thems the breaks.........

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the aforementioned broken ribs was watching lovely autumn swells on the webcam, knowing there was no way I could consider paddling out. I tried a couple of times after about a month but with varying success and pain levels and it wasn't really until past 6 weeks that I managed a proper little logging session.

In an effort to distract myself I searched out a cheap old canon waterproof camera, an a1 sureshot which took some lovely pictures on my first session back in before it sprung a leak and died. That's what you get for shooting with 30 year old cameras I guess!

by dawns early light

7'10 of Gulfstream speed egg goodness. Template is a mix of Russ Pierre's wild west shooter with a bit of Devon Howards takayama model mixed in. Ride report to follow............

under iron skies..

the view from out here....

So yeah maybe we moan about the weather here a lot. Moan about the cold water, the rain, the prevailing westerlies, the crowds of kooks, the windswell. It's easy to get grumpier and grumpier the older you get and the more you think on it.... the grass is always greener. One thing we do have, despite the congested nature of much of the country, is lush green landscapes barely interupted by human hand. Sitting in the line up with a couple of friends, taking it all in on a small day is one of life's simple pleasures. A time honoured antidote to the grumpiness.

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!

p-land

Like many other locals, i've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this spot over the years, lately i find myself ending up here more and more. It's the site of my first proper surf beating after an ill judged decision to paddle out during my first year surfing and it's one of those spots where it often seems to look better from the carpark than it is or better 50 yards down the beach until you paddle there and decide it looks better where you just came from. I, like many others, have had some frustrating trips here.

I'm not sure if i'm just better at sitting in the right spot now but over the last two years i've had some epic waves here and it definately has it's charms. It can be a good noseriding wave when it's small, a fun wave on a shortboard when it's bigger and a godsend when the wind swings southerley. It's definately underated. Interestingly, unlike the other local spots, it doesn't really have it's own locals, it's more of a melting pot of refugees from the other breaks when the wind dictates, which is kind of refreshing.

toys

So i've kept this fairly surf based so far, but those who know me will know that guitar & music in general is another of my life's obsessions. I recently treated myself to the little vox amp in the picture. Four watts of lovely rich tube tone, looks like a handmade chocolate and best of all?

It's quiet & aesthetically pleasing enough to be allowed downstairs in the house!

This pic and the water shots on film are from another new toy, an ebay bargain waterproof film camera + some film that expired 6 years ago. Seems like an experiment that has worked so far!

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 :-)

dawnpatrol

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: