quantocks gold......

 

No fake filters or digital trickery needed. 

pov

There have been waves, HOORAY!!! It's cold although down here we have escaped the snow mostly. Hope you managed to sneak away from responsibility and snag a few!

Exmoor has some and there was a smattering up in the Quantocks where the picture was taken. This is from just before the swell came on a beautiful morning. If you ride a mountain bike and you havent been up there i can really reccomend it. Hard climbs but really sweet swooping singletrack descents that arent too technical and cope with wet weather well. Pretty much my favorite place to ride.

Obviously I'm normally not a fan of endless POV go-pro video but if it features me (in blue) then  it's ok! :-) Filmed and edited by Noel. Cheers!

minus digits...........

 

#coldwatersurf

I'm not one of those people that gets excited about winter surfing. It's difficult for me to love heavy water, big swells and the cold. Give me warm sunny point waves any day. Thats not to say that i dont enjoy it, theres little nuggets of pure stoke amongst the grind of the the cold and grey. One of the best things is the light of winter sunshine and the burn of a crisp day's sunset over the western horizon.

This iphone pic was snapped in the last rays of light with barely there fingers fumbling to catch the moment before wrestling out of my suit in a dark car park reliving the stoke of fun min-simmons waves.

mountains

 

It's the winter olympics, Yay! I must admit to generally geting more excited about the winter than the summer games and this time with snowboard slopestyle in the schedule as well as halfpipe and the carnage of boardercross it should be a fun watch. The slopestyle was pretty cool already despite some suspect judging in the early rounds that got the internet in uproar.

Questions on at least someones lips include....will shaun white take a third gold, has anyone got a triple cork in their pipe run, will terrorists blow anything up and how much can Ed Leigh subvert the normally staid BBC sport commentary with his brand of excited rambling?

 

 Compare and contrast Clare Balding with the man who once won the world air guitar championship under his stage name Whoppercock! This year he's ably abetted by the UK snowboard legend that is Tim Warwood. It's great that the bbc (in contrast to some US networks) have properly knowledgeable as well as entertaining announcers.

 

If FIS run snowboard gymnastics isn't your bag let me redress the balance with a clip of Gigi Ruff ripping a 50 degree powder field in Last years Red Bull ultra natural contest:

 

 

 

jewells..

 

Super fun weekend catching up with Jules on a flying visit from The North Face, spreading the SeaPea love, careering around lanes on indecisive surf checks and dodging the downpours. Some fun waves despite the wind. Jules take on the mini - simmons experience? "Looks like a comedy board but boy is it fast!"

Out on the bike too, our dry trails are well and truly gone now but getting both wheels sliding at the same time downhill through trees sure gets the pulse racing. 

Both on land and at sea, a little but of exploring can pay dividends!

180 degrees

It's always winter somewhere too!

a lovely way.....

to while away an evening...

It's been a bizarre start to spring so far. Mellow sunny waves a week or so ago, then freezing temperatures, snow at sea level and pumping waves today, shame it's been so windy.

 I'm off to the lake district next week, supposedly for a little bit of mountain biking amongst other things. I'm wondering if i might be better off taking my snowboard instead looking at the current conditions!!

you dirty rascal...

So the North wind has been howling and surfing the internet has been the closest i've got to any kind of surfing this week. I did get a couple of cool things through the post. It's always an exciting moment when a new Surfers Journal drops through the letterbox and if youve never read it, i'd heartily reccomend subscribing. It's not cheap but it is well worth it in my humble opinion!

I also got hold of a copy of Thomas Campbells "slide your brains out" I'm most definately a sucker for a nice coffee table book and i'm a fan of all of Tmoe's output whether still, movie or paint based so loving this was a sure thing. There are some great photo's all with Thomas lo-fi pulled back style, some you will have seen and some new ones, all captioned by Thomas with his characteristic wit. A good stormy day timewaster!

 I'm still in a snowy mood though so i thought i'd post this......

Back when i started snowboarding it was a much simpler more rudimentary affair. The kit was still very basic and it inhabited a space right at the fringes of snowsports, some resorts still banned the killer craze and middle class skiers still happily referred to riders as "gays on trays"... to your face.

Freestyle tricks were developing rapidly but a backside 360 with a grab was still considered tech enough to put into a video part and kickers were still small. In short, watching an early film, like the original TB films, it still seemed achievable to us, not too much of a stretch from what we could build and do. We felt part of things.

Today things are very different. Snowboarding is firmly in the mainstream (dare i say it freestyle skiing seems a bit cooler to the local kids in euro resorts?!) riders train like athletes and have sponsorship deals to match. Watching one of the more recent snow videos, like the Art of Flight for example, is jaw dropping. The balls and technical standard of the riding is awesome BUT it now seems so removed from most peoples frames of reference it's easy to lose interest or somehow not feel like your involved in the same passtime.

