White, flat, Xmas

It's nearly a month since my last confession Huey. I can't believe I've been dry for this long but at least we're approaching the shortest day soon :)

Not that the water is going to warm up any time soon. Sea temps are now hovering around 9 degrees C.

The weather although cold has at least been dry and sunny but apart from one day of waist to shoulder high surf which managed to steer around Porthcawl and hit everywhere else...there has been nothing - nada!

We seem to have broken the curse now though and there is a wave 'of sorts' today but it's looking pretty cold & messy out there currently. The Scarweather Buoy is recording a 2.4m swell @ 7 seconds currently but the tides are against us for any pre work surfs currently.

More northerly lows are bringing Arctic winds down on top of us and we're now hearing about 'Arctic plunges', 'double deep, dips' and 'wintry showers' on BBC weather - all of which used to be known simply as snow?!

As the country prepares for 3 days of snow chaos when much of Wales could be blanketed with up to 2" of snow! I'm looking further ahead to when I might actually be able to try out my new winter 5mm claws other than for snowball fights.

Traditionally I always try and surf on Xmas day (every other year these days as I'm out of the country) and a few Boxing Days sessions have been good in recent years.

The trouble at the moment is all is that all our weather is coming from the North. Having said that, this low bringing the snow does wrap a bit on Saturday so we might have something for the weekend.

One things is for certain though - better surf is on the way just before Xmas. Weds 22 Dec is definitely one to watch as a 984 low tracks up from the SW but weakens fairly rapidly so catch it while you can.

Xmas Day will be flat as a weak quashes any chance of a wave but from the 28th onwards, it looks very promising as a deep low pushes in from the West (hurray!) over Ireland and makes a bee-line for us. So we should have some good swell to see in the New Year!

Gull

Weekend surf comps cancelled

The Tsunami Cup and Elusive Open surf comps have both been postponed this weekend due to a lack of swell. Makes sense I guess and it's also a little bit parky out there too with temps of minus 9 being recorded.

The surf forecast looks okay according to Windguru so we'll have to wait n see but there's a low down in Biscay generating some swell so I think Sunday might be okay. It looks like we should have some long range ground swell later next week too.

Like a lake out there on the ocean again today and the van was well frosted over so it must've been a cold one last night.

It's now 14 days without swell...and I for one am ready to surf again.

All this snow and lack of swell makes me think about Norway. I found a nice little website documenting the breaks with some videos so take a peek if you're curious.

It's snow bother

Not much to report on the surfing front as we've had a 10 day flat spell now. The only mild excitement has come in the form of snow, a few inches here and there which caused widespread panic for no apparent reason.

It doesn't seem to snow very often in Porthcawl but there was a light shower as I left for work today which confused the hell out of my son, who wasn't quite sure what he was seeing - white rain?

The winds are bitterly cold with more of the same for next week. Temperatures should get a little milder for the weekend according to Derek Brockway in his latest blog over on my BBC Wales Nature & Outdoors website.

The surf forecast is poor. If I didn't know better, I'd swear someone had gone out and bought a new surfboard? thus inducing Huey's wrath and subsequent flat spell...Rattz!

I'm planning on doing the Coney Xmas swim this year. I thought it would be on Boxing Day but have been reliably informed that it's not so Xmas dinner might be delayed if I go into shock - not from the water temp but from going to Coney for a swim!

I've just purchased a suitable outfit on flea bay so if anyone fancies joining me this year - get in touch in the comments area below.

So there's no surf but at least it's cold and dry with the odd bit of snow making it feel very seasonal.

Gull

Friday feeling

I took Friday afternoon off and scored some nice clean surf at my local spot with the Porthcawl duo known as blods & evil and Jon Stoneman joined us later on.

The surf was around 1.7m on the wave buoy and 9 seconds with a light SE wind.

Fun, clean lines rolled in - a bit smaller than we would have liked but I was having fun and getting plenty of speed out of the quad.

The peaks were nicely groomed offering short rides but the occasional hollow one and I snuck my fringe inside one nice one and blasted a few lips so it was good fun.

The 'locals' burned me on a few, with blods dropping in on my 2nd wave claiming he didn't think I'd make it as I was deep in the lip. I told him I always make 'em ;) and got my own back on his next wave.

And so it continued for 2 more waves with the final score being 2-2. Evil got one up on me but left early before I could repay him! LOL... next time ;0

The dreaded shin cramps struck again! :( so I think I'm going to have to go to the docs and see if they can advise as it's very odd and really starting to get on my nerves now as I have to leave the water and run around on the beach until the pain subsides and then paddle back out.

I'm now wondering if it's caused by build up of lactic acid in my legs from surfing a bit too hard? I'm probably talking utter tripe here but I do tend to go at it hell for leather, catching everything I can and giving 100% on every wave so maybe it's time to slow down a bit and surf more sedately now I'm no longer a grom? ;)

Once back in, I tried to throw everything I had into each wave in case the cramps came back but caught some nice waves. I stuck one nice left with a little tail twist right in the sweet spot and threw a little bit of rooster so I'll have to try and replicate that more often if I remember.

The waves were a lovely shape despite blods saying they were "slow and fat"?! I'm not sure if he WAS talking about himself, his board or the waves but they were not what I'd call slow and fat! ;0

It just needed another 2ft on it and it would have been perfect. Rest Bay on the other hand was apparently "rammed and disappointing" so I definitely made the right call.

A light crowd thinned out even more as the tide pushed in and by the end we were left with 5 guys sharing two peaks and the one more wave syndrome kicked in with me having about 7 more waves before I called it a day.

I donned the winter rubber for the first time and apart from a quick fight with my aqua pack - it doesn't seem to go inside my (Xcel winter suit quite so easily)it was fine. I definitely felt more tired than usual once I was home but my wave count was high and that's the main thing!

Saturday night came and I was happily sitting down, mug of tea in hand ready to sit through another painful X-Factor when the phone rang. It was Will asking me if I wanted to go along and support the 'Elusive Movember' event in Porthcawl....

The competition for 'Mr Movember' hots up as the boys are shamed into taking off their shirts. The girls however kept theirs on....?

A quick check with the wife led to me getting a pass and off we went along with Will's wife Jo.

The guys laid on an good night at the Fairways Hotel- complete with cover band ' Jasper' who played everything from Pearl Jam to Kings of Leon and they also had a smoke machine that seemed to be coming out of Matt Hapgood's drumkit?! LOL

All for a good cause and there were some amazing moustaches on display. Mine wasn't a very good effort but tbh - I'd forgotten it was on so only had a weeks worth of growth to work with!

Good to meet up with everyone and had a nice chat with Matt and Emma etc - see you out back sometime!
My last ditch effort:


Surfing prospects are poor for this week with a NE swell so it will be flat here (The East coast could be good though!) but turning much colder with a few light dusting of snow in places, so it might be time for me to wrap up the palm tree in my garden.

Gull

Mammalian diving

It's been a good couple of days here in South Wales. Yesterday saw nice fast punchy clean waves hurtling into Rest Bay at a good 3ft with light offshore winds and apparently there was more of the same today but slightly smaller.

Gull and Fin's surf safari yesterday morning:


And now onto other matters: The mammalian diving reflex present in all of us:

As the reflex kicks in, three changes happen to the body, in this order:

1. Bradycardia is the first response to submersion. Immediately upon facial contact with cold water, the human heart rate slows down ten to twenty-five percent.

Seals experience changes that are even more dramatic, going from about 125 beats per minute to as low as 10 on an extended dive.

Slowing the heart rate lessens the need for bloodstream oxygen, leaving more to be used by other organs.

2. Next, peripheral vasoconstriction sets in. When under high pressure induced by deep diving, capillaries in the extremities start closing off, stopping blood circulation to those areas.

Toes and fingers close off first, then hands and feet, and ultimately arms and legs stop allowing blood circulation, leaving more blood for use by the heart and brain.

Human musculature accounts for only 12% of the body's total oxygen storage, and the body's muscles tend to suffer cramping during this phase.

Aquatic mammals have as much as 25 to 30% of their oxygen storage in muscle, and thus they can keep working long after capillary blood supply is stopped.

