The wave drought finally broke last week when we enjoyed a heat wave 'of sorts' with temps reaching a staggering 26 degrees in parts of Wales ;0
Not only did we have blue sky and sunshine but also a light cross offshore SE wind and solid ground swell, nudging 4ft on sets with a 10 sec wave period making all the difference.
Everywhere was heaving and Sker was no exception but I found a nice peak and tried to stay on it picking off decent rights whenever they came through.
I was on my OP 6'6 single fin which was a bit weird as I've not ridden it in more than a year as I've been surfing my 'ickle 5'10" Firewire Quad (being repaired)but I managed to hang onto a few and got some fairly long rides. It's a great board to paddle though and got me into a few peachy waves nice and early.
I did however find it very stiff and dug far too many rails, in my quest to hack into some lips. I guess I'll have to persevere with it a bit more as it's a beautiful board to ride once you find the sweet spot.
Had a quick chat with Eliot Dudley about boards, always nice to meet someone else with an interest and he showed him a sweet looking Pavel quad fish he'd picked up in the states. Elliot had just won the Welsh Nationals longboard at Llantwit on the saturday so well done him and hope he's enjoying life out west in Newgale.
Bumped into a few more WCSC associates out back who all seemed to be enjoying the swell and although a bit more crowded than normal, everyone was spread out and well behaved.
I did however get assassinated by an old boy on a long longboard who not only dropped in on me badly, but then proceeded to kick out badly, sending his board straight towards my head causing an emergency bail and wasted wave. It was a beauty too :(
Next few days were small and clean but we're locked into high pressure now so flatness will ensue for the rest of the week and weekend but at least most of us scored on Sunday - it's amazing how just one decent swell can cheer us all up after months of flatness & onshore slop.
And finally...Sven (a surf buddy of mine) and Mads are now the proud parents of a baby boy named 'Raphael Beau Attridge' who weighed in at 9lbs and flew out in about 4hrs so well done guys! x
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Potential surf dog
Colleague in work sent me this link of his pooch having a go in Cornwall and I have to say - she puts a lot of the kooks in Rest Bay to shame.
Straight into the sea, paddling out back, to the lineup and waits for a set before paddling for a couple. Well done Ella the surf dog. Imagine what she could do on a board?!
Straight into the sea, paddling out back, to the lineup and waits for a set before paddling for a couple. Well done Ella the surf dog. Imagine what she could do on a board?!
Friday 24 June 2011
Worst June for a long while
That seems to be the headline for this month. I was chatting to bob blythe the other day who informed me that June was always good for as long as he could remember (back in the day!) and this was the worst one he could remember and he's getting on a bit now ;)
We've had the swell but the wind has killed it thanks largely to the jet stream being too far south - it's now buggered off up north again so fingers crossed it stays there for a while.
We've got a weak low pushing in over SW Ireland tonight and into tomorrow and then clearing for Sunday. Apparently the rest of the Welsh Nationals will be taking place at Fresh West over the weekend so at least they should have waves although I'm sure Saturday will be too clever in that wind.
The point in Porthcawl has had a couple of half decent days but the tides have meant earlies and late surfs were out the window so only the self employed, unemployed and students have been able to score any waves!
The wind has been relentless though, blowing strong all day and into the night and carrying on the next day all week long...
Windguru has been conjuring up daft expectations for Sunday getting everyone in a pickle but I think there will be a lot of disappointed surfers out there this weekend although having said that - at least we'll have something to surf!
If we get 3ft on Sunday then we'll be happy, just so long as the wind plays ball and delivers SSE as promised...
Other news - our WCSC club fundraiser and the Elusive Taylor Steele Night went down well and we raised a few quid for the Logan Padden Foundation. The beach day moved to Sunday and I worked the barbie hard for a couple of hours feeding the hoards of hungry surfers who kept coming back for 2nds, 3rds and in some cases 4ths?!
A crowd gathers for the penalty shoot out down on the beach:
Tom Anderson rocked the mic, turning the event into an ASP world tour event complete with beach side interviews with anyone that moved whilst Matt Hapgood helped me on the BBQ, throwing on raw meet whenever I gave him the nod!
