UPDATE: October 2022.
I originally wrote this article six summers ago, back in 2017 when we purchased our ‘proper’ bodyboards and a pair of full-size, ‘foamy’, beginner’s surfboards. They immediately proved to be a very popular addition to the Beach Haven and have been used extensively in that time. They claim to have a ‘lifetime’ warranty so how they stood up to some fairly heavy use?
Well, in a word – fabulously!
As you can see by the photo below, taken at the end of October ’22, the boards are still all present and correct (in fact, we’ve even added another along with a carry-bag big enough for two boards to assist with the walk to the beach). More than that, the boards are still in really excellent condition and have loads of life left in them yet. We like to think that during this time they have prevented hundreds of polystyrene boards being taken to landfill and saved our guests a significant pile of cash in the process! Many shops have indeed now stopped selling the cheap, polystyrene boards due to local pressure but they are still around, sadly.
The school holiday periods always book up early at the Beach Haven and most 2023 weeks are already taken but at the time of writing we do have the August bank holiday week and also Easter. You can check our availability by clicking here.
We were horrified a couple of summers ago when we saw over six-hundred broken polystyrene bodyboards displayed on our nearest beach at Crooklets. They had been collected from just three beaches during August, to highlight the amount of waste they create.
The boards were collected by Keep Britain Tidy’s BeachCare programme. Neil Hembrow, the BeachCare Officer, said: ‘Every year, I’m shocked at how many we find. They are manufactured in China, shipped over 5,000 miles, distributed to stores and surfed for 10 minutes before breaking and going to landfill. The carbon footprint is also shocking as these are transported thousands of miles and the impact of more plastic entering our marine environment is devastating for wildlife.’
Ironically, these dreadful bodyboards often have pictures of dolphins on them implying they are eco-friendly. They are nothing of the sort. Avoid anything with a picture on the front!!
So at the Beach Haven, we decided to do our bit for the environment and also help our guests by providing boards of our own. We have a variety of different types of boards which are so much more environmentally friendly and virtually indestructible. This will save you having to go out and buy boards for your holiday as well as saving space in the car on the way home, or adding to the statistic of another discarded board ending up in a landfill site.
We spoke to the long-standing Bude-based surfing business, Zuma Jay, who recommended a selection of different size body boards for our guests.
- For younger children, the 34″ ‘Junior’ bodyboard is made from a polyethelene core making it unbreakable and perfect for kids.
- The Zuma Jay 39 is the ‘Teen’ model. This is just due to the length of it so will also suit smaller ladies!
- The full size model is the 42″ Supra and like the smaller boards is pretty much unbreakable!
- The Zuma Jay Wooden Belly Board is the timeless Cornish Bellyboard, exactly the same as has been surfed and enjoyed on West Country beaches for generations. It is truly a tried and tested bellyboard shape to offer even greater ease of wave catching and longer thrilling rides.
These are all lightweight and easily manageable boards that you can easily walk down to Crooklets beach with. If you require wetsuits, these can be hired from Zuma Jay’s surf shop in town. They have a large stock of all shapes and sizes.
We have also added a pair of 8ft foam surfboards to our collection, for the exclusive use of our guests. These two boards are the same type as used by the surf schools and are perfect for beginners. They are made from foam so they are light to carry and don’t do too much damage if you bump into someone!
Read more about the problem – and the solution – on the Wave of Waste website. You can share this post on your favourite social media page by clicking one of the icons below and using the hashtag #waveofwaste
