The golden coast

Had to share this...
Queensland where all the queens live has been going off lately!
Imagine rocking up and it finding this on your doorstep and then having it like that for a week?

Put the chicken in

Wind: SSW 12kts
Swell: 3.0 ft
Period: 5-7 seconds, with 8 sec underlying period
Tides: 10m+

I was wondering what to call this one so my wife has just given me the title. I've just been informed that I get to watch a free breast feeding dvd we've been given. We're having a baby soon, just incase you thought we were a bit twisted! ;)

Anyway onto the surf.
What an amazing day today, eh?
Warm and sunny apart from the wind which seemed to veer between NW and SSW.



Not much swell to speak of but the Gower cams were showing small, defined lines and Doc had promised to show me his super x spot if conditions were favourable.

I'd been keeping an eye on things since last weds and the forecast looked like it might just give us enough for this particular spot to work...possibly.

So I headed off west in the hope of finding something to surf.

Laidback Larry had bounced back and forth between not being allowed to come, to being excited about surfing to not being allowed to come again - surf pass revoked! so it was just Doc, Bic (our trusty photographer) and I.

Doc stylin' on his fish:


So off we went, clambering across fields of grass and rock on the first leg of the journey - a one hour hike with all our gear :(

We reached the x spot to find the wind had turned slightly onshore (SSW) but there was a small occasional wave breaking and the wind was fairly light. After getting our breath back, we laid out in the sun and waited for the tide to recede.

Gradually it began to improve and I announced I was going in as we'd come this far! Doc needed no encouragement, so we suited up and climbed down the rocks to the waters edge.

Gull on a kelpy one:


Luckily neither of us had large fins in today. I was on the bonzer with the 6" rear fin and Doc had his newly refurbished fish aka 'Dawn' to hand, complete with swanky red rails. It's been a long time since I'd seen Doc with a fish rather than his trusty mal but it was a good call and nice to watch him getting plenty of speed up.

The sets got better as the tide dropped and we had fun 2ft+ rights in very shallow water. We were surfing in and around exposed/dry reef and kelp beds and it was a bit of a slalom course but apart from the odd fin scrape we had some fun rides and the boards escaped unscathed.

The take off at one point consisted of paddling hard, bottom turning around a large rock and then racing along inside, weaving in and out of the rocks as far as you dared. Great fun though and it added an extra dimension to the session which we'd not have had at a small beach break.

"Rocks to the left of me, rocks to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you..."


Doc sat a bit further out waiting for the bigger sets which were def nudging 3ft and I sat a bit wider and picked off any of the set waves that which broke on his head ;0

It didn't take long for a huge male seal to join us outback. He surfaced about 6ft infront of me after a ride. I tried singing and performing my best seal impression to him but he kept is distance.

That's one thing about surfing that people who don't surf, will never understand - just how close to nature we can get. Who needs documentaries when we're living them?!

Cormorants swam by catching fish in the gullies and sea gulls soared overhead, no doubt crapping on the walkers watching us from the cliffs tops.

My last one of the day:


We both scored some nice rides, short but nice and plentiful. I had a few really fun longish rights, going past one clump of kelp before turning and winding through the inside islands, all the while looking for dry rocks. I was kicking out in knee deep water, standing up on jagged rocks.

The time came to go and the hike loomed. It seemed easier on the return leg (we we're prob hallucinating due to fatigue) until we reached the last qtr mile uphill - which proved to be a proper leg burner! Wearing a wet wetty probably didn't help but it seemed better than carrying it and my board was heavy enough already.

Shattered but stoked. A new spot, surfed :)

Big thanks to Bic for recording another great session.
More photos from the session here.

The return of British Summer time

Moderate NW
Tides - 9.5m+
Swell - 1.7m
Wave Period 8 seconds, average 4.9 seconds

Clocks change tonight..'spring forwards' so we'll soon be enjoying lighter mornings and more water time. Yipeeeeeeeee



Jumped out of bed pre alarm for a change at 6.30am and checked the wave buoy data and decided to have a wander.