3. Finally there's the blood shift that occurs only during very deep dives. When this happens, organ and circulatory walls allow plasma/water to pass freely throughout the thoracic cavity, so its pressure stays constant and the organs aren't crushed.

In this stage, the lungs' alveoli fill up with blood plasma, which is reabsorbed when the animal leaves the pressurized environment.

This stage of the diving reflex has been observed in humans (such as world champion freediver Martin Štěpánek) during extremely deep (over 90 metres or 300 ft) freedives.

Cold winds blow

Not bad a weekend all things considered!

The wind was howling on Saturday morning so I took a rare dip at Coney and was pleasantly surprised. I've slagged this spot off over the years (as has just about everyone) but like a faithful old dog - she sometimes delivers!

It was wasn't epic but it was fun and for once, the odd wave held up allowing for a few moves. The waves were in the 3-4ft region with a nice fast, steep drop followed by a wallowing middle section ending in a fast bashable shorey on the inside.

Claire turned up and took a few pics so cheers for that. Check out that backdrop!
The first hour was a lot of fun as Aran and I shared a few rights. One thing I did notice was the water temp but I'd opted to wear winter boots for the first time and it made a big difference.

After that it began to get a little more crowded and the longboarders arrived sitting deep and snagging all the nice ones early.

I was gagging to get one in before my fond memories of Coney faded and finally spotted a cheeky right. I paddled and was suddenly joined by a long haired blonde grom prob in his early teens.

The wave was a right, I was going for it and was not in the mood to be hassled by some young punk! I shouted and he gave me some garbled back chat at which point I lost my rag slightly and told him where to go as I jumped to my feet. Luckily this was my last wave in or I'd probably have paddled back out and throttled him! ;0

I had a quick chat with Claire Beach who was taking snaps on the beach and she confirmed that said grom and his posse were local gobshites who thought they owned all the beaches, so I'll be keeping an eye out for them in future and 'burning them' at every opportunity until they learn some respect! ;0

Funnily enough I mentioned it in passing to Malc and Aggers the following day, at which point they both errupted in laughter and said "yeah, we call them the WQS as they think they're something special!" LOL

A different kind of floater at Coney...

Sunday was lovely. The wind had dropped to practically nothing - just a whisper of a Northerly wind. I got on it early and was in the water by 8am still thinking about wearing my winter suit...I decided not to as I wanted a good surf and it was the right decision.

Every now and again I have a surf where I feel like I'm actually surfing well. Most f the time I'm prob only 70% satisfied but Sunday was a def 90% after my first 3 waves.

There were only a handful of guys in - I saw Malc and Guto a bit further down but the middle peak was practically empty. Glassy faces jacked up delivering steep 4ft set waves.

I stroked into my first wave, just about clung on to a very drop and went screaming along, smacking the lip and sending plenty of spray towards the heavens. I however went in the opposite direction but it felt good!

I paddled out and caught 2 consecutive waves, both a good size and holding up nicely :) As the tide pushed, it went a bit deep so I paddled inside and found a super bank all to myself.

It was at this point that I took a few beatings as the wave turned into a bit of an angry mutant, contorting this way and that. I copped a board in the head and was ragged dolled a few times for my troubles but that's half the fun - right?!

But the drops were steep and fun and I snagged some lovely short, bowling rights curving into the gold course.

Rest then went into overdrive and stepped up a gear delivering 4ft+ and clean sets?!

The crowd grew but there were waves breaking everywhere! I saw Aggers catch a few and crossed paths with Malc again on the inside - he's off to California shortly - lucky bugger!

The cold was setting in after 1.5hrs surfing, so I caught one more nice left, whacked the lip and called it a day - done and dusted by 9.30am :)

The wave cleaned up even more later apparently but I'd had my fill. Looking nice again today with clean 2-3ft fast and hollow walls unloading at mid tide.

The wind is still light offshore and there were only 4 in when I checked with Fin at 8am.

I think short, fast, 100% power surfs are the future, this winter. It's getting colder...

Prowlers video

Storm force

8am....

Not much to report in South Wales today apart from gale force westerly winds and an angry sea - angry at being flattened by the wind!

And the reason for all this? A nice little 951 perched off the coast:

Coney is rideable if you're really desperate but only just as a mushy 3-4ft wave spills in but once that tide drops - forget about it.

It's 2.9m on our wave buoy as I type this with a 7 sec wave period and 40 mph WSW winds which will probably strengthen!

More strong W winds tomorrow so Saturday looks like our best bet for surf at the moment with the winds easing.

Meanwhile the Pembs buoy is registering 4.4m so BHS and Tenby will be off their faces!

Looking forward to seeing some pics from lensman - Adie :)

Aileen's crazy Asbo brother

Just when you though it couldn't get any bigger those big wave chargers off Ireland's West coast have been at it again!

Ladies and gentlemen...allow me to present - 'Prowlers'

Thanks to longboarding sensation - John Fitz for the heads up on this story.

Big Gower reef

Swell: 11-12ft
Wind: Light WNW
Tides: Large tides, HT was around 1pm so we surfed the dropping tide
Reefs: 6-8ft

A solid swell with light NW winds = a solid 6ft+ with the odd eight foot rogue thrown in for good measure.

Luckily my recent Ireland trip had served up bigger so I was feeling fairly relaxed on the inside and feeling quite comfortable to begin with.

It started off nice enough and the sun even put in an appearance but it was only when Mike, Kev and I paddled out that we realised the fast hollow right we were aiming for was going to be too big. The right looked amazing so one to check and none of us had ridden it before.

It was a long, fast wall followed by a heaving barrel on the inside - no doubt concealing a slab of some sort.

As we picked our way through the reef large waves pounded the inside making for a heart pounding paddle out as large glassy waves reared up.
Eventually we allowed it out and paddled over to what had lookups a more manageable peak...

Lovely waves were jacking up in deep water but it was hard to know where to sit as it was all quite random. A steep right pushed in and the boys shouted me in.

A long range view from the fields above. You can't actually see the reef from here, just some lines:


The lip reared up and off I went, getting a nice air drop for my troubles. After that the wave flattened out so I kicked out and went back for more.

Kev was next going late and going down but he was soon back in the saddle and beginning to dominate the session, taking off on a nice big right followed up with a dredging left. Hoots all round!

Larry meanwhile was scouring the inside wave picking off the odd one but it was hard to catch a decent one.

The swell began to build as the tide pushed in and we were soon scurrying around trying our best to avoid the bigger 8ft set waves that came through once in a while. One however caught us out. Larry in front didn't quite manage to get under.

My 'Firewire' board is stupidly light so invaluable when you've got to go that little bit deeper, fast!

I felt the serpent grabbing my legs trying to pull me backwards and down but just squeaked through and wriggled free. Phew!

Larry however wasn't so lucky. I surfaced to find he'd been dragged back a good 100 yards or so underwater, behind me and was covered in white foam with a thousand yard stare for good measure.

On the inside 'Crofty Cowboy' had recently joined us after an eventful paddle out asking us "where's the f***s the channel then boys?"

To which we all replied "Errr...There isn't one!" at which point we all had a good chuckle.

Another big set loomed. I let the first one go as positioning was key on this wave and lined up for the 2nd wave. I'd only had 3 waves in about an hour and was getting cold and wave starved so needed some adrenalin to warm me up.

I paddled hard into a nice hollow right and made a nice steep drop, flashing Larry a 'V' for victory sign as I went. This one had a bit more face to it and let me throw in one nice cutback before kicking out into the channel.

Larry and Crofty were paddling back out as was I when we all turned to watch Kev taking off on another bomb. Time stood still as I watched Kev late in the lip, bailing as the beast pitched over.

I saw Kev, in a stretched foetal position going down with the ship on a solid 8 footer - the sort of image you see in Surfer magazine as 'wipe-out of the month' LOL

We are calling it wipe-out of the year...so far anyway!

I later remarked that he didn't look like he was diving for lobster - more like groping for sand eels! ;)

Board vertical, below him and Kev in an awkward position meant that he didn't land deeply and got what can only be described in the business as 'a proper pasting' followed up by another big set wave for good measure.