The club gazebo and base camp for the day:
Stu Bentley was luckily on hand with all the hardware and helped us erect the large club gazebo etc which would have been a struggle without him so it turned into a pretty civilised affair with tables, chairs, plates and eventually cutlery!
We ended the day with a fun swell board tag team event complete with inflatable croc nicknamed 'steve' which had to be ridden for 2 waves by each team.
The red team ended up winning - comprising of myself, matt, sonja, emma and lewis and we all received beautiful Olympic style medals for our troubles ;)
Looking forward to the next one...
We've had the swell but the wind has killed it thanks largely to the jet stream being too far south - it's now buggered off up north again so fingers crossed it stays there for a while.
We've got a weak low pushing in over SW Ireland tonight and into tomorrow and then clearing for Sunday. Apparently the rest of the Welsh Nationals will be taking place at Fresh West over the weekend so at least they should have waves although I'm sure Saturday will be too clever in that wind.
The point in Porthcawl has had a couple of half decent days but the tides have meant earlies and late surfs were out the window so only the self employed, unemployed and students have been able to score any waves!
The wind has been relentless though, blowing strong all day and into the night and carrying on the next day all week long...
Windguru has been conjuring up daft expectations for Sunday getting everyone in a pickle but I think there will be a lot of disappointed surfers out there this weekend although having said that - at least we'll have something to surf!
If we get 3ft on Sunday then we'll be happy, just so long as the wind plays ball and delivers SSE as promised...
Other news - our WCSC club fundraiser and the Elusive Taylor Steele Night went down well and we raised a few quid for the Logan Padden Foundation. The beach day moved to Sunday and I worked the barbie hard for a couple of hours feeding the hoards of hungry surfers who kept coming back for 2nds, 3rds and in some cases 4ths?!
A crowd gathers for the penalty shoot out down on the beach:
Tom Anderson rocked the mic, turning the event into an ASP world tour event complete with beach side interviews with anyone that moved whilst Matt Hapgood helped me on the BBQ, throwing on raw meet whenever I gave him the nod!
The club gazebo and base camp for the day:
Stu Bentley was luckily on hand with all the hardware and helped us erect the large club gazebo etc which would have been a struggle without him so it turned into a pretty civilised affair with tables, chairs, plates and eventually cutlery!
We ended the day with a fun swell board tag team event complete with inflatable croc nicknamed 'steve' which had to be ridden for 2 waves by each team.
The red team ended up winning - comprising of myself, matt, sonja, emma and lewis and we all received beautiful Olympic style medals for our troubles ;)
Looking forward to the next one...
Wednesday 15 June 2011
what happened to summer?
Wimbledon is just around the corner but we've not had nice hot sunny weather( lasting longer than a day) for about 2 months now. Weak lows keep sending wind and rain in our general direction so we end up shit surf and wet weather. I'm meeting a lot of disgruntled surfers at the moment and this is shaping up to be one of our worst summers in a long while (for surf and weather).
I'm helping out with the WCSC International Surf Day @ Rest Bay this Saturday from 11amand the forecast keeps changing but hoping we'll have a relatively dry day. Loads of things lined up for all ages and abilities so hope to many of you down there.
The tag team event is the only one requiring registration so pop along at 11am if you want to put your name down. Food is all free but donations are welcome as we're raising £ for the Logan Padden Foundation.
The evening will be dry as we're indoors at the Fairways so that promises to be an epic night with live music, new surf movies and an aution so I'm sure plenty of ale will be drunk.
I'm helping out with the WCSC International Surf Day @ Rest Bay this Saturday from 11amand the forecast keeps changing but hoping we'll have a relatively dry day. Loads of things lined up for all ages and abilities so hope to many of you down there.
The tag team event is the only one requiring registration so pop along at 11am if you want to put your name down. Food is all free but donations are welcome as we're raising £ for the Logan Padden Foundation.
The evening will be dry as we're indoors at the Fairways so that promises to be an epic night with live music, new surf movies and an aution so I'm sure plenty of ale will be drunk.
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Cornish cream
Just spent a week camping it up down in Cornwall wit the family (the Badlands area) hanging out with local bad asses dave & lara salter and their crazy pooch 'lil miss cool'.
The epic surf never really materialised, the first few days were onshore and blown out 2-3ft but the wind eased and the sun made an appearance mid week.
