Hi

I'm going to Woolacoombe in April for a week and wondered if anyone has any experience of there and the surrounding area. Ideally i am looking for flattish water, to try my new Carve 135 out, or maybe somewhere to practice my not too steady wave skills. From what i can make out, it's a big surfing area. Does this cause problems, or is there enough room for everyone somewhere like Woolacoombe? Do you have to be carefull with the tides i.e do they go out for miles at low? Any replies will be much appreciated.

Cheers

Dumper

I know the area pretty well as I worked as a Lifeguard on the beaches of Woolacombe, Croyde and Saunton for a few years.

For flat water blasting your best bet will be the Taw/torridge estuary, launching from Crow Beach (u2u me if you want detailed directions). It is a high tide only spot (2 hours either side of) and there can be a pretty strong current near the point so keep away from there but other than that it is a relatively safe flat water blasting location.

Take a look at the beachguide on this site (link is top left) as all these beaches are listed and described there.

Hope that helps.
Al.

Woolacobe itslef isn't ideal...id there is any wind then there will almost certaonly be some waves as well. Theres no problem with that if thats what you want, but it isn't a big windsurfing spot. Croyde is almost certainly a no go area for windsurfers. I have windsurfed myself there but it was about 18 years ago before it was so busy as a surf spot.

Saunton on the other hand is really good, but again it is a wave=sailing location more than anything else.

Thanks for that! Crow Beach could be the one.
Dumper