Surfing at Houndapitt

Houndapitt is located only one mile from Sandymouth Bay – an excellent beach for surfing and bodyboarding. Sandymouth Bay is a great beach for escaping the madding crowds and catching some quality surfing waves. It is fairly secluded and part of a huge, 4-mile long strip of sand at low tide, so consequently you will always be able to have some personal space in the water. There are good quality lefts and rights, particularly at low to mid tide on sand banks that have a habit of shifting. Please not that as these shift, they are capable of producing some strong rips on the heavier days, so the inexperienced should make sure they are not in the water alone. The beach safety is improved during the main summer season when there is a lifeguard presence.

Further Afield

Bude's Summerleaze beach is about 15 minutes from Houndapitt, and is one of three great beaches in one of Cornwall's top resort towns. Surfers who travel to Bude will find Summerleaze Beach a fantastic spot, sat to the left of its 'younger siblings' of Middle and Crooklets beaches. Summerleaze beach h as a huge variety of activities - and that is an understatement. The beach itself is a medium sized strip of sand set to the right hand side of a river mouth and nestles just under some low cliffs facing out due west. It produces great plunging waves throughout the range of the tide; at low tide there is a left hand peak, through mid tide there are a number of shifting sandbanks which work up to high tide when the right into the river mouth takes over. There are rips on the right side of the beach at high tide so novices should take care, but otherwise it's a safe beach.

Bude's Crooklets Beach is also about 15 mintues from Houndapitt. It is another fantastic beach in the middle of one of Cornwall's top resort towns, it is just a short walk down the path from Summerleaze and is a great place to get away from the busier sister beach. It has great surf of its own, with a variety of shifting sand peaks through the range of the tide. At each end of the beach is a distinct break; a left at the southern end, a right at the northern end, which produce strong plunging waves. The only point to note is the care that needs to be taken at high water mark when the rocky outcrops at the top of the beach become half submerged.

Widemouth Bay is about 20 minutes from Houndapitt. It has the dramatically named Black Rock in its middle, which is the centre piece to this mile long stretch of sand. The beach itself has almost three distinct areas. There is the clean golden sand and shingle just below the cliffs at the back of the beach. Below this the beach almost divides into two with low rock reefs on the southern end and a wide expanse of sand at the northern end. The beach is large enough to absorb a large number of people in the water without it becoming too crowded, so if you are surfing you will get waves to yourself. Widemouth Bay provides an excellent variety of shifting sand beach break peaks that you would expect from a wide sand beach. In addition to these the two rock outcrops that run out at right angles to the beach provide decent reef breaks for more experienced level surfers.

Back at Houndapitt an outside shower / tap and drying area is provided to wash your wetsuits and equipment.