Welsh National Surfing Championships

Local surfer Harry Cromwell in the contest last year.
Image courtesy of WSF:


May 2-4th 2009, Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire.

The surf forecast looks great so competitors should have their work cut out on the Saturday with a solid swell forecast and light wsw > nw winds.

Anyone who knows fresh, knows that the rip can be an absolute 'bar steward' on bigger days, especially when surfing the beach but growing up there definitely improved my duck-diving skills so I'm grateful for that.

Check out the event's Facebook site for more details or visit the Welsh Surfing Federation website

This contest is invariably cursed with flat spells but last year seemed to buck the trend and this year looks all set to follow.

In the past we'd always have good surf in the week building up to the contest and it would always go flat for the weekend, much to the locals amusement.

I'll be out and about snapping and doing some filming, providing it doesn't pour down.

Wind Guru's prediction still looks good.

Here's the weekend weather forecast from our BBC Wales weatherman, Derek Brockway:

"Saturday a decent looking day. Dry with a good deal of sunshine. Temperatures 12 to 15 Celsius with light W/SW winds. Sea breezes.

On Saturday night a cold front may bring a few showers to North Wales. Elsewhere dry and cool. Lows around 3 Celsius inland with risk of ground frost.

Sunday dry with sunny spells.
Temperatures 11 to 14 Celsius with a light to moderate W-NW breeze.

Bank Holiday Monday a breezier day so feeling cooler. More cloud, especially in North Wales, perhaps a spot or two of rain otherwise dry. The best of the sunshine in the south and Southwest. Temperatures 11 to 14 Celsius with a fresh to strong W-SW wind".

Remember! You're not allowed to camp at Freshwater West as it's within a protected National Park area and with Harry Potter in town, the North end car park is also closed off. I expect the National Trust wardens will be checking the dunes regularly this weekend.

There's a camp site in the nearby village of Castlemartin though and another one next door to the Speculation Inn, which is on the junction as you turn off for the road to the beach.

Leave only footprints.
As surfers were at the front line of environmental awareness so let's respect the beach and take all rubbish home with us.

Nearly...but not quite?

Things which always seem to happen when surfing. The sods law of surfing if you like. Here are some of my recent observations:

1. I hang my suit out to dry. It's almost there but not quite so I leave it outside for another 20 mins and then it pours down with rain. Why not bring it in.

Is this down to me just being an optimist or just being a bit forgetful i.e. We live in Wales and the weather changes faster than a tiger chasing a man with steak, taped to his undercrackers?

2. I paddle out and am nearly out the back when a large wave appears out of nowhere...

By rights I deserve to get over this beastie but no matter how hard I paddle or the direction I choose to paddle in, it seems to follow me? It's lining me up and there's nothing I can do about it!

It then just sits there, seemingly in s l o w - m o t i o n , patiently waiting and even offering a slight moment of hope (I might just make this) before breaking square on my back with all the subtlety of a car crash.

To make things more annoying this normally happens, just about the time my arms begin to scream for a breather.

3. I paddle out and despite perfect waves breaking either side of me, they will not ever come straight to me, no matter how long I sit there. Even the rip will not do the decent thing and carry me along to a surfable peak?
Instead I have to battle the rip for hours to snag anything worthwhile and am right back where I started after one decent wave, no matter which way I surf.

4. After a dire surf, a 'redeemer wave' presents itself on a plate to me and I slip off sideways 'mid paddle' due to a lack of wax even though this hasn't been an issue for the last 10 crap waves I've managed to catch successfully or unsuccessfully depending on how you want to view it.

Perhaps it's Karma?

That's it for now but I'm sure I'll think of some more, next time I'm out surfing.

Harry Potter house - update

photos courtesy of Scotty - my man on the beach at Freshwest. Looks like the house is coming along nicely.



Room with a view:

Bathtub time

Amazing video techniques here, all done in film. This amazing tilt-shift film was made by Keith Loutit, a photographer based in Sydney, Australia.


Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Ice, ice, baby

Swell: 1.5 - 1.3m
Wind: Light NE, 5kts
Period: 6-7 secs
Tide: Riding, HT @ 9.15am, 9.7m

"I said stop, collaborate and listen.."
Up at 5.15am followed by the usual stumbling around in the darkness, trying to locate my pants. I then hopped in the van to find frost on the windscreen? We're nearly in May!

