Noah's arc

We've been getting battered here in Wales recently with floods and some seriously big swells - 6-7m in fact so a lot of the quieter sheltered spots have been going off!

Pic by Adie from Sunday in West Wales:



Crowds have also been a factor as we're not blessed with a huge number of spots that are sheltered and can hold surf in strong SW winds.

This pic was posted on the OTL forum earlier and for anyone that knows this spot which is heavy at the best of times..you know not to surf here when it looks like this!

The barometer has been showing 993 recently

I did a dawnie on Saturday as the winds were offshore. Met up with Doc, Harv, Johhny Rainbow and Werg at first light.

It was a horrible, overcast (almost dark) day at times with a stiff SE wind so I was extra glad my new winter wetsuit boots arrived on Friday afternoon :)

Winter boots seem to sell out earlier every year. I'd been putting it off despite seeing a lot of people in hoods, gloves and winter boots but my summer reef slippers aren't comfortable any more as sea temps dip to around 13 degrees C.



As we arrived at the beach we were greeted with nice fast hollow 4-5ft surf and I was feeling pretty excited about the session.

Mounted the camer on the front again and filmed some of the boys getting some.

Doc and Harv had a few nice ones but didn't see the other fellas getting much although Werg was spending a lot of time inside paddling... so perhaps he was snagging some afterall!
Johhny was 'rusty' apparently - Well it is a week since his last surf! ;)

I didn't have a great surf. Caught some nice ones but nothing to write home about as far as length of ride goes.

Sadly, the surf wasn't as good as conditions initially made them out to be. Despite there being some lovely waves on offer, they were a bugger to catch mainly due to the wind blowing us off the peak, plus the rip and a fairly big tide.

Nevertheless we all snagged some and I had some nice wipe outs too, trying to go that little bit too late in the lip...

Doc on a nice right hander on 'big red':



The peaks were coming out of deep water and jacking up very quickly which meant positioning was very tricky. You were either right on it or it was right on you!

Also bumped in Aran who was out surfing on a new 'Santa Cruz' stick despite the fact that his wife only gave birth to their daughter, last week! LOL

I thought I was doing well in getting wet, just 2 weeks after Fin was born but he's set a new precedent here!

Ratter is also a new dad! 'Archy Evans' arrived last Thursday :) but I think it will be a little while before we see Ratter in the water.

Well done to him and wife Nicky though, it wasn't an easy birth but they're through the worst of it now :)

More storms, floods and no doubt rain on the way for Wales...Winter is well and truly here!

Gull

Sunday morning worship

6.30am, 2.6m, 8 seconds, mid tide, light NW winds.

Had a great little session today accompanied by ratter. We met up at 6.30am and paddled out under a moonlit sky. If it hadn't been for the 3-4ft hollow shorey then it might have been romantic! ;0

John taking off followed by me on a right.

We paddled over to the point where we'd be surfing and waited...Glassy but not quite firing, some lovely waves were still coming through in the 3-4ft region. The big tides had pushed the surf off the reef altogether so it took a while to start working properly.

Angel dust.

As it got lighter we were joined by one other and we enjoyed fairly glassy conditions for the next hour. The waves began to improve and the crowd grew but there was a good vibe out back and plenty to go round. I fell off two nice barrels, not quite exiting but good fun all the same and I was keen to see how the cam looked when mounted on the the front.

I saw JT and 'Gathy' sat out in the channel on their planks picking off the wide sets whilst the rest of us fought it out on the peak. Ratter had a nice little head dip earlier on but seemed to lose his way and opted for the inside slot away from all the jostling.

Heaven
I had some lovely rides today, really fast, long rights that had everything a surfer needs - speed, steep sections, bashable bits and tubey sections.

My last wave was lovely as I pulled into a nice keg, had a split second to realise I was fully engulfed and managed to squeak out the side door as it shut down around my ears - time to go in!

I got to shore and threw up after swallowing some sea water but was absolutely buzzing after a really good 2 hrs of surfing. Well and truly stoked!

Go pro meets coco pops for breakfast

Strong NW winds, big tides and a 3m swell.

First outing for my new toy and it had to be Coney beach...

For those of you who know me - I don't have a love affair with this place and rarely surf it.

Image from www.porthcawl surf.co.uk this morning:



I saw JT out back and he laughed and said "I can't believe it! You're actually here?!"

At least it was 3-4ft and offshore but closing out as usual...

Stupidly I just deleted my best wave (honest!) which consisted of an otl and a cuttie on a nice right which held up but that will teach me for being impatient when editing....damn

Ah well today was a test day anyway. I'm sure I'll get much better footage once those winter swells kick in properly.

I'll try the stills function next time and move the camera to face forwards and see how that looks.

I'm going to have stop being so damn lazy with my pop up though. Far too relaxed and slow. I put it down to it being early and Coney! ;)

Go Pro test session: the 2nd wave...

The water is surprisingly clear though considering it looks like hot chocolate when you paddle out!

The cam was great and a breeze to operate. I thought I had to leave it on for the whole session but you can easily switch it on and off, in between waves.

Chilly old NW wind out there today which felt very wintery by the end - my feet were numbed to the core.

I think my summer reef booties might be going into the shed after today's outing, to be replaced with something a bit thicker!

Gull