Nevertheless we had a fun trip and visited Lands End, Porthcurno, Gwithian, Hayle, Newquay Aquarium, Perran Sands and a few other places in between and the tent remained upright! I can definitely recommend the Gwithian Farm campsite too - cracking spot, excellent facilities and nice people running the place and the 'Sunset Surf Cafe' serves up some amazing food at the back of the beach.
I took the single fin with me which I'd not surfed for about a year which wasn't ideal in 3-4ft wedgey Penhale with lots of close outs! but rode a few.
The waves didn't really give me an opportunity to find my rhythm and were generally steep drops followed by a bottom turn/top turn and close-out section. I paddled in feeling very sorry for myself especially as there were groms out there ripping it up! lol
The following day I got up 'earlyish' and hit Gwithian where we were camping and after a few aborted rock scrambles, I found the 'proper' steps down to the beach and had some fun 2-3ft clean beach break. It took me a while to get into my stride but eventually began to master the board again and threw in a few floaters and cutbacks.
The following day we hit the beach once more on our way home and it was howling NE and 3ft but I was on dad patrol hurling rocks into rock pools and anyone walking by so gave it a miss.
We also bought Fin his first wetty - 'trainee lifeguard', well his second actually but the baby one doesn't really count. He found the seas off Cornwall a bit chilly in howling NW winds but seemed to enjoy walking dad's board on the sand and covering the melting wax with sand....
Not much surf to report, back home but we're due a small hit tonight and tomorrow and onshore winds so might take a dip anyway.
Surf club meeting is on tonight - 7.30pm @ Salthouse Bar and as part of International Surfing Day on 20 June, we're planning a cool family surfing day at Rest Bay on 18 June with some crazy surfing contests in the pipeline( tandem, fancy dress, swell boards are all in the mix currently), BBQ, some expression sessions from the local rippers and free surfing lessons.
There's a party in the evening with bands and a charity surf auction for the local Logan Padden Foundation so check out our WCSC Facebook page for more details on that.
See some of you later for a pint!
Gull
The epic surf never really materialised, the first few days were onshore and blown out 2-3ft but the wind eased and the sun made an appearance mid week.
Nevertheless we had a fun trip and visited Lands End, Porthcurno, Gwithian, Hayle, Newquay Aquarium, Perran Sands and a few other places in between and the tent remained upright! I can definitely recommend the Gwithian Farm campsite too - cracking spot, excellent facilities and nice people running the place and the 'Sunset Surf Cafe' serves up some amazing food at the back of the beach.
I took the single fin with me which I'd not surfed for about a year which wasn't ideal in 3-4ft wedgey Penhale with lots of close outs! but rode a few.
The waves didn't really give me an opportunity to find my rhythm and were generally steep drops followed by a bottom turn/top turn and close-out section. I paddled in feeling very sorry for myself especially as there were groms out there ripping it up! lol
The following day I got up 'earlyish' and hit Gwithian where we were camping and after a few aborted rock scrambles, I found the 'proper' steps down to the beach and had some fun 2-3ft clean beach break. It took me a while to get into my stride but eventually began to master the board again and threw in a few floaters and cutbacks.
The following day we hit the beach once more on our way home and it was howling NE and 3ft but I was on dad patrol hurling rocks into rock pools and anyone walking by so gave it a miss.
We also bought Fin his first wetty - 'trainee lifeguard', well his second actually but the baby one doesn't really count. He found the seas off Cornwall a bit chilly in howling NW winds but seemed to enjoy walking dad's board on the sand and covering the melting wax with sand....
Not much surf to report, back home but we're due a small hit tonight and tomorrow and onshore winds so might take a dip anyway.
Surf club meeting is on tonight - 7.30pm @ Salthouse Bar and as part of International Surfing Day on 20 June, we're planning a cool family surfing day at Rest Bay on 18 June with some crazy surfing contests in the pipeline( tandem, fancy dress, swell boards are all in the mix currently), BBQ, some expression sessions from the local rippers and free surfing lessons.
There's a party in the evening with bands and a charity surf auction for the local Logan Padden Foundation so check out our WCSC Facebook page for more details on that.
See some of you later for a pint!
Gull
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)