Scraped the thin layer of ice away and off I trundled to meet up with sven, ratter and harv at our local spot. As I sped away up the road, and around the bend - I spilled the now customary tea all over my crotch and cursed to myself - nothing new there then! ;)

Beautiful start to the day, with a nice warm sun and blue skies greeting us in the car park and light NE winds making the smoke stacks plume vertically which is always a good indicator.

Arriving at the beach we found the tide was still quite low and the peaks looked very choppy with a noticeable rip running but the waves looked fun and I squeaked into a nice 4 footer with a steep, high speed drop as the wave shot down around my ears. Mmmmm this could be okay...

daily pic from www.porthcawlsurf.co.uk:


The tide pushed in and more peaks began to fire but the rip was working overtime to keep us off anything remotely good but we snagged a few here and there.
Sven was enjoying his new favourite snack - 'falafel' or 'fall off full' as I prefer to pronounce it and was flying off his fish left, right and centre much to our and his amusement. He was like the Fall Guy and had fine tuned his face plant to perfection. LOL

Aggers was out the there already with the rat, picking off a few nice ones on his matchstick firewire quad which I'd test driven, on Friday and enjoyed. It was surprisingly floaty for a thin board and nice and loose.

Ratter had a few nice lefts including one classic OTL / OTA combo (off the lip/off the ass) which saw him blast a nice plume of spray off the back only to blast an even bigger one as his ass made contact with the wave as he disembarked.

Aran was gliding along on his new twinnie snagging some lovely long lefts and catching everything with alarming ease...I will have to examine that board of his!

It was one of those sessions that could turn perfect but didn't but showed occasional glimmers of perfection with the odd 4ft A frame peak coming through. I slipped into a couple of nice sized set waves and managed to pig dog my way into barrel territory only to feel my bonzer sliding up the face in front of me and over with the lip. Close but no cigar today.

The sniper eased off and sven began to find his feet at last. I shared a lovely left with harv whose off to maroc tomorrow so it felt right that I should drop in on him one last time ;0

Harv snagged a few nice waves today so I hope he scores some bigger stuff on his trip. We've managed to convince him to say no when he means yes in French so it should be fine :)

The tide began to get a bit high but the waves turned glassy but it was time to call it a day. I snagged a nice right hand set wave, hollow and around 3ft so that was my ticket in.

Great start to the day even though none of us had a particularly good surf. The vibe and the weather made up for it.

Take one

well I had my first 'unsuccessful' attempt at filming some surfing on friday.
I was hoping to get in some practice prior to the Welsh Surfing Championships next weekend on May 2, at Freshwater West

The camera and water proof housing were booked and a perfect swell was ordered up.

I even had a BBC cameraman/diver friend come along to assist but alas the session ended abruptly when the housing leaked, not much but a few drops on the inside is never a good sign so we aborted the mission and filmed from the beach.

The camera then died and is now being repaired, so not a great start.

I did however have a nice surf, 3-4ft and hollow to begin with so not all bad and a day off to surf is better than a day spent at the office.

Pottergate continues...

The latest pic of the Harry Potter set being built at Fresh West in Pembrokeshire courtesy of scotty:



Freshwater West is being used as a location for the final film in the Harry Potter series and a new take on Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe.

More than 700 people have joined a Facebook group worried that the beach would be off-limits in May and June.

The park authority said while filming would cause some disruption the beach and coastal path would be kept open.

Road closures will be in place for the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows between May 11 and 15.

Surfers are worried about beach access during the summer months...

The gloves are off!

I went for my 1st 'apres work' dip last night after about 10 days of dryness and found it hard going. The 15 min walk tired me out in full winter rubber with the hot sun beating down on me. Occasionally we have hot sun in Wales...but I told myself to get on with it and get this one out of the way.

You kind of know when you're not going to have a great surf and this was one of those days.

The wind seemed to be blowing into my face as I neared the coast so I was expecting slight onshore slop but arrived to find 2-3ft glass with definable lines and only 1 other surfer in. I sat and watched a few peaks breaking and paddled out.

The gloves are definitely off now! I'd worn my in which only added to my warm, tired discomfort, so I eventually paddled in and stashed then under a rock on the shore, praying I'd remember where I'd left them and that the tide didn't push in too far.

