Hurricane season is upon us

At last, we have a reason to live again!

God Bless America - I even forgive George Bush.

Hurricane Bill is lining up and we're next in line.

The weekend is looking nice with offshore's and a decent swell forecast. You never know it might even be sunny!

Next week 'ist crankenhausen' as we say in Germany.

Wax up the rhino chasers, boys n girls

Thy will be gun.

Break dance boogaloo

I couldn't just sit on a clip of this quality!



Since becoming a dad I've managed 2 surfs so I'm not doing too badly and the current flat spell has helped.

Looks like the weekend should bring something even it is onshore.

Enjoy the clip and pls warm up properly before attempting any of these moves!

I am currently looking into adopting this kid. I think he could slot nicely into Gull's dance troupe.

TTFN

Fin time

I've not been blogging lately, not since the day before my birthday...29 July when the next generation of surfer decided to come along, 10 days early!

29 hrs of labour later and Fin Tyler Aaron popped out, after plenty of great work from mum. He certainly racked up some tube time and has plenty of stamina for those long evening glass offs....

So blog updates regarding surfing will be a bit limited but I can report that we both sat down yesterday and watched my newest surfng dvd - 'The Present', quite ironic really...as I received the ultimate present this year.

'Fin' particularly enjoyed the Africa segments with plenty of bongo drumming action and the Waimea surfing on the ancients boards - amazing to see them in action and making a few too!

The surf looks like it's been okay out there but nothing all time. Hopefully I'll have some energy this week for a quick dip in between the washing up, cooking, cleaning, nappy changing and baby cwtching ;)

Big game hunting

Saturday:
The weekend is looking great for surf in South Wales.

Light winds and a medium to small swell for Saturday followed by something altogether more boisterous for Sunday and southerly winds for the morning before swinging more onshore.

Who cares if summer is over? Lets crack on with some autumnal swells!

Next week looks really promising too with some 2.5-3m swell on the horizon so I might have to take a day off work at this rate...

The weekend low - a 990 deepens and becomes nicely wedged between us and a high pressure sitting off the East coast.

I never get bored of seeing nicely packed isobars develop around a nice circular onion shape sitting off the coast.

It slowly drifts NNW and back towards Ireland before the next low rolls in for Tuesday night/Weds morning.

My low pressure 'big toe' is twitching like hell at the moment so we're in for a good run!

Big Wednesday:
The next low looks like another nice one, but the hit will fairly short n sweet.

Huey has given me the ultimate bitrhday present this year and he doesn't even need to gift wrap it :)

The low deepens rapidly into a 995 but drifts more NW with the epicentre being more over W Ireland but we'll get plenty off it.

It just won't deliver such a nice long period swell as the first. I think we're getting spoilt to be honest.


Wax up those rhino chasers boys and girls.

J bay higfhlights

The Billabong comp was awesome this year with classic surf for most of the event.

Nice to see Tom Curren still going strong after all these years!

Here are some edited highlights:

J-Bay Goes Haywire from grindtvdotcom on Vimeo.

Thursday dawn patrol

Swell: 3-4ft+, cleanish but onshore and not much shape initially.
Tide: Big tides, 10m+ with HT around 8am
Winds: Moderate SW

Well I finally got into something bigger than 3ft today - Just!

The still air and blue skiesat 5am got my big toe wiggling in anticipation but a quick view of the Rest Bay cam put some doubt into my head...13kts onshore.

Oh well I was up anyway...and had arranged to meet werg, hooper and rattz at our usual.

The boys were already on it when I arrived and it looked much better than I'd expected, 3-4ft+ and clean on the face but quite windy and no definable lines.

The tide was racing in and the big tides meant there was plenty of water moving around out back.

Some nice late drops were on offer but it was tough trying to snag a really good one until about an hour before HT.

I had 2 nice long rights, connecting up at high speed all the way through to the inside but I was steering clear of manoeuvres and just trying to hang on!

Tried my 'Donavon' soul arch BT on one crumbly one, much to johnny Rainbow's amusement and the craic was high in the water today! :)

The inside cleaned up nicely and fast bowly rights and lefts pushed through, often reforming from larger set waves breaking out back.

A re-enactment of our wave in:


The death defying pebble bank was in full swing so we knew the exit would be fun as it involves riding a wave in as far as you dare - jumping off quickly into the air, landing and then running full pelt up a 10 ft bank of large moving pebbles.

These then suck you back downwards under foot and leave you stranded in No Man's Land ready for the next wave behind to crucify you.

No fatalities today although Hooper did take off way too late on one, not seeing the pebbles until he was on his feet leaving himself a millisecond to bail and take the pain.

I'm feeling warm, tired and have blocked sinuses from one too may face plants!

I've not gotten used to single fin surfing just yet...I think it will take a few more surfs before I find my mojo properly on my OP.

Gull

Solar eclipse of the heart

We've got some serious tide at the moment here in Wales due to a new moon phase.

High tides are nudging 10-12m currently so this will effect things at your local spot and either make things alot better or alot worse!

They've also had an amazing solar eclipse over Asia too, although as usual it clouded over just before it all kicked off.

At least the weather is predictably bad where once in a lifetime 'events' are concerned...

I remember trying to see Hayley's Comey...maybe next year?



We're finally in for some surf that might be over 2ft providing the swell doesn't drop right off as the sw winds ease up. The low is pretty weak but at least it's in the right place.



My wetsuit is bone dry - never a good sign! and my lovely single fin board freshly waxed after some lovingly repaired ding work, courtesy of 'twts' on Gower.

Drop your damaged sticks into the On Board shop for collection and you'll not be disappointed.

I'll update once I finally get wet tomorrow morning (hopefully)