A Board, Some Wax and a Leash

Two Chance Meetings

2012-01-23T17:32:00.001Z

The weekend before last was a really, really good one. At last some surf but also due to the love of surfing had two new meetings:

1. A guy called Dave all the way from Australia. We'd communicated via our blogs and then - due to a bit of work in Coventry - Dave popped up right here in Devon! We went out at Combesgate for a fun surf (we took out my Hydrodynamica Simster and Bing Dharma and did a bit of a swap around). Dave enjoyed it (even though his local break is Bells). Followed by a lovely beer at The Thatch. We had a fair deal in common - being just about the same age, same (short) time surfing and we've both obviously developed a similar degree of obsession with the way of watery slide. Dave has, I admit with jealousy and lazy shame, already achieved my two great surfy goals: shaping his own board and getting barrelled!

2. A seal (who remained nameless) popped up at Combesgate. He/she swam around us for fifteen minutes or so and at one point stuck its head up right next to me - almost in touching distance. I've met lots of surfers who've seen seals in the water here but this was the first time for me. It was amazing - the seal's big wet loveable glassy eyes just stared at me, before it lurched backwards and swam away. I wonder what they make of us neoprene clad oddities? I remember being really excited the first time I saw a 'wild' seal off Morte Point - this was better!

Surprise Stoke

2012-01-12T13:24:00.000Z

Messy 1-2ft. Sun's going down - only time for less than an hour in the water. Stay or go? Nah, not worth the hassle. Wet neoprene, petrol. Nah...

All too often that's started to be my way. Getting fussy now I can surf a little bit. But hold on: I'm losing surfs. Being a fool. I would have gone two years ago just because there were any waves at all. If I could be teleported straight into the water I'd go. Forget the hassle, think about the water. You never know in surfing, you just never quite know. I grabbed my 5'8 Bing Dharma and rushed out.

So, so glad. My first wave was super. Nothing much. Shithouse surf. However, given some scraps it's superbly fun to feel like you're making the most of them. Bubble & squeak, leftovers, delicious! And I'm absolutely loving the Dharma - it's a really fun and lively little board that glides into anything and wants to dance. The sun was setting and orchestrating the most stunning blue to orange blends with little clouds and bigger cloudy pitter-patter-patterns. Absolute joy. Just to be surfing, wet, paddling, ducking, falling. We can quickly become harbingers of dissatisfaction. Surfing can become disappointing if we always focus on the 'perfect surf'. I needed to remind myself that surfing is much more unpredictable than that. You don't know where that next precious jinking little slider's gonna come from. All you can do by sitting on your arse staring at surf forecasts is miss an unforseeable little bit of gold. Don't be all la-di-da or hoity-toity about the state of our waves (talking to myself here). Just go, go, go. Can't wait until our next day of crappy surf.

Dane Reynolds' Humour

2012-01-05T20:59:00.002Z

Anyone paying any attention to surfing, the ASP World Tour, Dane Reynolds and Twitter or Facebook in general will probably have seen Dane's little piece on his Marine Layer Productions site. It's a sort of rambling (but more thought out than the prose suggests I think) explanation of his feelings regarding his ASP World Tour exit. I enjoyed reading it and thought it was nicely written, relaxed and articulate. But there was a video posted with it (which I think he has now changed). The video said everything to me. On twenty seconds I laughed as he failed a pop-up (top pic). And later on I laughed out loud again as he roundhoused into the foamball - disappearing completely, ridiculously, y'know, where the hell was he going? It made me realise that the surfing we see has most of the humour edited out of it and humour was the crux of his article. Dane's article was nice but those moments in the video focussed clearly on the point (and in the medium that we want to see him in).

I've not been surfing all that long but clearly remember the first surfing video I bought was Thomas Campbell's "The Present". Dane is in it surfing, having fun and fronting the joke surf competition with Rob Machado. Good humour has been frothing through Dane's surfing as long as I've been aware of him. Is there room for humour in the World Tour? Not in competition, no. (I'm sure the odd wedgie occurs behind the scenes but that's not what I'm on about.) When I think of Kelly Slater plenty of surfing moments I think of are from watching the Tour (like his 10 in France in 2009/10 when the bottom of his board slid away but he still emerged from an impossible barrel). Along with skill, competitive desire, focus and determination frame the personality that thrives in competition. Competition requires different characteristics.

When we think of Dane surfing are our most fondly remembered sections from 'free surfing' or from competition? Dane's written piece makes it clear that he believes that to live for the ASP World Tour would not be harmonious with his psyche, his humor, his disposition, his personality, feelings and, therefore, his surfing. He'll still be flying around, surfing, splashing about while generally being pushed around by his sponsors - having to be available for films, photoshoots etc. He's not letting his sponsors or anyone else down, in fact he's trying to make sure we get to see the best of him.

The thing about surfing is that it isn't inherently a competition sport, unlike the 100m or chess, for example. It's got as much in common with dancing. But there are dance competitions because we can turn anything into a competition: the ancient Hawaiians used to bet big stakes on surfers' achievements in competition against each other. But that is one deviance of the sport, one mood, one personality of the schizophrenically multi-faceted thing that is surfing.

I, for one, don't care that Dane's fallen off the tour. I look forward to more of his often slapsticky surfing (in fact the slapstick might make a good name for a surfboard!?). So - filmmakers - can we keep more of the falls, tumbles, failed manoeuvres and general humour in surfing please? At the middling stage that I'm at in surfing it's become obvious that without humour - without being willing to throw yourself as a laughing bumbling kook into the silliest situations - you will not progress so quickly or even, simply, enjoy the sport so much. And if surfing's not about finding joy then I don't know what is...

During writing this I got hooked on humour, mood and personality and found that Hippocrates formulated a theory of the four humours which related to the alchemical elements of earth, air, fire and water. (In a poorly written muddly way I've used the word 'humour' to mean 'funny' but also as 'mood'.) This diagram shows the way the personality types were thought to relate. In ancient Greece they realised (not quite as scientifically as they thought) that peoples personalities were different and equated to different 'humours'. Are we forgetting that if we think it's Dane's duty to take part in the ASP World Tour? Do we think less of Buster Keaton because he never played Macbeth?

Nazare / Cotton Film Night: Done

2011-12-21T09:51:00.004Z

The evening in Croyde Village Hall went really well. Sold out, full up, £900 raised for The Museum of British Surfing. Thanks to everyone who came along.

We watched Wavedreamer shorts and consumed some delicious soup from Steve Cave at The King's Arms, Georgeham before Tim Kevan interviewed Jools from Gulf Stream and Andrew Cotton. Then we watched the Zon North Canyon Show movie and then the Tiki Zepha wetsuit was won by the right person - a stoked young local surfer. All in all it went pretty smoothly!

Apart from the people above a big thankyou to Chris Burrows who does the Croyde Deckchair Cinema. He donated his time and equipment to the cause and also helped promote the evening, sell tickets and answer loads of questions in the days leading up to the event. Thanks also to my wife Sarah and to Justine Adderley who spent the evening selling raffle tickets.

Of course the biggest gratitude to Andrew Cotton who also got hold of the film and entertained us all both in the hall and in the film. The silliest moment of the evening was when, after describing how Garrett MacNamara was de-wetsuited and taking a shit in the sea moments before catching the 90ft wave, Andrew coincidentally mentioned that the set wave Garrett caught was number 2. You had to be there...

I wish I'd remembered my camera. The photo above is the only one I grabbed, right at the end, on my camera-phone-brick-thing. We're glad that Rob Tibbles came along to take a few proper photographs. Hopefully he'll manage to keep his name to them - unlike his photographs that Carve magazine mistakenly attributed to someone else in their latest issue!

Oh and thanks to Pete Robinson who, as a thanks to me, gave me a copy of Hawaiian Surfriders by Tom Blake - a book I desperately wanted to read and thought was going to be a bugger to get hold of. It's sitting next to me now, so what the hell I think I'm doing tapping away at this laptop instead of reading something proper I'll never know. Off button...

Nazare North Canyon Show Movie Night, with Andrew Cotton, Croyde Village Hall 15th Dec

2011-12-02T18:16:00.001Z

On behalf of The Museum of British Surfing (which will open next April in Braunton,) I have organised a fun filled surfy film night in Croyde Village Hall (Deckchair Cinema).

We will be showing the North Canyon Show Documentary featuring Garrett MacNamara, our very own friendly local sometime plumber Andrew Cotton and also Al Mennie. Find out the story behind this curious beachbreak and the surfers who surf it. Andrew Cotton will be doing an interview with Pete Robinson from the Museum and answering questions. Jools will be have one of Cotty's tow boards there and will explain how he made it. Wavedreamer will show some short film clips.

A mere £5 entry fee (£3.50 for U16's) will also get you a free hot soup & roll courtesy of The King's Arms in Georgeham. Tickets are on sale at Gulf Stream shop in Braunton or contact me if you can't get there to buy some easily.

Of course there is also a raffle. Top prize is a top of the range 5/4/3 Zepha wetsuit very kindly donated by Tiki. Other prizes include Analog clothing, Saltrock headphones (Saltrock also printed the posters - thanks!), crates of beer from St Austell and more...

There is also a licensed bar - proceeds of which go to Croyde Village Hall.

Please help spread the word - it's a bit closer to Christmas than we would have liked - but we want to sell out of the 100 tickets available if possible. Ticket sales go to help fund The Museum of British Surfing (charity no 1131433).

Come on everyone... roll up, roll up!!!

Gear Review: Big Plastic Bucket

2011-11-26T12:26:00.000Z

Singularly the best and most invaluable piece of surfing equipment I own: The Big Plastic Bucket.

I think I'm just about ready to post reviews and I thought I'd get the ball rolling with this. Unfortunately I'm not even sure what brand it is. Or if it even has a brand? I haven't used a blue one, or a yellow one, or even a green one so I can't make comparison. One wonderful thing that I do know - to paraphrase Andy Warhol - is that not even Kelly Slater can get a better one than me.

It doesn't let water out. I can fit my wetsuit, boots, leash, towel... er... wet dog... er... er... you get the picture - just loads of stuff - into it. It hasn't broken yet. The design is good in that it is the right shape to hold things and then, as a free upgrade, they put handles on it! Even the basic model has handles. Actually, I'm not even sure if this is top of the range or a budget model? I can't even remember where I bought it. How am I doing? Does this sound like a well thought out and thorough review from a seasoned surfer?

If you haven't got one, and you've got wet stuff... I'd get one.

Next week I may move on and dare to review the humble towel.

And Sunday a Day of Skies...

2011-11-24T23:17:00.000Z

Saturday Was Certainly a Day of Waves

2011-11-22T17:19:00.000Z

And As If By Magic..... Bing!

2011-11-14T14:35:00.001Z

To paraphrase Dr Seuss:
Thing, thing, what is that thing?
Thing Bing, that thing's a Bing.
Bing ding! I dinged my Bing!!!

So, what happened? I picked up my new Bing Dharma on Friday and within 24 hours I was standing on the rocks at Wooly, with bleeding hands, holding a Bing with a ding (or two).

I had ordered a 6'0 Dharma but after meeting up with the actual physical fibreglass & foam a quick fondle made it clear that the 6'0 was a bigger than I'd expected and, with thanks to Trim, I left with a 5'8. Admittedly also, I had thought it was a 5'10. It becomes clear, as you improve in surfing experience, that measurement numbers become less important as you become better at judging a board's qualities/suitability more intuitively.

Paddling out it felt a bit like my old 5'10 Fish but a little easier to paddle. Wave catching was good because of it's width and wave riding - really fun! Exactly what I'd wanted: like my old fish but with a bit of that Simmonsy feel. The board is nicely foiled with a nice fattening under the belly which helps it into waves and helps it turn. The rails are quite soft except for the last few inches. However, I was thinking so much about the board that I caught an ill advised left and ended up right in the first gully between the rocks at Woolacombe. At first when I came up I wondered what the hell that was next to me. After some desperate grappling, getting myself inbetween the board and the rocks, clinging on as a couple of foamy waves hit I heard that horribly brittle crunch, as fibreglass met sharp barnacle encrusted rock. I managed to clamber up, climb over, jump back into the water on the other side and paddle in.

My head was swimming too. I couldn't believe that the first time I wash up on some rocks was on my new favourite board's maiden voyage. The stream of vocabulary in my head was pretty much like a 'Derek and Clive' sketch I remember. If not worse. That said I must have been only feet from actually surfing straight into the rock and Robert Morgan recently showed me at Combesgate, with crumply-crunching clarity, the terrible effects that can have on a surfboard!

So 'new surfboard day' turned into 'ultimate self-flagellation day'. The Dharma is a lovely surf and the waves had been pretty much perfect to try it on - just a bit breezy perhaps. I'd watched Nick Thorn get covered up for a moment, it wasn't too busy and I'd looked along a few lovely waves so it was nice but... All I can remember now is that horribly glittery black rock realising itself next to me, amongst the turbulent foam and then the devastating confirmation that it was really happening as my legs felt the rock just under the surface. Another reason it happened was that a firm current had moved me about 100 yards from where I thought I was. I'm familiar now with the variations in current along Woolacombe beach but it only takes a little variance in the currents in your brain to forget yourself to devastating effect.

A little scrape with a Stanley knife, some sanding, acetone and then resin. Not too bad. Can't wait until the next surf now.

Just a little aside: I saw one of Bing's "Speed Squares" at Trim which looked bizarre and fun! And a few other Bing's were knocking around too and I must say the craft and finish of them is phenomenal. A couple in particular had the most luscious glasswork.

Dawny Images

2011-11-10T22:43:00.000Z

It's an odd and mildly adventurous feeling getting into a cold, dank, dark car with your expedition equipment. Surfing gear plus my own personal dawny essentials: thermos of strong coffee, banana, water and glucose drink.

Setting off with just car lights and the radio as accompaniment.

At this point I was wondering if it was actually going to count as a dawny! The morning light creeping over the horizon, revealing the new morning misty-damp countryside. Will there be waves? Is this a doomed mission?! Or will I be rewarded with glistening surfy treasure?