It took him a while to rejoin us and talk us through his moment of pain and darkness! ;)

Crofty picked off a few smaller waves inside and had already equalled our wave count!

After that it all got a bit uneventful. Larry decided to quietly paddle down to another left hand reef and try his luck there whilst we scratched around trying to pick off waves which were by now getting a bit deep.

I was freezing my tight little derriere off at this point! Dressed in a 5/3 wetty and reef slippers with a cold N wind blowing, along with rain and dark cloud....it was time to go.

I'll be donning full winter clobber soon me thinks - definitely boots anyway.

We all paddled inside to scope out the exit and try to pick off a wave to shore. I went first catching a left and milked it as far as I dared and jumped off...still too deep!

With my feet a long way off bottom I paddled in but quickly realised I was getting pushed over towards a rocky slab of jagged rocks with good sized waves pounding through the inside where I was now walking in waist deep water.

Each time the tide surged back I was pushed in closer towards the jagged rocks on the inside. Gulp...I was trying to hold my nerve but at the same time thinking - this could get a bit nasty if I get washed onto dry reef in these conditions...

I was desperately trying to stay on my feet, avoid being dragged over rocks and keep my board ding free - but I eventually succumbed when a large wave engulfed me!

I had no choice but to go with the flow and let nature take it's course. Luckily the white water shielded me from reef below; washing me in to shallow water where I could finally scramble out of the danger zone.

Just to my right was a nice gentle cove - much wider than the narrow inlet I'd gone for but which was invisible from the sea. I shouted Kev into this one; giving him and his nugget a nice gentle exit :)

Meanwhile...Crofty was perilously close to having the same treatment as me, only slightly further down the reef. He didn't seem to realise the imminent danger he was in so we shouted at him to head in our direction and he somehow made it over intact.

Everyone out safely - job done.

Not many waves ridden but plenty of heart pounding action and some good adrenalin rushes on the ones we tamed. Getting back to the van, my whole body was chilled to the core.

It took me far too long to locate my car key as my fingers had turned into lobster claws. As I stood naked, shivering in the back of the van - my brain couldn't compute which item of clothing to put on first - beanie, uggs or sweatshirt?! I went for beanie and dressed from the toes up! ;0

Driving home I stopped for much needed energy supplies but came across a crazy lady who asked for a lift back to Swansea. All I wanted to do was scoff food and whack the heating on full but it was cold and wet and her bus hadn't arrived...so I did the decent thing.

I then felt bad as I'd not got anything for her to eat?! So had to wait until she'd stopped talking and hopped out (half and hour later) before I could feed.

More big waves on the horizon but I've got to shake off this head cold first...

Pembrokeshire puddles

Gales, gales and more gales followed by a bit more rain for good measure.

Welcome to winter in Wales! it's not all bad though - last winter was actually very good - combining solid swells with more than a few offshore days which left us all dumbfounded?!

I'm off back to my spiritual heartland of Pembrokeshire with the family this weekend and the forecast is looking mixed. There's plenty of swell about but howling NW winds so we'll see if some of my old haunts are still up to it!

Leg cramps

"Cramps are often caused by a lack of potassium, resulting in an electrolytic imbalance. Strenuous exercise with sweating and diarrhea or other bowel disease may cause loss of potassium and other important minerals. It is very important to replace them with supplements. Some people get leg cramps at night for no apparent reason. This is called restless legs syndrome." Health 911


I've never suffered with leg cramp whilst surfing before. BOLLOX - That's a complete lie as I have, but not on a regular basis and we've all suffered from cramping up during a long cold winter session now, haven't we?

But I've been getting them a lot this year. I've no idea why - but perhaps it's down to the fact that I'm not in winter rubber yet and my summer suit is too thin or maybe I'm just lacking some vital nutrient? I eat well enough though...

I drink plenty of milk and have been a cereal addict since a young age and rarely visit the dentist although I probably should - so calcium deficiency isn't a problem.

My better half has suggested 'magnesium tablets' so I'll try them this month starting today and see how I get on.

There's nothing worse than cramping up, just as you stand up on a nice wave and feel like you've been shot as that shooting pain grinds up your leg. You fall off without an ounce of finesse, clutching your contorted leg and try to straighten it as best you can whilst floundering your way in until the sand below gives some relief.

Yesterday I ended up getting out and running up and down the beach. I felt particularly stupid as on the opposite side to me were 3 lads doing athletics training and we kept passing each other - me in a full wetsuit and them in shorts and vests!

But you know when you've had a bad cramp as your leg still feels cramped the following day/s (like mine does right now). Leg cramp is becoming my own personal man flu ;0

I even tried the old pre-surf isotonic drinkies yesterday but to no joy. One thing I didn't do was stretch as I was too busy gassing away to blods but I don't think that would've made much difference as I normally stretch religiously and still cramp up after a couple of hours surfing.

Perhaps the snickers bar cancelled it out?

Into autumn with a bang

Plenty of groundswell at the moment. The WCSC Surfers Ball went off on Sat night with the 'Screamin' Halloween' event and judging from the photos - a good time was had by all! The costumes get better every year. LOL

One benefit of not being able to go was a clear head on Sunday morning so I hit my usual and had nice 2-3ft clean surf with a moderate E wind.

Good fun as a large OTL contingent(old surfing message board I used to run) turned up so although a little crowded, there were plenty of party waves, drop ins and good vibes.

In attendance were: john rainbow, harv, grant, geth, ceri, wilks, blods, rick, aran and chris.

The winds were making for slow rides but if you caught a set wave and took off in the curl then it was good fun.

Harv and I shared a nice long right together and I managed to go straight over him as he duck-dived in front me as I took my last wave in - a nice long left.

This morning's perfection. Pic by Catherine Tanner:




It's pumping out there today with a solid groundswell and wave period and light winds - the calm before the storm.

9am: 1.3m, 10 seconds and a light N wind which is veering sw today.

Already getting reports of Gower reefs being 6ft and glassy but crowded. Read Doc's report from this morning.

That afternoon...

Feeling a little bit bad for Josh, I opted to surf again with him in the afternoon so we descended onto our local spot - Dunfanaghy.

Josh redeems himself by sneaking into the belly of a nice right. Image by Mark Patterson:


This little spot isn't renound for it's surf but on a solid swell and offshore winds - it was firing!

It reminded me a lot of freshwater east - my old local haunt in Pembs. A beach break with attitude serving up nice hollow waves in shallow, knee height water.

The waves were howling offshore and 2-3ft and clean with plenty of hollow close-outs on offer. Some however held up and allowed Josh and I to squeak in and out of one or two.

Mark had gone off road in the Landrover so chauffeured us along the beach to our chosen peak and offered to take pics (once I'd shamed him into it). ;)

As the tide pushed in, the waves grew. I paddled down to a right I'd first spotted when we surf checked it earlier, but was too lazy/tired to paddle down for!

Bottom turning on a nice right. Image by Mark Patterson:


After about an hour, I'd grown tired of watching a perfect right unload all the way down the beach, throwing the lip over as it went, so decided to paddle down give it a go. It was worth it!

I was a bit knackered after the earlier 3hr session but was determined to get inside at least one and exit.

The first few came through and were a perfect bowl shape, allowing for a nice easy take off, followed by a hollow lip which I was trying to get to grips with.

The board I was on was fine for pulling in on but I was finding it hard to lay down any manoeuvres on so just stuck to bottom turning and trying to get covered up whenever possible.

I took off a little late on a 3-4ft right, dropped down and squeaked a turn in, just as the lip threw over in front of me.

It literally went into slo-mo for me and felt like I had all the time in the world yet was over in a split second. No matter how many times you get under that lip, even if it's just your head, it feels special.

Pulling in. Image by Mark Patterson:


Sticking my hand into the wave, I stalled just long enough to get in and out before kicking out into a close out sandy haze.

Mark managed to capture the moment just before and just after but I had the view from inside and was howling like a howler monkey after that one :)

Josh was styling on his quad and for a big guy, did well - pulling into some nice cover ups. He's been watching far too many retro surf movies me thinks! ;)

After an hour or two we called it a day. I'd had a good 4 hrs+ of surf that day and was well and truly done.

Radical rivermouth

We all woke with that familiar taste of stale Guinness on our breath but the heads were clear despite the last round of shorts...courtesy of Neil - one of the bar owners @ McGrorys.

Jon and Nicola had kindly lent Mark and I the use of their house in Culdaff which was much appreciated. You can't put a price on a hot shower after surfing a cold northerly swell in Ireland!

Mark disappeared south for a christening leaving Josh and I to go and hunt out some waves. The swell had yet to kick in so we were mainly just scouting places out.

The forecast of 15 feet @ 12 seconds with W winds meant that a mystical river mouth break I'd been hearing whispers about for years, was finally going to break!

We checked it, knowing it would be flat on the Sunday just out of curiosity as I was keen to see what it looked like.

A tranquil scene of cormorants and still, clear waters greeted us - with woodlands and an old harbour, but no sign of the open ocean anywhere...

I won't be saying where it is but the swell has to wrap in at an insane angle to reach this spot.

Looking at the map you'd never believe any surf could get in there but I can report that it most definitely does.

As the light faded we headed East and booked ourselves into a nice hostel for the night. A full dorm and empty hostel to ourselves for 17 Euros a night which wasn't too bad. It gets cheaper the longer you stay...

Josh whipped up a nice red Thai curry and I went to work on getting a hearty fire lit - with plenty of peat to burn.

The following day we met up with Mark fresh from his christening duties and arrived at the x spot.

The tranquil estuary had been transformed and replaced with what appeared to be a fast, freight training, left hand barrel - reeling it's way along the point at warp speed.

My initial call was 4ft+ but we were a long way off and the tide needed to drop back a bit more.

The paddle out wasn't obvious and after a trek through woodland, we came to the jumping in point.

One lad in front of us called Rory, had already gone in, paddling up the side of the peninsula before cutting back across the bay towards the break.

I decided to reduce paddle time and jump in further upstream via a small, sandy cove which worked out nicely - no point in paddling more than you have to.

I was out quite deep now and in amongst some horrible rips and unsure of where to sit and how big the surf would be. I was also wondering why everyone had gone out and then across?

I paddled across and inside to join up with a few friendly locals who all seem glad of the company. "I thought I'd be out here on my own!" was often mentioned. One lad even had a 'Go-Pro' cam mounted on the nose of his board and I'd love to see some footage from that one day.

Mark stayed deep and I ventured inside for a sniff of the barrel.

As the first set arrived I quickly realised I was now a little too far inside. Huge barrelling left handers flew down the line, grinding their way along from the rocky outcrop we'd paddled out from - all the way along the bay for a considerable distance - 500m or more ending up in a deep channel. Wow!

The actual spot with some quickly done (badly)Photoshop to show you where it breaks:


Some of those pits were absolutely perfect - big clear round barrels big enough to drive a small car through - real surf mag 'front cover' kind of stuff.

It was the sort of wave that sucks your board over, as you peer over the lip for a look so positioning was key. There was no way I was going to make anything from where I was sitting so I paddled down the line, hoping to snag some from the shoulder.

I watched a few of the local guys having a go before I committed. Apparently Tom Curran surfed it 15 years ago and was one of the few to have ever made it all the way along from the inside section - one hell of a ride.

Apparently this place holds treble over head (18ft) and clean so you can imagine how good it gets. It can also turn to sheet glass but was light cross off on this particular day, chopping up the waves ever so slightly.

One of the local guys told me it was a mellow day so go only knows how hairy it gets out there when it's bigger! lol

My first wave was on a borrowed 6'3" Resin 8 courtesy of Josh' mate - Connell.

It was a twitchy wee thing, super skinny and narrow at 18" but did the job and I dropped over the ledge for my first taste of this legendary left hander.

After a steep drop the wave walled up beautifully allowing me to ride high and 'conservatively' bash the lip a couple of times as I made my way towards the inside channel.

The wave reformed slightly allowing for a nice cutback and then kick out, a fair distance from where I'd begun.

We then spotted the familiar shape of Josh on his new orange quad. Josh had been taking his time changing and put the wrong wetty on so we'd gone on ahead, keen to make the most of the dropping tide.

Unfortunately for Josh, he'd not realised where he needed to paddle out from and was too far inside. He ended paddling through the impact zone and barrel! ;0

It could only ever end one way and despite out best efforts at screaming at him to paddle 'out' rather than 'across', he succumbed to the constant barrage of barrels and was washed in - the end.

As I turned, the horizon turned a little darker and we were in for our first taste of a death set.

I saw mark to my right, shouting at me to move over but I was on a bearing of 'hard right' for the shoulder ;) Survival and experience kicking in! I made it. He didn't...

Unexpectedly a solid 8ft wave reared up, broke but let me through. I can only assume the deeper water took some of the power out of the wave as I found most of the set easy to duck-dive? I got caught by one but it nothing like the power of my local spot which often rips my board clean fro my grasp in similar sized waves?

As the set cleared I looked around to see everyone else washed inside so I'd had a lucky escape!

I made a mental note to stay on my toes and watch out for those rogue sets...

One local guy had the place wired, taking off deeper and later than anyone and going on the big ones we all left well alone.

I caught some really nice waves though but in serious waves like that, you really need your own board - maybe next time! My 6'6" pin tailed, single fin would have been perfect but c'est la vie.

I paddled my socks off on more than one occasion as large sets appeared and managed to survive unscathed. The rip was very sly and gradually, ever so slightly - floated you across and inside leaving you at the mercy of the barrel if you weren't paying attention.

You'd be sat there happily chatting away and suddenly realise that a huge wave was about to barrel on top of your head! Being so far away from land - there were no obvious markers on the shore to line up so it was a bit cat n mouse with the barrel.

I caught about 8 or 9 waves so not too bad and there was a good crew out in the water with a few big wipe-outs to boot.

Mark finally got going, stroking into a nice big one - going late and making the drop on his fish.

He was stoked and wanted that elusive "one more wave" before calling it a day. I caught a few more and had a quick run of 3 or 4 waves before finally catching one in. My feet were going numb and the leg felt a bit crampy so it was time to go.

I arrived on the shoreline not knowing which way to go but eventually decided to paddled across a lagoon back to land, with a large seal following me as I went

What a session

Ireland - Homers

I've just landed with a thump back into a chilly Cardiff airport; after what feels like a tour of the entire north and west coast of Donegal and Bloody in search of that perfect wave.

I arrived on Friday night, chasing a fresh Northerly swell and the first day delivered an unexpected wave at a spot I'd not surfed before.

Clean lines @ Homers on Saturday afternoon:


'Homers' as I'll call it here, is a spectacular spot. A natural amphitheatre consisting of a large bay, river mouth and high cliffs on either side giving it shelter from certain winds.

Even the sun was out - a rare event in Ireland ;) and clean 2-3ft waves were starting to roll in as the tide dropped back. The water was crystal clear and we c oud clearly see the bottom as we paddled out - like the Bahamas only much colder!

Myself, John and Mark grinning lke fools above the cliff tops:


Hospital radio sensation - DJ Mark Patterson, John Fitz I eagerly clambered down a grassy cliff bank to the paddle out spot - a little nook in between the rocks which must require some careful timing on bigger swells!

Mark almost came a cropper on this small day as a wave threatened to smash him onto one of the rocks as he scurried through the gap on his mal.

Initiialy it was too deep to surf so we sat, waited and took in the amazing views.

After about 30 mins or so I switched the Go Pro head cam on and away I went on Mark's 'Gary Linden' quad fish - a bit too much foam for me but it had bags of speed but I found it hard to throw it about but then again it's designed for a guy whose 6'5" and not 5'11" ;0

The main thing however was that it caught waves nice and easily and showed those lads on longboards a thing or two about wave positioning.

A nice barrellig left threatened to deliver perfection but the tide was just too high to make it surable and we watched in envy as each set barreled into and over a large dry rock - guarding the take off spot.



The sun was shining and the craic was high as we enjoyed fun waves on the inside. The rights were holding up nicely and became quite fast and bowly after take off but rides were fairly short. Josh arrived late and missed the best of it but still managed to snag a few on his new quad.

