simple pleasures

For all the obsessing about wave buoys and windspeeds, weather charts and sandbars, for all the agonising over dimensions on your next board, for all the stressing over how long it is since you last surfed, the rushing to create a precious slot to make it to the beach, for all that surfing is and isn't................

it pales in comparison to the simple joys of time with those you love, there can never be enough of that.

tools of the trade

behind the wire

friends....

a dagger of sorts....

  

but only of sorts.....................................

  I've rewritten this post several times, trying to be concise, accurate and honest so here goes.

I ordered a 9'4 gato heroi death dagger off Robbie Kegel, through the squire who had organised for him to come and shape some boards in newquay. I've previously spent a lot of time looking at these shapes from afar and felt pretty sure i knew what i was getting. What i actually got, despite the laminate, is different from any death dagger that i have seen for sale in US or Japan, different from the board an accquaintance in Oregon owns, different even from the death daggers posted for sale recently on the Gato blog. Among other things, it's only 9'3 and the nose width is at least an inch and a quarter less than anything i've seen them make for this model before. Needless to say, i am slightly gutted. Brendan at Gato agrees it's not the stock shape, Robbie himself seems less than helpful. Unfortunately they're a whole ocean away anyway. Sadly the board doesn't sit in my quiver where it was supposed to and as a result i'm not sure how much it will make it out of the bag. I had been warned to be careful with ordering but had thought this was a fairly safe way of doing it. It's not the squires fault either in my eyes, i hasten to add. Interestingly i know RK didn't want to put gato laminates on the boards he shaped here, perhaps thats because he didn't want the evidence of having let his customers down. I know i'm not the only person out of the episode who didn't get exactly what they asked for.

I must be clear that i'm not saying it's a badly made surfboard. In fact it's beautiful to look at with abstract glass and volan flex fin. It's heavily foiled and SO narrow, it's almost like some kind of shortboard gun under arm, all sleek and pointy. It doesn't paddle well despite it's exceedingly flat rocker, perhaps due to the subtle roll through the bottom but more likely due to lack of foam. Once you've taken off it is fast in trim though and feels lovely to jam hard rail buried cutbacks or deep crouched grab rail bottom turns. It's more akin to a midlength egg off the tail, smooth but quietly radical. So far so good.....

Sadly it's up front that things are not as they should be. It will noseride, just, in the pocket of a steep wave but the nose is so narrow that there isn't enough room to fit ten toes over and that narrowness means it is difficult hang five in anything other than a cheater position. Obviously, it's not supposed to be a nose rider and i didn't order it as such but if you watch footage of knost or others riding this shape. In fact if you watch segments of Gato's own DVD showing the model off, you will see that it should pocket noseride better. Of course you will also notice that the nose width on the death daggers  they are riding is close to 16 inches or more, not 14 1/4 like my board!

I'm left feeling frustrated. I like it but can't help feeling i'd like it more with a 15 1/2 or more nose width like i thought i'd ordered. Left feeling that the waves it will suit best as it is, are waves i'd probably be riding a shortboard in.

The saddest thing i think is this. I am a fervent believer we should support hand shaping, custom ordered surfboards, made by craftsmen not factories and yet the argument for doing that is to get a board you actually want. Instead i must settle for something that isn't exactly what i ordered with no prospect of resolving the problem without sending yet more money in a direction that i'm not entirely sure is deserved.

compare this:

 9'3 dagger in Ca........

with this:

my 9'3 "dagger"

Obviously it's a little difficult to show in pictures but hopefully most will agree the nose template is different!

greyscale...

As the winter sets in and the colours of summer are long gone, it's easy to sink into reverie and dreams of warmer climes, but maybe there's still happiness to be found within the montone seascape.

For many of us there's no escape from the cold and we must greet the winter face on, the gloom, the damp, the light so flat the horizon is lost in the sky. Endlessly watching the forecast hoping for the prevailing southwesterlies to abate for the bittersweet triumph of stolen moments in offshores.  Freezing wind from the east  blowing the mess to corduroy and then to ironed cloth.