My surfing was shocking, it's amazing what a week or so out of action does to your ability and I was getting increasingly frustrated, which is quite unlike me in the water normally.

A crap frame grab from the cam, before I left work last night:

Lovely waves we're appearing all around me but I just seemed to be out of sync and missing all of the good ones. Eventually my pre-surf banana must have kicked in as I found some form. The other guy left and a mate of mine, Aran arrived with his sexy new red twin fin, so we surfed in solitude until around 7pm.

The waves began to ease off around high tide but picked up again on the drop and we enjoyed some much better rides, with long walling rights and the occasional left. You had to work the board to generate speed to blast along but there was a fun end lip to bash and a few hollow ones to pull into.

A larger set wave broke out back, so clean and glassy it looked like oil. I cursed myself at missing it as did Aran who was closer to the peak but luckily for me the shoulder reformed.

I took off late, dropped down in the lip and raced a beautiful 3ft wall and then prepared for a nice little bit of cover inside as the wave dropped down onto the next ledge. The lip came over and in I went, flying out the side curtain further down just as it shut down inside. Sweet :)

And I remembered to go and find my gloves. The walk back was tough going! Back at the car park I encountered a strange but nice old lady who appeared to be living out of an old motor-home along with 3 dogs - a Jack Russell, a Husky and a Lercher. All lovely, friendly pooches.

I lent her a screw driver to do some running repairs which seemed to take forever... but she was very grateful and said I'd made her life a lot easier, so that was nice.

Amazing how some people live though, eh?

Hollywood

Image courtesy of William Webber:

A mysterious structure has appeared down at Freshwater West - one of our premiere and most pristine surfing spots in Wales.

The Welsh National Surfing Championships are due to be held here in May and there are some lovely set ups in this area, which forms part of the coastal marine and national park.

View a Google map of the location.

As a result, you can't even sneeze here normally without permission from the National Park so it makes this erection even more curious...

The sand dunes are under constant protection from erosion caused by the marram grass (the long razor sharp green plants that cut your ankles as you walk past them) being stomped on and there's no camping allowed.

The poor sod selling hot-dogs and burgers from the 'Tags burger van' was even restricted from selling hot food after some complaints from beach users, so local surfers can't even get a hot post surf snack in wintertime anymore.

The answer is £

Harry Potter is coming to town, so the fragile eco-system, sand dunes and wildlife can cope, as the local authority will get a nice fat cheque.

And now it seems that 'Robin Hood' - Ridley Scott's new film is also coming. Great for the economy but what impact will 100 horses and 600 extras have on the landscape?

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/

It seems as if Hollywood has finally found our little sanctuary and tour buses will no doubt follow.

Reel sessions

One of the guys on the OTL surf forum posted this link so thought I'd pass it on.

Dustin Humphrey Photographer & co - Winner of the Sony World Photography Awards Cannes 2009 Commercial - Advertising.

Check out the imaginative B&W underwater photography and surfing photography cunningly merged together...

Back in the saddle

Just been over to Germany to visit my inlaws so I haven't been updating the blog as there's no surf in Germany. For those non-geographers among you - it's landlocked although you can surf in the river at Munich...

I did however hop on a bike after a long absence and managed to fall off about 2km into my ride. But like a true spartan I carried on for another 8 km and then hobbled around for a day or two.

My wife was not surprised when I told her I'd done it, messing about 'slightly' and trying to go 'extreme'. I was only trying to do a nice sprag over some gravel and into a turn but hit the wrong brake and went over like a bag of spuds!

I was on a ladies bike with a flippin' bell jingling every time I rode over a rock so probably trying to overcompensate and the back brakes didn't really work anyway so in hindsight jamming on the front one was probably the most exciting option.

Next time I'll be demanding a front basket so I can carry a basic first aid kit with me ;)

I don't bruise easily for some reason so always know when I've hurt myself properly. I scored a couple of nice gashes out of each hand, one long one in my arm, assorted cuts and bruises on my back and a lump on my hip which has gradually been turning yellow this week...very slowly.

Wounded gull:


Worse than that, my father in law now considers me to be totally inept on two wheels and took great pleasure in telling friends we met en route that I was a good surfer but not a cyclist.

I spent my formative years living on a bike and was ahead of my time in my head, doing BMX stunts on my old gear less bike - this was pre 'Grifters' etc. We even used to jump friends who'd take it in turns to lie down under home-made ramps and no-one died, so I'd always considered myself quite handy on two wheels but that was 25+ yrs ago I guess...