John was picking off some nice long rides and was stoked to be finally getting wet after months of being dry. Our photographer Ailee, John's better half decided to go for a run so we reprimanded her upon our return to the cars ;0

Mark was determined to wait for the bigger set waves which were few and far between and eventually paddled inside with the rest of us and caught a few waves on his Mc Tavish Fireball.

The sun finally gave up and disappeared down, behind the mountains. It was a chilly start to the trip with the water being a few degrees cooler than in South Wales and we were all feeling it as we trudged back to the car.

Me shouting John Fitz into a nice long right:


Mark's feet were a weird blue and white colour and he found the tarmac road, tough going with frozen club feet! ;0

The camera worked pretty well - first time I'd used the head mount but I'd not want to paddle out wearing it in bigger waves as it kept smacking into the bridge of nose (I was wondering why it was sore in the pub that night) or blind folding me when waves knocked it down over my eyes so I'd come up blind only to get hit by another wave!

A good start to the trip though as we weren't expecting surf until late Sunday.

The lads enjoying having some craic in the bar:


We spent the night at McGrory's Bar - one of the best live music vebues in Ireland, sat sharing stories, stout and listening to the owners jamming away on guitars and mandolins next to a roaring fire :)

Irish monsters high on craic

Well, it looks like Ireland is THE spot to be next week as a monstrous 6m swell (20ft+) is set to batter the North coast - exactly where I'm heading :)

I'll be hooking up with me old mate mark patterson, josh, big wave afficienado - al mennie and local shaper and ripper - Rosey.

I'm surfing on a borrowed board - just what you want in big waves...but I'll give it my best shot and see how we get on.

There should be plenty of swell wrapping into the more sheltered the nooks and crannies and we're hoping - no praying, that a certain x spot delivers at first light on Monday morning.

Everything is in place re: swell angle, size, wind and tides so all we need now is a sprinkling of fairy dust from 'Huey' and we'll be sorted - pulling into stand up kegs.

Tues/Weds could prove a bit trickier as we're dodging NNW winds but never say never.

I'll try to get some go-pro video footage and stills to share here once I'm back.

Back next Friday, so enjoy your weekend/week and I hope you get some in Wales (unlikely I'm afraid!) ;0

Gull

Northerly swell

I'll be keeping my eye on this nice little low heading over Northern Ireland this weekend and into next week. I was hoping to score waves out west in Lahinch - Mayo country this trip but I'm not sure that's going to happen now looking at the long range weather charts.

A few spots up north should be firing though and the beauty of Ireland is that there is always somewhere to surf and a new spot waiting to be discovered just around the corner.

Rumour has it, we might be hooking up with Irish big wave legend Al Mennie again - so hopefully we'll get some decent sized waves this time - anything will be better than the 2ft drivel we had last trip back in April.

Local news - the surf comp organised by Steve Horn had some decent swell for the contest on Saturday and Sunday at Rest Bay.

Check out a nice slide show of all the action courtesy of Adie at surftalk.

Nothing much in the way of surf again today as high pressure continues to dominate our weather. This cloud should clear for the weekend though.

Indian summer

Apologies I've been off recently with work, so haven't been near the coast but I hear it's been pretty good.

Friday saw a late swell developing and for those patient enough to wait - 4-5ft and clean waves were delivered on a plate just before sunset.

I returned home late on Friday night, shattered but keen for a dip the following day.

On paper it looked spectacular with a good swell, big wave period and straight offshore - easterly winds blowing all day long.

I was too tired to do my normal dawn patrol so took a leisurely walk down around 9am with sponger Will.

We arrived to find the large tide had already receded a long way back but there were still some super hollow rights reeling off all along the beach.

We paddled out and waited...a set eventually pushed through and Will was off, getting barrelled twice on the same wave.

To say he was happy would be an understatement ;)

My turn next...I'd opted to surf my old 6'6 single fin thinking we'd be dealing with 6ft waves and I'd be glad of the extra paddle power and length required for making the drops on bigger waves.

As it happened I didn't need it but at least the extra weight helped keep the board down in the strong winds.

I paddled hard, headlong into a howling easterly and took off blind with the salt stinging my eyes. I scored a little head dip in the lip as I made the drop; bottom turned and saw before me - a lovely long, hollow wall begging to be pulled up and into.

I stalled slightly and prepared to pull up under the feathering lip and into the barrel but ended up slipping off over the nose of the board into a face plant! :(

Close but no cigar.

Will paddled back out and caught another nice one and I had a longish right and then the unthinkable happened...the waves completely died!

We were left with 2ft and hollow but the wind grew in ferocity and it just became a battle which I didn't have the energy for. After an hour we'd both given up and gone in.

The early birds had caught the worm today - reporting 4-6ft barrels @ first light but there we go - I've had my share over the years and I've finally missed one!

I've learnt an invaluable lesson though - sometimes it pays to listen to your body. My body was saying 'NO' all the way down to the beach on Saturday but I ignored it and went for a fatigue driven surf anyway which proved to be futile.

High pressure is with us for the rest of the week so no surf but at least the sun is shining and we've had a few warm 'Indian Summer' type days. Temps will be cooling though.

I'm off to Ireland surfing on Saturday for a week and it looks promising once this high moves on so fingers crossed.

I'll be on borrowed boards which should prove interesting. Now all I need is a decent weather chart.

Welsh blog awards

Not sure how it happened but my little old suring blog has made the shortlist in the 'sports' category in the Welsh blog awards!

Highly chuffed with that but I doubt I'll win. Nice to be nominated all the same.

So watch this space and fear not - normal blogging service will continue, whether I win or not! :)

Might see some of you down @ Chapter for the awards night next Thursday.

A weekend of two halves

Saturday's conditions:
Wave height: 1.5m
Wave Period: 12.7 secs
Wind: Southerly, decreasing in strength
Tide: Small, around 7.5m and pushing in.

Saturday delivered as promised. I met up with local sponger Will, Doc fresh back from his travels to China and Jon who'd I not seen for ages.

IOur local spot didn't disappoint and as we staggered up the last dune, we found fairly clean 3-4ft waves - maybe a little bigger on the sets.

The tide was pushing in but the banks were nicely groomed and there were a few nice hollow wedges piling through.

Finally we had some decent sized waves with power behind them :) which thinned out the weekend crowd considerably - as most learners were washed in and took up refuge on the beach.

I even noticed a wooden bench above the dunes - normally empty, had at least 6 wet bums on it today - all dressed in rubber. No, it wasn't a gimp convention! They were definitely surfers.

As the tide pushed the waves increased in size and we were all caught out by the first sneaker set - a solid 6ft and at least 5 waves came through.

I was quite far out and trying to get into a position to catch one but alas they all side stepped me but but at least I was far enoguh out to remain unscathed.

I turned around to see the white water and foam left inside and laugh at all the scattered bodies and boards - recovering from nature's version of a steam roller!

Will got into his stride early and seemed to be taking off on everything, scoring a few nice cover ups for his troubles. I picked off one or two but didn't really sink my teeth into it until about an hour later. It seemed as I were an anti wave magnet - perfect waves barreling everywhere I wasn't, so I gave up paddling and waited.

Doc paddled out and sat deep with will hoping to pick off some bigger sets but was struggling to get into them and the rest of us moved onto a nice inside bank and waited.

I decided to sit amongst some groms who will seemed to think were Polynesian?! but they had cardiff accents so I wasn't convinced. Nice guys but lacking in confidence who at times they looked to be crapping themselves as the bigger set waves steamed through.

I attempted to give them a little pep talk, telling them to paddle hard/head down and get stuck in but I've a feeling it fell on deaf ears...Fear is a wonderful thing (providing you can control it).

The upside of this was that a peak with 4 surfers on it only had one actually surfing - me :) so I had the pick of it.

A nice right walled up and began to barrel so off I went. I went flying down onto the inside bank and figured I'd only get one manoeuvre in so bottom turned hard and blasted a kind of cutback/layback snap thing at a ridiculously acute angle and somehow made it?

I wasn't expecting that but my board had other ideas and carried on it's merry way with me hanging on in slight disbelief; lining up another lip bash befores liding up and over the roof - narrowly avoiding the shoredunp inside which was over my head and best avoided. Whooopee!