It's incredibly refreshing then to watch something like the short piece above with it's general absence of huge lines, kickers and technicality. It's far closer to our own experience of snowboarding fun, blasting around a resort chasing face shots, tree runs and piste side hits, grinning and whooping like fools in white out conditions. Most of it is shot at Mount Baker in Washington which gets ridiculous amounts of snow and is one of the few mountains i'd love to ride but have yet to get the chance to.

The film is made by two ex-pro snowboarders, Byan Fox and Scotty Wittlake. Scotty (with the broken front tooth!) is perhaps the embodiment of what snowboarding (& skateboarding) used to be, donating much of his sponsor related income to charity and walking away from a lucrative pro career at the height of his powers to find his love for riding again. Away rom the ever encroaching tendrils of the mainstream, corporate big business, ski companies and energy drink money.

 He worked as a fisherman in Alaska and a bike messenger in Portland to fund his simple lifestyle and ride without the pressure of cameras. His views are forthright and pretty punk (check his rant on the olympics) and you might not agree with him but he is still a great snowboarder and someone i always enjoyed watching.

Find out more about scotty here

skull 'n' bones

Anyone who knows me well will know that i like a nice bit of technical kit, jackets and packs especially, it's quite a running joke with my climbing buddy Mike and his wife!

With winter here and thoughts of january dawn surf checks i treated myself to a Patagonia Down zip hoody. I'm not much of an eco warrior but i've always appreciated Patagonia's simple functional style. Their kit is always well thought out, well tested and in my experience, lasts very well. In lieu of anything more interesting and surf related to post i thought i'd post up a review.

First off, this is not a full spec outer layer, it's aimed either as a dry weather outer or as a thermal layer under a shell. It's part of their alpine range and is fully ready to be used way up a proper mountain. It's got a fairly boxy cut and a big hood that's clearly designed to fit well over a climbing helmet. The down filling is fairly lightweight despite having an 800 fill rating and coupled with the light shell material, the jacket has very little weight. It's weight is barely noticeable wearing it and when compressed up small and attached to a carabiner it's a hardly noticeable addition to your harness on a multi pitch climb. This makes it ideal for  dry weather belay jacket. Although the shell of the jacket is water resistant, it's not as waterproof as a proper outer shell and down is loses some of it's thermal properties when wet compared to synthetic fillers like primaloft. You are fine in a reasonable shower but i wouldn't wear it alone in a total downpour.

Despite it's barely there feel, this is a warm jacket, especially when you're moving. If you generate even a little bit of your own heat it retains it well and several times i've started a stroll with the dog cold and zipped up only to have to open up the zip after 5 minutes to relieve the stifling heat!

So perfect pre and post winter surf in everything but a total downpour and perfect for hanging around gearing up and belaying on baggy. Definately reccomended!

checkpoint charlie

Massive congratulations to Tim and Louise who got married on Saturday. Hope you enjoyed your day as much as everyone else did!

Probably a good thing that Mr Heyland only got to dress you for your stag, not the actual day eh?!;-)

In other news, Gulfstream just sent their first epoxy prototype shortboard to morrocco with Nigel Cross who's loving it apparently. Stay tuned for their upcoming epoxy high performance thruster range. Jools is, as ever, fully stoked on making custom surfboards and has plans for a few new shapes to add to their range over the summer.

Meanwhile in California, plumber about town and lovable drunk Cotty was quite frankly robbed by the Billabong XXL commitee and missed out on taking the prize for biggest wave. He did get the satisfaction of having towed Garret McNamara into the portugese beast that won and some beer money as a result. Well done mate! Incidentally, if you don't read his blog it's well worth a click and a few minutes while the kettle boils!

how much rubber?

Jake and Anna contemplate how many extra bits of neoprene they need to put on before paddling out over here.

a solitary pursuit

alone in a crowded place...

Hopefully everyone had a few fun waves over the weekend. Once the fog cleared up here there were some beautiful glassy chest high waves on sunday and some small clean loggable peelers on Monday. Perfect conditions to show off our beaches to my visiting Californian friends, Jake (who works at the excellent Almond shop) and his girlfriend Anna

I think they had a good time, i certainly got loads of pleasure from showing them around. Seeing it through their eyes reinforced how beautiful and relatively unspoilt our coastline is and how much fun our waves are when it's good. I think Devon exceeded their expectations. They're in Spain now, hopefully getting fun waves there too.

Anna has a cool little blog thats worth checking out here.

betwixt sea and sky.....

