Sand bank holiday

The weekend forecast wasn't looking that great on paper but we loaded up the van and headed west to see the outlaws anyway.

Friday came and went with nothing much to report other than sunny skies. Saturday however delivered some small but chilly surf.

I met up with 'The Bry' around 8am and we hit Freshwater West. The buoy was only measuring 2.5 feet @ 6 seconds but there was something rideable.

Two desperados were in middle bay fighting a filling tide and the beach looked small. The north end however had some white water on the cliffs and a handful of surfers were in catching a few.

I got changed and got in amongst it whilst 'the bry spent' 20 mins powdering his nose back in his camper! God knows what he gets up to in there but it was the slowest change I've yet to experience.

The waves had a bit of power and were 2-3ft and pretty clean but lacking any real shape. Longboarders fell off this way and that, and one guy caught every single wave in the classic 'proposal stance' - with one knee down and one up but he seemed to enjoy it!

Just for the record, I shouted "No" whenever he passed by me as we hardly knew each other ;)

'The Bry' aka the 'Duke of Druke' eventually paddled his 9ft beast out and into a few. I'm not sure if he was soul arching or just leaning into the wave face until he fell off but either way it looked soulful - for a split second! ;)

I paddled down towards the cliffs a little and managed to snag one really nice set wave, a long right which held up all the way in and made it worthwhile.

We caught a few more and the surf gradually began to lose size, shape and everything else as that WNW wind increased in ferocity. It was bloody cold actually!

I was out there in what is mainly a 2mm suit in water 2 degrees cooler than I'm used to in Porthcawl and came in with a few goosebumps.

Sunday was a write off with more swell but howling winds. Saturday dawned and I was up with the larks. As the house slept I made a few calls to see who I could raise from the dead.

The bouys were 3ft @ 7secs and the wind was light N. Two to three would do me!

Scotty answered the call and we met up around 6.30am above middle bay. Blue skies and sunshine and small clean lines were rolling in as the tide began to push.

I could see my beloved point break firing and tried to convince my old longboard compadre to accompany me but he was having none of it!


Scotty kindly offered me his hand shaped 9'0 so long as I waxed it! I don't know about you but cold mornings and rock hard sex wax don't make for an enjoyable pre surf warm up.

I might as well have been rubbing frozen lard onto it. After a frustrating 10 mins I began to make some progress and finally got some wax lines to stick.

During that time I watched 2ft glass turn into 2-3ft and 2-3ft turn into 3ft and get a bit hollower and faster. Things were definitely looking up so I jettisoned the plank and grabbed my short board instead.

At least Scotty now has a freshly waxed board for next time :)

Early doors and no-one out:


I paddled out onto a nice left breaking over reef on the other side of the point whilst scotty opted for the now sandy, middle bay. The rocks have all been covered over?!

The lefts were shaping up nicely but I have an issue going left on my current board so after 4 or 5 waves was beginning to wish I'd paddled over for the rights.

As the tide was pushing in fast I figured it would go flat - I was wrong! It got better but by this time I'd moved over and joined 5 others who were sharing a few peaks opposite the larva hut end of the bay.

I caught a few nice ones towards the end as the wave held up and saw scotty take a few hell-man drops on his longboard before getting annihilated! All good fun.

5 paddled out onto the left I thought would fill in with the tide and proceeded to get some really nice should high walls. Doh! And the y kept coming as more and more lefts bowled up.

Into the 8am hour now and the hoards began to arrive as van after van awoke and waxed up and word gradually spread that Fresh was the place to be. People from all over descended on it and apparently the afternoon session was absolutely rammed.

Lines stacked to the horizon. You can see a handful out, paddling for the set:


The period picked up to 15 secs but so did the wind but good waves were had by most despite the afternoon chop. I for one was stoked that I got up early, paddled out into a peaceful empty line-up and scored 3-4ft glass all to ourselves, for a little while at least :)

We bumped into a sleepy 'Bry' on the way out who reported a fun 4-6ft session later on, on his longboard.

Finally...

We have something in the Atlantic that is getting me excited!

After a disappointing surf on Friday evening in what can only be described as "howling onshore hell" I tried again early on Saturday and was rewarded with empty three foot peaks and just three of us in :)

It wasn't particularly punishing but I'm still trying to find some fitness after a virus and 4-5 week long flat spell.

Good news on the fins front though. I test drove the Mayhems on Friday and found them to be incredibly stiff!

I shouldn't have used the 5 fin set up in small, onshore conditions basically but it did prove one thing - they have tons of hold so will come in handy for bigger waves which is why I got them!

At times it felt as if there was an invisible arm pushing/holding me back as I tried to get down the wave face and generate some speed on the face.It was a very strange sensation but not ideal test conditions tbh.

My surf compadre that night - Rhys, fresh back from France was making the most of it though and catching three waves to my one. My fitness was dire and I felt like I'd been in three hrs after an hour.

The wind was causing the waves to slap me repeatedly in the face as I paddled out and fought the white water and it was just one of the sessions where you half wish you'd not bothered.

NOAA chart for Thursday lunchtime:


I took out the rear trailer on Saturday in preparation for more smaller waves and rode it as a quad. It made a huge difference and although there was plenty of hold, the board felt fast and responsive and I managed a few off the lips on some of the set waves.

