<p>OP, do yourself a favor… DO NOT consider Yale for its fairly close proximity to a beach… trust me! I was born/raised here in New Haven and Lighthouse Beach + West Haven Beach are much to be deisired… the water is filhty d/t the water treatment facility that is close by… nothing special… no waves, and both beaches are in a harbor…and I just found out that there was an oil spill which only adds to the sounds grossness. From what I understand, the beaches in RI are far better… as they are not blocked by Long Island sound like we are…</p>