I'd waited a good hour for that wave but it was amazing. I paddled right back out and the same thing happened again - another fast, hollow right appeared on cue waiting to be destroyed.

I knew it was too good to be true and it was. It didn't last and as the tide moved in; so the rip dragged us down the beach.

Jon hasn't been in for a while but was getting some nice drops - making some and getting pitched on plenty too from all accounts but enjoying himself.

Will continued to snag everything that came his way and poor old doc sat and waited patiently, hoping..Eventually he paddled in to the inside bank and snagged a lovely right hander, milking it through to the inside.

He'd been in China all week on business so that one wave definitely helped him overcome his jetlag and forget all about the poor frogs he'd eaten.

The shorebreak was fast and furious and a solid 4ft and we all took turns at testing ou luck - some waves held up, some didn't but my final cramp inducing right hand wave told me that it was time to go.

I paddled hard into a perfect looking peak only to find my right leg locking as cramp bit into my calf muscle - causing me to squeal in pain, grabbing my leg and falling off mid take off! :(

We'd been in 3 hours and all had some nice waves but will 'the slab hunter' had definitely had the best of it, taking off on absolutely everything and making a fair few.


Sunday, 7.30am
Wave Height 1.3m
Wave Period: 9.7 seconds
Winds: Every which way, starting off strong but easing considerably before strenghtening again?!

I dragged Will out of bed today as punishment and took him to another spot - an ugly industrial wasteland on the promise of 3-4ft barrels. The wind had other ideas though and actually turned from E to NE to SSE to SE to SW in the space of an hour ruining any chance we had of getting a decent surf.

The 2ft dribble didn't inspire so we called it a day after an hour and traipsed back to the van in the pouring rain. The puddles we'd splashed through on the way down were a good couple of inches deeper upon our return!

But that's the beauty of surfing - it's completetly unpredictable. It makes the good times seem so much better abd the bad times...worse and bad as ever!

Sat 10am

Just a quick mobile phone update.

The wind is still blowing pretty strong but veering Southerly. This pic was taken from opposite the Fairways Hotel where it's a little more sheltered and around 2ft.

Rest Bay is a bit more wind affected but looks a solid 3-4ft and chunky with plenty of power to it. It's not clean but not a total mess either and there are few rights holding up.

Plenty of surfers in already this morning!

Promises, promises...

Well, as usual this summer/autumn - the winds haven't played ball and delivered us neatly groomed, corduroy lines...

Light SE were predicted but instead we've got moderate SSW and fairly messy conditions.

The swell is nudging 1.7m and a decent wave period so I'll be waxing up the 6'6 single fin this morning for some old skool bottom turns ;)

All is not lost though as current forecasts predict lightening S winds mid morning so we'll have to wait and see what happens as the tide pushes in.

At least the sun is shining (currently) so the Ryder Cup can get a few more rounds played. Virtually no wind forecast for Sunday, so sleeping tonight knowing we might just have some glassy surf @ first light will be tricky.

Two days of full sleep thanks to junior's teeth subsiding have left me feeling re-charged today!

I'm also toying with getting some head-cam POV surfing footage today too if it's big enough so check back for the video on Sunday - something to watch over your sunday lunch :)

Good things coming

Not much to report today, smallish surf and strong onshore winds first thing and torrential rain didn't help matters....

So a potential drying day for the wetsuit, if I can get home and get it on the line in time.

The next few days look very very interesting...

We have some amazing weather fronts coming our way and the weekend forecast looks insane.

Next week should produce even more deep lows so we've got a great week or two of surfing coming up :)

And finally we have some size coming!

So... people like the longboarder I had the misfortune to be paddling behind on Saturday (who bailed on 7 seven consecutive waves in a row), will either be at home, underwater or lying limply on the inside, covered in starfish :)

Erm you know I mentioned that low...

Dippa dee doo daa...

Swell: 0.8m
Period: 10.2 seconds
Wind: light SE
Tide: Surfed the incoming tide. HT is at 9.37am, 9.1m
At the beach: 2ft+ and clean and only 4 surfers in.

A lovely day again in Porthcawl and hardly a breath of wind. I was busy getting jnr ready for nursery and decided to take a quick peek at the cam to see if the new swell had started to show yet. Doh! It had - clean lines and no-one in but the tide was pushing in fast!

I dropped Fin off and legged it down to the beach to find 3 in and clean 2ft+ sets peeling into the bay. There was plenty of swell hitting the headland too so I jogged on to check some of the other spots.

After a hot & sweaty 10 mins or so I found to my disappointment that the tide was just too big and suffocating the rockier spots.

I turned around and ran back to Rest, already knowing that I'd wasted precious time and the tide would be even further in now...

I was sweating like a wild boar at this point, so I was going in no matter what as the thought of putting my clothes back on and going into work in that state just wasn't an option.

Image from porthcawl surf:


I leashed up and entered via a rocky ledge and paddled straight out onto the peak alongside Emma who was out on her yellow longboard and catching some nice long rights.

A wave came my wave so I grabbed it and surfed it through to the inside, not bad but a tad small. A few more came in and the tide meant we all moved just that bit nearer to the rocks and beach.

I snagged 2 more rights which allowed for a couple of turns before deciding to cut my losses and head off to work.

Knowing there were rocks on the inside I took my time going in. Just as I cleared the rocks and felt soft sand under foot, a little shore dump rose up behind me and washed me off my feet.

A rocky island reared up out of nowhere (like the Lost City of Atlantis!) and like some sort of photon ray - sucked my knee straight onto it. Ouch! I limped in.

No harm done but my knee is a bit pink and sore right now.

I only caught 4 waves, but had a good jog and it was a lovely morning and it reminded me of why I moved to the coast :)

Saturday sunrise

Waves: 0.7m-1m
Period: 16+ seconds
Winds: Light N
Tide: Rising and falling. HT was 9.6m

We've had a good run recently and my initial fears of small waves were set to one side as a 16 second wave period pulsed through!

I woke early on Saturday and checked the buoys, 0.7m...disappointing but then noticed the period was off the charts. The winds were light N and I had a feeling a certain spot would be firing again.

I wasn't the only one with the same thoughts but at least it was quieter than Friday! Five or so lads were already in as Doc, Werg, Rob and I paddled out onto a high tide right hand bank.

The sunrise was spectacular with an almost extra terrestrial shade of pink, mushrooming out of the dune tops and reflecting back onto the glassy surface of the sea.

The waves were 3ft and clean but nowhere near as big as Friday but the waves kept coming despite the big tides - 9.6m and we all picked off a few fun rides.

Doc stroked into a nice clean 3 footer on the nugget and went on his way.

My first left came through, took off went up into the lip and scuffed it to find 2 kooks dropping in...oh well.

The rip kicked in around high and I decided to get out, walk down the beach and try the lefts which were starting to fire!

Aggers joined us not long after and we all had a crack at the 3-4ft rights and lefts that were coming through.

Werg had once really nice right that I saw him on, a good late drop and off he went bombing down the line! Good to see. Rob took a hit to the knee so had to sit out the remainder of the session.

The waves were getting bigger but becoming hollow close-outs now around high tide wit a few makeable shoulders but mainly just fun drops and hollow tubes to pull into before being eaten.

There was one guy on a retro style red board who was styling nicely. I'd marked hi out as a kook initially as he seemed to be doing alot of sitting around so was pleasantly surprised to see him blasting lips and laying down nice high speed turns on the inside - fair play!

I spied Aran and Chris a bit further down and we all sat within spitting distance of one another sharing the waves, stoke and rip.

The wave began to change then, doing it's hollow, wobbly plate of jelly impression at high which threw everyone a little - as you ended up bottom turning but encountering a stepped section where a smooth wave face should be. A few of the lads got bounced as a result!

I picked off one of my better waves at this point, not one of the bigger set waves but a really clean hollow wall that allowed for 4 nice, fast n tight cutbacks.

I was really pushing my turns on that one as I had bags of speed and figured I'd only get one before it died on me but each time I made one, the wave seemed to keep on going allowing for more which was a real treat :)

Took off on a bigger one next and encountered Doc on his damn nugget! LOL but I wasn't making the section anyway (or was I...) so I wasn't bothered.

