, board hire shops and the food places along the bay keep roughly 8:00-20:00, longer in the winter season. THE SURF SEASON IS OCTOBER TO MARCH, when the north-east monsoon drives the swell; summer is small and good for learning but is also TYPHOON SEASON, roughly June to October, when the sea can be dangerous and the coast shuts for days. LIFEGUARD COVER IS LIMITED TO NON-EXISTENT and the break is over reef. Dawn is the best hour.

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