Winter surfing here is a pretty grey experience mostly, grey skies, grey sea, muted countryside, grey tarmac coloured only by the brown of mud.

Some days, like this one, the sea and the sky are so similar you can't see where one starts and the other finishes. Waves loom unexpectedly and the water is cold enough to burn your face as you dive beneath them.

leading the charge....

I'm in the enviable position of acquiring two new wetsuits in the same number of weeks after Tim Heyland from Tiki very kindly gave me one of their brand new zepha suits to try.

It's a reassuringly warm looking 6/5/4 suit with a full time hood, super stretchy double lined neoprene, chest entry and liquid sealed seams. Tiki have ditched the warming packs from their old top of the line suit and moved production to the same factory that makes the top of the range o'neill suits. On the hanger it looks the business with subtle logos, mostly black with red shoulders and although obviously thick, the rubber has plenty of give to it.

As you might expect with a six mil suit, trying it on dry it feels a little restrictive and claustrophobically warm but the chest entry and exit is easy enough for this style of suit.

Once you're in the water, all thoughts of being stuck in the equivalent of a rubber straitjacket disappear.  I can honestly say that i didn't notice the extra thickness on the torso or legs compared to the 5/4 xcel i'm sporting in the photo above. It's also a revelation how much more comfortable a full time hood is compared to wearing a separate one giving a much more comfortable and free feeling around the neck and much less tension in my neck muscles post surf.

Paddling wise, the neoprene is so supple there's no feeling that you are losing mobility by being warm and nor did it feel cumbersome to surf in. Warmth wise, which is the important thing i guess, i can confirm that it's bloody good! The seams are watertight and even after an hour of duckdiving 3 foot beachbreak i had dry hair under the hood! I admit i've not exhaustedly tested it but i know a man who has and if it's kept Cotty warm taking cold, heavy, irish water on the head at prowlers and eileens, then i'm sure my first impression is right.

Winter hasn't been too cold here this year, the water is not as cold as it can get but i'm really confident that i'd stay toasty warm in the depths of midwinter with this suit. Much as i was impressed by the nineplus hasu suit i have, this is  the one i'll be grabbing for the dawn patrol for the next few weeks at least!

In other news, the love for Tim Mason is flowing freely and several kind folks have donated stuff to auction and contribute funds to the timmy mason trust. thomas campbell collectibles here and a stretch f4 quad, bag and fins here. Please support them if you can....

dawn breaking....

As you head north, the trade off for shorter days is witnessing some beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Fingers and technology battling the below zero mercury

winter randomness

As we start to wave goodbye to winter and say hello to spring (or maybe early summer judging by some of the warmth in the recent sun!), with the anticipation of lighter evenings, small clean waves and shedding the rubber as the water gets warmer, i thought i'd post the last couple of shots from Norway....

goodbye winter, see you round

sunday strolling

 

Norwegian style! Big congratulations to the uk's best freerider James Stentiford, who overcame the barriers of immense age (:-)) to place on the podium at the verbier leg of the snowboard freeride world tour. The verbier event is the original "extreme" contest and coming third is a pretty big deal for anyone let alone a Brit!

norwegian wood

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.

the american road.....

 

 Well just around the corner from it anyway, near a fun but exceedingly fickle spot that i haven't surfed in a few years.

Despite the sunshine, this was a cold morning, so cold that my fingers barely worked to manipulate the camera. The bike, if you missed the previous shots, is my beloved electra deluxe 3i cruiser. Guarunteed to bring a bigger and bigger smile with each revoloution of the pedals.

Whenever i have to endure a long spell without a dip in the local brine, my dvd library gets a fair bit of attention. I'm a great collector of surf films and have spent probably far too much money over the years devouring the latest logging related releases.

Pick of the latest crop, for me anyway, are:

Rip Shred Tear from Mitch Abshere and crew, full on skinny jean, cutting edge logging and really inspirational. It's no frills and the surfing is cut with random excerpts from 50's b-movie horror films. Shot over just a couple of weeks it makes you realise how consistently good the surf is in the OC from a longboarding perspective.

Stoked and Broke from Cyrus Sutton which is just plain fun and reminds me a lot of "bikecar" the travis parker snowboard film from a few years back. It chronicles a no frills trip around the encinitas area by foot. It has it's tongue firmly in it's cheek but there's some good surfing in it. Logs, fishes, guns, handplanes and square styrofoam blocks!

Final choice is 180 degrees south from Chris Malloy which is big budget and not a full on surf film but has some great surfing and climbing footage in it as well as some quality scenic cinematography. The strong enviro message may be a small turn off  and it could be considered a moving patagonia catalogue by some but it's a good film nonetheless. There's a really cool book of photos by Jeff Johnson that goes with it that i would highly reccomend too!