The closest I got to my weekly salt water fix was in a thermal spa which as you'd expect uses natural hot spring water, located in the curiously named Bad Frankenhausen. The twist was that the water had no chlorine in it, just salt.

There was so much salt in the pool that swimming under water was incredibly difficult, akin to diving down in the sea with a wetsuit on and no weight belt so I was slightly embarrassed at having to come up for air halfway, whilst attempting a length underwater in a small pool!

No hands tube ride in a salty barrel with goggles on:


The closest I got to a cover up was in the water fall although I did get tubed twice in the water chute and scared a few small children with the volume of water I managed to displace, crashing out of the end of the water slide!

Surf's on the way and for once, my winter wetsuit is bone dry. Even my boots are dry? I didn't think wetsuit boots ever dried, but I can now confirm they do!

Rip Curl Grom's

Just had this report in from Eryl Mason, from the Welsh Surfing Federation:

The first leg of the Rip Curl GromSearch European surf series kicked-off in Rest Bay, Porthcawl, Wales for the 6th consecutive year on a bright & sunny but rather breezy day last on Saturday 4th April.

2–3ft decent swell coming off the Channel was made more challenging for the young competitors by the stiff on-shore breeze.

However, the competitors braved through a full 9hrs of good competitive surfing to get to the finals and a chance to compete in the Regional Finals and then the final goal of the Rip Curl Pro Junior at the European Finals in Hossegor, South west France in August.
A solid entry of nearly 50 kids across all categories, ensured that the competition was a success and as always a good cross section of ages and abilities – The youngest competitor was a local boy Tom Horn from Porthcawl aged 6 and a 9 year old girl, Elis Richards from Mumbles, Swansea.

There was a really good contingent of surfers from over the bridge to provide quality competition for the young Welsh hopefuls.

There was even a couple of perfect 10’s awarded by the normally unforgiving judges to a young surfer Will Bailey from Woolacombe, who tore one of the heats to shreads; still only 11years old.

Will is certainly one to look out for in the future. The competition was fierce throughout the day with the English competitors leading the way in all categories.

As the competition came to a close in the early evening, the stiff breeze dropped away to allow the prizes to be presented by Rip Curl’s team and events Manager James Hendy, with a backdrop of pumping waves waiting to be attacked by the ever eager Grom’s long into the evening.

The highest placed Under 16 Welsh Boy was David Williams from Swansea and the Under 16 Welsh Girl was Mali James also from Swansea.

They win an all expenses paid trip to the UK finals held at Godrevey in Cornwall on the 20th & 21st June where they will surf against the best from England and Ireland.

All photos by Peter Price - 07920 196248.

Check out the Welsh Surfing Federation's page on Facebook

Midweek special

Swell: 1.5m
Wind: Moderate SSW veering light SE
Period: 10.9 seconds, 259 degs
Tide: 9.7m, Rising > HT @ 7.44pm

Well we had a nice surprise yesterday and for once, the winds played ball.
It had been blowing a 'hoolie' all day with moderate to strong SW winds but the forecast was for the winds to ease early evening and turn Southerly.

We arrived at our local spot to find chunky 4-5ft waves pounding through, with defined lines and long enough gaps between the sets to make paddling out fairly simple.

The waves were pretty choppy on the face though and had steps in places as the waves struggled to find their form on the large incoming tide. I caught a few lefts to begin with and after a couple of initial wipeouts found my feet. The larger sets were probably pushing 6ft and nailing anyone inside but it felt nice to be out there in more sizeable surf.

I felt physically tired last night and was carrying a slight injury to my chest but tried not to think about the banana in my rucksack, which I'd forgotten to eat...doh

The other guys, grant and johny rainbow drifted down in the rip but I was determined to try and stay on the nice left hand peak which was starting to form alongside me. It was hard going against the rip and wind and after a while I succumbed to it.

Around 6.30-7pm the wind completely died and a handful of us were left with gorgeous left handers, wrapping into the bay at 4-5ft with sheet glassy faces.

The waves were jacking up nicely now, rights and lefts and after a nice easy drop, you were greeted with a supersonic bowling section ahead of you so it was a race to the end with one eye on the wave and the other on the pebble bank, a few metres to the inside.