There were head-high waves and the rewards of uncrowded peaks. It wasn't spectacular though and, to be honest, the surf was probably better on my regular beach.

However, the point of a dawny is - I believe - to raise the stakes. Let's make this interesting, as they say in gambling circles. Add to the experience of surfing by giving it a whiff of adventure. The possibility of greater bounty, but with the added danger of greater effort leading only to failure and misery. There's a bit more discipline and planning involved, along with the simple pain of getting up early (which for me, as a confirmed lazy bastard, is tricky to confront). How dare I mention early in winter! A winter dawny raid can be performed in relative comfort at this time of year. I barely had to get up before 6am! Cushty really. Adventurer? Pah! Still, as I step out of the front door into the black and feel that night riddled air, I can't help but feel like I'm a nervously excited explorer off to shady and mysterious uncharted territories... just a little.

Nazare, Portugal: Andrew Cotton

2011-11-03T20:41:00.002Z

In case you've missed it this is what our friendly North Devon plumber Andrew Cotton's been getting up to in Portugal! Hope Gulf Stream glassed that board heavily!

(Amazing photos from Polvo / George Leal & Wilson Ribeiro.)

Along with Al Mennie and Garrett McNamara they've been towing into some waves that could be described as a little bit on the large side. It's great to see local North Devon talent getting global interest. Go to Gulf Stream's website to find out more about Cotty's boards and why not follow them on Facebook n' all.

By the way, I popped into Gulf Stream today and their new "Fastback" boards, with their fluro-artwork, look hot! Yeah! We've got some waves here too. Yeah! Looking forward to a super-duper-dawny tomorrow. Yeah! Pleurisy (just about) better, energy back, full of excitement for surfing, North Devon, waves... kick-ass!

~F~≈≈≈≈~µç≈K≈~y~≈E≈~a≈H~!!!≈~≈~≈~~

Morning of the Earth, Footwork, Wilson vs Otton and Pleurisy

2011-10-24T21:53:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure who this is (Terry Fitzgerald?) from the beginning of Albert Falzon's "Morning of the Earth" but it's been captivating me and has stuck feverishly in my head. Footwork on a shortboard: cross-stepping to nowhere. It is so balletic as the surfer moves forward and then back as if, having learned to surf on a longboard, he can't shake the urge to perform the fundamental steps of a surf-dancer. 'First-position'... 'second-position'... la la la... There's something wonderful about moves that aren't performed out of necessity or function but just for fun and... decoration.

I've had plenty of time to watch surfing movies as I've been suffering from pleurisy. It's no fun I can tell you. It feels like you're being stabbed in the chest every time you cough (and as for sneezing - yikes!). Surfing is right out of the question. I sunk to a new low a week ago paddling into lovely clean head high super fun peaks... only to find I could barely get out back. I put up with the pain enough to catch two waves and then gave up. Sincerely and deeply depressing considering how rare waves like that are here. And: especially frustrating after watching the absolute joy sparkling out of the frames of "Morning of the Earth".

Watching the ASP tour in Portugal was curious. Just as I was nostalgically lamenting a possible lack of grace and footwork in contemporary surfing and uttering disapproval of the biased scoring of one-air-tens came the most dramatic surf competition I've ever witnessed. Nobody watching will forget Kai Otton vs Julian Wilson: the most unbelievable heat. Nine after nine, amazing waves and unbelievable surfing. You had to feel sorry for Otton but Julian Wilson is fast looking like a title contender. If you didn't see it just watch this:

Judging a surf contest has got to be a nightmare task so I'm not going to give a critique of the criteria of high scores in the ASP World Tour. And watching the Rip Curl Pro Portugal 2011 ranks as perhaps the most exciting sporting event I've ever watched. So I'm grateful for that.

That said, it's wonderful to go back to older surfing movies and watch the more elegant styles. Styles that have perhaps been worn away by the leash, the performance thruster and lack of longboarding experience. Many surfers don't seem to move their feet at all. I'm not trying to slag off contemporary surfers. In the Rip Curl Pro I remember Taj Burrow coming out of a tube practically hanging five and I've just watched Dane Reynolds getting his feet all over his little stubbie so I'm not thinking that contemporary surfers only wax 'up to the logo'. It's just interesting how things change - I just realised that cutting out of a wave by turning and diving up through the face must have been created by the invention of the leash. This maneuvre itself would allow deeper tube riding with less risk of a swim and also less emphasis on board control. The 'kook cord' or 'save a swim lariat' also makes cross stepping a bit more tricky.

All I'm saying is, well, I'm not really trying to make a point at all really. Just sitting back with my pleuritic lung enjoying all aspects of surfing from my sofa. But just make sure you watch Derek Hynd in "Litmus", David Nuuhiwa in "Free & Easy" and Michael Peterson in "Morning of the Earth" as well as the Modern Collective. (Even as I write that the memory of the first time I saw David Nuuhiwa in his kooky 'crash hat' in "Free & Easy" makes my spine tingle.)

Rolled Shoulder of Stoke...

2011-09-30T23:40:00.000+01:00

...was cooking yesterday.

I paddled into the most beautiful waves I've ever been in. Overhead, barrelling, A-Framing, glassy perfection. I thought I'd somehow been transported somewhere else, out of Devon, to some idyllic magazine location. I'd caught four of the most wonderful waves within minutes. Just dreamy.

Never experienced anything like it. This was a new place, another level, a different world. These were so different from the waves I'm used to being in. Proper waves. They welled up towards you with open arms and shoulders to cry on. Oily clean, slick and fast. Magically they somehow transfer this grand beauty into you; as you drop in, fly and feel the sparkle. Reach out, drag your hand: make sure it's real.

This natural tonic is what's needed to clear the cobwebs that weave a jaded mind. Shazam! Clean as a whistle. If only we had waves like this more often! But, of course the rarity is part of the magic.

Danger - Simmons

2011-09-27T13:02:00.000+01:00

My Simster's addictive, fast glidey... but so floaty and stable it's made me lazy! Surfed my 5'10 Fish yesterday and rediscovered the subtleties of a smaller template (like the balance required to maintain speed on take-off). I'd become a square-tail-junky.

European Fish Fry 2011

2011-09-23T17:41:00.097+01:00

So I went to the Fish Fry last weekend. There were some nice looking boards on display. Unfortunately, due to the rain, it was all brought inside the pub but there was just about enough room.

Rob Lion's boards stood out to me. It's a shame he's off to shape in California. Rob's Royal Surfboards just embodied everything that's wonderful about the word 'custom'. Proper interesting, fun, deviant, innovative and seductive boards - I particularly liked his grey/rosy 'Post Modern Twinzer' and the black/blue/yellow incut. These small fish were foiled nicely with a bit of volume where it's needed but thinning out well to the rails. In fact as I looked around all the boards and shapes it was the massive variance in foil/volume management that really caught my attention. Some boards looking bulky, some thin and everything inbetween. As I've learnt about surfing I've always been reading about fish, swallow tails, moon tails, pintails and so on, but there doesn't seem to be nearly enough stress on the effect of foil which is perhaps more important in finding the right board or 'magic board' for you than subtleties/fashions of - especially tail - template.

The NT surfboards caught my eye, the Skip Frye long fish, the Kookbox 5'3 twin keel, Glide's & Luke Young's. It was all a bit of a hypnotic array to be honest and the delirium was further enhanced by the wonderfully odoriferous smell of Mr Natty's Beard Elixir.

One thread I was grateful to follow from seeing the Kookbox was that I looked up the shaper Jeff McCallum and found that he's recently been shaping a 'Stand Up Spoon'. In investigating the influence of George Greenough recently I'd actually wondered if anyone had made a spoon shape designed to be surfed standing up. It's not as thin and translucent as a real spoon but it's got a well scooped out deck: a beautiful board, looks intriguing and looks like fun!

Thinking about heritage - Bob Simmons was certainly muscling well in on Steve Lis' influence at the Fry!

It was a real shame that our annoyingly prevalent onshore winds spoilt a potentially super-fun swell leaving only a few to brave the messy and hefty lumps that were passing themselves off as waves that day. (I hadn't even taken my wetsuit as this had become a bit of a family outing rather than a me-me-me-surfy-surfy-surfy day.)

The only terrible thing was that my daughter was ill so we only stayed an hour or two and scarpered, unwittingly, fatally, well before Thom Yorke slipped in to delight everyone with a little accoustic set. It's things like this that make swearing an absolute fucking-wanking-bastard-shit-tit-arse necessity. (Excuse me.)

European Fish Fry 2011, a set on Flickr.

The European Fish Fry at Crackington Haven, Sept 17th, Hey - That's This Weekend!!!

2011-09-14T10:46:00.000+01:00

Brought to you by Royal and Friend of Mine it's the fifth annual European Fish fry - this weekend. (As if you didn't know already...)

If you've been bemoaning the demise of your local fish market then it's time to make merry with a whole eye-poppingly lush load of fishy fun. There are gonna be buckets of fish. So get on your best oilskins and get down there!

It seems there's going to be a lot going on with boards, shapers, surfy-art, music, film screenings all to be washed down with a little atlantic saline solution and the odd Mojito.

It looks like there's gonna be some swell - hooray! But, gasp/surprise, onshore wind.... feckin' typical...

An Epic Weekend!

2011-09-11T17:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterday afternoon, Puts, surfed the biggest waves I've surfed. Dropped into one had a good ride right in the pocket until I didn't make it under the lip of a section curling over in front of me. A surfy friend said it was, and I quote: "fekkin' huge" and "you could've got barreled if you'd stalled it". Not only that: I got a good bit ahead of the foamball on a left and managed my first proper fully planing roundhouse. It's really odd as you properly turn and fly back towards the whitewater and it's kind of liberating as you finally crack the just-follow-the-shoulder barrier.

I had nearly got straight out too. When I paddled out at Puts it was sooooooo busy! Couldn't get a wave for fear of carnage. I thought it was no good. Nearly gave up. Until I paddled over a bit and also the increasing wave size flushed a few people in. It got to a good head-and-a-half at least, maybe more, with some of the rogue sets coming through. I was a bit scared. So glad I stayed out. Pushed on with my surfing and reduced the wave size fear-factor. What was really odd was that my 6'0 Simster was flying, holding well, felt good and the day before I'd been enjoying little 2ft knee-high's on it. It is an incredibly versatile board. I was shocked today though, when I took my 7'0 Diplock thruster out at Lynmouth today to discover how much more buoyant than the Diplock the 6'0 Simster is. It's a lot of floaty EPS foam.

And then today. Surfed Lynmouth for the first time. Something I'd wanted to do for ages and I'm only just at the stage where I feel confident to go and surf a less local, more tricky break and one you just shouldn't go and get in the way at. It wasn't at it's best but still working 4-6ft just as the tide started pushing. I held off, further down away from the crowd and still got my longest ever rides. Managing some turns now, some pigdogging and generally attempting to make friends with going left. It was so odd to have such long paddles back - and with pretty much no duckdiving! So much time on the wave. Christ I want to surf a right point now. So jealous of the goofys today.

So all in all I'm so pumped full of stoke that I'm willing to post such a childish self-centred little bit of over-excited boasting and surf-fever-drivel. When I got off that big wave at Puts I couldn't say anything but "F•••ing Hell" to myself in my head, over and over again, for about two hours.

This is what surfing's all about. Finding new, exciting and curious positions to be in.

By the way, in the photo, that's me on the right hand wave. My wife stood as far away as possible and took a photo on her mobile. Bless...

Reshuffle: Boards for Sale

2011-09-06T14:48:00.000+01:00

The 6'0 Simster has become a 'quiver killer'. I've had so many waves on it, it's so buoyant, paddly, fast, glidey - it feels like cheating. But I've realised that's not wrong. When I took my 5'10 Fish out again I had a lovely couple of waves on it. But that's it - a couple. The Simster and my improvement has had me discover that my quiver is completely wrong for me now. I want lots of waves. Lots. The good days are so few and far between here in Devon that when they come you want to be getting more than your share. Surfing shouldn't be all struggle. Your chances of getting a wave should be more than 50-50. Learning to ride the wave, make the sections, cut back to the foamball, find some moves. I've got a feel for the boards under my feet at last and I know what I want.

So, for sale:

One lovely Gulf Stream 5'10 Speed Dialler Quad with Lokbox fins/boxes:
5'10 x 20.5" x 2 3/8"
£250
Condition: normal compression dents on top and just three very mild dents on the magic side. No performance affecting damage.

And one delicious 7'0 Diplock Thruster:
7'0
£300 (including board bag and leash).
This board is a perfect step down from a larger Mini Mal if you want to progress to shorter board surfing or just if you're a big bloke looking for a bit of float.
Condition: compression dents on the top, bottom is flawless, some normal cracking and repair to the tail edge.

Call me on 07780713282 or email through this blog.

"Lost in the Ether" — Andrew Kidman

2011-08-15T22:41:00.009+01:00

This book and DVD could be said to be expensive. But it's not. I'd leave all my other surfing books and DVDs to the flames and save this one. "Lost in the Ether" by Andrew Kidman is the richest, most beautiful conglomeration of writing, photographs, film, information, surf-love, passion and craft that I've had the wonderful pleasure to absorb.

If you have the wherewithal I'd get one before he's sold out. This edition is limited to 1000 copies.

The book is black hardback with nicely embossed cover. The inside is uncoated paper smartly typeset with lots of photographs, many stunning, all with an atmosphere and taste that pervades (the book was designed by Jim Newitt). In fact, uncoated, might well reflect the whole project. Earthy coloured sea. Poetic. Not bombastic.

The text is largely interviews and discussions with people like Michael Mackie, Dave Parmenter and Wayne Lynch and the DVD extends that with footage of the same people. And the boards. And what boards! Running through history with templates, understanding, passion and finesse these 'backyard' shapers are cooking up delicious new recipes for new shapes. Bastard shapes. Wonky shapes. Accidental shapes. There's no commercial agenda here. No persuasion that the vertical cutback (or other 'ASP move') be possible with the latest thing - just that with understanding, patience and persistence you might just find yourself a few 'magic boards' in your lifetime. I love the section in the DVD where Garth Dickenson is shown repeatedly falling off one of Mackie's shapes. He said it was really hard to surf but eventually when he shaped his style to meet it he discovered a wonderful board.

