hidden in plain sight

a diamond in the rough

flathead

 

wood is good

a minor disaster...

So in my minds eye this was a cool little set up for a photo of a new addition to the quiver (it's a 5'6 Mccallum Mford just so you know!) All good until i dropped the camera about ten minutes later...... Much of the charm of taking pictures with toy camera's like the holga comes from there cheap build quality yielding quirky images. It also means they are very much basically cheap crap plastic!

So i dropped the camera, lunged for it, nearly grabbed it, watched in slow motion as it bounced off my outstretched hand onto the pavement, inwardly groaned as the back of the camera flew off exposing the nearly finished roll of 35mm to bright daylight...........in the words of the great homer simpson DOH!

Thankfully i only lost a couple of pictures, a few were unscathed and these two i sort of rescued in iphoto. All part of a fairly crappy week where my laptop died taking a load of files with it and i came within an ace of rolling my van but thats another story!

I'm going to write a proper report on the board when i've ridden it more but first impressions are that it's really fun, even in utter junk surf, up and planing early with a really shocking amount of lateral speed with a real positive on rails feel and without the slip slideyness of wider tailed simmons shapes. Oh and it looks beautiful, a real eye pleasing shape with a real organic tactile feel, much like a nice hull has........anyway......

spiderman?

Exeter just got a brand new climbing wall and i went to check it out a week after it opened. Called Quay Climbing it's located in an old electricity generating station in the Haven Banks area of the city. It's been really well done with a massive lead wall ( 15 metres at the apex!) and plenty of routes on slabs and overhangs from 4 up to around 7c. There are about 7 routes set up on auto belay's which allow you to climb without a partner to hold your rope, great if you post up on your own like i did! There are two bouldering rooms with lovely soft floors and a lot of routes ranging from v0 up to around v6 at the moment. Behind the desk, there's a friendly team, the man in charge is actually Paul who originally set up the Mill wall near south moulton and they have  little cafe for decent coffee too.

The wall is open now but, rather excitingly they hav climbing superstar Chris Sharma coming on the 14th October to open it officially. Should be a real treat to watch him monkey around in real life!

meanwhile in real life.....

So i obviously keep this blog fairly exclusively about surfing, but  real life has to encroach on things from time to time. I'm pretty proud of my business and the way we look after people so please allow me to blow my own trumpet here just this once!

We are a friendly, family dental practice in Braunton, North Devon. We have a focus on looking after our patients in a relaxed comfortable environment with the highest of professional standards. We provide modern preventive dentistry, helping you to look after your mouth and prevent future problems whether you are 1 or 100 years old.

We know most of you hate coming to the dentist so we try to make things as pleasant as possible. Not only can you be sure we will treat you painlessly with the best possible treatment options tailored to your mouth's needs, you'll know we will treat you as an individual and have your best interests at heart.

Our waiting room has comfy sofa's, a tv, current magazines and free wi-fi so you can relax while you are waiting as much as possible. Once you're in our light modern surgeries, you can watch tv or your favorite dvd on our ceiling mounted tv's while we treat you and hopefully make the experience as pleasant as possible.

We offer a full range of general dentistry and have several dental hygienists to help look after your teeth  well as your gums.

Working in conjunction with some of the best labs in the country, we offer a full range of cosmetic dentistry including tooth whitening and veneers as well as filling gaps left by missing teeth with bridges or dental implants.

We are Denplan Excel accredited which means we have been independantly inspected and given an award for the quality of the service we provide.

We pride ourselves on being friendly, approachable and welcoming. We think it's important to spend time talking to you to make sure you understand whats going on in your mouth.

Click here to see our facebook page and find out a bit more about us!

01271 813721 or email us

OK plug over, normal service is now resumed!!

swan lake...

a couple of randoms...

A couple more shots from the scenic cycle route to our local beach. I'm sure it's pretty obvious that i'm heavily influenced by all things californian and i love everything i've seen of the coast there so far.  One thing they don't have in abundance is lush green rolling countryside, far from busy roads, hiding small coves and rocky bays, some with great waves. I'm really hoping our Californian friends make it over next year so we can show the place off. I think they will love it, narrow lanes, tractor caused traffic jams and all!

 

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

the stuff nightmares are made of...

I'm not sure how cool it is right now to admit to reading comics, especially at my advanced age! But.... lately i've been re-reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, a seminal moment in the history of graphic novels from the 90's and widely acclaimed as fiction that helped legitimise the artform outside the boundaries of the comics world. Nominally chronicaling Morpheus, master of the realm of dreams and his siblings, Gaiman's world is dark and nightmarish, the stories inventive, witty and multi layered. In fact they would make compelling reading whatever the medium of their telling.

While they represent the time at which the world at large first became aware of Gaiman, his catalogue reaches before and after them and includes several acclaimed childrens books and adult novels. American God's being a particularly fine example as is Stardust which recently became a well regarded film too.