Aggers went next or rather Doc and Aggers as Doc had gone into his drop in stage. Sub consciously he prob figured it was his last surf before he boarded his flight to China but he had a lovely long right ended with a nice floater, hooting merrily to himself until I pointed out Aggers had been right on his ass for the duration of that perfect wave! ;)

We'd been in around 2 hours now and as the tide turned the waves got bigger. Solid 4ft sets were peeling and barrelling their way down the line so we got out again and paddled back onto a fresh peak.

First wave was a nice steep right, followed by yet another drop in from a balding local gent who shouted at me telling me I should've shouted at him to get off the wave?!

I didn't care tbh as I was unsure if I'd make the section after laying down and ridiculously soulful bottom turn for a laugh and wasn't expecting the propulsion it gave me to make the section in the first place. Caught a few more here and there.

Another wave another drop in. went left and encountered Werg. I went and and whacked the lip anyway and he fell off as if the spray had knocked him clean off ;0 It hadn't but it made me chuckle.

Drop in no 4 or 5 now. I'm not sure what's going on? Perhaps my new board is lacking in colour or too small to see compared to my old blue and green resin tinted boards?

Everyone else had either drifted down or left now so Aggers and I had a lovely bank to ourselves apart from one other guy on a yellow fish. the sets became hollower but less frequent with long lulls but when they came they were beautiful.

I was sat a bit too wide for one set. The fish guy was in prime position but was too indecisive so left it and Aggers gratefully picked it off!

The second one he paddled for and then proceeded to push the nose of his board over the lip as he changed his mind mid take off - FFS! Leaving the last one to land on his head. What a god damn waste of a set!

Arms tiring now I decided to wait and bide my time. Eventually a nice big clean set wave appeared but what was that paddling for it?

A SUP!? Yes... it was the annoyingly good, wave hog SUP rider from Ogmore - snaffling waves from under our noses as usual.

But this time he was too wide as the middle section broke early :)

Now the only thing standing between me and glory was yellow fish boy. He bailed and off I went. I stroked into it a bit late but was far enough along the shoulder to make it comfortably.

Sun in my eyes, I swooped down into my bottom turn and went up nice and high in the lip, hovering there for a just little bit longer than I wanted to, leaving me with a a nice air drop back down.

I stayed on my feet though, just! and flew back down along the face and into a nice lip bash/carve showering a good height of spray over the back and flew back down the line and onto the shoulder, for a cutback before exiting over the back - ride complete!

That was my 'wave du jour'.

I'd endured countless drop ins and spent a good 3 hours in the water but it was definitely worth it for that one particular wave. It only takes one ride like that to remember what is so utterly amazing about this sport of ours.

I should've got out at that point but stayed in for a little longer chasing ghosts and smaller waves - getting tired and frustrated. Time to go.

Two classic days; two days on the trot :)

Everyone came out smiling that day though. I met Chris and Aran later in the car-park and they were both buzzing after their surf! I saw Aran on some super long left handers, seemingly wired into the place on that particular day.

This week looks promising....

Cloudbreak

Nothing to do with surfing in Wales but too good not to share!

Cloudbreak has been going off recently Aussies and Hawaiians getting in on the action.

Check out the clip below - laugh uncomfortably at the first trip over the falls :) and then watch in awe at the insanely deep barrel at the end.

Cloudbreak September 2010 from Surfing Life on Vimeo.

Wind 1 : Swell 0

The age old battle continues to rage. We seem to either have howling onshore winds here in Wales or nothing...

After Wednesdays classic surf, Thursday was rudely written off by SW onshore winds.

This morning, hardly a breath of N wind but the surf had all but vanished - just some faint 1ft lines and poor wave period (dribbling in at around 4 seconds).

Saturday's forecast chart shows HP moving in:


It's all set to change later apparently but I remain sceptical as high pressure moves in for the weekend.

There is however a low attempting to push in behind it so we'll have to wait and see.

Next week should be good though but I'm not convinced this weekend will be as big as currently being predicted. There's always a decent fetch but realistically that low is a good 3 days away from delivering it's payload to our shores.

Next Tues forecast chart:


I really hope I'm wrong though as light N winds will allow plenty of our breaks go off in style and I'm gagging for another good surf right now.

Keep an eye on those buoys boys & girls.

Tube rculosis

Wave height: 1.2m - at the beach, 3-4ft+ and clean
Wave period: 14 seconds
Wind: Very light SE
HT: 6.40am, 9m+ surfed on the dropping tide.

It's high time I had something good to report! This morning was picture perfect. Not a breath of wind and lovely pink skies as the sun came up.

I walked down through the dunes alone and tried to work out how many surfers lay ahead as the car park was looking pretty full.

Doing my best Ray Mears impersonation I began tracking the footprints. The newly made footprints in the wet sand were clearly visible and I worked out that there were 3 separate prints.

I jogged the rest of the way and arrived to hear the sound of the ocean crunching pebbles - always a good sign and there in amongst the clean lines sat 4 surfers? So one of the them must have had a piggy back! LOL

I stood and watched for a few mins working through some stretches and spied an obscenely hollow right further down the beach. The guys out front were struggling a bit sitting too far out for the big tide but the swell was well and truly up!

Harv paddled out and within minutes had managed to drop in on me on my first wave! A nice right hander. Don't worry... I burned him properly later on :)

On the sets, the surf was a good 4ft and clean and as the tide receded we were met with perfect hollow a frames.

Harv and I sat out back a number of times watching this insane right throw out and barrel for miles but the rip always seemed to keep it at bay and the long lulls made locating the bank tricky.

Some of the waves coming through today were so perfect they reminded me of the wave doodles you draw on your books as a kid. I just wish I'd take my camera down with me.

Eventually we got onto the super bank and surfed that for the remaining hour. The take off and drop was so fast and hollow that I was forced to commit the ultimate crime and shoulder hop as I wasn't making many.

Despite being up on my feet quickly and flying along the face at warp speed. My new bigger fins are working a treat on the Firewire and I can surf lefts again! Yipeeeee

Harv was picking off waves left, right and centre, going late on some nice ones and getting long rights all the way through to the inside - damn spongers!

I still had visions of stand up tubes in my mind so waited for the bigger ones and hoped I was in position.

Eventually I stroked into a mid sized wave and got what I'd come for. I bottomed turned slightly as it jacked up and hooked up and under the shoulder.

The sunlight streamed along the wave face in front of me and I sat there in the tube for a few moments, grinning like a fool - probably the easiest barrel I've ever had there!

A few more waves and it was time to go. Looking back there were still some nice waves down towards the industrial zone and plenty in, still surfing the point area but it had lost it's size and was quite choppy down there.

A good start to what will hopefully be a great few of days surfing!

A dry week

Not much to report this week.

It's been pretty hectic @ work and home but there's been no surf time for old gull.

The swell has been in the 2m+ realm for much of the week but gale force onshore sw winds have ruined any chance of surfing really; other than at sheltered spots and life has conspired to keep me dry this week.

Yesterday, the wind dropped right off so it was probably quite nice somewhere...with light NW. I wonder if those reefs were working?

Today high pressure looks to be back in charge. No wind and blue skies and sunshine - so it's flat! :(

A weak low is pushing over us for Sunday so there might be something small and mushy to ride before next week.

Keep an eye on Monday's low pressure as it could deliver some half decent waves later Monday and on Tuesday...we'll see.

Sunday swell

Quick surf check with fin revealed a n wind and half decent swell. The tide was well up but there were cleanish three footers steaming into the bay. Dad duties meant I was a spectator so I hope you scored some!

New surfing beach guides

I've recently launched a new surfing section in my BBC Wales Nature & Outdoors website.

I've named a few breaks that weren't featured in the previous batch of guides I wrote about 6 or 7 years ago but felt that with all the information about them being readily available on the web - wannasurf etc - it wouldn't do any harm

And let's face it - if a spot has 50+ guys surfing it on a good day then it's no longer classified as an x spot, is it?!

The old guides are pretty poor cousins in comparison but plenty of people still read as they do well on Google SEO, so I hope these offer an improved service.

The BBC Wales Surfing website will be coming down at some point - the end of an era but I'll try and re-purpose some of the best bits.