Dave Parmenter reminisces on when he used to fart in Rusty Preisendorfer's shaping bay. (Apparently air purification into a shaper's mask makes this a potent horror.) There's an awful lot to love here. The way the boards discussed are shown and rotated in front of the camera with names and measurements. There is a real sharing of rich information. Andrew Kidman tells all about his "Dreamboard" (you may have seen a bit in The Surfer's Journal).

Andrew says about the project: "I was trying to make it like a car manual for surfers, to try and help them
understand their boards, if that makes any sense."

I absolutely love it - thankyou so much Mr Kidman for putting this together and sharing your world. It's proper tasty.

The "Speed Square" Eh?

2011-08-04T19:08:00.001+01:00

Where's the Paipo-y, Simmonsyness all gonna end?

Stoked and Choked

2011-07-30T11:41:00.000+01:00

It's been quite a week.

Yesterday I noticed that I've got to one of the places I dreamed of being in surfing.

Stoked:

Paddling out into crisp little waves yesterday in the sparkly summer sun I bumped into CP (Adventures in Trim). It's just over two short years since we first met with me wading around with my 7'6 Mini Mal. I was on my 6' Hydrodynamica Simster and he with his 5'2 Tyler Warren 'Bar of Soap'. We swapped boards briefly. A 5'2!? But I caught the first wave I went for, dropped into it nicely, squatting low bottom turned to a cutback off the whitewater and scooted round into the foamball to paddle back out. I couldn't believe it: firstly that I managed to surf it and secondly that I fell in love with that board after one little wave. CP has expounded it's charms and boy does it have a juicy feel under your feet. It just feels right. A perfect balance of foam, width and keel fins: twitchy-scooty. Just really playful. I want one desperately! Rats. Thanks CP... and no thanks!

Being able to surf whatever board I'd like to surf. That was one of my main desires and somewhere I've managed to get to. Now to focus on spending more time on waves and more time in the critical part of the wave. I've also come to realise that good surfing is more about position and style than moves. It's all very well to rush to the nose or try a slash on the face, but if you're waving your arms like a madman on the safety of the shoulder it's little compared with maintaining balance and style right there in the pocket.

Choked:

My father died last weekend, after a long decline due to a neurological condition he finally suffered a stroke and heart failure. It puts surfing into perspective, but not because it makes it seem less important, but conversely: more important. After he died the first thing I thought to do, after the tears and family hugs, was that I wanted to go for a surf. To have passions and intense joys that revel in what's beautiful about our short time on earth are one of the things that life is all about.

Life's short, so let RIP...

Kook: The Best Looking Surfing Publication in the World?

2011-07-11T20:45:00.002+01:00

Issue two — out now.

Get it!

Contributors include Andrew Kidman, Cyrus Sutton, Chris Preston, John Isaac, Rob Lion - these are the names that, due to my surfy experiences so far, I immediately remember...oh, and me (just a little picture, but I'm delighted to rub shoulders with the other contributors). Real surfers. But no - that's exactly what Kook enjoys being about, pulling the carpet from presumption, myth and phoniness. It's not about advertising and posturing - there are no ads - no pressures to appear like anything or be anything other than a being who surfs. Or, attempts to surf. Who offers themselves up to the sea: who contributes to surfing. That's what it's about: contribution. And surfing. But no, I'm wrong again, it's not even that: it's trying to wriggle free. To me surfing contributes to my sense of freedom, however, the cultural stereotypes and mythologies attached to surfing in the mass media detract from that. Kook is almost anarchic.

While being filmed by Emile de Antonio the American artist Robert Rauschenberg said about the newspaper "it's the best lookin' book in the world". I think Kook is certainly the best looking surfing publication I've ever had the pleasure to read and it should be cherished.

Kook is compiled, edited and designed by Dan Crockett and Alex Rowse.

Go here –> and buy Kook 2.

Finshack - Lovely New Website for Fins'N'Stuff...

2011-07-05T16:31:00.001+01:00

Where else for that delicious fin for your log? He's also got the new "Sight Sound" Mikey DeTemple DVD in stock. Ger-on, have a look an' treat yerself!

In a Curious Way Amongst the Easy Warm Crowded Peaks I'm Missing the Harsh Cold Fun of Winter

2011-06-28T19:14:00.000+01:00

Stokety-Stoke-Stick

2011-06-27T15:06:00.000+01:00

Clean head-high surf early yesterday and some really fun rides on the Simster. More fun this morning too...

Random thoughts:

As you improve at surfing things take a shift in the search for that stokety-stoked feeling. I caught a sad wave – I didn't feel that excited after a ride that should have been. The realisation is that as you get better you've got to make your stoke by really riding the wave with style and ideas/moves. When you're beginning it all feels like a jumble and those stoke sparkling waves come along by chance and without warning. As you get better riding along a nice 3-4ft face becomes normal and then it's time to start making some moves.

Boards and rocks don't mix. Rob tried it on Sunday. Biggest ding I've ever seen right across the nose. Still, I saw him cutting some lovely lines across a nice wave just after so it was still working.

At the end of today's session I got furious with myself after about my fifth in a row kooked-up pop-up. It's no good to get in that state of mind. Waste of time and self-perpetuating, but sometimes when you've glanced along the wave and glimpsed the ride that's coming, only to plant your front foot all cock-eyed and dive into the face is sincerely infuriating!!!

My neck is killing me. Taking up surfing at forty has certainly meant a great spread of niggling pains and injuries over the last two years (mainly shoulders, arms, wrists and even fingers). Take it up earlier if you can.

Snuffling for Rainbows

2011-06-18T18:29:00.005+01:00

The Hydrodynamica Simster came into it's own at Saunton the other morning in 2-4, occasional 5ft messy, lumpy surf. Cruised along in the flat sections until the reforms, dived into the troughs, scooting, gliding fun with one particularly nice bottom turn/swoop & up to the closing out foam. Easy paddling and some fast times in between the inevitable kook-iness.

I'd like to iron out more of the flailing around and cocked-up pop-ups. I'm becoming a serial head-shaker. Like a bloody nodding dog trying desperately to make all my fans on the beach know that I expected to make that. That I'm disappointed in myself for missing that wave. I'm better than that, everyone, really... and I would certainly have expected not to fall off at that point. A highly unusual pop up to the knees, for example. Head-shake. Head-shake. For chrissake, what am I doing!? Bloody kook... Quit the head shaking for goodness sake.

I walked out of the water in total love with this board. I kept looking at it on the way back up the beach; a bit like when you've kissed someone for the first time and you keep kind of looking at them afterwards, glancing, to remind yourself that it really just happened.

The Simster Swoops

2011-06-15T11:46:00.001+01:00

So I've ridden the Simster a couple of times now - in small waves. Easy paddling, very buoyant, the thing swoops into waves with a fantastic swoopy-smoothness because of it's hulled nose and width. All I can say so far is it glides beautifully, fast in trim and will be fun in small waves as well as larger (hopefully). It's a curious board. One could quite reasonably describe it (as Richard Kenvin does to cement the Simmons lineage) as a "hydrodynamic planing hull" but also, I think, as a "Super-Mal"...or..."Hyper-Paipo"...or..."Grandad-Thruster"...or..."Beast-Fish"...

Initially Mr Skelton (thanks for the grounding) was right and not Kenvin: my inexperienced feet weren't right in the pop-up and the sections I hoped to effortlessly make didn't happen. Later as I got more used to it and weighted correctly I outran some foamballs & back to the face that I wouldn't have done before. The ease of paddling could make this a lazy board. My "luxury surf". I'm enjoying it tremendously but will be interested to see where this goes. When I swapped boards with a friend (riding a thruster) I immediately enjoyed the feel of a small tail in the pocket again - I just like surfboards I guess. There's a lot of foam in this board and I do wonder if I could've gone for smaller, 5'8 or something, but only time, experience and use will tell. This board will certainly be great fun in small summer waves and mushy bigger waves when it'll keep moving in the flatter sections but it's supposed to be more than that. It's supposed to be a flyer in large clean surf too. My initial reaction is that I'd still have no hesitation in taking out my 5'10 fish in preference on the nice clean 5-6' days but I won't really know until I've tried it.

The Simster has character - you can feel the 'Simmons-iness' in the speed, glide and the turn. It's certainly about pure function in the sense of glide but in the turn it's character over function - like a friendly dog with a mangy ear or something - you warm to it but it's not necessarily the way nature intended! I may have been drawn to this board by the myth and stories spun around it by Richard Kenvin, John Elwell and Joe Baugess etc, it may not be the best board for me to progress my surfing on as quickly as possible (thanks again Skelly - ooof!), but at my age I feel like I'm in a countdown: that's the trouble with taking up surfing late and wanting to try out lots of boards and experience different slides. This 'luxury surf' will definitely be a fun board as I get older and too tired to paddle something smaller. Maybe in about twenty years I'll be posting "The Simster at Sixty"...

6'0 Simster: all the way from San Diego

2011-06-10T18:08:00.000+01:00

The board has a cute hulled nose (a bit on the asymmetric side so it's certainly hand shaped!) going into 50-50 and then hard rails at the tail. The nose isn't as scooped out as I thought it would be (like the Caspers). The finishing isn't nearly as perfect as Phoenix Glassing/Diplock or Gulf Stream but it is EPS. I'm not sure how much difference EPS should make to the finish - but it's harder to work with apparently. It's super light - it feels lighter than my 5'10 Speed Dialler - and a really fun looking shape. I just can't wait to try it. Unfortunately the forecast is looking sketchy but maybe a swell Tuesday.

As you can see the board's shaped by Hank Warner and he's written Revolver on it because John Isaac of Revolver and Adam from Trim Surfboards organised bringing them over - thanks guys - it sounds like the operation wasn't all glide! (They also had one of the asymmetrics designed with Carl Ekstrom there which looked great.)

I was tempted by a Casper but this board is more versatile and should fit nicely between my 5'10 and the big 7'0 thruster.

All A-Quiver With Excitement!

2011-06-07T15:59:00.000+01:00

The email I (amongst others) have been waiting for. They are here.

Keeping Me Sane in Yorkshire

2011-06-02T22:02:00.000+01:00

I have barely surfed in three weeks due to a triple pronged attack of onshore winds, moving from the flat we were renting and now visiting family in Yorkshire.

Thank goodness for Innersection on the laptop (and bringing One California Day and Idiosyncrasies with me on DVD): surfy visions keeping me sane and driving me mad at the same time. The Ozzy Wrong "Innersection" bit is great goofy fun and joyous surfing:

Really missing the water. It's going to be a week until my next chance to get in. And I will. Onshore windy blown out mess or not - just desperate to get wet. Feel the cold tumbles and sparkling slides again. Smell the sea air. Shoulder ache. Neoprene funk, waxing-up.... all that. Aching shoulder muscles. Salty eyes. Smiles.

The forecast is looking pretty bleak though...

Innersection 2010 on iTunes

2011-05-26T18:50:00.001+01:00

I have just discovered and downloaded Innersection on iTunes. It's £1.49! The DVD's twenty five quid. What? Yep...

It's Taylor Steele's idea for a platform to produce a surfing DVD. Anyone can enter their footage in a kind of open competition format to make the final cut. This is the 2010 DVD and the 2011 is currently being produced/voted on etc.

I get a bit bored of surfing DVD's that are just surfing plus music with little else which is what this is. However, because of the way it's been made I like it and what's more there's some unbelievable footage. I'm not going to ramble on about all the "you've got to see the bit when" moments (er. Parko emerging from the tube on his stomach and popping back up, Kelly 360ing into the foamball where he disappears - clearly shark fodder - only to emerge standing up in the way that only he can...). If you've got iTunes just get this it's got to be the best £1.50 you'll spend on anything other than wax...

It's Been Two Years Now Of...

2011-05-24T08:09:00.001+01:00

Water

2011-05-10T13:05:00.000+01:00

Water: "the medium of life." This triangle is water's alchemical symbol. It is necessary for all life and was one of the four alchemical 'elements' along with fire, air and earth. (Don't dismiss alchemy as an irrelevant ancient folly: C G Jung, for example, thought that there was a deep relationship between the symbolic language and rituals of alchemy, it's quest for transformation, and our human psyche and sub/unconscious depths.) Our relationship with the water must be more significant than a little bit of fun? There's always a lot bubbling under the surface. We play out our carbon based lives in general – and our surfing time specifically – in water. I think the significance of water must be part of the deep pleasure of surfing. Maybe I want too much from surfing? I'm finding it more than just 'sport' anyway - more deeply rooted.

Though Shalt Not Covet...

2011-04-30T10:55:00.001+01:00

Boards and shapes. Functionality and enrichment of our surfy times. A longboard allows you to surf differently from a shortboard and all the rest is a finesse. Here are a few of the boards which are occupying my thoughts and excite me due to their fun ideas and postmodern jiggery-pokery...

(I met this one of Rob Lion's Incut Fish in the water at Combesgate. It looked like fun, was thicker than I thought - solid in the tail. Looked built to last. Rob's got to be one of the most compelling surfboard shapers in this country: interesting, inventive and fun shapes along with beautiful graphics/glassing work.)

Gene Cooper's Flexpig

Caro's "Skarab" Kookbox Singlefin

Andrew Kidman's "Single Splice"

Simmons/Baugess/Kenvin/Hydrodynamica

Ekstrom/Hydrodynamica

Ryan Burch

When I started surfing I thought surfboard shapes and shapers were all shaped-out. That modern surfboard design had everything covered. Wrong.

But I know - these are all for fun. For enrichment of our sliding times by surfy-character but exciting the brain too. We don't need them. We shouldn't covet them. But we love them. Big thanks to all the shapers, graphic artists and glassers who are highlighting our surfing lives with glistening pleasures, differences, intonations and sing-song shapes. I want to taste as many as I can - but will never forget that I'll be ok if there's a wave and I've got any surfboard at all, some time and my health.

