Friday 31 May 2013

maybe this will help


Sweet little video of Alex KNost and Jared Mell, two of the worlds most stylish loggers in my opinion! Courtesy of alex at tenpiggiesover.blogspot.com it's shot at Blackies which in my mind is a pretty similar wave to Combesgate around here.

Wednesday 29 May 2013

vista


 So as i mentioned, i had a week up in the lake district back at Easter time. It is a beautiful place. 

It's not something that i can explain easily but it's a place that i find inspiring and a place that feels like home, even though its at the other end of the country from where i actually live. Perhaps it's because it feels like you are actually in the mountains, kind of how the alps feel in summer in some small way and the mountains are a place i've long held a candle for. I think i like the outdoorsy feel too, that there are people being outdoors and active in a way that chimes with the way that things feel (in a more coastal way) here. I think it's the only other place in this country i could consider living, it's just the lack of a surfable coast thats the deal breaker!

Incidentally, the MTB trails at whinlatter forest are really excellent!



Meanwhile, is it just me or is it FREEZING for nearly the first of June? I'm really in need of something to kick start my summer surf stoke!

Friday 24 May 2013

the sea pea


So i finally managed to get over to Gulfstream to finish shaping my first board under Jools watchful eye. It's come out really well and i am super stoked. It's not a straight copy of the Bing i borrowed although it does use that as a reference point. It also takes some influence from the TW bar of soap i own. Theres not much rocker, with a subtle bellied entry into a single concave from about a third back that deepens as it goes off through the fins. The rails are very soft 50/50, almost an up rail in the nose, quickly blending into a shortboard style rail with a nice edge to the back third. It looks "right" and hopefully will surf right too! Next up is glassing!



I want to say a massive thank you to Jools at Gulfstream for his patience in teaching me and correcting my cock ups before they got too bad. There's no way it would look like such a nice shape if i had been left to my own devices! 

I'd like to think that he enjoyed it  as much as i did, it's the first time he's shaped anything like this so there was a certain amount of head scratching and designing to get it to blend together well. Hopefully this is going to be the first prototype for a proper Gulfstream Mini simmons model! You heard it here first!


Obligatory cheesy shot..........hand shaping (well) is hard and my appreciation of it as a skill is even greater than it was!!


Tuesday 21 May 2013

swan lake


Well what a fine weekend it turned out after all! Sunshine and a lovely little swell.

Despite my somewhat gloomy post on friday morning, friday afternoon brought classic small zippers which i surfed on my own for an hour in sunshine with just a beautiful landward vista for company. It's so wonderful to be able to get a solo surf in these ever more crowded times.

Saturday was a lesson in opposites with the weekend warrior crowd in full effect. Enjoyable just the same for bumping into a couple of ex-locals who i used to surf with a lot when i first moved here but haven't seen for maybe 3 or 4 years. In fact, when i first started surfing i remember watching one of them in awe during what must have been a hotdoggers contest on a summer saturday trip from Bristol. Watching him cross step and hang five effortlessly, i was impressed and longed to be able to do the same. I never imagined then where i would be now........

Friday 17 May 2013

waypost...


There's sunshine for now outside the window but the eyeball surf reports are not promising. Hopefully the push will whip up a loggable ripple. I'm amping to get wet after a day spent drydocked in classroom and traffic jam yesterday.

In other news, i finally convinced Jools from Gulfstream to borrow and ride my TW bar of soap. It will be interesting to see how he feels about it coming from a 3 fin shortboard background. His current every day board is a 5'5 epoxy shortboard so even at 5'2 the soap is going to feel like a lot of foam!

Monday 13 May 2013

castles in the sand

fall into the sea, eventually!

Thursday 9 May 2013

line up in line, line up in line is all i remember..


A nice winter line up. You can tell it's winter as there's a significant absence of nearly a million people clogging the water like mammalian flotsam and jetsam!


The wind is back but the water is warming up now and there were some fun logging waves to be had in the bank holiday sunshine. Summer is creeping in!

Saturday 4 May 2013

seal of approval

 
I've always thought that groups of surfers look like groups of seals bobbing around when viewed from a distance. This has to be one of the most photographed viewpoints in North Devon

Wednesday 1 May 2013

1 fin


is all you need....

So it is officially summer and for once the weather seems to agree, even the surf has been in summer mood - crappy short period onshore windswell! There have been a few little cheeky sliding waves when the wind has dropped even complete with a kook running into me as i paddled out in true summer fashion. "he's paddling left, he thinks he's going left, he's going left, oh he's inexplicably wobbled nearly fallen off and is now about to hit me!" you know the story. Thankfully my arm took most of the blow!

Hopefully off to gulfstream to finish my "shaping"/blank butchering experience at the end of the week now Jools has recovered from the trauma of my two sessions so far!
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