I'd texted Sven the night before to say 'leave a bit later due to the tides' but a phone call later and he informed me he'd not checked his phone and was en route from Swansea. Oh well!

We visited a spot I've checked many times before but never actually surfed...perhaps today could be the day? It generally needsa decent swell to get it going and works best through high on a couple of reef breaks to the north of the carpark.

Lovely blue skies and sunshine greeted me as well as a brisk NW wind but the coastline was sheltered here and the sea was being feathered by a moderate offshore wind with perfectly formed 2ft+ barrels reeling off onto a high tide pebble bank. The washed up logs and driftwood and scenery reminded me of somewhere lke Novia Scotia!



The tides were huge today, 10m + and so my compadre Sven Miguel aka 'Goldilocks' and I decided to do some exploring and try to find a few spots I'd had my eye on since the introduction of google maps to the world.

Unfortunately for Sven who arrived wearing flip flops...the woodland trails were thick with mud and wet mud at that, so I had a good time filming him whilst trying to push him off balance in the hope he'd provide some entertaining 'you tube' footage ;0



Sadly for me, he had his 'mountain goat' legs on today and stayed upright for the whole time - quite a feat considering he can normally trip up, 'at will' on relatively smooth pavements, wearing sturdy footwear.

After a 10 min hike we found some lovely views, some old ruins and one or two spots with potential...



The wind however was swinging round and increasing in strength and the tide was still too high :(

We opted for Dunraven Bay in the end and scored 2ft+ and clean to ourselves. I say scored...it was pretty weak and gutless but had a nice shape and was offshore and at least the sun was out. The far left and right hand reefs were breaking but getting anything out of them was hard work.

Still, a dip's a dip!

Wood is Good

and this was too good not to share:

The past and.....The Present

Rumours abound about Malcolm Campbell's shaping visit to the UK shortly but in the meantime his brother Thomas Campbell of Sprout fame has released his latest surf flick - The Present.

The film is touring the UK this spring throughout April-May 2009, showing in: Poole, Devon, Bristol and Cornwall. Details are on the website.

The film is shot on super 16mm film so expect all the usual arty shots. The boards range from quads to Ancient Hawaiian designs like the alaias and plenty of other radical shapes.

Watch the trailer

Thomas was also responsible for The Seedling and Sprout so I personally cannot wait for this film. The gallery pics tell the story: amazing surfers on boards of all shapes n sizes surfing perfect waves in remote spots.

Definitely my cuppa tea :)

Wave drought over?

Recent Atlantic storms seem to have provided relief to a few lucky individuals but the winds haven't been kind to us in South Wales. With strong WSW winds and a moderate to large swell running, we should have something to surf over the weekend :)

It's a mixed chart but the winds are set to go NW for the weekend, lightening considerably on sunday so the Gower reefs could be thumping.

I'll hopefully have some pics for sunday evening...

Earth Hour

2,398 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.

Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm

Come on people we can do it! It's only for an hour.

Kung Foo Surfing?

A new craze is sweeping the welsh coastline and it combines two disciplines - martial arts and surfing.

The idea is to practise your moves mid flow on the wave face.This improves balance and prepares you for attack should anyone attempt to drop in.

Here I am reconstructing a scene, many of you will recognise from Karate Kid. It's not 100% accurate but I think it was called 'The Crane'?

Answers on a postcard please.

Wales v Ireland - Stadium show down

well it wouldn't be right not to mention it, would it?

5,500 Irish are expected to descend on our capital tomorrow.

I've already instructed u-boat commanders to load torpedo's...

Should be a great day (so long as we win!)

Now I'm thinking..if we wear this kit, we can confuse them fairly easily:

Street View from Google

Nothing to do with surf but this is a great new application from Google.