Harv was all over it on his sponge and snagged some nice rights when he first got in. I even saw him attempt a head stand spin at one point although this is commonly known as a wipe-out but it looked half decent!

The tide dropped back and with it went the waves but there were still some fun looking small peaks to keep the longboarders content

Can't wait to try them out this week.For any surfers who've been asleep we're in for a treat soon as a tropical storm is heading our way with nicely packed isobars:



The tides look pretty good for morning surfs too, so fingers crossed that the winds have read the script.

Small, clean lines again today at Rest Bay and hardly any wind but just a bit small to bother with over high tide.

At the moment Weds & Thurs look like the best days but you never know...it might just start to show for Tues night and I've got Friday off as the winds swing WNW :)

Bank Holiday weekend is approaching, so we might just have some left overs too!

Shark encounter of the Go Pro kind

Me my Shark and I from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.

The end is nigh

No, I'm not dropping off the planet just yet, but this month long (or what feels like a month long) wave drought looks as if it will finally be over, towards the end of this week!

A series of weak lows are pushing our way around Thursday and into the weekend so despite the onshore wind forecast - every man and his dog will be out surfing and making up for lost water time - myself included.

At least the current forecast is for light winds....but we all know how that particular fable turns out!

I recently received some new fins for the Firewire-Rapidfire-Spitfire(try saying that when you're drunk) so I now have a bonzer 5 set up on it and I'm looking forward to seeing how the bigger fins and extra rear fin effect this stupidly light toy board of mine.


I'm hoping for increased speed and more drive with these Mayhem fins but we shall see. At £85 a pop they'd better be bloody amazing and make me surf like Dane Reynolds or I'll be writing FCS a strongly worded letter! ;)

FCS have definitely improved their fin range but I still don't think they quite match LokBox and the Rainbow fin arsenal...yet.

Krazeeee cameras

Rasta destroying one of his many boards in the name of art. Nice if you don't have to pay for boards. If you've ever wondered how you mount a 16mm camera on board, here's how:

Board Cam Mount- Surf Sufficient

I plumped for the cheaper option and bought a Go-Pro. I've had some nice results so far but found that the front mount and wide angled (almost fish eye) lens made everything look like it was two foot. I needed to film from higher up...I think?

I decided rather than buy multiple mounts for my various shaped boards I'd try and get a head mount for it. With my birthday looming I whacked it on my list and hey presto, I got one courtesy of lovely wife :)

Yes, I'll look like a complete tool (nothing new there I hear you cry!) paddling around like a cyborg but I should be able to get some pretty funky angles and footage for your viewing pleasure - all 4 followers of you out there ;)

I've always wanted to try and capture the feeling you get when taking off late on a steep wave - one of my favourite things to do in surfing.

I love the feeling you get, free falling late in the lip and making the drop, but it's really hard to try and capture the action.

Me, going a tad late on my old mandala quad over a lovely reef in Feurteventura a few years ago. Pic by Dangerous Dave:



With a front mount, you generally just get mountains of white water everywhere which obscures everything until you drive out onto clean, open wave face.

The other drawback is not getting friends waves when they score nice rides - it does happen from time to time! ;0

I generally have to line myself up inside of their flight path and paddle towards the shoulder as they approach so only ever get a small section of the ride and it's been a bit hit and miss so far...

So I'm hoping I'll get footage on a par with this at some point:


This new head mount should mean I can film them from behind or in front (if I drop in and look back!), so especially good for party waves :)

Now all we need are some waves. This summer has been truly dire since about April with only a couple of decent short lived swells.

Two sessions on Gower reef have been my only real joy all summer and memories of those are fading fast.

The rest has been drivel. Roll on Autumn!

Brown flag status

I'm sure many of you have been following the recent SAS developments in the news.

The organisation claims that at least 35 of our Blue Flag beaches don't meet the necessary requirements to fly the prestigious flags and should be flying Brown Flags instead. Yes shit sticks...

It all boils down to that old favourite of ours - the CSO's or shit pipes as we all used to call them. In order for beaches to be Blue Flag, they must let the public know about all discharges and pollution entering the water and amend their flag status accordingly.

The following do not meet these basic requirements and my own local - Rest Bay is one of them :(

Welsh Blue Flags not meeting the criteria:

North Wales - Denbighshire, Prestatyn central
North Wales - Ynys mon, Llanddona
West Wales - Gwynedd, Fairbourne
West Wales – Gwynedd, Abersoch
West Wales - Ceredigion, Aberporth
West Wales - Ceredigion, Llangrannog
SW Wales - Pembrokeshire, Newgale
South Wales – Swansea, Glamorgan, Langland
South Wales – Bridgend, Glamorgan, Rest bay

Read more here.

This is not to say the water is badly polluted, merely that we are not being told when it is and we all know these CSO's discharge at an alarming rate - which is not monitored as carefully as it should be and water companies have been reluctant to tell us exactly how often...

"35 beaches around the UK can not possibly meet the imperative criterion 28, requiring beach operators to warn the public during and after emergency pollution event, such as a sewage discharge from a combined sewage overflow."

I've been off ill lately with a nasty virus which affected my inner ear so balance and appetite went followed by vomiting, 24/7 migraines and general dizziness. I spent 3 painful days in bed unable to move.

2 weeks later and half a stone lighter, I am on the mend but I had another virus earlier on in the year after surfing.

Coincidence? It does make you wonder though, doesn't it...