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

little packets of stokefulness..........

 

A little while ago I rolled into the car park half an hour before dusk, not expecting much, not really expecting a rideable wave if i'm honest. Sea breezes were still blowing and at first sight they were crumbling barely knee high waves. Seconds before I turned tail and headed home, a set came through, hit the best bank on the beach and a familiar silhoueted figure carved it up smoothly with tip time and drop knee.



Decision made, I scrambled into my suit and paddled out anxious to wash off the grime and suncream after a day of shed clearing and visiting the local dump. The sets were infrequent but there were  few to share them with. When they came, the waves were still a mushy waist high at best but with just enough shape to allow some fun logging, the bank marshaling the disorderly bumps into decent shape, the breeze slackening as the sun dipped towards the horizon. The small righthanders were playful and teasing, demanding fleet of foot and light of touch but rewarding with stolen moments of ten over and dropped knee. Kick outs with smile lost in the fading light.

As i sat waiting, alone with my thoughts, it struck me how personal the surfing experience is, how little the experience of each wave is shared no matter how many there are in the line up. How the feel and the feelings engendered are different (yet the same) for each of us, modified by board choice and local conditions. For me it's the little things i love, the perfect imperfections. I'm drawn to the edges of things. The warmth of the sun on your face, the glow of the sunset sky, water drawn over  soft rails,  making the most of a flawed wave. It's in the subtle grace of good trim, the weightless feel of a well placed noseride, the sweeping swing of a well timed cutback and the addictive momentum of a well timed fade as you take off. Grace in adversity, good style making economy of movement more powerful than wild action. It didn't need to be six foot and perfect, i didn't need to be here yesterday, i just needed to be here now.

The light was gone all too soon and I wandered out in near darkness, spent but smiling, storing my little packets of stokefulness like a squirrel mindful of the uncertainty of my next meal but content with an appetite sated.

surplus to requirements

it may be my somewhat narrow mind, but i'd say some of the surfing in this clip, knost in the final especially, renders progressive longboarding as a concept somewhat superfluous. He effortlessly marries full rail cutbacks with lightning quick footwork, turning as hard as many of the three fin longboard pro's aspire too, yet still with the grace inherent in the traditional aesthetic.

Just my two cents but id watch that every day of the week instead of arm waving, butt wiggling and forcing airs on a board of a length more suited to something else....

the troll

It's sunny, warm, the gloves are off (& boots for some hardier than me!) and we've had some fun clean waves............ feels like summer is just around the corner doesn't it folks?

ringside seats for the neighborhood fight.....

I haven't been playing guitar much the last few months, and when i have it's been the 335 through my little vox combo and Mayall style blues, but as of this week the Gretsch hollow body is back in heavy rotation.
Maybe because i've been grooving on Chonoski's hot rod style, it got some setzer back on the old ipod. There's just something about a 6120 through a fender on the verge of break up that makes me smile and remember there's more to life than sand between your toes....

race

BGA,five over, racing the section.

The last couple of weekends have had fun clean waves but the onshores are back today. Funnily enough it's the start of the contest season at saunton too. No doubt people in vests are enjoying the paddle workout of 4 foot onshore mushy beachbreak right now. I, meanwhile, have coffee and a smug feeling i'm not missing much!

the open road

There's something exciting about the start of a road trip. The anticipation as the leaving date approaches, the loading as you try to cram one too many essentials in a little too little space, obsessively checking the forecast. Then the off, the road and the possibilities stretching out in front of you, a map and a hunch and a bunch of cd's..........

on the racks...

Perhaps i'm biased but i don't think anyone is making surfboards in the UK that are any better shaped or finished than Gulfstream. Maybe there are a couple of people that are comparable, but sadly i don't think there ar man people even trying to match the care and craftsmanship that most US logging labels strive for.

That said, i  have an order in with Squire, the label run by John Isaac and made by Seabase. Given John's eye for detail i'm sure it will live up to expectation.

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!

the sentinel

What a lovely little run of fun small waves and sunshine we have been treated to! Definately feels like spring is springing! Really fun logging waves without too many crowds (where i was anyway!). Finally starting to shed a small bit of rubber and feel like my logging ability is coming back from the winter doldrums. Big smiles.

I've been wearing the 4/3 nineplus full suit i got a few months ago for the last few surfs and it is really nice. Plenty warm enough and flexible with good quality feeling single lined yamamoto neoprene. No durability issues so far either.

In other news i watched Randall generating more speed than should be possible on a thigh high wave on his own asymetric version of a mini simmons on friday and i also borrowed a friends diplock shaped mini simmons, this one is a beast at 6'4 and has twin keels with a little trailer fin. Very much like john cherry's sim 21 model. Considering how small the waves were it flew but felt quite stiff with the center fin and personally i prefer the twin set up.

blurred vision

This week i spent a very enjoyable evening at the Tiki offices seeing them launch their new range of epoxy boards. In between being force fed real ale by Tim Heyland (who i now hold partly responsible for my worst hangover in recent memory!) here's what i remember........

The boards are the frutition of a five year design process and represent an attempt to push board construction forwards by marrying natural and manmade materials to create something with the best of both. The original shapes are by Bruce McKee, an aussie who has shaped for quite a few big names over the years and range from a 5'9 shortboard up to a 7 foot something fun board shape. There are a couple of fish style SUP's in the range too but interestingly no longboards. Tim, who is a very good longboarder himself, doesn't feel the technology gives the right feel to longer shapes and i think that's probably right.

Each board is machine preshaped then hand finished from a eps foam blank. The first "clever bit" is the use of a much much smaller cell and therefore denser and stronger foam stringerless blank. From there things get a bit hazy but..........

The blank gets a layer of glass then the deck and bottom get a thin bamboo skin and the rails get a carbon fibre cloth wrap. The deck gets another 6oz patch where your feet go and the whole baord gets another 4oz layer of glass over all of it. What you end up with is four layers of glass on the deck and the equivalent of seven layers on the rails, but, and here's the second "clever bit",  because it's all epoxy, the boards come out lighter than a conventional PU shortboard!

Aesthetically they look lovely and feel well made. They are strong enough for a well built chap to jump on upside down without damage. I can't comment on how they surf... yet, but i know they spent a lot of time testing to try and avoid the corkiness and tinnyness that surfttechs are often accused of. The bamboo apparently gives a dynamic flex that you wouldn't find in a tufflite board.

They're not entirely my "cup of tea" and others will be far more qualified to comment on how well they work but it's cool to see something new, especially when it's homegrown.

norwegian wood