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.