It was great fun to do and I appreciate everyone who participated via the Off The Lip message board, sent in photos, profiles, travel stories & features - it really was a website by surfers for surfers and we had some great nights out too!

Feedback and comments on the new stuff appreciated as ever.

Giant waves hit cruise ship

Old news now but I'd not seen the footage before. Scary stuff!

Amateur video shows waves which reached eight metres - hitting a Cypriot-owned cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

Two people were killed as the waves hit the Louis Majesty during its 12 day trip in the Mediterranean.

I've hit rock bottom...

Swell: 0.9m
Period: 9.9 seconds
Wind: light SE
Tide: On the dropping tide, HT @ 6.50am, 10.2m

The winds eased over night and a small clean swell was pushing through this morning. Large tides had reduced Rest Bay to lines but the occasional set broke inside hinting at what could be.

The scarweather wave buoy was only ready 0.9m and around 10 seconds with light SE winds so I met up with local booger enthusiast - Will, for some high tide reef action.

Rest Bay @ HT today:


We arrived to find 2-3ft lefts peeling along a very shallow reef - it was less than waist deep in places and at times more like knee deep!

Paddling out I scraped fins :( and finger tips but made it out the back in one piece.

The waves definitely favoured the sponge today as Will could sit deeper, sitting on top of what became a dry slab at times. He even scored a few cover ups today, pulling in nicely under one chunky 3ft lip before being eaten up.

I had a few nice ones but was torn between take off area and keeping my fins in one piece! The reef in front of me was sucking dry and new rock obstacles appeared and disappeared with each surge of the tide.

Nevertheless, I managed to pick off a few nice rides with one left in particular holding up beautifully and throwing a nice hollow lip over. I didn't have time to pull in but had a nice ride anyway.

As the tide dropped, I began to move a little deeper but went one step too far...

As I got to my feet to make the drop, I spotted rock boils all around me turning into dry islands - all I needed was my deck chair! Time to bail but I'd run out of ocean. I was landlocked.

I jumped off; going as high and as flat as I could but landed with a thud onto jagged reef - Ouch. I felt a vertebrae bang beneath me and then realised the key inside my aqua-pac had softened the blow. Money well spent. No harm done luckily but that was a very close call.

In all my years surfing that's the first time when I've ever really hit rock bottom! No pun intended ;0

The tide dropped back but rather than improving the waves broke into deeper water and stopped delivering by 9am. A few peaks on the beach began to break but it was time to go. rest looked terrible but a few 'desperados' were in giving it a go, as usual.

Bore hunters breathe a sigh of relief

The government will sound the death knell for the world's largest tidal energy project this month.

The tidal energy barrage was to be built across the Severn estuary between Somerset and south Wales but will be scrapped when the government rules out public funding for the controversial £20bn plan.

www.guardian.co.uk/environment

Surfer rescue

Gower surfers rescue some clown who'd made a home made raft and was stuck in a rip off Gennith on Friday...heading out to sea.

These people should be named and shamed IMO!

Saturday

The promised swell never really materialised in the end. I think Friday was the day TBH with reports of four foot perfection later in the afternoon.

The swell was meant to build and winds remain light but typically - the winds increased a lot - the strongest winds all week long arrived, but at least they were SE and offshore.

Rattz couldn't make it so I arranged to meet up with Doc at the same spot I'd surfed on Friday morning.

A few cars were already parked up but not too many. I fiddled with my new camera mounting for a while and decided not to bring it as I was concerned about losing it if the swell was as big as predicted - it wasn't.

Nevertheless we were greeted with clean, howling offshore 2-3ft. We found a nice peak to ourselves and surfed small clean waves for an hour before the tide spoilt our sand bank.

Doc was surfing his new board - a shocking pink flowery, 'Pot Bellied Nugget'. He'd bought it for a good price - virtually new but not seen the colour ;)

I've re-named the board 'Big Gay Al' for him as it's much more fitting than 'Penelope'...

Doc paddled out with his longboard mentality, sitting deep and struggled to begin with, mistiming his paddle or getting his feet positioning wrong.

New boards can be tricky - either heaven or hell. I've had to work on pretty much much all of my last 4 boards as none have been the same as I've been used to riding but that's what surfboard experimentation is all about! Mastering different shapes.

He's gone down from a 9ft mal to a 5'6" egg shape so a bit of a mental re-adjustment and foot positioning was needed.

He got into it after a while though and found his feet. I picked off one lone right which was perfectly shaped and had a nice long ride off the back, landing a floater to finish. The rest were okay, just a bit small for my liking.

The wave shape to our right was perfect with little mini 'Kirra' barrels firing all the way down the line but it was just a bit small for us which was frustrating.

We were getting a bit cold and the time had come to call it a day or gamble. I figured we should gamble and get out and walk down the beach for a new peak; just in case it was bigger.

Thankfully it was and Doc picked us out a nice peak with a left and a right and no-one on it! The sets were bigger, 3ft+ and nice and hollow but at times hard to get into. The inside was firing though.

We paddled out and instantly felt more power as the waves exploded on our backs. We both enjoyed the last hour with Doc opting for more lefts and me tending to go right. It's funny how some boards ride.

I managed to sneak into a couple of quick cover ups and Doc ended on his best ride of the day with a nice long left with a good lip bash to finish!

The wind had chilled us both and I now sit here with a cold. Not a bad 2 hour+ session but not as classic as we'd hoped for.

Still when you have a new board, just getting it into waves is always nice and I think we might be seeing Doc riding 'Big Gay Al' a lot more this winter!

That afternoon we popped down to Swansea to visit 'Laidback Larry' who'd helped organise Baefest and I hogged out on pig roast and paella! :)

A nice event with a cool atmosphere and a perfect way to end the day. I've now got man flu so out of action for a couple of days me thinks.

Perfection personified for while

We've had some weird wave periods this week - 17 seconds + but a low underlying period deivering 2-3ft and clean most days

5am start today. I actually fell asleep with the alarm clock in my hand so I could switch it off quickly and not wake the missus! It kind of worked...

Switched on my mobile to find the usual barrage of texts from Rattz saying he's coming, he's not coming, it's too small, he's coming, he's on his way, he's in the van...

That's what too much fast living as a youngster does to you kids! Let that be a warning to you ;)

So anyway... we met up at one of our post apocalyptic industrial haunts and wondered down the old track and onto a new track arriving to see a perfect 3-4ft set unleash hell on the sandbar at which point Rattz uttered: "I'm glad you got me up. That was worth getting up for!"

Now I had planned on taking some video today but re-charged the wrong sized batteries last night so apologies. Will try again tomorrow - on saturday.

We paddled out. I attempted a dry hair paddle out and stood off my board as a set wave exploded, at which point the white water nailed me and sent me flying backwards - wet hair. I should've just duck dived it instead!

I was out back just in time fora perfect wave to roll through. the wind was light SE and the sun not quite up but this thing was glassy loveliness personified. Took off and went flying down a fast long wall blasting the lip as I went, 3 or 4 times and paddled straight back and did it 3 more times. Yes!!!

I tried my luck at a few stalls and cover ups up today was not the day and there was an annoying middle section which kept breaking early so I stopped all pig dog duties and focussed on down the line speed instead.

This was already turning into one of my best sessions this summer. Ratter caught some and things were going well. I even dropped in on him on an absolute beauty ( sorry!) but he was late... and I thought he's not make the section but I reluctantly kicked out and let him carry on his merry way.

It was a peach of a wave and he said it was nice but would've been even better without me on it! lol

Ratter then switched into dominator mode and caught waves every which way and caught some sweet looking lefts. The tide pushed in and brought with it a rip which took us off our peak for a while and we paddled back & forth trying to rekindle our previous delights.

Eventually the waves returned and actually picked up as we left around 8am. We did the old catch one more wave thing with both if us catching at least 3 more each and that was that.

My last but wave was a small, clean affair but I managed to bust out my ass and tail on it and land in some or other fashion. Rattz finished on a nice left and blasted the guts out of the lip before surfing in.

Reports coming in now of 4ft perfection at my local so I'm torn for where to go tomorrow.

Should I stay or should I go now.....?