You could send yourself mad with the longing but it's better to embrace the dark mornings, the frost on the inside of the windscreen that never clears quick enough, the teeth of the wind biting into exposed flesh as you struggle into the wetsuit that never quite dries, the shock of the first duck dive as you struggle through lines of whitewater, battling current and wind beyond the break.

Because if you look, through the waiting, the discomfort, the grey light, the grimace as your suit fills with 6 degree water for the first time, there's still that little spark of fun and stoke that keeps you coming back. Still the need to grasp that elusive sliding feeling we are all addicted to. Still the afterglow that warms you and has nothing to do with the van heater on full as you drive home, reliving the waves of the day.

It's still surfing and it still makes me smile...............

a ghost in the machine

Happy New Year Everyone!

I was looking back at my new year post from last year and remembered that the surfer forums had a "best 3 boards of 09" thread running. Although a year has passed, two of my top three haven't changed!

I'm still in love with my 5'8 larry mabile keel fish, i've still yet to have a bad surf on it. In fact on the day the waiting" post picture was taken i think i had my best two shortboard turns ever, on the same righthander on this board.

Longboard wise, the 9'6 jai lee is still the board to beat, just like last year, and it's the log i've ridden most often. Honorable mentions go to the Dano i brought back from Ca and the bing NR2 i've acquired. Both have given some great trips to the tip on their day

The third board does change though....... Having been gifted a 5'8 mini simmons a few months ago, it's been in heavy rotation ever since. So much fun in junk, such a smooth feeling racing down the line. I think it's responsible for more surf related smiles than anything else over the last few months. Although they are very fashionable right now, if you can live with some lateral speed in your surfing instead of vertical ripping i'd wholeheartedly recomend getting on the program!

the lookout..

Overlooking a certain righthand point, this might be the coolest place to live round here, also the coldest right now, probably lucky the current resident is off in warmer climes

dunster

castle!

the waiting...

I think this was the last time we had a proper fun little swell up here, feels like months ago.

suits me sir!

Just took delivery of a couple of full suits from Nineplus to try out. Out of the bag they look lovely, soft supple yamamoto neoprene, mostly single lined with stretchy double lined in the crotch area. Understated subtle logos complete the high quality look. Inside there's neat seams and furry warm looking lining on the torso.
Probably a bit cold for the 3/2 already but hopefully the 4/3 is as warm as they say. I'll report back!

the german...

Many of you will have heard, but for those that didn't..... Surf action won the ITV vote and were presented with a cheque for £50k to carry on the good work. Well done to everyone that supported to them, Russ and Rich are beyond stoked and excited about continuing their good work.

give me back my teddies!

Really happy to have my pictures featured on quality peoples. a couple of weeks ago

cruising in devon lanes

Electra deluxe 3i, sunshine, devon lanes, a few curious sheep, what more could you need? The nice people at electra just featured one of my photos as their pic of the week on their blog. Very nice to be asked. See the post here.

If you're wondering, she did give the teddies back in the end!

missing dora

 the wall@malibu sadly missing the required graffiti!

modern art...

From the Broomhill sculpture gardens a few mile inland. I'm generally pretty open to modern art but i'm not sure what this piece was trying to say. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

swamis

Sadly doing a good impression of a bad beachbreak on the day we passed through

troenen

A slightly unusual beach hut? 

Really it's one of the many abandoned German bunkers that littler the beaches of France. Thankfully us Brits are assured a warmer welcome now than we were 70 years ago!

I got a copy of the new Captain fin movie, "Rip shred tear" last week. Pretty short but some really high quality logging from the usual suspects on show. Highly reccomended!

lost in translation..

Retro French busker in the citadel in Concarneau. Sure his songs & instruments were all very vintage correct and i'm normally a fan of culture, but man he sounded terrible!

R.

She'll hate that i posted this but i think it's a cool portrait.
Happy 6th Birthday to my beautiful daughter today too. You fill our lives with so much happiness!


Corduroy lines has it's first ever paper issue out now. It's been a labour of love for Simon and each issue has gone from strength to strength. It's a real treat to be able to hold a copy rather than read it online.  Check here and order yourself a copy!