Tues morning waves

Bit late in the day but I've been busy this week!

Wife and son have gone to Germany and I'm off to Ireland so it's been a bit hectic getting everyone organised!

I'm flying off to Ireland shortly so will hopefully score some good surf and bring back a fresh batch of pics to share with you.

Here's a quick video from Tuesday when we had nice 3-4ft, clean waves @ Rest Bay. I got in around 6.15am and for once Ratter was early! ;) We had 2 hours in and it just kept getting better as the tide pushed in.

Rest Bay from wounded gull on Vimeo.

I surfed like a bit of a spanner but I have 7 days of solid surfing to find my form again now.

Sadly I cracked the glass in my beloved bonzer so she'll not be coming with me to the Emerald Isle. I was really looking forward to seeing how she handled things too. Oh well - "another time, another place, player"!

Surf photographer to the stars, Claire Beach snapped this one of me doing a half decent cutty:

Cheers Claire!

It's almost a repeat performance of my last trip there - dusting off the old single fin, not having ridden it for about 5 months and paddling out into 8ft+ waves hoping I can still remember how to ride it, and not slide out on my first bottom turn!

I managed it okay last time though, on no sleep and 7 hrs driving but I think that was down to the adrenalin rush at seeing decent waves!

I guess it's like riding a bike but you do get used to the hold and drive achieved from a bonzer 5 fin.

Just packed it into a board bag and everything seems fine. I've dropped my 10" fin in there just in case it does go large. There's a 976 low lurking out there....

Plenty of north forecast in the wind so might be trying some new spots this trip.

Take it easy

Gull

Spitting tubes and broken leashes

Not a lot happening over the weekend as the period was a bit low and the winds never really played ball.

I went for a walk on sunday morning with Jnr in the backpack and my good lady by my side around 8.30am and after a pleasant couple of miles wandering in and out of sand dunes and getting both feet wet in the swampy sections, arrived at my local spot to find glorious sunshine and clean peeling surf.

Too small to shortboard but it would have been manageable on a longboard.

Friday was the day though! I left work @ reasonable o'clock and met up with Harv. The winds as predicted had swung SE( offshore) and there was a good swell out in the channel.

The tide was a bit on the low side but had turned and was on the way in. With big tides running, we knew it would push in quickly so were both looking forward to a decent session.

Arrived at the beach to find only 2 other guys in and 3-4ft cylindrical 'A frames' reeling off in either direction!

Harv got into it quickly and had caught about 10 waves before I finally clicked!

A recent cold had drained me of my super powers but I eventually stroked into a larger set wave. I was, as usual, a tad late...but had a nice big drop into a steaming, hollow right. The lip was throwing out nicely but I didn't have time to watch.

Harv told me after it was a pretty insane drop, so I'll have to take his word for it!

So I made the drop and went off down the line at speed. The lip ahead was going to shut down so I had 2 options - fly high, up and over the lip - 'superman stylee' or go straight.

Going straight is never an option! ;) So I flew up into the lip and launched. "I'm like a bird...SMASH!!!"

Crashing back down to earth I had that peculiar sense of weightlessness you get when your leash snaps...no tug on the old ankle - nada.

Damn! Fist wave and I'd snapped my bloody leash in classic, empty waves :(

The rip had been keeping us next to the rocks, constantly pulling us to the right so my 1st worry was that my board would be washed onto those. My second worry was that I would be washed in and over those as well! LOL

Head down I began my swim but was making slow progress against a strong rip. Every time I thought I was shallow enough to put my feet down I found myself in deep water.

A few more strokes and I was into a set, body surfing a close-out which proceeded to somersault me around and dumped me into the sand but at last I was on dry land.

My leash had been severed like a surgeon had been at it with a scalpel, a neat shear, right next to the swivel.

I decided it would take too long to go home and get a spare so remembered my boy scout knots and tied 3 in the leash, attaching it to my rail saver.

The tide pushed in and the waves got better as the wind eased off. Some good sized waves were coming through but I was leaving too many good ones as I didn't fancy another swim and the drops would have been a bit late.

Harv continued to be in the right place at the right time, picking off some really nice rides.

It's amazing what the lack of a leash can do to your confidence. You definitely think twice before going late in the lip.

I caught a few nice ones and everyone out there had some great rides. The sun was going down and it was time for one more wave. There were some perfect looking waves coming through but heavy old lips even on the smaller waves.

I even saw lots of waves spitting air out of the tubes which is always a good indicator of power.

I wanted to finish on a good one so waited...

A nice one came through so I paddled hard, made it, bottom turn, off the lip and then into a sharp cutty as the shoulder faded. Unfortunately I'd lost all speed and the board slid out from under me and was gone.

My knots had come undone and so had I!

I surfaced to see my board floating about 20 yards in front of me - waiting for me like some sort of pet to collect her.

But behind me the ocean was angry! A set was forming.