Put in your postcode and see if you can see yourself prancing around naked in your lounge with the new street view application.

This link is for Cardiff so please adjust.

Pretty amazing, eh?

Pesky high pressure

Well summer is well and truly on the way here as High pressure hangs around and keeps us all surf starved. But fear not, I will turn this into a fishing/spear fishing blog if it continues!

It depends on how it goes with a rod. If it's going badly I jump in with snorkel and spear-gun as it's more fun than snagging lines on hungry rocks.

It is nice to wake up though and see a golden ball in the sky and blue sky. One more week and then our clocks go forwards...British Summer Time begins.

I wonder if it will be over and done with by the end of May as usual?

The bruise

A nice triangular shape.
If you find a rock matching this shape..feel free to smash it into pieces!

Freshwest

Three to four ft and only a handful of surfers in. Like a summers day!

Pembrokeshire weekender

I found I could drive the van last night and my foot only hurt if I used the break so I applied it sparingly!

We're down in beautiful Pembrokeshire (home) for the weekend but the foot is v.sore and I'm hobbling about like an old man. I can only wear Uggs at the moment, as I couldnt get my trainers on last night.

*An old man with a walking stick actually over took on me 'on foot' yesterday morning as I walked up the street :(

Sat: Just been to S.Pembs hospital to get the once over...There's the possibility of a 6hr wait for an x-ray and Wales play Italy at 3pm so I'm not going to bother. Nurse reckoned it was just bruising and the swelling would go down so I'll start popping more ibuprofen today!

Sadly, no surfing for me this weekend though.

I'll try and get down to the beach tomorrow to take some photos.

Fri afternoon ice pack @ work

Meanwhile back at the office..the ankle is nicely swollen.

Friday the thirteenth...unlucky for me!

Swell - 1.3m, Period 10.4 seconds, Wind - light SSW, Big tides - 10.5m+



Well it was a simple plan...attempt our first extreme dawnie of 2009.
We're not talking a normal run of the mill 6am start here...we're talking 'EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME'!

The klaxon sounded at 4.40am and I stumbled out of bed, clonking into things in the darkness and out of the door, forgetting my lunch as I went...BUGGER

Then some clever motorway driving whilst pouring hot tea into my cup from a thermos flask, whilst trying to operate the wipers and gears - not easy at 80mph but well worth it.

Arrived at the chosen destination to meet up with Bic and Doc(again!) and stood around soaking up the early morning darkness. Our wives would worry if they knew we left them to meet up with other men... in car parks... at night ;)



By 5.45am it was light enough to get in and we made water fall just before 6am.

A bit disappointing to begin with as I'd envisaged 4-5ft and clean but we were greeted with a slightly choppy 3ft. Undeterred we paddled out.

In my excitement, I decided to run down the pebble bank at speed, throw my board onto the flat and surf it for a few feet. It went well until I jumped off, landing awkwardly on a big submerged rock...It hurt but cold water numbs pain very nicely.



We caught tons of waves first thing. I felt like I was catching something every couple of minutes but the light was unkind for the photographer today.

Aggers made his arrival around 6.30am followed by H-man and a couple of loggers, JT and Steve Beach. Good to meet you steve.

The shore dump began to roar around 7.15am

I was unceremoniously driven up the dry pebble bank on my back after one particular wipeout! LOL much to the amusement of my compadres!

For some reason I decided to go back in? By now, the waves were basically breaking in mutant shore-dump ending in dry pebbles up a steep bank...



I knew what was to come so instructed Bic on camera to move closer and wait. Almost on cue Aggers came in and got absolutely mullered, board flying up, body dragged over pebbles and out.

Aggers about to get sucked over:



Next up was Doc on 'big red'
I'd already remarked that I was glad I wasn't going in to the shorey with a 9ft longboard in hand. I had a feeling this would be good and he didn't disappoint.