A Perfect Day

2011-04-16T07:57:00.001+01:00

Thursday 14th April 2011 was a good day: clean head-high to overhead waves, two two-hour sessions and then a glass-off Friday morning. I'm all surfed out.

I snapped this photo on my phone of the dwindling light at the end of Thursday's second surf, red line leading to Lundy, waves still peeling beautifully.

When waves get to a certain size, 6ft or so, they well-up and become majestic. They have a power, a respect, a character that is suddenly more. A bit like Orson Welles.

Caught perhaps my best ever left. Managed - for the first time ever - to turn back towards the foamball and then back again along the face! Did it again frontside too. I'm not claiming any roundhouse here — new manoeuvres are always a ramshackle affair but it was a new and exciting thing. It's amazing how disorientated you feel when turning back the other way after being used to shooting down the line in one direction. Disorientation is one of the themes and beauties of surfing. It's good to get thrown and then collect your scattered thoughts again.

When I began, nearly two years ago, a few people told me to enjoy the time because the excitement and freshness of the beginning - the paddle into surfing - was the best part. That is rubbish! So far every point I've been at is the 'best part' and now is no exception. It's wonderful to be catching larger waves, paddling between them, duck-diving under them, popping-up ok on most rides, riding them and finding some moves, waving to and chatting with familiar faces, being the one dropped in on (and who people cut out for because you made the section!) rather than always cutting-out yourself because you're sat in the wrong position and find yourself doing the dropping-in, feeling the face of the wave with your hand as you bottom turn, carving around paddling out surfers, grinning like a fool, feeling with your foot for the inside rail, moving forward to trim a little, stalling into pocket so you shoot out of it like crazy! Yaaaaooowoooo! I'm getting all over-excited just writing this - running through your rides in your head is a dangerously indulgent perversion!

One great beauty now is that I am now paddling less and conserving energy for the right moments and to allow a longer session (as I find it easier to know which waves to go for and where I should be). It's like the painful irony of marathon runners: the worse you are the more time you have to run for.

Last week, on a small fun day, I had just caught a nice wave and I waved and smiled at Richard as I paddled past and he waved and smiled back. I felt at that moment my smile was one of the deepest smiles on earth, well rooted, the kind of joy that can only come with pleasure, meaning and the feeling that the life's cogs and wheels have all, briefly, fallen into sync.

Kook-Puke

2011-04-13T10:29:00.000+01:00

Went out this morning in choppy blustery water, 2-4ft waves.

1: A lot of paddling because of the wind and current
2: A couple of really good fast rides
3: Got seasick! (Well I wasn't actually sick but...)

Can't believe it. I'm sitting here trying to work, two hours later and still feeling mighty queasy. I'm certainly no 'waterman'!

The Much Maligned Thruster

2011-04-11T13:27:00.001+01:00

The session before-last that I had (when I wore the earplugs) was a fun one: head high sets and sharing the waves with a friend - Rob - who's a better surfer than me and a goofy foot. It's great going out with someone who prefers going left because we tend to split the peak or go for different waves. I was on my 5'10 Gulf Stream Speed Dialler and Rob was on a 6'3 Billabong Squash-Tail Thruster. He asked to have a go on my fish. Yeah, sure and we swapped out back with me fully expecting a twenty minute sit-and-watch.

Sitting on his tiny little shortboard was bizarre. It made my little fish seem enormous! I tried a duck-dive and 'woah!' it sank nicely. I sat on it and waited for a likely wave; curiously deep in the water. And you know what, I caught the second one I went for: I popped-up, flew down the face, all sketchy wobbles and fell off. "Koooook!"

Then I dropped into a head high wave nicely, made the 'survival turn' and rode it awhile. The thruster was exciting! Really twitchy-turny compared with my fish but super-lively like a hyperactive kid. This was tricky but exciting and fun. I didn't want to give it back. In the end I was glad to get back on the fish and it felt super-glidey and easy afterwards. Trying different boards is clearly very, very useful to surfy understanding and refreshing your feel of your own slidin' sticks.

All I've heard since I've started surfing is people saying how boring thrusters are and it had caused me to unjustifiably jump on the bandwagon. (My only thoughts have been of Lis descendent-fish, Simmonsy shapes and so on.) It's obviously a fashion, but also fairly so: amongst ageing and seasoned surfers who are sincerely bored of surfing the same-old, same-old and/or know the kind of surfing they are after. But that little thruster experience really excited me and lit up a little blind-spot I've been harbouring. It felt like the least board I've had under my feet and it really had some bite and a liveliness that was different. For me that felt like experiencing thruster surfing for the first time as the small size gave it such a different feeling than my 7'0.

We obviously mustn't forget the excitement that the introduction of the thruster generated and why. They may be boring if that's what you've been surfing for twenty years but for me they taste good! For me that session was the introduction of the thruster. A little step back in surfing-time.

One Session Later...

2011-04-08T12:54:00.000+01:00

...and I still, amazingly, own a pair of ear plugs!

Took some proper tumbles in some overhead surf and they stayed in. They felt a bit uncomfortable/unpleasant and I obviously couldn't hear so well but I forgot about them on every wave and it was nice not having icy water shooting right into my ears on every duck-dive or wipeout. Another curious thing about ear plugs is hearing yourself: I could hear the throbbing of my hearbeat as I turned for one wave which reminded me of that old Guinness ad drumming in the excitement as the white horses came racing...

I can't recommend or review these ear plugs because I've not tried any others so I have no comparison - but they've done the job so far. But one session is nothing. Lets see if they last today's. I'll post an update one day if and when I do loose one (it's surely bound to happen?).

Ear Plugs

2011-04-07T16:38:00.000+01:00

After sitting chatting, last weekend, with a bunch of surfers who were all suffering the effects of surfers' ear I have taken my first foray into the world of earplugs.

These Sorky ear plugs appealed because they are small and are supposed to let you hear a bit better than most. However, after trying them at home I strongly believe I'm going to be getting out of the water with two ear plugs less than I began the session with - but we'll see...

Lynmouth Weekend

2011-04-04T19:51:00.000+01:00

When I started surfing I thought it might lead me, one day, to Lynmouth. But not like it did last weekend. Mr StevePP organised a little trip for eleven of us to stay in Countisbury and trundle on down to Lynmouth for a bit of painting and drawing. Thanks Steve! Like the Lynmouth hills my weekend had its ups and downs: mucking around with oil based landscape painting is something I haven't done for a long time - and it felt like it. It didn't help to be besieged by professional painters, art teachers and the odd inquisitive tourist.

The way that surfing seems to have knitted together a lot of the tatty parts of my life is amazing. This was a great painty-surfy-social: chatting about surfing, splashing paint about and then splashing the odd pint of Guiness down in the evening – to wash away the artistic angst.

I can't really post this without offering up my rusty oil sketches so here they are:

I also did some quick gouache paintings and some drawings. It was just nice to get out there and have a go at it. All the other more seasoned plein air painters brushed away with a confidence that was terrifying and quickly built up paintings with depth and atmosphere. I was more confident with my photography and drinking. Thanks again Steve and everyone else who was there...

Waiting with Lures

2011-03-31T15:15:00.000+01:00

Somewhere out there: your next wave.

(And somewhere out there is my next board - on a boat.) So much waiting...

We've got a lot of lines out - in life and - surfing. Wave fishermen. I like to think of my boards as lures. This is my current favourite lure:

Yeah! Go on... catch something my beauty!!!

The Surfer's Journal

2011-03-21T16:02:00.002Z

The Surfer's Journal: I've received my first two issues after finally biting the bullet and subscribing (thanks for the pressure StevePP).

The articles are substantial, well conceived, well researched and well written. I couldn't believe the first issue - long articles about Val Ching's stand-up Paipo riding, an article about Bob Holland (surfing short boards at 81!) and a discussion between Andrew Kidman and Dave Parmenter that I read three times. They can't consistently write such in-depth interesting stuff I thought. Then came the next issue with articles about Steve Lis, Pottz, Tony Alva and Julian Schnabel. Not only is the editorial of a level of cultural and surf-historical interest way above any other surf magazine that I've read but the fact that there are only six ads in the whole magazine is phenomenal. Most surf magazines read like a bloody catalogue in comparison and the removal of the burden of merchandising is a great relief and a weight off my surfed-out shoulders. There's not even an ad on the back cover of the new design (and they've added cover flaps so you can keep your place - easy!).

An added bonus is that as a subscriber I can now log in online and read their past articles so I've just been digging into Richard Kenvin's recent Simmons articles. The only downside is that the magazines seem to be brought over here by SUP - or something even slower - as they arrive over a month after they've come out in The States...

Everyone should subscribe to The Surfer's Journal. Now. (Or go and buy a coffee in The Corner Bistro because they tend to have a copy in their magazine rack.)

Clarifying

2011-03-01T13:08:00.001Z

When you start surfing you already have images: I pictured Kelly Slater in the tube, eighties boards with fluorescent graphics and 60's cartoons of happy Californians riding longboards, smiling and waving at the chicks on the beach.

As you learn and improve you slowly erase those preconceptions and replace them with experiences of your own.

Yesterday's surf was one of my best. Not because of anything spectacular but because of clarity. I'd had a busy, landlocked, half-term week of driving, visiting and working. I needed to get out in the water again to clear my thoughts. And finally, the beauty of paddling out, catching a few waves, being in the water with the rainbows and fellow neoprene-heads without surfy wannabe thoughts was sensational.

As you cultivate your surfing experience the tastes become deeper and more complex. But you're also clarifying and distilling.

My thoughts of thruster ripping quickly dissolved as I started surfing and were replaced by the fantasy of surfing 'cool' little fish. Now I'm surfing my little 5'10 Speed Dialler that weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Everyone tells you not to be snobbish about boards - but you can't be told. You have to learn it for yourself so you can feel it. One of my best surfs recently was back on my 7'0 Diplock thruster. When conditions get tricky I'm now happy to admit (because I've been in the water and felt the frustration) that my little fish is not the best thing. In some overhead waves I probably wouldn't have caught anything on the fish - but with the extra paddle power of the Diplock I got my biggest waves to date. This was a board I was going to sell. That I'd fallen out of love with. Fallen out of love - because of style/fashion/image and not because of the actual surfing experience. Now I've managed to erase those feelings things have become clearer. The Diplock's going nowhere... except in the water with me on the days that it'll be the best choice.

I look forward to surfing more shapes and erasing more and more preconceptions and misconceptions. Learning more by rubbing out the shit.

Yesterday, in those little 2-3ft waves I felt a freedom in surfing that was more and meant more than I've experienced before (the combination of escaping the life-sludge and the surf-sludge at the same time). We all know we're often more prisoners of our own minds than anything else. It's just funny that when you can't surf you're desperate to be walking down the beach with a cool little surfboard. And as soon as you can surf? If the surf's up, you're happy with almost any surfable stick under your arm or on your head.

So get out there and erase. Wipeout. It's as much about wiping out as it is about writing on the wave.

As a wise old shampoo bottle once told me: add, rinse and repeat as necessary.

Woolacombe Today

2011-02-17T09:19:00.000Z

Recon

2011-02-16T17:15:00.000Z

An Alchemical Surf

2011-02-11T11:23:00.003Z

Large swells yesterday - the limits of my ability. I felt physically scared in the water but then dropped into probably the biggest wave of my life and the alchemy happened: fear into stoke.

This alchemical etching perfectly illustrates the moment!? Hot liquid golden stoke... with seagulls watching and serpents in my hands I rose up and flew. Sitting in the water you feel like flotsam, like foam-fodder waiting for a pounding. When your sliding along the face every chemical in your body tells you - this is the best place to be. Now I really know what the phrase the safety of the shoulder is all about.

Get the Boooooaaaaaaards Rrrrrrrrready!

2011-02-10T09:42:00.000Z

Treasure

2011-02-08T17:38:00.000Z

...marks the spot.

A Piece of Eight: the centre piece.

Where am I Now, In Surfing?

2011-01-27T16:53:00.000Z

Chatting with surfers over the last year-a-half I have, a few times, been told of 'the plateau'. A place where you feel you're not really improving. Somewhere you reach as an 'intermediate' surfer.

I think I'm somewhere like that. My surfing seems to have improved little over the last couple of months. Improvement has, at least, become more incremental. It's a little frustrating after having seen rapid advances at first. However, actually it's a beautiful place... wherever I am. I can finally see more of the expanse of surfing. I have surfing experiences, tastes and knowledge stored up. I can see for miles and I know that building off this expansive plateau of averageness rise the goals of hang-tens and tube rides.

Many of my goals I've already achieved: standing up, green waves, head-high waves, duck-dives, hang-fives, shorter boards, longer boards, icy days and dawnys. (In fact I've already had better rides than I ever thought I'd have when I took up surfing at the ripe old age of forty.)

My immediate goals: consistency (stop falling off when popping up for chrissake!!!), get good enough to surf with style and poise. Get more into those turns. Do a roundhouse cutback.

My long term aims: hang-tens, get barrelled and create some good surf influenced art to try and give something back.

When I started surfing it was just a foamball of blinding fun. Now I can see all the way from Eddie Aikau to Miki Dora to Archy to Richard Kenvin and Tyler Warren. From the ancient Hawaiian Olo's & Alaias to Bob Simmons, Dale Velzy, Bob McTavish, Tom Wegener etc etc etc... Pipeline, Hossegor, Teahupoo, Santa Cruz, Noosa, Thurso - all mean something (I never realised you could actually recognise waves!). I've got an idea what logging's all about and where the techniques draw themselves from, ideas about smooth fishy fun and the momentum of thruster ripping. Knowledge and experience have finally fueled me to a great place. I feel like a pianist who's learned to play Chopsticks and can now see how much it's gonna take to play the Goldberg Variations.

Basically... stoked to be on the plateau! (If that is where I am, that is.)

Looks like there's a little swell coming. Better get on it...

Sketchbook Drawing

2011-01-23T18:00:00.001Z

A Summer Surf... In Winter!?

2011-01-19T17:02:00.002Z

I spoke prematurely. The swell lasted into today with slick little glassy swells running into the Gate at low tide. It was a curiously summery surf. Logging fun, lovely, friendly clean little waves and hot, hot sun! I had to take my hood off, it was soooo warm. A couple of friends and just a few more in the water made it clear it wasn't summer at all.

Today, apart from just enjoying myself, I tried to concentrate on trying to gain some smoothness along the wave. Managed a quick cheater five though. It's really nice to be at a stage when I can really enjoy surfing, sliding, rather than the challenge of surfing. On the down side I forgot to put vaseline on the wetsuit sores that have appeared on my shoulder blades. It's the first time I've suffered from wetsuit rash. If you do get it - keep on top of it with vaseline. A friend of mine told me today that he's got scars in the same spots on his shoulders from letting it get too bad.

As if in acknowledgement to the unseasonal feeling – a pink ghost flower has seemed to blossom out of the sun in this photograph I took.

When I got in I watched this to remind myself I'm just a kook and see how it should be done:

Joel Tudor's Duct Tape Invitational at Steamer Lane looked awesome! Anyone know if there's any more footage apart from the three or four clips I've found on YouTube? Alex Knost came away the competition winner (on a board he'd shaped himself) but it looks like a mountain of stoke was cooked up and shared out to everyone...

Swells-End

2011-01-18T17:25:00.000Z

It's a warm yet melancholy place. Aching shoulders, thoughts of good waves, the bad times and then a friendly fun sign-off surf today...

"Idiosyncrasies" by Patrick Trefz

2011-01-10T12:18:00.013Z

After surfing eight days running from Boxing Day, which is a clear record for me, I was feeling surfed out. Knackered. Aching. And my sore throat / coughy / head-cold was certainly not getting better. A few recuperative days out of the water would be a good idea. What better time for "Idiosyncrasies" to slap itself through the letterbox.

I jammed it into the DVD player, eager to watch the bit with Richard Kenvin (the reason I bought this movie), cup of tea, feet up... go...

The movie starts with a wonderful title sequence, yes, I know we've seen this kind of thing before but with the music it works brilliantly. I've watched it repeatedly since - it brings a warm smile to my mind and face. Spoiler alert, here's the movie trailer which is basically just a clip of the intro:

The Kenvin part is good to watch, although it partly just gets me excited about the Hydrodynamica project and movie that he's working on. The whole DVD is well shot and edited and draws you into these people's lives a little. It's great to see the Curren family and especially Tom Curren still ripping. Christian Beamish boat building, adventuring, surfing...

The highlight of the film for me though is the final section. "Harbour Bill" (Bill Mulcoy) became renowned in the late 70's for illegaly surfing a wave that had been 'created' by the US army's construction work at Santa Cruz harbour. In 1977 the Harbourmaster (Brian Foss) made it illegal to surf the wave, however, Bill and some other surfers kept sneaking in and then legging it when the Harbourmaster or army came after them. Bill became known as "Harbour Bill" and surfers wouldn't leak his real name until an unwitting reporter put it in an article in Surfer magazine. Though Bill Mulcoy was arrested and charged, all charges were later dropped. Bill is quite a character sitting with his blazing white hair and moustache recounting unrealistic stories of paddling five miles to escape his pursuers. The most inspiring thing, especially to me having started surfing at the tender age of forty, is to see Bill surfing boards with lengths that match his age: 61 on a 6'1! Maybe he'll finally be riding 9'8 logs when he's 98...

The Mulcoy section finishes the DVD with Bill and his son Josh getting some great barrels. What a wave - Josh's last! A curious fast sucky wave with a heavy lip and Josh trims along the bottom of it like he's on rails. Like his Dad left him a trail to follow...

I love the film. It's not the longest film in the world, nor does it have the most surfing, but I think it's warm, well constructed, interesting and beautiful.

Here's a link to Patrick Trefz's Idiosyncrasies web page.

2011: The Year of The Museum of British Surfing

2011-01-05T10:23:00.002Z

So it's 2011 and the year that the Museum of British Surfing will open it's doors. Pete Robinson's been throwing his heart and soul in to the project since 2003 and now, thanks to all his (and his friends') efforts we are due to be the recipients of Europe's first surf museum. Right here in Braunton - the surfing hub of our Westcountry surfiness.

The museum is due to be opening in late May. Although the project will not be opening on quite as grand a scale as Pete had originally envisioned the location of the museum is perfect. As I understand it the museum will be a centre for exhibiting parts of the collection at a time whilst other parts go off on surfari in travelling exhibitions around the country.

One of the best things to happen to me since I started surfing was the opportunity of helping Mat Stillo at Goto11 build the new website at www.museumofbritishsurfing.org.uk - partly stemming from a combo of me donating a couple of 80's wetsuits to Pete (Gul windsurfing wetties, one particularly garish!) and a chance meeting with a friend of Mat's in the surf (thanks Steve).

What we're getting here shouldn't be underestimated. Not only has Pete amassed a wonderful collection of surf clutter, but the museum will be a wonderful asset to the community and North Devon as a whole.

Happy New Year everyone and cheers Pete!

If you don't follow the Museum of British Surfing on Facebook already then follow this link and do it!

Hmmm...

2010-12-15T10:44:00.000Z

Colony 13 Stars

2010-11-30T12:17:00.001Z

The postman just delivered me an early Christmas present...

...a t-shirt from Mac at Colony 13 Stars in California. Mac got in touch after spying my blog from across the pond. It's not completely random: he used to live in London and surf Croyde and our other local beaches whenever possible. He's now started a surfy t-shirt business and writes a blog colony13stars.blogspot.com

The t-shirt is 100% Organic Cotton which is great and should be what all t-shirts are made from. Cotton crops currently account for about 10-16% of global pesticide use (I've read differing figures) despite taking up less than 3% of the world's agricultural land. Everyone should choose to buy organic cotton whenever possible.

There was a nice sketch and a note: "Go surf Croyde Bay for me." All I can say is I'd love to but have a quick look at the webcam Mac! It's as flat as a bleedin' ice rink out there. If there's a wave it's because a sea-bird has just settled on the water!

Cheers for the t-shirt!

Not Every Day is a New Board Day!

2010-11-27T18:33:00.002Z

Picked up a secondhand Gulf Stream 5'10 Speed Dialler today. Totally stoked! The very next wave - over knee high - that hits these shores is gonna have me on it!!!

(Actually, there is a little nervousness as I'm aware it could be too small for me but fingers crossed it's not...)

Treasure Your Stick

2010-11-20T09:27:00.000Z

I had another great session on Friday in clean 2-3ft waves on the 6' Quad Fish. Gonna have to very sadly hand it back now. Last night I dreamt I was buying a lovely new glossy Quad. There's good and bad in this. You've got to enjoy the new feelings of a different board with different qualities, however, you mustn't forget the pleasures of your old stick and the simplicity of sliding from A to B whatever you're on. All you need is a mangy old Mal to have a load of splashy surfy fun. Whatever it is: treasure your stick and don't let board lust spoil what you have. (Easier said than done!)

Thou Shalt Have a Fish and Thou Shalt Have a Fin...

2010-11-16T11:16:00.003Z

Thou shalt fill your boots when the swell comes in!

The tail-end of the weekend (that my surfing 'came of age'?):

A truly rocking weekend! On Saturday I had the session of my life: overhead waves at Combesgate, lumpy, some pretty clean and enough to make me pretty nervous. Normally on a day like this I'd maybe get one good ride but this Saturday I got loads. Some bottom turns out on the flats and then back up on waves big enough to make me slightly fearful for the whole ride!

Here's the thing - the last few weeks I've been concentrating on Yoga stretches and Pilates and stuff and this weekend it payed off big time as my popping up has got noticably smoother and easier. Improve your surfing on dry land, my middle-aged friends, with a few 'physical jerks'. Neil Clifton also gave me this tip one day: do press-ups every time you go for a piss. That's a good one too, though sometimes difficult to follow (when in the pub, for example).

Then came Monday's dawny...

Jools at Gulf Stream had suggested I try out a 6ft Speed Dialler of theirs (I thought 6ft would be too small but he said to give it a go). On Sunday I popped into the shop and Skelly handed it over.

Monday 6.15am I threw off the warm comfort of bed and lurched into the bathroom. Wetsuit on, water, banana, board, wax, towel.

As I drove down to Combesgate I felt like an idiot. What if the sun didn't come up? What if there were no waves? I drove round Woolacombe once to get the car's heater's pumping and get me warmed up. Sat in the car looking at the blackness, vague lines hinted at waves and a slight blueness coming to the sky in the East.

Out, wax-up, I jogged zig-zagging across the sand to the water and did some stretches. As I walked in I could see the beautiful waves that awaited me: 2-4ft, occasional head-high, clean as a whistle. I looked at the little Quad Fish "this is perfect for you and me little buddy," I said aloud. Christ I hope I can surf this.

The fish paddled nicely, felt small as it sank under the water when I sat on it. It was curiously hard for me to duck-dive as I've got used to pushing my 7ft board with my foot. At 6ft this board's too short for that and needs a knee or some other technique that I'll have to work out. Anyway, I found my spot and waited. I paddled for one wave - the board felt ready to go more easily than I thought it would be - but I missed the wave anyway. And the next. The third wave peaked just right and the fish leapt at the chance.

Pure, electric, unadulterated stoke! Liquid treasure. Unbelievable. I haven't felt quite this feeling since my first green wave. Good-grief: the board flew along the deliciously clean wave as if floating on a layer of butter! It was like a magic carpet. This isn't surfing - this is floating! Flying! I was immediately way past the shoulder, I turned toward the beach and then powered into a bottom turn that had a really firm, smooth, powerful feel. Those feelings, that ride, will live on and on. As I paddled out I thanked Jools for shaping this lovely thing. This fishy is certainly more than a little dishy! When the swell comes in...

There were more rides, more bottom turns, more kookishly missed waves and tumbling pop-ups. But this, this is the experience you want from surfing. Speed, glide, power and control. This little board has so much more beauty (or is it character?) than my 7ft thruster. It feels 'stiffer' in the turn but the glide - aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! The ride just tasted better.

When you get your first green wave it's a joy, but beginning to surf like this, after the persistence and effort it takes, is a joy with ever increasing richness.

The Usual Suspects

2010-11-11T13:51:00.000Z

I must start to venture further afield soon...

Kookamamie Lunchbreak

2010-11-03T14:20:00.001Z

Why? Why did I decide to paddle out at Woolacombe this lunchtime? Of all the crackpot, ridiculous, kookamamie ideas! I was instantly reminded that as an early intermediate surfer I am still one quick wrong turn away from Kookville. From turning into a hideous, dead-end, Kook-de-Sac. Half an hour of humiliating splashing about in a great load of foam where every duck-dive was rewarded by another wall of whitewater smashing you in the face. I could see it was a bad idea as I trudged in like a condemned man. Overhead on the outside and a hundred yards of foam inbetween. Can't believe I'm still making pigs-ear of simply deciding when and were. Desperation to get in the water can be a very bad thing.

A wet arse and no fish, as they say...

Clean Fun

2010-11-01T14:03:00.000Z

Having not taken any photographs I couldn't think how to describe the fabulous clean 3-5ft fun waves we were treated to yesterday. Turning to drawing it just took the piece of paper...

The most exciting piece of paper in the world?

It's easy, at my intermediate stage, to confuse great surf with having a great surf. Yesterday it took the whole session before I caught and rode the ride I'd been fantasizing about the whole time I was out. You've got to find your feet and direction so fast that it's real easy to get outrun by the wave. Finally I dropped into one just right and sped along the building shoulder - so clean and smooth it was absolute surfing pleasure!

I've been thinking about moves - bottom turns and cutbacks - but on larger waves I've got to step back and learn to optimize my speed and position. Ride that wave. And I mean that wave. I think most people have the idea that a surfer drops into a wave and then does whatever moves he or she wants. Once you surf you know that the wave shapes your ride as much as you do.

Everyone was filling their boots. Quads, thrusters, fish, Simmons-y shapes, logs: all comers where flying around doing what they should be doing... until the sun legged it - far, far too early - over the horizon.

(It was perhaps a bit busy though; I'm dreading what's going to happen when the webcam that's been installed at Combesgate is live.)

Fear and Loathing in North Devon

2010-10-31T07:53:00.000Z

That was the best pic I could grab on my phone the other day at Puts. If that front wave's overhead...

The biggest waves and 'scariest' conditions I've gone out in so far. Howling offshores made it really hard. There was chop rising up the face of the waves half the time and every time you tried to catch one you were blinded. I could only imagine the moment being illustrated by Ralph Steadman.

Here's the bigger picture:

I got out by the rocks (thanks for the advice Sir) and returned in by the rocks (pretty hairy at high tide!) Glad to be in one piece after some crucial duckdives and encountering head-and-a-half waves. As I have experienced before though when heading out in pretty challenging conditions, I sadly didn't get a decent ride. A couple of up-and-tumbles and that was it. Another no-wave day! I hung my head in shame all the way home. Do 'no wave days' happen to everyone?

I think everyone was finding it pretty tricky - if it wasn't for the hatefully strong wind...

Morte Point

2010-10-18T18:38:00.000+01:00

Morte Point is one of my favourite places to run, walk or sit and think.

A beautiful antidote to surf-starvation. And, sadly, it doesn't look like there's going to be much surf to shake a stick at for a week at least.

Explore.org

2010-10-16T10:37:00.004+01:00

I recently received an email from Explore.org. They run an interesting and valuable site. They describe themselves as "a multimedia organization that documents leaders around the world who have devoted their lives to extraordinary causes. Both educational and inspirational, explore creates a portal into the soul of humanity by championing the selfless acts of others." So have a look! As a bonus, if you follow the link in the following text you can have a shot at winning a surfboard. (Nothing like a chance of a prize to lure you in!)

Anyway thanks Jon, for the heads-up to what you're all up to, and keep up the good work.

This is a copy of the email I received which contains the competition link:

My name’s Jon and I’m writing from explore.org.