In the blink of an eye I'd decided to reach it at all costs before Huey did.

I stuck my head down and went into 'Thorpedo' mode, swimming hard.

As I got to within about six feet of it, a wave surge picked me up and I kind of swam/ body surfed onto it, grabbing both rails as the full impact of the wave landed on me.

Luckily I was far enough on to prone it in. Phew!

As I flew past, one of the lads paddling back out shouted out "Impressive!"

So I must have looked like Bruce Willis or some other action hero! LOL
Maybe Kevin Costner in 'Waterworld'? ;)

We walked away leaving the other 2 guys to enjoy the glassy conditions all to themselves.

Snapping my leash was actually a blessing as I'm off to Ireland later this week and don't fancy snapping on over there in bigger waves over reef.

I've now ordered a girls leash! Yes, a girl's 6ft comp 'Da Kine' leash.

In comparison, I found they were the same as the men's only £6 instead of £18!

It comes in a funky orange colour. I just hope the ankle strap isn't covered in flowers!!!

Hopefully I'll now start surfing like Layne Beachley!

More highs than lows

Not much to report here of late.

A blocking high has been sat over for us as long as I can remember.

The deperados and doley's have been making the most of a weak dribbly swell that pushed in on weds/thurs delivering a 2ft wave but at least the skies are blue and spring is definitely in the air.

The sunsets have been amazing lately, real large, pink & golden orbs - shame I'm only catching them from the M4 but you can't win 'em all!

Off to Ireland for a search & destroy mission in 2 weeks time :) so keep an eye out for my updates.

I'll try and get as much 'on board' video footage as I can.

This is one spot on my to do list this trip. Apparently this mystical river mouth can hold up to 20ft. I'll settle for 6-8ft! ;)



I just need to shake of this cold lurgy thing that's currently making me wheeze like an old smoker. Really frustrating when you know you've got to get exercising but can't.

Looks like we might have some respite next week as a low pressure paddles perilously close to us before weakening...we might get a couple days swell of it though.

The weekend will be flat but it will be good to see Wales destroying Ireland again on the rugby field on Saturday :)

So keep one eye on the road and one on the sea folks!

Kong's Island

Apologies about the clip quality but it was an overcast day and my battery life died as I arrived at the break

It's a stunning spot though, one of the most scenic on Gower in my humble opinion.

I won't say exactly where this spot is though as it's a fairly quiet one compared to some!

Having said that about 15 guys turned up! not long after I got my 2nd wave but you can see some nice lines out there just before the end.

Kong's Island from wounded gull on Vimeo.

We ended up getting out as the waves were few and far between and hit some of the more popular spots to find cars and vans parked in every side road, ditch and farmers lay by going.

It was absolute carnage and I was a little disappointed at having taken a days leave mid week to find hoards of people with the same idea!

All was not lost though as we ventured to one of the lesser surfed, breaks and found it fairly quiet. Within half an hour we had it to ourselves with 3 of us sharing the backlit hollow, peaks.

The sun made an appearance and we shared nice 4ft clean waves for the next 1.5hrs. I had one or two screamers that definitely made up for our earlier escapade.

Aggers was picking off some nice long rights and Larry had a couple of stylish take offs.

He must've back doored one, as I was going late but had to pull back sharply when the old boy flew out of nowhere to claim it! ;) I'm still not sure how he did that?...must be that 7ft gun he rides!

I'd been thinking about trying the peak further over which is always ridiculously hollow and so I'd assumed was stupidly shallow, as I'd never seen anyone surfing it? Every now and again some would hold up and barrel down the line rather than a bowling up into a hideous close out.

The rip was as strong as ever when the tide turns, but I kept my head down and eventually got over to the peak where we'd seen some stunning looking cylinders.

Just as I arrived a set pushed through. Larry behind me, hooted and off I went.

I took a late drop down, (so far so good) bottom turned hard and went flying on down into a lovely curved speed bowl at warp speed, blasted one of the top and was looking ahead for my exit... but realised it might just hold up so stomped my way down through to the inside section.

Still it kept going.... I whacked another big carve, showering some guys up on the cliff top watching ;) and back down again and I had so much speed my heavy old bonzer got air as I flew out and over the shoulder.

Big grins all round - a super long ride at 'warp factor 5 Sulu'! So, I've named it 'Spocks'.

Maybe it has another name but I've never ever seen anyone ride that peak before. The locals don't seem to touch it. I'll definitely be giving it another go next time. This is just the beginning....

Shack attack

We all know how hard it is to get barrelled properly.

You can chase them for years and never come close and then one day it suddenly comes together in the blink of an eye before you even realise how or what just happened?!

It doesn't have to be that way though, especially if you live near a heaving, barrelling slipway - every harbour town has one!

Here's Craig getting properly shacked:



Cheers to Josh Einsle for sliding this clip underneath my nose.