DOG boarding

It's finally swung onshore...
But fear not! especially if you own a dog.
Check out this awesome video:

Dogboarding from DANIELS on Vimeo.

I'm off to buy a pooch right now. I'm thinking start with something smaller as I'm not a good skater?

Tuesday night

I had arranged to meet up with Aran in the morning for a pre work surf but my gut was telling to hang on so I did. Aran made do with 1-2ft on the drop and for him to say it was shit really puts it into perspective! ;)

The wave period was fluctuating between 15 and 18 seconds but the wave buoys were still only registering a couple of feet...

Luckily my gamble paid off and I finished early to squeeze in a quick hour before dad duties commenced.

I got down to Rest Bay just as the tide turned and passed two grinning surfers who'd been over surfing over by golf for the last 3 hours. I stood and watched, weighing up my options - main beach, over the reef a bit or walk on a bit. I walked on...

A guy took off on a lovely A frame peak and proceeded to milk it for all it was worth trough to the inside, hitting lips and nailing some nice cutbacks and my walk rapidly turned into a run!

Lovely clean lines rolled through and 3 guys sat, spread out on a couple of lovely looking peaks breaking to the left of the ledges.

My first wave was a corker, a long fast right taking me a long way inside with speed and power - the best wave I'd ridden in months. So nice to have something bigger than 2ft which is all we've been getting lately.

The rip was a mare and dragging me left and I was constantly aware of how little time I had and reminding myself not to take any of the lefts even though they were so perfect as I didn't want to waste time paddling back!

The wind remained light offshore, barely a breath though and I picked off a few more long rights, racing the face and occasionally busting into the lip before it shut down. Great fun but I could have done with a faster board!

I paddled in not long after it turned and the waves dropped in size which was a good way to end it. My fitness is still poor so I'm off swimming now!

It won't be long before we can shed the old winter rubber though and the water is warming up nicely, currently nudging 8 deg C.

The surf returns

Apologies I've either been injured or it's be flat of late so not blogged in a while but I managed a couple of surfs last week - I say surfs, they were more like paddles.

Monday was okay from what I remember, small, 1-2ft but super clean and then tiny on Tues when I dragged Steve Beach out of his lair for a paddle @ sker but by the time he arrived it had dropped to a weak 1 ft so we weren't in for long!

I prob should have hit Gower as it would have been classic at a certain outer reef break but I couldn't find anyone to come with me so decided to save it for another time.

The rest of my week off was spent painting the garage...but at least the sun was out and I basked in the balmy 17 degrees ;)

A weak low pushed in over the weekend and we all got very excited. I had a quick look on saturday as I was passing and spotted lines and a 2ft wave with a few longboarders on it.

Stunned I pegged it home to grab my stuff, drove back and ran down to find it was virtually flat?! Undeterred I paddled out and tried to ride a few stupidly shallow ones over the reef but ended up going for a paddle instead.

Up early on sunday to watch the 1ft wave on the cam gradually build @ Rest Bay so I hit my local spot early.

Not expecting much I found a nice fun 2ft wave with only 3 guys in and spent the next 2 hours chasing everything that came my way; surfing myself into the ground.

I scored a couple of cheeky head dips for my troubles and by 11.30am was well and truly done. The crowd had descended, including the annoying SUP'r hogging everything! so I was happy to call it a day.

I hit Rest with the family later and was surprised to see the surf had picked up. It looks ok today too and with the clocks springing forwards, we can all enjoy after work surfs from now on :)

Tsunami hits Japan

Breaking news on BBC and the rest of the world currently as Japan is struck by a earthquake and 10m high tsunami.

The footage is incredible as ever, almost unbelievable as we're so used to Hollywood cgi special effects.

Watching a mountain of water complete with flames steadily marching inland carrying everything includng fire in it's wake is quite startling to see.

I watched earlier in disbelief as water as far as you could see moved steadily inland through fields, as cars oblivious to the danger drove along nearby roads as the sleeping giant moved ever closer.

I'm not sure if the wave being featured is the actual wave or waves generated afterwards but they are insanely clean, barrelling left and right as they head towards the coast. More to come as both bigger and smaller islands prepare themselves for a hit from NZ to Mexico. I hope everyone stays safe.

You can only imagine how the indonesians are feeling right now. It must be terrifying especially if you live on a low lying island out at sea and have nowhere to flee to.

I probably shouldn't type this but after the initial shock of seeing the Tsunami hitting my thoughts turned to the dolphin and whale populations which are mercilessly persecuted by Japanese fishing fleets.

So I checked where the infamous 'Cove' fishing village - Taiji is located - much further to the south but I wonder now, if our oceans are a little safer for our marine life, for a few years at least?