We’ve recently teamed up with Jack Johnson to create the ‘Capture Your Commitment’ Campaign in order to create positive global change.

I’m writing to let you know that you can now be apart of the community by signing up at explore.org/jack-johnson and help achieve sustainable change.

We’ll be giving away daily prizes like Jack Johnson’s newest CD, ‘To the Sea,’ and $25 iTunes gift cards.
Also, our grand prize is a custom surfboard signed by Jack.

We would love it if you could share this info with your readers.
Thanks very much, and remember, an individual action, multiplied by millions, creates global change!

Best,

Jon Kolker
explore.org

You can follow Explore.org on Facebook too.

Wrongboarding

2010-10-04T17:48:00.001+01:00

We know about Shortboarding and Longboarding. But what about Wrongboarding? We all know that howling feeling at the water's edge when we realise the right board for the conditions is sitting somewhere out of reach!

I seem to have unwittingly become some kind of serial wrongboarder.

Today I paddled into 1-2ft clean waves... on my thruster. My wife wanted to have a go at surfing today and asked to use the longboard. I met CP in the water. His first question: "where's your longboard?" At least I had a reasonable excuse today.

Usually, it's because of not having a secure way to store the log on the car: I have to decide at home which board to take with me. Log or thruster? Almost as often as not I end up paddling out on what I think is the wrong choice.

Looking about there are an awful lot of wrongboarders. Learners on shortboards being the obvious main example.

The other day I was dropped in on by a guy on a blue soft-top. Judging by his technique and casual style he was a pretty good surfer (albeit with questionable etiquette) and must've borrowed the board, I assumed, in some kind of last ditch emergency. I now wonder if it might have been for fun! He might be a deliberate wrongboarder.

Perhaps wrongboarding is some kind of pleasurable surfing perversion?

Ah - something get a kick out of - eh!? Kenvin playing on his retro Simmons experiments, Rastovich surfing Waimea on an Alaia, Tyler Warren surfing anything that floats... well, I guess 'wrongboarding' can be fun!

One Percent for the Planet

2010-10-01T10:54:00.000+01:00

[one percent] of the story from 1% for the Planet on Vimeo.

Whether you've heard of the 1% for the Planet organisation or not it's probably worth watching this short movie about it. If you run a business then please think about becoming part of it. My business is now a member and will be donating to support Surfers Against Sewage this year.

From 1% for the Planet's website:
Not long ago, a mountain climber and a fisherman realized they had a lot more in common than a disdain for wearing a suit to work. Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, were also passionate environmentalists that happened to be running successful businesses. More important, they understood it was good business to protect the natural resources that kept them in business. And the rest is history...

Don't Be a Dick

2010-09-28T18:01:00.001+01:00

From Doug Werner's "Guide to Longboard Surfing" comes perhaps the best bit of surfing advice that I have read so far: don't be a dick!

To provide a bit of context he's talking about surfing etiquette in general and specifically about the longboarder who sits on the outside hogging all the waves and not letting the shortboarders have a fair share of the spoils:

"As a longboarder you must make a decision to be either a dick or a decent surfing citizen."

Nice one Doug! Straight to the point and brought a smile to my face...

Apart from that the little book's not got all that much depth to it (it covers learning from scratch). But I'm happy to devour any information and tips that I can get my hands on at the moment. There was a pretty useful little bit about cross-stepping that has helped me in the water for sure. I just liked the fun way it was written too and it only cost a couple of quid, second hand, so it was a good buy just to get a few nuggets of wisdom from.

I Just Love Surfing

2010-09-27T10:06:00.000+01:00

Tricky days and the dark burden of life's miserable network of admin.
Daily, hourly, trudging through the life-sludge.

The light glints through the door - opening - to the chance of a surf,
The cool rush of anticipation breaks through your head like an icy internal wave.

I love picking up my board.
I love packing my wax, towel, wetsuit.
I love leaving.
I love feeling the wet sand... the first steps into the water...
...the first waves jumping excitedly round your legs like friendly dogs.

And on, and paddling, shoulders warming, smiles at the ready...
Shimmering, sparkling, transluscent waves.
I look back to the shore and the theatre of rainbows,
in the flamboyant plumes of spray.

"Hello mate. Been out long? It's lookin' good."
"About an hour. There are longish lulls but some nice sets coming through."

Sit, catch my breath, watch, wait, like a wave fisherman.

And... here comes the swell,
To ruffle my surfing feathers.

Let My People Go Surfing

2010-09-19T15:20:00.000+01:00

If you're wondering what to read next - read this.

I've just finished "Let My People Go Surfing" by Yvon Chouinard and it's a great read and inspirational. My ignorance meant that I knew Patagonia as a 'quality' outdoor clothing manufacturer, however, I had no idea of its roots and the extent of its environmental philosophy and activism.

Thanks Mikey in Loose Fit for recommending it one day. I strolled aimlessly in and he immediately said "I know what you've come in for."
"Eh? Er...what?" I asked.
"This..." he said as he took me dynamically across the shop floor and slapped a copy of Yvon Chouinard's book into my hands. I didn't buy it that moment - but soon after.

The book describes how Yvon Chouinard came to found Patagonia. He talks about his upbringing, his getting into climbing, manufacturing and then (reluctantly) business. The core of the book is about Patagonia's philosophy as a manufacturer that puts quality and harming the enviroment as little as possible first. Patagonia has put millions of dollars into enviromental concerns and activism as well as making their working environment as 'human' as possible: with children and nurseries on site, flexible working hours so their employees can go surfing when the wind is offshore & the tide's right and organic foods and china mugs in the canteen.

The book chronicles their successes and failures, highs and lows, their pioneering use of organic cotton and how the company nearly went under in the mid-seventies due to a run of defective 'rugby' shirts. One of the main focuses is how Patagonia will go to great lengths (and costs) to do what they think is right rather than be driven by economy. That said, Chouinard constantly stresses that all of his environmentally based decisions have turned out profitable.

This book is a combination of biography and business model but will be interesting to anyone - as we are all consumers - and even more so to those with more than a passing interest in nature and the future of our planet. As a result of reading this book I will be signing my little computer graphic business up to 1% For the Planet and donating to Surfers Against Sewage. (And I would suggest that other business owners, however small, do the same.)

Any jacket manufacturer who says your first consideration when purchasing a new jacket should be 'do I really need a new jacket?' has got to be good.

Second Picture of Me Surfing...

2010-09-17T18:29:00.001+01:00

Kooking around in the mess at Woolacombe – a full fifteen months after the last picture! Thanks for grabbing a pic Brian. At least it's some little proof that this isn't all made up.

Sweet. (And a new surfing goal...)

2010-09-06T14:18:00.002+01:00

Saw the swell coming and thought it time to test myself on a shorter board. Booked a 6'4 Webber Afterburner from Tiki's test centre. 30 litres (12.5" - 20" - 14.5" x 2.5"thick) of paddling hell and duck-diving pleasure. Smaller than I thought: even less volume than Webber's "The One" shortboard, not as 'fishy' as I expected (its supposed 'fishiness' was why I chose it). My friend Steve and I paddled into the water towards the Puts end of Woolacombe.

The board just had too little volume for me. I was nervous about how small it felt and slipped on my first couple of pop-ups. Then I dropped into a juicy, clean, overhead wave and it fekkin' flew! Had the ride of my surfing life. Made sections I didn't expect to with a little pressure on the front foot. Was surprised to like my back foot's comforting little 'home' on the tailpad. The the speed, the liveliness, the noise, the lip was right by my ear as I spent the whole ride right in the pocket. It was like being chased by some kind of terrible sea-monster! At one point I saw the lip curling over in front of me and was surprised to make it past, the wave sucked up foam, I cut out and nearly blew my own ears out shouting & hooting.

I can't tell you, all surfers will know the feeling - that wave's gonna live with me for a good long while. The swell was great this weekend. Bet I was one among many who had a best-ever-wave-day.

Had another, smaller session at Combesgate on Saturday - my 'catchment area' was drastically reduced by the slower paddling and as a result was catching about a third of the amount of waves that I would on my 7ft Diplock. More volume would have been better - but I loved the feeling of it when riding. Going shorter is clearly all about trade-offs but at my age I can't afford to knacker my shoulder muscles within half an hour of paddling out.

Friday's wave was - as I think about it now - more than I ever thought I'd surf when I took up surfing, at 40, sixteen months ago. I now have a surfing goal that I originally thought so impossible that I never before even considered it: before I die I want to get barrelled. Maybe this is a fancy of a deliriously stoked surfer. Very probably, but we'll see.

On the way home I found a packet of Starburst Sours in my pocket that I'd forgotten I'd bought (while I was in a sweet shop with my daughter earlier in the day). Perfect to blast the salt off my gums! I've never enjoyed sweets more in my entire life. Had to keep pulling over on the way home to unwrap the little devils like an over-excited crack addict.

Gulp!

2010-09-03T16:01:00.002+01:00

As if to Confirm My Last Post...

2010-08-31T12:43:00.003+01:00

...yesterday's one star, one foot surf forecast on Magic Seaweed meant that I nearly missed the unbelievable blue sky, clean, overhead conditions at The Gate yesterday. The beaches must have been firing all over the North Devon coast with the line-ups emptier than they might have been due to the misleading swell forecasts. Where the hell did the swell come from?!

This snap I took on the way home doesn't do justice to some of the sets that were coming through. At one point I got caught on the inside and the whole bay was closed out with a 5-10 minute wait for a lull to get back out.

This was, for me, a big experience in many ways. I quickly rediscovered the limits of my surfing: ageing shoulders (limits that can easily be forgotten on small / logging days) and, though my duck-diving technique has improved a lot recently, I just can't duck-dive deep enough when an overhead wave breaks just in front of me.

The tiredness is the worst. I watched a young (early 20's?) surfer, who I see out all the time, paddling all over the bay catching tons of waves. A couple of good surfers, older than me, smoothly choosing their moment and enjoying the fine swells with grace and technique. I sat, chronologically somewhere in between, but without either the energy or skill to make the most of the conditions (gimme a break though - I've only been surfing 15 months). On the bright side, during my first hour out I dropped into - and rode - about five or six large waves. On the biggest - turning into and punching through the wave as it closed out. I was stoked and quite proud of myself. As I popped-up on the largest of them and felt the rail grip as I dropped in I remember clearly having the thought that when I started I didn't really see myself ever surfing a wave like this - and, essentially, what a curious position it was to find myself in!

Then after getting caught on the inside for a while and a few duck-dives I couldn't help myself and just sat too far out. In my heart-of-hearts I knew that my energy had lapsed below the required level for properly taking part in waves like this - but it was nice to stay there for a while paddling about. I caught one more big old wave, which closed out so I surfed the whitewater in.

What a day though. A day that came from nowhere...

The Dangers of Stargazing

2010-08-27T11:05:00.001+01:00

And so, due to a lack of paying attention to other signs, due to relying on my watching of the stars on Magic Seaweed, due to not reading the pressure maps for myself, blind optimism and not opening my eyes properly: I found myself, in my wetsuit, at Saunton Sands at 6.30 this morning. The 3ft clean lines I'd been so excited about for days hadn't turned up. It was like being stood up on a date.

After so many weeks of surfy mish-mash and a fun warm-up in clean 1-2ft waves at The Gate yesterday I was sooooooo looking forward to this morning. I returned home dry, reeking of sweaty wetuit fug and depressed.

Let's hope the optimistic forecast for the end of next week brings something fun...

Peripheral Evidence

2010-08-17T21:11:00.000+01:00

I would like, one day, to be able to post some pics of me surfing. Until that day comes these pics my brother-in-law snapped on his visit will have to do...

Standard Stoppages

2010-08-16T16:15:00.007+01:00

Who - stole the surf away?

Waves - make me dream all day...

Dreams that seem can never come true,

seems as though I'll ever be blue.

During these weeks of poor to zero surf my thoughts keep returning to two things: I keep humming Jerome Kern's song "Who" - but with a longing for surf as the new subject - and Marcel Duchamp's artwork "Standard Stoppages".

Duchamp dropped metre long pieces of string from a metre high and glued them in whatever shape they fell. Like photographs: they are little frozen moments in time. The string's undulating flatness reminds me of the lack of force/pressure that we're experiencing at the moment. The blue background: sea and sky. The waves (as Duchamp put it "the metre diminished") represent the influence of time on appearance. The 'stoppages' are like cross-sections or film frames. They make me think about surfing: all the shapes that each wave moves through as it slips us towards shore.

I'm learning now that surfing has its 'Standard Stoppages'. Especially in summer. Every so often things will conspire to keep you out of the water for a while. Or at least out of decent waves. I feel like my development, at it's most exciting time (when I'm just really learning to ride the waves), has been forcibly frozen.

The other day, for the first time in weeks, there were suddenly beautiful clean 2-3ft waves at Combesgate. I put my wetsuit on, threw my bag in the car and shut the door to put the board on top: the car then seized the moment and locked itself! It was like some dreadful Herbie Doesn't Want You to Go Surfing nightmare. Keys and mobile phone in the car. Locked out of the flat. After finding a fantastically helpful neighbour to give me a lift around Woolacombe, until we managed to get hold of a spare key from the flat's manager, I got into the water two hours later. Two hours too late. The moment was well and truly gone. I sat in the remnants of surf, surrounded by happy, screaming, boogie-boarders and honestly: I could almost have cried.

I think we've all got half an eye on Friday's surf report for something... anything... fingers crossed!

Five Toes Over the Nose!

2010-08-08T19:39:00.001+01:00

...for the first time today. Saunton - early. Sacks of stoke mined! Day and date noted.

And I did it a few times - one nice one crouching for a few seconds. Then went and surfed faster, glassy, shimmering, friendly, beautiful walls at The Gate in my boardshorts until it got too crowded.

Actually I was more excited by a balanced fade towards the whitewater and then turn back into trim and move towards the nose - the kind of longboard control that I'd love to get nailed.

A good day! Unexpected glass after a lot of mess and some great loggin' fun.