He began his exit okay, so far so good, a slight lull, a run, but the conveyor belt rapidly kicked in as the wave sucked back out to sea.
Doc was pumping but the legs weren't moving. Uh oh...



He almost looked stationary as the silent assassin crept up on him and swept his legs clean away, despite him being halfway up the bank! So close...

What happened next can only be described as an 'explosion' as Doc was completely engulfed and rolled around the pebbles in a big white tumble dryer.



My foot is now absolutely killing me. I can hardly walk on it. A lesser man would be in hospital right now but I shall persevere and sob quietly to myself :)

Photos from weds dawnie

Now I know what you're thinking...the water's brown! but this is S.Wales surfing on the fringes of the Bristol channel and we have silt in the channel. 45 mins north and there are blue seas. It's a funny old world.

Find out about Porthcawl

The water isn't polluted though - Bass wallow in their droves once the summer comes. I once duckdived a wave here, it has a heavy wedge on the far left on bigger days.

The wave landed on me like a small car and when I surfaced, slightly dazed, I found I was almost hugging a large fish who'd obviously had the same treatment and was disorientated.

I instinctively shoved it away from me in a panic but will try and hang onto the next one (if it ever happens again) as I can never catch the damn things with a fishing rod!

The browned seas also make for a nice contrast with tinted boards.
It certainly doesn't effect wave quality though :)







My good pal Doc, styling on his longboard - check out that lovely hollow lip behind him. It looks as if he's stroking it to make it purrrr...



Photos by Bic who sat in the rain for a good 2 hrs despite his lens fogging over after 15 mins. Poor guy will end up with piles if he's not careful!

Wednesday Dawn Patrol

12-13 second period
1.3m swell
light offshore winds
Big tides - 10m+

Joined this morning by my compadres: Doc, rattz, aggers and gazza with Bic on camera so a full OTL contingent.

We had a spectacular full moon last night so the tides were always going to be a factor but the winds swung light offshore, ese/se and hardly a breath of wind at 6am. We paddled out to glassy waves breaking fairly close to the high tide pebble bank with sheet glass faces, nudging 4ft.

Good rides from all so there should be some photos coming later from Bic. The tide dropped back and did it's usual confused thing until around 8am when it perked up again. the sniper was out in the dunes as usual and picked off a few of the lads.

Rattz was shot repeatedly by an UZI at one point on 3 waves in a row ;) but he did score a lovely right hander earlier and hung on despite an early shot to the leg. It must have just grazed him!

I snagged a few really nice lefts this morning despite feeling absolutely shattered from an intensive 'body balance' yoga session at work yesterday lunchtime. I'll think carefully before doing that a day before good waves again! The bonzer was flying even if I was playing catch up to it!

If you're reading this wondering what I'm on about re: a sniper - There is a mythological sniper in the dunes at our local spot who shoots people off their boards from time to time...I'm sure every break has one!

Roll on friday am when we should have more of the same.

The wind has died

lovely sunset tonight...bodes well for an early start.

My Bumblebee Stub....Bzzzzzzzzzzz

6'1"x21"

I vary the rear fin depending on conditions so either use the 6'0" bonzer fin for 2-5 ft days or whack in a 7.5" Skip Frye Flexi for 6ft - overhead surf. It depends alot on the type of wave too. I find, fast hollow reef requires the bigger fin, in anything over 4ft or it becomes a bit twitchy under foot.

Brownfish: 5'5 Simmons type thingy

Brownfish: 5'5 Simmons type thingy

Wild n windy

And I'm not talking about the curry I had...
The swell has been thumping in over the last 24hrs but so have the gale force wsw winds so conditions have been messy. Hoping for a dawn surf on weds if these winds ease off...

sat morning dawnie

Lovely start to the day.

1m on the sker buoy and a nice 11 sec period. Low tide at 9am

Tide had dropped a bit further than I was hoping but there was no wind and fun 2ft peaks coming through at Rest Bay with very light nw wind barely flapping the flags on the golf course.

