summer is coming.....

along with millions of kooks no doubt!

sated strollers.....

Another crew heading home (hopefully) stoked after their dawnie. These chaps had a very fine zeph bing indy noserider and a coop to aid in their morning stokemining. Left me thinking there's still a little room in my shed :-)

In Other News, I am excited to report that i'm featured in this months Devon Life magazine as a surfer who has a "proper" job. I'd love to say it's nothing to do with the fact that my friend writes for them but i'd probably be misleading you!

coulda, shoulda, woulda...

I often feel my surfing life is filled with near misses and if onlys. I am lucky that i get to surf quite a bit but i am generally limited to the closest beach and whatever stage of the tide it happens to be when i engineer a slot to go. Consequently i am often left feeling like it would have been better an hour ago or a couple of hours later or just round the corner or.......

Today had the right ingredients just the wrong mix, sunny offshore, few people but not quite enough swell and more than enough wind. It left me thinking how much the wind changes the shape and nature of our beachbreak waves. This spot is usually one of the mushiest breaks on the coast.

Least i got to try out the new family snapshot point and shoot pentax which just happens to be waterproof too! Of course that had nothing to do with my choice of model :-)

waxing up too

early bird

It's a massive cliche but the early bird often does get the worm, in surfing terms anyway. On this occasion it was Mr Rowe, UK agent for if6was9, reaping the benefits of a dawn patrol for a quiet logging session at a normally busy spot. One of the last few before the barefoot run across frozen sand became too awful we had to break out the booties!
Seems a distant memory with our current sea temperature!

Oh and Happy Valentines to my girls. You light up my life every day :-)

the luxury of indecision...

We have some of the biggest tidal range in the world, tides are sometimes as big as nearly ten metres (thats 30 feet ish in old money). It sucks when you walk for ten minutes to the sea (in freezing temps) paddle out then wish you took the other board you had in the van, especially if you got halfway down the beach with the board in question first!

Guess thats the downside of having a selection of sleds to choose from and a luxurious position to be in!

dawnpatrol

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"

sucker for the glow..

Yes another sunset photo but some of them are just beautiful!

man on a mission

Not even snow and sheet ice can keep an addict from his fix! Short cold hike in was rewarded with a fun clean chest high session where the nasal passage was well and truly explored. Haven't ridden this log for months, pretty light by my standards (still heavy by most peoples!) but really fun to surf it for a change, even if i only chose it cos it was the lightest one to carry!

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!

A new year dawns

Happy 2010 people!

It's very traditional (nowadays) for people to get obsessed with lists of the best and worst stuff of the year past. Surfermag forum has a "best 3 boards of 09 thread" I actually have 4:

In no particular order:

9'6 Classic Malibu Jai Lee model - just an amazing noserider in a proper logging sense and almost the only thing i've ridden in under chest high waves this year (which we get a lot of)

5'8 Larry Mabile Classic keel. I swear i've never had a bad surf on this. Whenever i take it out, there'll be at least one wave screaming down the line pretending i'm Dereck Hynd followed by a grin inducing cutback and repeat

5'9 Bro Diplock Quad fish pretty much a mandala copy. Will go insane in anything i'm prepared to paddle out in. Always in my van & in heavy rotation. I've even forgiven it for trying to break my nose & giving me stitches between the eyes last Boxing Day

6'10 Spence Designed Hull shaped over here by Tim Mason. Just a real fresh, fun, at times mindblowing new door opened in my surfing. Not for everyone but suits my style & REALLY good fun.

read everyone elses here:

hotdogs

The hotdoggers midway through another contest a couple of months ago. Probably the biggest longboard club in the country, multiple interclub champs and boasting members from all over the country. Club chairman Norm is a larger than life character who has run the club, with and without help since it's inception many years ago.

I still remember when i first started visiting here from bristol, watching the longboarders in a hotdoggers contest noseride, awestruck and sure such antics were beyond me. Although i'm not an active member now & i've never done one of their contests, being a part of the club was definately a big part of getting to know people here when i first moved & i'll always have a soft spot for them as a result.

As usually happens, on this day they were running the heats in 2ft onshore slop. Better than herding us all off the main peak when the surfs cooking though!

waxing up

One little pre surf ritual that unites us all, whatever and wherever you surf!

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!

anticipation

another burner.....

I love taking pictures at sunset. This is from my digital hero3 wrist camera, a little fuzzy as it struggles with the nonexistent light but just an amazing sky. No "post production" on the shot either by the way. We live in a beautiful place, sometimes easy to forget amongst the hustle & bustle of the day to day.

The British Surfing Museum

This fine splitscreen panel van (it's a very tasteful maroon colour if you're wondering) belongs to Pete Robinson, relatively recently moved here from Brighton. Pete is the man behind the British Surfing Museum which has previously existed as a travelling exhibit but is now well on it's way to a permenant home in Braunton.

This is a GOOD THING!

I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and his efforts to preserve our surfing heritage and you should do too. For updates on how the project is progressing, or to offer him your time & support check here or search the museum out on facebook.

bargain!

moments before the green flash...

Another distinctly lomo style digital hero shot. Still unsure if it's possible to call a shot taken on a low quality digital camera "lo-fi" or whether the fact that it's a digital media to start with makes that a misnomer. Whatever, it sure was another fun sunset session.