Then sadly watched Alex Knost's board getting pounded under the pier at Huntington Beach in the US Open of Surfing (grabbed this image from their live feed):

It was a perfect demonstration of the dangers of leashless surfing. To the pained wails of the commentators Knost's board bounced around against the mussel encrusted pier's pillars. You could almost taste the crunching glass and foam.

Scruffy Saunton Surf

2010-07-30T12:07:00.001+01:00

Had a scruffy old surf at Saunton yesterday. But: sometimes having little or no expectations leads to good times. Though the small waves were a mess - taking one was like entering a bleedin' lottery - I had good fun and was just happy to be back in the water with stinging eyes. Caught some reasonable rides amongst the waves that disappeared, closed-out or otherwise conspired to baffle and confuse. Those good rides shone out like jewels because of the chaos around. That reminds me of a book I read years ago: "The Magic Christian" written by Terry Southern. In the book the protagonist fills an enormous swimming pool size vat with excrement and money and advertises "free money". Everyone jumps in. I suppose that's a bit like my surf yesterday.

There's nothing like messy conditions to mess-up your surfing, mess with your head and make you reassess your opinion of your own surfing ability. So while I was out there, thinking about what a kook I was being, I wondered what stage I was at this time last year?

Now I come to look back I was away from the surf, suffering a twisted knee and was just catching my first green waves. Seems an awful long time ago! But a nostalgic boost to me to realize that I caught so many rides yesterday that were a million times better than anything I'd ridden one year ago.

Right, I'm off to work on a mantra because the surf forecast is looking rather gloomy...

So Many Firsts (Sly and the Family Stoke!)

2010-07-25T19:36:00.040+01:00

First No.1: I surfed in boardies for the first time today! What a great feeling. I had a neoprene vest though. A neoprene vest (I've got a Billabong foil) is just the ticket at mid-day in summer. The water shoots through it though, let me tell you! When you fall in it's like you're not wearing anything. A cold flush to raise the eyebrows every time. It keeps you warm while you're up so great for a longboarding lunchtime surf. As I found a longish wave amongst the mess at Combesgate I mined a pretty quantity of boardie-fuelled summery stoke!

First No.2: Sarah, my wife, stood up a number of times and caught her first waves by herself. Stoke rained down.

First No.3: Matilda, my daughter, used her new boogie-board for the first time and caught her first waves. One particularly choice wipe-out brought a few tears. But she was still stoked!

The collective family stoke mined this lunchtime was many megatons!

It was a beautiful day...

Fleur de Surf

2010-07-21T16:38:00.001+01:00

Here's a little pyrography that I did today. The design is based on the Fleur-de-Lis but with thoughts only about logging.

A Sweet and Sour Surf

2010-07-20T10:17:00.004+01:00

Got up at 6.30 this morning to get down to Combesgate early. The waves were bigger at 'the Pipe' than Combesgate so I decided to go out there. (I call this break 'Martinis' to myself, because it's in front of Gin Cove).

There were some pretty big sets coming through - I know I've got in trouble before by mentioning sizes but I think there were definitely some waves of about 7ft, from trough to feathery peak. But immediate gloom: as soon as I started to paddle out I could feel my left shoulder was really weak and hurting. Guess I've over done it surfing every day for the last few days.

First wave I went for I caught my biggest ever wave. It felt different - its heftiness was almost like surfing a bit of landscape rather than water! I scooted along it nicely - surprising myself that I was in some control even though it was a bit choppy. It reminded my of my windsurfing days as the board thudded along the water. As I cut out of it I was halfway up the wave before my eyes got over the lip. I was ecstatic. Mainly because I had caught what was for me a 'breakthrough wave' and I already knew this surf was going to be cut short by my pathetic shoulder.

Next wave I missed. I know the mantra: don't go for the first wave in a set. But I did. Then I got munched by about five massive waves (my first duck-dive wasn't nearly deep enough!). I've sketched this cartoon to show what it felt like:

When you think about it learning to surf is a pretty cartoony experience: "If.. I... I... c-can just reach my board... Grrrrrrruggh!!!" etc.

I paddled straight in to the beach knowing that was it. With a feeble left arm there was no way I could sensibly compete in sets like that. I tried Combesgate for twenty minutes because it was smaller, easier. It was also a lot choppier and unbelievable that it was only a couple of hundred yards from where I had been. Felt a world apart. I quickly gave in. It was the best of days and the worst of days: pride and excitement in properly riding a pretty large wave mixed with utter disappointment in my decrepit shoulder joint.

It was nice to look back though and see a few surfers having fun though!

Wonderful Lunch at Putsborough

2010-07-18T21:33:00.000+01:00

Puts today hid us from the southerly and offered up some juicy clean swells at high tide. An unexpected delight after my previous surf here and the less than optimistic surf forecast. When we turned the corner and looked down from the top the sight of lush waves instead of the 1ft mess I was expecting I nearly shot through the roof!

It's always busy on days like this though but I was just happy to immediately lay to rest the spectre of my last Puts experience. Looking forward to tomorrow. (Interesting too to know it can be really good at high tide because I've had some bad high tide times there.)

The way my new 9'8 catches the waves is so graceful and smooth it's such a pleasure! The different technique to turn and trim is a challenge I'm relishing. I'm so fickle: I wished I'd brought my 'shortboard' when I saw the waves. When I got out there I enjoyed the log so much. To be honest - I'd have loved it out on my old Mini Mal. You can get too obsessed/distracted with boards (but, paradoxically, that obsession just adds to the pleasure, excitement and richness of it all).

World of Foam

2010-07-15T11:45:00.001+01:00

Yet another Puts paddle from Hell yesterday. All I could see in the distance was a horizon made of tubing waves and flying boards. Congratulations to everyone who made it to the outside and caught one yesterday evening!

It was like a sea of Matey.

So why go in fully knowing you're never going to get out back? I wasn't the only one: so there must be something significant about pushing on and undertaking an impossible task. I guess you just have to experience these knock-backs and ego-rinses to shuffle your attitude and outlook (and learn more from experiencing failure than by not taking part).

Pyrography - Drawing into the Surface

2010-07-13T11:16:00.000+01:00

I'm becoming a pyromaniac! Pyrography is a little bit like tattooing or branding. Getting deep into/under the surface. Surfing is all about playing with, or drawing lines into, the surface and so is drawing. I like wood as a ground and heat as the medium. Drawing with heat. But it's usually a bit of a nerdy hobbyists craft I guess - better avoid the cattle skulls and country and western graphics. The new banner for this blog was just freehand drawn this morning.

If anyone needs their Alaia decorating or having a logo put on - drop me a line!

The Golden Section

Logability: My 9'8 Gulf Stream

2010-07-12T16:57:00.002+01:00

I now have logability! A secondhand Gulf Stream 9'8 traditional noserider (Saunton Foil model) that I have just coated in a nice little-lumpy layer of Mrs Palmers longboard wax. (The jury's out on the Mrs Palmers for me - it's a bit sticky. My favourite wax so far is Terra Wax.) Can't wait for the right conditions - so far I've only paddled out on it in a miserable Wooly mess.

It's nice to have a board shaped by a local shaper/company. I have been told that Jools is a good shaper and he scrapes his shapes a couple of hundred yards away from where my daughter goes to school. Skelly was helpful in the shop in talking me through the shape and advising me as to whether or not it was the right length for me and so on (thanks!). It's got a bit of nose concave (which I wanted after trying out a similar board) round 50-50 rails, not too much nose rocker and a pivot fin.

There's some juicy information on Tom Wegener's site here about rail shapes (and more!). It's interesting that round 50-50 rails actually get sucked into the wave like when you hold the back of a spoon against a stream of water from the tap. That's how you can noseride. I was watching Picaresque yesterday and there are some underwater shots where you can almost see it happening.

So, in just over a year since I bought my Mal I now have the Mini Mal, a 7'0 Diplock thruster and a 9'8 log. I didn't realize I was signing up to this! The obsession's sunk deep. Thought's of sucky rails, nosetime, the weightless drama of a good drop-in pervade. When I close my eyes I see the corduroy lines of welling-up waves. Can't wait to be tucked into my next clean wave: hand dragging in the face and the sun glistening off it.

Surfing Bad No.15: You'd Better Catch that Sucker!

2010-07-09T11:29:00.000+01:00

When a juicy wave's gonna pick you right up - but you leave it for someone who's got rights - and then they miss it! Noooooooooooooo!!!

(And of course the reverse is even worse!)

Wave Sentinels

2010-07-06T12:03:00.000+01:00

Went on a disastrous dawn surf at Putsborough last Friday. Head-high and a killer paddle-out. I've always had my absolute worst, longest, most knackering paddle-outs at Puts.

Trudged, beaten, back to the car, glancing back now and then at the powerful surf. Some surfers were doing it. Most were sitting out back, falling into close-outs or battling the foamy inside.

When I got back to Marine Drive I was amazed to see the surf reflected beautifully in these hedgerow wave sentinels - almost ominously warning of the majestic waves below. Never noticed them before, felt spooky!

Trim and Glide: The Middle Way? The Unwobbling Pivot?

2010-06-29T18:32:00.002+01:00

While longboarding, for the first times, this month I've happened upon some sublime moments. Near the nose on one nice curling wall at Combesgate I had a particularly great ride. But it feels like more than that - doesn't it? Why can't I stop thinking about it and why does it all seem significant, rather than a simple pleasure?

Also: I've read the sarcastic phrase 'pontificating longboarder' recently (can't remember where) - why is this a cliché?

While drawing the other day and thinking about waves and wave shapes I looked up the "Golden Section". This mathematical diagram has been studied for centuries with many people believing that they have found the proportions used in the composition of many artworks (the Mona Lisa is one example). People aren't sure whether to believe the proportions have been used by artists as a definite structural plan or can simply be found in compositions that have a 'magical' aesthetic strength.

Looking further into this hypnotic wave-shape then picked me up and deposited me in the middle of Buddhism without me knowing quite how I'd got there.

My ride began by reading that the "Golden Section" derives from something called "The Golden Ratio" or, as I'd heard of it before "The Golden Mean". "The Golden Ratio" is a simple proportion to the brain but produces an irrational number which has compelled mathematicians for centuries. (You may have heard of the Fibonacci sequence which approaches nearer and nearer to the Golden Ratio as the sequence progresses.)

However, in looking this up I discovered the phrase, perhaps innately linked (in being about proportion), exists also in philosophy. The "Doctrine of the Mean" (also translated as "The Middle Way" or "Unwobbling Pivot") is one of the books of Neo-Confucian teachings. From Wikipedia:

In James Legge's translation of the text, the goal of the mean is to maintain balance and harmony from directing the mind to a state of constant equilibrium. The person who follows the mean is on a path of duty and must never leave it.

Isn't the surfer in trim on a path of duty?

Aristotle too expounded a theory called "The Golden Mean" where he described virtuosity between extremes or, opposing vices. (For example courage lying in between cowardice and recklessness.) In surfing you could take cowardice to be sitting doing nothing and recklessness to be ripping the wave to shreds - trim could be seen as that perfect balance in the centre?

Aristotlean philosophy apparently has a lot in common with Buddhism. In The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma (Buddha's first teaching after his enlightenment) Buddha described The Middle Way as a path of moderation between extremes. The Middle Way was, apparently, described not as a point of compromise but of higher value so more like the high point in a triangle. The achievement of The Middle Way is also described as the Nirvana or achievement of 'perfect enlightenment'.

In my experience there is something special about our moments of perfect trim, glide, balance that is akin to a Nirvana. Something that rubs out all the crap and leaves us shimmering along in a place we've never been to before. It isn't about the heady show of ripping the wave apart and, like the Buddha meditating under a fig tree for many days in order to achieve enlightenment, it takes commitment and time to get there: it's the finding of what feels like a 'right place' (like the Noble Eightfold Path: 'right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration).

Now I don't want to get carried away with myself. All this stuff is thanks to Wikipedia and the internet. I don't know all about Buddhism and so on. But that is the point. We're not all finding our Nirvana's through Buddhism but perhaps these states of mind, these philosophies and these proportions that have obsessed pulsing brains through the world and the years are akin. Perhaps we can find The Middle Way on a wave. I'm not suggesting that finding that perfect balance on the wave is of the same significance to humanity as the teachings of Buddha, Aristotle or the mathematicians who have studied The Golden Section, but I am suggesting that in trim we may be experiencing a significant harmony.

Allan C. Weisbecker writes in In Seach of Captain Zero:

"...I could remember nothing of the final couple hundred yards of the ride, except an odd sensation. I was flying and I was walking on water, yet it was also as if I were standing still—as if I were stillness itself..." and then, "Having spent so much uninterrupted time in the place and state of mind I refer to as The Glide, I had achieved a perceptual breakthrough of some sort..."

Trim and glide focuses on right position, balance and proportion (wave to board to figure) just like Buddha's Middle Way, Aristotle's Golden Mean and The Golden Ratio. Experiencing this perfect state, these beautiful proportions and balance gets us stoked! It's our Nirvana which may then may help us to be in 'right mind' as we stomp on through our modern lives. Maybe it's this transcendent experience in trim that forces the logger to get all metaphysical and pontificate like a nutter!

So there you go, one month with a log and I've become a 'pontificating longboarder'. Aw crap...

5.00am: No Parking, Sea Full of Surfers. WTF!?

2010-06-27T09:21:00.001+01:00

Off on a yawny this morning. Tried, and failed, to avoid the crowds!

At high tide it's a bit more shifty. Wave's come unnanounced, like the grim reaper, and pick people off. You're just waiting for your moment. Grab it while you can 'cos the waves are all over the place. Always over there or suddenly looming and you're on the wrong side. Or is that just me?

Patience is a virtue to the wave fisherman. Lots of sectioning going on. Got one tasty wave - but so did some other f@$7er - peeled off. Lots of looking, lots of waiting. Frantic moments, smooth moments. Sometimes the water suddenly looks soooo smooth - like it's not even the same liquid. There were all sorts of colours in the sea this morning: dark greeny/blues, whites, browns and then tropical turquoise in the breaking foam.