Just sven miguel and I in for a while and then a couple more joined including aggers from the otl forum.

Looked average as we walked out but a right hander starting to break and then we were spoilt for choice with 3 nice peaks within spitting range so it was tricky to know which one to go for. We opted for the golf course option and made the right choice :)

Sets improved and we scored lovely 2-3ft sets for about 30 mins or so with long walling lefts allowing for 3-4 lip bashes per wave with plenty of speed and power. Prob my best surf at rest in quite some time!

Small, choppy wednesday

Blue skies and sunshine today but talk of snow coming?!
I hope not as I have a dawn patrol planned for this week if the swell kicks in.

Got a few more pics in from the sunday reef session and despite it being a poor surf, the photographer Bic took a couple of beauties.

blogging from a c902 Sony mobile...

As keen as I am to embrace new technologies I did find it increasingly frustrating when things don't work!

Take my new phone...it has a blog application on it so any image I take I can automatically upload to my blog or any other blog... WRONG!

It won't let me edit the blog setting in the phone for starters so this particular blog can't be accessed in camera mode even though it uses 'Blogger'.

Secondly the damn default Sony blog page it has created for me doesn't work either and there is a distinct lack of online help out there regarding this.

surf wise - we have a nice low coming in for thursday so I'll try and get in at first light and might even take some snaps if I can get this blog upload working.

Don't hold your breath!

March madness

And we're off...

It's been an eventful few days.

First off - The first loss of our Six Nations rugby campaign as France turned up and gave us a lesson in hard yards, at the Stade France, 21-16.
Bugger!

You can watch 'extended highlights' not that I'd say there were many highlights

I awoke to a scrambled brain on Saturday morning courtesy of one too many pints and a late night curry which in hindsight probably saved my life!

Nursing one of those annoying 'all day hangovers' I decided to buy some nurofen and take my other half to see The Killers in the CIA in Cardiff.

Before you get too excited - it's a rock venue rather than a place where secret agents hang out.

The Killers were amazing, they completely rocked the place to it's core and I'd recommend everyone goes to at least one gig. The only other gig that's been better IMO was The Foo Fighters back in 2007, and you have to hand it to front man Dave Grohl, as he really knows how to work a crowd.

ST David's Day came and went without incident.

Now onto the surf...I awoke to a text from my good friend 'the doc' in Swansea saying the swell wasn't big enough and the reefs wouldn't be firing...

I could tell that there were some negativity vibes going on and a quick check at the local wave buoy data revealed a decent local period of around 14 secs and light NW winds forecast so I called it on.

Local lensman - Mark 'Bic' Evans was due to join us to take a few snaps and 4 of us assembled on a sucky/shallow south Gower reef. Photos coming soon....

The weather was glorious, not great for photography as the sun was overhead but Bic stayed put and spent a couple of hours snapping away on the shoreline.

My surfing was abysmal, probably the worst it's been in donkeys years in fact. A combo of beer legs from Fri night and a fast responsive board that I'd not ridden in 3 weeks certainly didn't help. My last surf two weeks prior had been in a 3/2 summer suit in Morocco...all the excuses are coming out now! ;0

After about 20 minutes, I finally felt some control over leg movements and had a few nice steep drops. There were no decent rides to speak of as the wave shape was being buffeted by a WNW wind ad the light NW winds failed to appear. This made conditions a bit tricky.

Doc as usual sat deep on his mal and picked off the best waves and took a few slaps in the process. Larry and Sven sat wide on the shoulder and picked off the wider inside waves and I moved about in between.

We all snagged a few but nothing of any consequence. I donned a seaweed kelp wig and one point and smoked a piece of driftwood whilst riding the face... yes I was a bit bored!

Last but not least, I had a photo published online today, courtesy of Drift Magazine today. It's a recent pic from my trip to Maroc taken at Anka point.

You can view the original image here.