A nearby beach at around 5pm with the still wind on it:

Aran and Sven arrived and we shared a few with everyone being fairly spread out due to the rip which made for a seemingly long paddle back after each wave.

The waves were perfect, not a drop of water out of place at times but inside I was feeling a little broken and despite catching a few lovely waves, didn't feel like I surfed well.

It was great to be out there though, blue skies, and as the sun set, a large oval moon rose up and the waves kept coming.

And then the walk back... a 15 minute solo romp back through the dunes is never enjoyable when you're feeling shattered but the 'almost' full moon peering over the dunes at me and the abundance of wildlife all around, made it more than bearable and I kept stopping, wishing I'd taken my camera with me.

Even the stacks looked nice last night, with plumes of smoke rising gently upwards - always a good sign for us surfers.

Back at the car I saw one very rotund, sweaty guy who'd obviously never surfed there before, complaining loudly to his mates about the long walk and how lost he'd become in the twilight.

Here's hoping...

Easter outlook

My Easter surf predictions:

After an initial hit from Thursday's low pressure(986), high pressure quickly sweeps in for Saturday.

I can't see us having much to surf on Saturday but there might be something for mals.

By late Sunday and into Monday we should start to see the next batch of swell heading our way.

The winds will be mainly light onshore, swinging SSE for Monday. Keep an eye on wind guru updates...


The weather outlook from BBC Weatherman Derek Brockway:

Good Friday will start cloudy with outbreaks of rain, heavy in places. It should brighten-up in the southwest during the morning. Elsewhere, the rain slower to clear, especially in the east but it should gradually improve during the afternoon. Becoming drier and brighter.

Still the odd shower. The best of the sunshine in the southwest and the west coast. Lighter winds and feeling fresher. Highs 10 to 12 Celsius.

Saturday generally brighter with sunny spells. A few showers will break out, locally heavy but hit and miss. Quite a few places staying dry. Sunniest towards the coast. Light WSW winds with highs 10 to 13C.
Saturday night dry and chilly with a ground frost in places.

Easter day a sunny start. Clouds building-up with a few scattered showers breaking out. Locally heavy but most places staying dry. Best of the sunshine towards the coast. Light winds with highs 11 to 13C.

Monday doesn’t look so good. Cloudy with outbreaks of rain. Highs 11 to 15 Celsius with a S-SE breeze.

Pasg Hapus!

Ozzie fried fish

The Alley Fish Fry went down in Oz recently.

Check out the blog for much more info and pics on the event.

The mind boggles... from bat tails to 'simmons' style flats, to crazy frogs! ;0

So nice to see some inventive minds out there, enjoying their work and riding boards of all shapes n sizes and really pushing the boundaries.

Here's a taster of some of the insane shapes which caught my eye.
Pics by Grant Newby.

Handy for the train:





Would you drop in on a guy riding this?


The stealthy looking batman model:


Beautiful hollow balas:




Not sure about this one!


I've heard a rumour that there's a Fry coming to Ireland this year so will keep you posted on that.

UK surfing history

Check out The Surfing Museum website - the home of British surfing history. There are some truly amazing photos on there so it's well worth a look if you're interested in board design and UK surfing history.

I was having a look through the 1970's photo gallery and came across this beast. It looks as if the shaper is wrestling with an anaconda but the shape is interesting and reminded me of an old Bilbo board I got a few yrs ago...

Bob Groves - image from the Surfing Museum's website:


Bic who comes out and snaps photos with us was recently given, yes 'given' a lovely old Bilbo board from a colleague at work, a 1970's single fin which got me thinking a bit more about mine.

Bic's Bilbo, originally bought new, in Newquay in 1973:


I was lucky enough to acquire one a few years ago for a straight swap with a colleagues son who was learning to surf and wanted a more modern shape.

It does make you think how many of these boards are out there though, lurking in people's garages or stacked away at the back of the loft.

As you can see, Bic's board is in pristine condition and still white whereas mine didn't fare quite so well, and is an 'off brown' colour and carrying a few serious looking holes and smashed in tail & rail when I took ownership.

Bilbo logo for Swansea - image from the Surfing Museum's website:


After years of neglect I've managed to get it water tight once more and plan to take her out again soon.

