“Croyde Bay”
Just as the weathermen hadn’t predicted we had a glorious day of sun to accompany the surf here on the North Devon coast. 6ft low-tide surf at Croyde and sun across our fair beaches meant it was another classic.
Good swell was predicted to hit today so I’d charged all my gear and packed it ready to go. Having seen the forecast on the Web and the TV, I knew it would be cloudy all day with rain or drizzle later on, so I planned to hit the beach about mid tide, lunchtime.
Woke up early, looked out the window and realised the Muppet’s at the met office had screwed up AGAIN. Greeted by a blazing blue morning sky I legged it swearing about forecasting sites and weathermen.
It was nearly high tide and the surf was pumping, 4ft plus, with gorgeous blue skies and a warm quality to the early morning light. I visited Saunton, Croyde, Putsborough and Woolacombe shooting landscape and panoramic views, I think the Croyde shot at the top is the best from the day.
“Adam Thornton”
With the pretty stuff in the bag it was time to tackle the surf, hooked up with Ben and Mike and headed down to Croyde to see how the waves were shaping up. Mike’s keen lifeguard eyes soon spotted the first casualty of the day, this visitor was lucky to escape with cuts and bruises and few dings on his new board after getting caught in a rip and caught by a cleanup set and washed across the razor sharp barnacle covered rocks on the North end of the beach. He was really shaken and a bit wobbly but grateful that the three of us had bothered to scramble across the rocks to check on him, Ben even carried his battered board all the way back to the gully as we guided him back across the exposed reef. That’s my first rescue assist of the season, Go US!!
“Karma rewards mike for his earlier heroics”
This useful diversion had allowed the tide to drop back even further and It was time to grab the 600mm lens and see what low-tide had to offer.
“Cotty”
5-6ft heaving barrels were on the menu with hungry locals snapping up the best the beach had to offer.
Spitting barrel of the day goes to billy…
top tube followed by classic double handed claim…..
but the wave bit back later snapping his board.
“Cotty HD filming”
“Nige taking the drop”
Later on another broken board, this time on a duck dive. Poor guy had to look for fifteen minuets before he found the nose up the far end of the beach.
Click to view the whole session on extremeboardshots