Something's clicked though: I'm getting my Diplock going now. Getting more waves, some really good rides, good control, some turns, some speed. Proper.

But as you slowly improve, upon reflection, the dissatisfaction persists: with every good ride you're also glimpsing a better one.

Stoke Mining with: Jazz the Glass

2010-06-24T14:57:00.002+01:00

Thanks to a globetrotting CP ah've me grubby little hands on a copy of:

Jazz the Glass made by Stoke Films. If you've not heard of the film follow the link to Stoke Films to see trailers posted on YouTube.

What they've done is taken a load of footage from Captain Kidd and dubbed over it to create a kind of story about pirates, stoke and surfing, and then they've cut it in with the actual surfing footage. I don't know the exact proportions are but I was surprised to find it's mostly dubbed storyline and less surfing.

Plenty of the surfing on it is great - particularly Chad Marshall's noseriding in blustery waves. Whether you like this DVD or not is going to depend more on your enjoyment of the dubbed sequences.

Basically if you enjoy a load of tongue-in-cheek rambling about:

kook-killing (don't take all this too seriously as a line at the end quotes Captain Blackstoke as saying "you're all kooks"),
surfin' pigs that 'trim fast and tip-ride super rad',
"four kooks dead, 47 Megatons of stoke - a good day!"
and long shouts of "get the booooooooaaaaaaaaaards reeeaady" in a piratey gravel-drawl

... then you'll like it. Unless of course it's then ruined for you by all the coarse language and sexual innuendo. But all this is supposed to be enjoying the fun that is surf language and urban slang etc. There are times when you wonder if the makers of this film think that it's all more brilliant than it really is, however, most of the time I relaxed into seeing it as just a laugh+surfing+treasure. I've been schooled on Derek and Clive and Withnail & I so I don't mind the odd splash of rich language and I am a sucker for phrases that stick in your head like "stoke mining" (nothing to do with Stoke-on-Trent) and "I got a line on some stoke... the clean shit!". I was put off by some of the 'filth' at times when it seemed too schoolboyish - but nothing's perfect and I like a bit of irreverence and something fun and a bit different (different from other surfing dvds anyway - obviously there's nothing new about dubbing over films in general for 'comedy effect').

During the surf footage I liked the black&white (or green&white) and the atmosphere it created with the music by Bobby Lurie, Cory Mcabee and featuring performances by The Billy Nayer Show. The soundtrack made a difference from the hippie/wet guitar for longboarding or pumping dance music for thruster shredding, that washes over a lot of surf stuff!

Surfers on the DVD include: Chad Marshall, Matt Wesson, Kassia Meador, Jared Mell, Mike Black, Joel Tudor, Alex Knost, Christian Wach, Dave Rastovich, Birkin Newell, Tommy Witt, Brett Simundson, John Haffey, Connor Coffin, Andrew Bennet, Rob Curtis, Adam Lambert, Chris Ward, Jamie Parkhurst, Josh Kerr, Damien Hobgood, Jen Smith Clay Marzo and Nate Yeomans.

Right, that's enough rambling on: ah've got license to shred so I'm off to mine some stoke...

Can't get enough of watching CJ Nelson at the moment...

2010-06-22T12:56:00.000+01:00

I Feel Like I've Joined a Club - A Logging Club...

2010-06-07T10:52:00.000+01:00

I am still borrowing a nice Gulf Stream log. After a few tries on it the forecast was finally for some clean 2-3ft fun so I got up on only my second 'dawn patrol' at 5.30am and was down at Saunton for 6am. My days with this board are numbered so I had to get to Saunton on the right kind of a day: to push the board out into its 'natural habitat'.

After paddling into some crowded line-ups this half-term and then staring, painfully, into a setting sun trying to see the waves coming this was fantastic: clean 2-4ft waves, a handful of surfers, a misty morning light and the vital ingredient: a 9'4 log.

I had possibly my best surf ever. Loads of waves, long rides and one particularly long ride with both feet in the nose area trimming along a great wave - maneuvered around a paddling out surfer (who gave me that stoke-sharing grin) and on, and on...

That day I got it completely - the longboard thing. I felt like I'd joined a club. Again I got a portion of a 'bastardised' Smiths track (Bigmouth) caught in my head as I paddled:

And now I know how Miki Dora felt

Now I know how Miki Dora felt, oh

As his toes cross-stepped to the nose

And his longboard started to melt

Oh ...

Logging, la ... logging, la ...

Logging strikes again...

Once it's moving the longboard comes alive in a way you can't imagine while you're lugging the monstrous amount of foam and resin down the beach. I was worried as I'd had my doubts. My confession: I took my Diplock flyer out the other day because it was easier to throw in the car and I thought that perhaps I was leaning towards shortness and would, though touching on it, not quite be won over by logging. Now I have well and truly seen the light. There was not one moment out there at Saunton where I had a pang of desire for a bit of progressive-fishery. Yep - on bigger days, perhaps. But that day the 9'4 traditional was perfect!

This dawn surf made me feel in a new aesthetic surfy place. Deeper into surfing... or is surfing getting deeper into me?

So Good I Left the Boot of My Car Wide Open...

2010-06-04T14:47:00.001+01:00

A pretty big Wednesday...

Blue, clear, tubing, almost transparent when you looked up from paddling, powerful, clean - oh you know.... just 6-8ft pumping! Thinking I had somehow fallen through a worm-hole and come up on the North Shore of Oahu I legged it over-excitedly from the car.

I surfed in when my key came out of it's 'neck pocket' in my wetsuit and started moving around my chest; didn't want to lose it!

The delicious irony was that when I got back to the car I found I had left the boot wide open. With the proper keys in the car I wouldn't have needed my 'surf key' anyway! Luckily car, board-bag, keys, phone and so on were all present and correct. Opportunists were probably distracted by the surf-spectacle. Gawd knows what Downend Point was like...

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2010-05-24T18:11:00.000+01:00

Monday's surf was fair of face,
Tuesday's surf was full of grace,
Wednesday's surf was completely leash-free,
Thursday's surf was bigger than me,
Friday's surf was awesome and wicked,
Saturday's surf was slightly insipid,
But the surf that came on the sabbath day,
Was warm and clear and fun and ended with me finding a load of crap dumped by some a-hole visitors on the grass and me putting it in my car and taking it home and putting it in my bin so I did a good turn and made less mess for everyone else so they could enjoy the beautiful sunset but it pissed me off that (probably) fellow surfers in their camper van haven could be so lazy and rude and inconsiderate as to leave their empty cans, oil, mouthwash, frying pan and so on right there, in the sunset, making everyone else furious. Week over, swell over, rant over.

Surfing Beauty No.9: Surfing's More than Surfing

2010-05-20T23:05:00.002+01:00

Combesgate today was unbelievable. I paddled out, a bit daunted, into some thumping 4-5ft (looked like 6ft to me) clean waves. There were quite a few surfers out enjoying them. Good surfers. Good fun. After catching possibly the largest wave I've surfed and then being caught on the inside with a tiring bashing and paddle back out I considered going in. So glad I didn't.

As I sat in the silvery water, with the sun going down, to the chorus of bleats from the sheep on Morte Point, the calls of the Gulls and whoops of surfers, it was beautiful already...

..and then the mist snuck in.
It began by rubbing out Woolacombe.
Reference points began to vanish.
The white houses on the coast peered through as the darker landscape disappeared.
Spooky. We looked at each other and remarked on the spookiness.
The sun turned from blinding to a friendly white disc, gulls swooped past, a fish leapt out of the water in front of me, the moon was clear up above me in a patch of blue sky.
The waves welled up out of the whiteness like calm beasts.
We were in another world. Surfing is about being in a different environment but this was an unforseeable serenity.
I wished I had a camera on me. Some way of recording it.
When I scooted in and stood up in the shallows the mist was behind me. Clarity was back - everything had returned. Another surfer and I looked at each other as if we'd both just been on a trip to the moon.

Surfing's more than surfing.

(I took this photograph once back at the car. It might help give you an idea. Then again it might just undermine, a little, what I've written.)

Logged Some Time at Saunton. Got L.E.W.D.

2010-05-20T10:24:00.004+01:00

Saunton, 18-5-2010, was busy and the inevitable ironic thought: it would be great if there weren't all these surfers about. Regardless, I was there to check out the "Saunton is a longboarder's wave" mantra. The waves were solid 2-4ft so it was definitely leash o'clock for me.

You know what - I was a bit nervous! An unfamiliar board at an unfamiliar break. What the hell did Robert August and Mike Hynson feel like then - that first surf in Dakar? Or Jeff Clark paddling out on his own at Mavericks?!

I immediately got an altered Smiths track stuck in my head as I paddled out:

I know you're loggable

You don't have to tell me,

Message received

loud and clear, loud and clear...

I couldn't shift it for the whole session! And, as the song goes, I was indeed wearing black on the outside.

But after my first wave black wasn't how I was feeling on the inside. My nerves disappeared as I surfed past Glen (who'd sold me my first board a year ago) with a wave and a little 'whoop' to acknowledge the sweet appropriateness of this chance meeting, in the water, one year on.

Then I got L.E.W.D. – Longest Ever Wave Day! Caught a great solid 3-4ft wave that built beautifully as I sped along it. Got my first real feel for the way this board feels as it glides along the wave: the speed constantly increasing, the movement of the board changing and the need to put my back foot nearer the inside rail to hold it in, the board came alive. Near the end of the wave I decided to go for the nose. Bye-bye nose - hello whitewater. Never mind, my getting to the nose the other day must have been some kind of small-wave-first-time-bravado-fluke.

The waves were peaking a bit all over the place for Saunton, according to one fellah I spoke to, so I don't think I got much of a feel for what the Saunton wave can be like. But, I certainly got more of a feel for what a traditional longboard can be like.

Logging is a different surfing experience. The sheer size and heaviness of the board makes every aspect of it more of an investment: from the purchase, to the storage, to the transportation, to the wave. It's more of a craft - in every sense.

Sprung-ish

2010-05-18T16:59:00.000+01:00

Spring has been flaky in this baffling climate, but at least a swell has sprung at last...

It's My First - Surfing - Anniversary Today!

2010-05-15T18:54:00.001+01:00

So that's it. A year's rushed by and surfing has taken over my life.

My head is now filled with thoughts of: Alex Knost, quads, wooden surfboards, Simmons, logging, clean faces and glistening peelers, Joel Tudor, Dave Rastovich, smells (neoprene, wax, the sea), 50-50 rails, Noosa, The Endless Summer, Tom Wegener, Skip Frye, ice-cream headaches... et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

I think about little else. I have started drawing and painting again and am even working on the upcoming website and rebranding for The Museum of British Surfing - surfing is encompassing both work and play. Many of my loves and interests from all through my life are suddenly falling into place and surfing... surfing was the key.

In one short year: I have discovered that surfing is the hardest sport I've ever tried. It's also the most beautiful. I've made friends, had great times and spend all day looking forward to...

And a big thankyou to: Glenn at Surfed-Out, Mikey at Loose-Fit, Chris Preston, Howard Davey, Steve PP, Pete Robinson, Richard Gregory and Wavedreamer, Mat at goto11 design, Adam Nardoni, Steven Dean and everyone else who's supported, encouraged, nudged, helped, laughed at and shared the odd perfect wave with me. Oh - and, of course, to my wife who has had to put up with me bleating on about nothing else, buggering-off out all the time and spending all day assessing surf-reports. This year has been something special. Cheers!

Tapping the Soul

2010-05-14T19:01:00.002+01:00

Today I became one of the very few people in the world to go to the dentist's to pick up a surfboard. CP has very kindly lent me a log for a few days.

This is the eve of my surfing anniversary. It's a year ago tomorrow that I walked into Surfed Out and left with a board, some wax and a leash. And so it was with immense satisfaction that thanks to a generous dentist, a quiet afternoon and a few likely waves I enjoyed one of my most rewarding surfs ever.

I have never tried a longboard before and lets straight away sweep aside the fundamental assumption that I had: that it's gonna be easier. Since there was only one other surfer out and the waves were 0.5-2ft I decided not to use a leash. Exciting times! I put the board on my head and walked. A few yards later I tried under my arm. A few yards later again - on my head. They're not called logs for nothing. So far: harder!

Once in the water I started to the paddle out. In my mind's eye I saw Joel Tudor paddling while kneeling and gracefully popping out over little waves. I got to my knees. And fell off. (Harder than I thought.) I eyed a wave and tried to turn for it. (Harder.) Must have missed a ton of waves trying to 'three-point-turn' this long-vehicle into position. Contrary to my belief: it didn't seem easier to catch a wave on a longboard, because it's different. You can catch waves earlier once you're used to it but it still takes learning (or re-learning) the timing, balance and feel. The one thing that is easier, however, is popping up.

(Now I know exactly why it is best to learn on a Mini Mal - I had imagined it would be fine to learn on a longboard - a Mal has exactly that right balance between manageability, forgivingness and stability.)

And then I caught my first little wave and it was unbelievable. The difference was immediately clear: a log kind of joins in with the wave. I don't think I'm wrong? It seemed like a moment of clarity: a shortboard is you-and-board on the wave. A longboard feels more like you on the board-and-wave. It's a beautiful difference. As I sit here typing. Dry. Hours away, I doubt myself. But I know that at the time this felt palpably true. After that feeling of the first decent little wave I felt so good that everything felt ok. Y'know: that the world makes sense. I sat in the water fully feeling how surfing taps the soul because of the glistening, sliding, attachment with nature and ephemerality. Tap. Tap-tap...

I tried my first effort at getting to the nose. It sank - too slow - all wrong. But a nice feeling just to have the idea of heading that way.

The last wave I caught, I squatted as it flattened, got over the hump, it reformed and as I looked at the wave I knew the board was in the right position: I went towards the nose and got both feet near the tip, felt it ride for a couple of seconds before falling. Can't describe it, just, just fantastic.

A different feel, different aesthetic - a new place. Just like when I walked into the water a year ago...

Thanks CP - consider your board officially "log-napped"! (Only kidding...)