So a totally non-surf related post but his stuff is well worth a look if you haven't come across it already.

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!

my faith in human nature restored!

Big public thanks to "buttons" for picking up the aforementioned lost mandala and getting in touch with it's very very grateful owner to return it. A pleasantly suprising and happy outcome to what i had very much assumed was a sorry tale!

The pic, by the way, is of our newly restored 73 bay making her maiden voyage to Putsborough. Apparently it's too nice for me to put sandy wetsuits and boards in so the trusty rusty T4 is staying as a mobile board store for now!

sunset special

I'm not going to lie and say it was epic. Too high, small, one turn and your done p-land. But the sunset was beautiful and it was just what the doctor ordered tonight.

7 waves....

The song is "59" from Brian Setzer's ignition album

cp in 7 from Chris Preston on Vimeo.

a word in your ear...

Surfers ear is hardly breaking news. A cursory trawl of the net will reveal a wealth of wealth of information about the condition. Unless you are a complete beginner, chances are you will have either had some surfing related ear problems or at the very least know someone who has.

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by going into detail about why our beautiful obsession with waves can lead to repeated ear infection, partial deafness or unpleasant surgery to sort the problems out. What i am going to do is encourage you to be proactive about it.

Most of you will be aware that the damaging effects of wind and water can be reduced by wearing earplugs when you surf but most people don't start using them until they are already having problems. If you will allow me to offer a piece of advice - start wearing them now, before you get a problem, you'll thank me in the long run!

There are lots of different options, blue tac does work as do off the shelf silicon putty plugs but the safest option is custom made earplugs exactly like the ones Rob Shaddick at surfplugs made me. Granted they are more expensive than blue tac but (unless you are a muppet like me and lose one) they last for years. We spend hundreds of pounds a year on boards, wetsuits, petrol, carparks all in the pursuit of waves and custom plugs are realtively cheap in comparison, especially as they will help prevent a condition that could seriously limit or curtail your water time eventually.

Surfplugs are made in a cast of your ear, poured up from a silicon rubber impression Rob takes of your inner and outer ear which is an interesting and slightly weird experience in itself. After placing a piece of sponge over your eardrum the rubber is injected into your ear and sets hard enough to remove in a couple of minutes.

My plugs were back in about a week and, once you have the knack, are easy to place and remove. It does take a few sessions to get used to them. Lots of people say it affects their surfing but i honestly think if you wear them for every session you adapt to the feeling of wearing them quickly. I think lots of people dont wear plugs consistently enough to get past this. They dont affect your hearing enough to stop you chatting in the line up, though you can feel a little cut off in winter if you are wearing a hood as well.

Having already worn the putty style plugs for a number of years i've found the custom plugs more comfortable and you dont spend half your session pushing them back into your ears. I now feel a little uncomfortable surfing without them, especially in winter when it seems the cold gets inside your head more without them in.

Don't just take my word for it, many of the best surfers in the country are wearing Robs plugs, whether the logo is on their board or not. If you want to find out more about the plugs themselves or surfers ear, click here

pitted

Though he's far too modest to claim it, this is the local legend that is Mr Skelton owning the point last week. In his usual understated manner he snuck the wave of the day from under the noses of the local pro's & photogs before disappearing back to continue rennovating his kitchen.
Photos & questionable tv border via Rob Tibbles.

gotta love rubber

My 9'4 gulfstream log demonstrating it's suction when on the nose pretty well!

Shamelessly self promoting frame grab courtesy of Andy Haworth, currently hard at work on his film "Devon Lanes and Longboards"

a nice surprise!

SOOOOO cold today, took me ten minutes to clear the screen on my van- inside and out! (note to self, really must buy some de icer!) Lovely little chest high wave with a handful out as the tide turned. We live in a beautiful place!

happy faces

There's something special about the first day of a new swell. A palpable excitement in the air, the carpark filled with happy faces and anticipation. Often it means seeing people for the first time in a couple of weeks, especially in winter. The air is filled with the sounds of van doors closing, wax being rubbed onto boards and friendly banter as everyone gears up to hit the water, sure of fun waves in good company.

For me it's even more special if it's early on a crisp autumn morning like this day, a rare morning when the only people at the beach were the regulars and a few early risers walking their dogs.

Although we moan about the number of people in the water, in reality, i'm sure surfing in solitude the whole time would be pretty boring. I have no doubt that the interaction between the regular faces "sharing the stoke" to use a hackneyed phrase, and the sense of community that each beach has, really adds something to the surfing experience for me.

Our beach is long enough to get a good peak to yourself if you are prepared to hike far enough yet most of us rarely bother unless the crowd numbers are past ridiculous. Happy to sacrifice a few waves a session to others for the pleasure of shared experiences

In case you were wondering, chest high & reeling, keel fish & big smiles!