Croyde Bay - Devon
The Beach
The sandy 800 m beach at Croyde stands in a sheltered bay and is the main reason that it is such a popular holiday destination. The shallow slope of the beach, the mean high and low water marks are 500m apart, makes it safer for children.
Down End is the headland at the south end of Croyde Bay, the larger ridge to the north is Baggy Point. A large dune system has formed past the high tide mark. Sand underlies the land surface between the beach and the centre of Croyde village, 600 m to the east.
The beach forms the middle section of a trio of sandy beaches north of the Taw estuary. 6 km long Saunton Sands is 1 km to the south, 3km long Woolacombe Sands, divided into Putsborough and Woolacombe beaches, 1.5 km to the north.
Surfing
Croyde is a popular surfing beach, the rides are generally pretty short on the beach though, the waves tend to pitch up and break fast making it attractive to shortboarders. There is a point break off Down End that has a gnarly take off, and when it works is actually pretty good. There is a reef break at the northern (Baggy Point) end of the beach that works for about 60 minutes during some high tides, just below the National Trust car park. Putsborough, Saunton or Woolacombe may give longer rides and these much larger beaches are less crowded during the summer months. Croyde is not generally ideally suited to longboards, but again a skilled rider on a big day will find much to challenge them.
The shape of the bay funnels waves towards the beach. The beach is also steeper than either Woolacombe, Putsborough or Saunton Sands. Because of this, rip currents are extremely strong especially near the rocks at either end of the beach. The steepness of the beach can make for powerful "dumping" waves, strong rips and fast changing conditions. The nature of the break changes as the tide changes, generally at low tide with a big swell this is a fast beach break with short, fast rides. At high tide the break is less aggressive, and the rides are somewhat longer, but they have a tendency to close out at high tide.
There were several drownings at the beach in the 1950's which caused the local authority to provide lifeguards at the beach[citation needed].
There is a break some 3/4 mile offshore that breaks when the beach of Croyde is closed out by large swells. This break is reputed to be the Mavericks of North Devon. Tim Heyland the founder of Tiki Surfshop tamed this break in the '70s. The break is called Oyster Falls.
Croyde is similar to Gower's Langland Bay in that, at low tide, they both have fast, hollow A-frame waves. (A "hollow" wave is a wave that is steep and clyndrical, usually caused by a combination of a heavy swell and an offshore (east) wind). Also like Langland, Croyde (as well as Woolacombe and Caswell Bay) boasts European Blue Flag status, the highest award available for water/sand quality and safety.