Sandsend Sunset

This seascape photograph shows an intensely coloured sunset and an incoming wave taken at Sandsend on North Yorkshire's dramatic coastline. Sandsend has a little-known WWII story; October 17, 1939, a German Heinkel bomber was brought down about 25 miles off Whitby by Spitfires based at Catterick. Two days later the two survivors of the four-man crew landed in their rubber dinghy near Sandsend, where they became the first Germans to be captured on English soil. Since one of the men, though severely exhausted, had sought help for his barely-conscious companion, the “arrest” of the pair was really more of a rescue. The airmen remained so grateful to their rescuers that in 1979 they returned and enjoyed a warm reunion with their captors. Today the beach is popular with surfers making the most of the waves as Sandsend is called the best surf spot on this stretch of coast The surf type is 'beach-break', the swell is massive at times and there are occasional monster waves with good 'barrels'! Photography by Jon Gibbs.