waxhead waxes lyrical

I'm  stoked to publish a link to my latest feature for drift, an interview with the waxhead himself Matt Chojnacki.

Matt is articulate, a super nice guy and a really talented surfer with a smooth and powerful logging style. He's one of the surfers who's exciting me at the moment and well worth checking out. Hope you enjoy the piece.

The photo above and the ones for drift are all by Matt Johnson, yet another young photographer who's talent makes me jealous!

stuck in third?

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!

life is just swell.....

Dave Allee, owner of Almond does his best catalogue pose

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!!

fare thee well friend

Nearly time for Rob Lion of Royal surfboards to wave goodbye to our windswept shores and resume life on the other side of the pond. Opinionated, experimental but a thinker with a passionate surfing heart, although our pathes have crossed only occasionally in a physical sense, each time has been a pleasure and Rob's company is something i always look forward to. Sadly i didn't make it down to the fish fry last weekend, sounds like i missed a great day as well as the chance to say farewell in person!

Good bye and good luck Rob, hope all goes well for you. Make sure you stay in touch!

soap and chair no.2

almond

I spent a little bit of time hanging out with the almond boys Dave, Jake and Taylor at their shop on the edge of newport/costa mesa. It's about a mile inland from Blackies and is a really cool little space, a mix of lovely boards, bamboo, vintage shelving, kind of a little bit tiki without the chintz. They have been there for two years now, quietly producing 100% handmade surfboards, logs, fishes and single fins, some japanese wetsuits, carving their own little niche in a busy marketplace. The whole venture has a friendly low key organic feel made for friends by friends vibe, without seeming exclusive or over concerned with it's own importance.

Their boards work too, designed by owner Dave and production shaper griffin, most have handmade wood fins as standard. Cyrus Sutton is riding one in his stoked and broke film and their "collective of enthusiasts" also includes ex womens world champ Schuyler Mc ferren so there's some respected feet on their craft. At the moment there are a few available in Europe but none in the UK though if there was some interest i'm sure it would be possible to get some over here.

Theirs is the sort of young grass roots outfit that deserves support


I'll leave the last word to Dave

"Weʼre in the business of keeping people stoked, because stoked people keep us in business."

make like elvis

Hip Wiggler Invitational 2011 from Insight Europe on Vimeo.

Hip Wiggling

pining for san o....

churches_old footage from Mark Choiniere on Vimeo.

I could really do with a little session like this right now!

In reality i'm hosting a group of young professional colleagues for a surfing lesson with the excellent surf south west. I've done it for the last few years and there is definately something refreshing about watching total beginers experience the stoke of laboriously clambering to their feet for a split second before falling off. Big genuine smiles from the simplest of pleasures.

monsieur le chef

So back from France and home to conditions that resemble the hundred year storm at the end of "point break" with gale force onshores and too much swell. Thankfully we just avoided a ferry back in these conditions, I'm certain it wouldn't have been a pleasant crossing!

The friendly chef in the photo stands outside a bistro in st Gilles croix de vie, in the vendee about an hour north of la Rochelle. The beach breaks all looked super fun but we only saw them breaking at six inches on probably the only totally flat week of the summer. Gutted! Perfect for the little 'un to trim along her first green wave. Definately little acorns....It was baking hot and sunny with plenty of vin rouge and moules frites to help pass the time, all of  which makes our sudden headlong rush into autumn seem all the more saddening.

In other news, James Parry's hip wigglers went off last Saturday at gwithian, there are reports of real high quality logging and some great pictures leaking out. Little bit gutted I missed it but thank you James for the invite! James just left blighty heading to Ca for the Malibu duct tape next weekend, neatly coiffured as usual and with a shiny new slide 65 under arm.

Issue 13 of Corduroy Lines is nearly ready to buy as well, its a proper homegrown longboard magazine and each issue gets better. Sure this one is no exception! you can pre-order from corduroy lines.com.

Right i'm off to batten down some hatches, or something like that!

leadbetter

A few hundred yards from the great sushi shack on santa barbara harbor. Very mellow righthander breaks off the point in the distance but lack of swell and no lack of SUP's prevented a first hand assessment of it's quality!

under iron skies..