The tail needed some work after being filled with car filler..and I got a local shaper friend to glass in a leash plug. I know the purists out there will be cringing as it came with a drilled fin and fin leash but it wasn't practical to use anymore.

My maiden outing was about 2yrs ago and wasn't particularly successful.
The waves were a bit full and the board rode slowly so making any sections was very tricky indeed! Nudging 4 inches thick it was also a handful paddling and duck-diving let alone surfing but I'm keen to take her out in decent sized surf to see how she handles.

It turns out that the original 'Bilbo' logo was inspired by the Biba fashion house design who were big in the 1960's.

My Bilbo:


Nice yellow stripe across the deck, reminiscent of the 60's:


Check out that rocker:


I've no idea how old this board is but I think it's either late 60's or early 70's so if anyone has any ideas, get in touch. All I know is that an American guy was the original owner from new.

Good to see that Bilbo are still alive and kicking today.

Nice article on Bilbo boards from http://www.mellowwave.co.uk

Return to river mouth cottage

Rivermouth as seen by a bird:


Swell: 1.2m
Period: 10.5 secs, 259 degrees
Wind: Light S, 6-7 kts
Tide: Low to mid, rising > HT 4pm

Beautiful day in S.Wales today as Rattz and I went off in search of river mouth perfection.

Earlier cam checks revealed lines stacked to the horizon just about everywhere so we knew it'd be really nice out there today and with a surf competition on at Rest Bay, we were keen to find some uncrowded perfection.

We decided to try a new route to the break and after a bit of exploring parked up about as far down a track as we could go, and walked off into the forest, hoping we were heading towards the sea...
I tried to locate our position on my phone but Google maps had us somewhere entirely different?

Rattz using his binos to try and find the nearest beach:


The walk down was interesting as we plodded through a nature reserve, scaring just about every species of bird and mammal we encountered. I saw a hare fly off at break neck speed, just ahead of us on the muddy track. Eventually mud turned to sand and we knew we were getting close.

Ahead of us lay the river and various reed beds. To save time I wanted to paddle across, 'Vietnam stylee' but rattz had his Bill Oddie head on today for some reason and said not to scare the ducks! so we walked around. It was probably a good call as I'd have only ended up being stuck up to my waist in stinking mud.

The sun was high and it was getting hot. After around 20 mins we found sand. Hallelujah!

The back of beach was covered in huge chunks of driftwood and assorted crap dumped over board by passing ships but beyond his lay some lovely looking left and right handers.

Swans at the back of the river by Bic:


We paddled out in front of the river, to the left and were immediately greeted with fun sized 3ft+ clean peaks. Nice fast take off's and high speed walls were the order of the day and it felt great to put the bonzer through it's paces and try busting out a few moves and throwing some spray.

We had it to ourselves and 4 lads on a peak nearby quickly dispersed leaving us spoilt for choice! The wind had picked up a little more than expected and was light onshore but soon dropped and the slight choppy faces turned glassy.

The waves were bowling up nicely on the inside track and if you went late on a bigger set wave, stood a good chance of driving down and around the bowl at high speed and blasting the bejesus out of the lip waiting on the other side. There was also a chance to get you head into some, for some head dips too, so great fun.

After about an hour we decided to try our luck on the other side of the river and surfed some tasty rights, nudging 4ft on sets. We both caught some nice ones but it began to get a little frustrating as there were peaks galore but they always seemed to be 20ft away from us as the rip kicked in on the pushing tide.

Rattz went in for a few strolls along the beach to try and beat the rip but always ended up back where he started, next to me, so knocked that on the head once his arms got heavy!

After 3.5 hrs surfing we were both pretty done and I was starting to go insane from sun stroke, singing in my deepest operatic tenor voice: "Noooooooo" or '"Yeeeeeeees" to Rattz to indicate if I thought they were worth paddling for or not.
He seemed to enjoy it and it kept me entertained ;)

If you go down to the woods today:


The walk back wasn't too bad, we managed to follow a decent trail alongside a giant sand dune, passed through a stagnant pool and forest and apart from being mobbed by gnats/mozzies arrived back at the car in one piece.

We met some dog walkers on the way back who seemed genuinely surprised to see us as we emerged from the woods - bare chested with boards under our arms, and asked us if we knew how far from the sea we were? ;0

The next generation

Here's my 4yr old nephew ripping it up on my home made indo board.

Considering he's only just four, he has great natural balance - most grown up's fall off this!

