For as long as I've been surfing, I think I’ve spent more time abroad surfing than I have in my own country, could be something to do with the cold waters. So over the last year or so I’ve stuck to riding waves in the UK, save for the odd little surf trip to France, but one of those times it was pretty much flat the whole time so I can’t count that as surf travel!
I’m originally from East Yorkshire, North East England. I’ve spent a large amount of my surf time in the UK, often heading up the coast to surf around the Scarborough area. As those of you who know the east coast of England know, the surf can be great, but very inconsistent, and with the usual short fetch of the North Sea the swell can come and go pretty quickly. But when it’s good, it can be amazing and often uncrowded, mostly because it’s cold!! At the beginning of last year I had the pleasure of surfing some of the great waves in the area and reconnect with my early days of surfing. Though it soon became apparent I wasn’t getting in the surf as much as I might have liked, mostly because the wind was onshore, with 2ft of wind swell and 5°C water!!
Recently though, I moved to North Devon, and now consider Croyde to be my local break of choice, though I have dusted off the old log and enjoyed a few good days just gliding at Saunton Sands. My reason for a relocation; well, I just wanted to get in the water more and after a few successful surf road trips to North Devon I fell in love with the place.
Croyde
For those of you who are not familiar with Croyde and North Devon, well Croyde is a particularly good wave at low tide and often produces barrel or two. It can be heavy and it’s one of the few beach breaks in the UK where I feel a snapped board is inevitable. On its day, which happens more than you might expect, it’s as good as some of the world class beach breaks, well to me anyway. Sure it gets crowded but it’s the days for me where the forecast isn’t quite right and you take a look and boom perfect A-frame peaks and a handful of people out.
The standard of surfing at a place like this ranges, there are always a few out who are rather good, and I’m sure could do well in competitions if that was their thing. I usually take a moment to appreciate their surfing, not too long, as I’m eager to be out there. There is always an uncrowded peak or two at Croyde which I tend to favour, they’re not quite as good as the main peaks but less people means more waves, always a winner in my book. I’ve enjoyed some good days at Croyde this winter and apparently it’s been a pretty poor winter. So I’m looking forward to the next few.
I’ve found a place in North Devon where I feel I want to stick around for a while. It’s not all about Croyde though, Saunton Sands is a fun wave, though you need a wave catching machine of a board to get plenty of waves as there are plenty of other longboarders in the water. I imagine it would pretty challenging to get waves without the volume, though the vibe in the water is pretty friendly. There are other surfing options in North Devon not all of which I have had the chance to surf or will I mention, but the already well known. The only wind direction that is generally a real problem seems to be a northwest and lots of swell. But then Cornwall is on the doorstep which is home to many swell and wind combinations.
I had a little road trip to Praa Sands a couple of weeks ago to visit a potty-mouthed brummie friend of mine who now lives there. The wind was going to be northerly and the swell 5-6ft southwesterly. Hopefully worth the trek. It's not a easy drive from Croyde to Praa Sands, no quick motorways or dual carriageways, just 110 miles of tractors and few places to pass them. It wasn’t all that bad and well worth the trip. Clean shoulder to head waves and only the two of us out, I think I did the best cutback of the entire winter may be even my surfing life… Who knows. It felt pretty good and it had been a while since I’d really connected with my surfing.
Now I’m not saying my surf travels are over, I’m looking forward to many more new surf adventures and revisiting some old. It’s just great to live somewhere where I can surf on a regular basis and it doesn’t take up most of my day travelling about trying to score some waves, but there are days when you need to get creative. Thanks for taking the time to read these ramblings of a very random man.