Kelly Slater watch out...

Phileas Fogg

Swell: 3.9ft
Wind: SE 7 kts veering SSW
Period: 7-8 secs
Tide: Low at 6.33am, 2.8m
Sea Temp: 8.5c

5.45am start...the two man VW bus convoy headed out of Cardiff to a Gower reef break. Conditions were pretty perfect and expectations were high after yesterday poor surf.

As Rattz and I wandered down the fields past the stinky sewage farm, to the break a lovely 4ft+ set came through, ruler edged lines following the length of the reef and light offshore. At that point we though we were in for a special morning.

As we paddled out I spied one lone surfer also paddling out. I caught my first wave which turned out to be my best, a nice fast 3-4ft walling right, made the hollow section and flew at warp speed onto the face to blast 2 nice off the tops, cutback hard inside and kicked out to find myself in knee deep water on dry reef.

Paddled out thinking...it's not often you get a wave that good as your first one of the session! Sadly there weren't any more.

I got chatting to the other surfer who turned out to be the one and only 'crofty cowboy' from the OTL surfing message board. Good to put a face to the name at last :)

And then it came...the FOG
The blue skies turned to grey. The sun disappeared and a thick blanket of fog rolled in from the ocean.

By now we couldn't see anything, waves were appearing quite randomly around us and we struggled to find a good peak or even the peak we started off on.

There were no landmarks on the shore to line up with so we were flying blind.

Ratter picked off a few including a nice rolly polly straight off the end of his board and 'crofty' caught the odd one further in but it was a pretty average session considering the conditions on paper.

I graded the session: a 1 out of 5 and it only scored a 1 due to the fog being something out of the ordinary!

After a frustrating couple of hours we called it a day and paddled in where I proceeded to get sucked over onto the dry reef inside.

What a day.

Things must pick up soon. That's two crap surfs in a row now...

Disappointing start

Swell: 0.8m
Wind: Light NE
Tides: Rising...HT @ 11.50am
Period: 9.4 secs

The period was there but the swell was a little small and large tides didn't work in our favour. You could see the swell hitting Scarweather banks today so it's def out there!

I got in around 6.45am this morning with Sven and were greeted with small, clean waves nudging 2ft.

We then spent a frustrating hour or so before it finally started to resemble a wave with some power and picked off 2 nice rights in the 3ft range but that was about it.

I had a little head dip on a wave earlier but the rest of my rides were well below par with the waves being fat and gutless.

Shared a couple with JC, Squirrel & Henry and the sunrise was lovely so not all bad.

The photo above is from porthcawlsurf.co.uk and taken around the time we left, just as it started to get better :(

I'm regretting not hitting the reefs now though, as reports of head high and hollow start to trickle in...

Incoming

well it's finally coming. I wonder how many hours in total we all waste, clicking on buoy data updates over a 24hr period?

Nothing much out there yet, small lines on the cams so hopefully we'll have some nice clean corduroy by sunrise.

Failing that it's an after worker.
Either way, Gull will definitely feed!

Shark Whale captured on film

The BBC have captured exclusive footage of a new species, whilst filming Last Chance To See with Stephen Fry.

Amazing to think that there are still new species out there waiting to be discovered...

Peal Jam: Ten, special edition released

Pretty cool PJ jigsaw on the site which could kill some serious hours, if you can be bothered.

The band have re-released their debut album 'Ten'love by surfers globally.

I can remember buying the cassette whilst living up on the Gold Coast in Oz and being blown away by it. Oceans...

Always tricky trying to read the lyrics though due to that purple background and splodgey art work.

Bags of unseen footage, unreleased recordings, tracks, dvd's of gigs etc.

Worth having just for the unplugged session they did for MTV back in 1992. I have a video tape of it somewhere.

Yes, a video tape for all you youngsters out there. I videoed it back in the day and then transferred it to cassette tape, so I could play in the car which was 'cutting hedge' in those days!

Technology eh? Who needs MP3...you just have to think outside the box a little.

A graphic designer @ work asked yesterday if anyone had any audio cassette tapes?

He was amazed when I told him yes, I have 2 carrier bags worth in my cupboard at home! which I can't bring myself to throw away - I will transfer them to MP3 one of these days.

But no-one else in the office had any... Am I now officially old or something?

And remember: Eddie would go!