There were waves all weekend for the chosen few. Saturday didn't really serve up much. Fin and I went for a surf check first thing and Coney was a foot and clean.
We took a look at Rest Bay later as the tide dropped back to watch Rattz in action but there wasn't much surf on offer, the odd 2-3ft crumbly wave but the sea looked very rippy sand the period low. Still it was a wave but my back was still giving me gip so I decided to hold off.
Sunday was much more like it, a light ENE first thing so I grabbed my new wetsuit and ventured down to ledges. I wasn't alone but a friendly crew out back. Considering the size and quality of swell I was amazed at how quiet it was with only a handful of surfer's vans parked up.
Wind: light ENE
Swell: 1.65m
Wave period: 8.2 seconds, 265 degrees
Water temp: 12.6C
I could tell from my slow jog down, that my back wasn't right, jarring with each step but I paddled out anyway.
The new wetsuit is a snug fit so only intensified the pain in my back but I caught around 10 waves.
The wave is fast, sucky and barrelling with a big drop so not ideally suited to an old man with a painful back but I did my best. It was a good 3-4ft and a lovely shape. A guy on a SUP was stood on the beach contemplating the paddle out and did eventually get out. I saw him ride a few on the shoulder and have one spectacularly good slap from the lip :)
Most of my rides left consisted od pig dog crouching takeoffs, late and then standing further along the face. I had a couple of nice rides and a few short, fast rights but I wasn't comfortable.
When I surf I like to give it all or nothing and it's a bit soul destroying surfing with the handbrake on so paddled in after 30 mins. I think it's going to take another couple of weeks before I'm surf fit again :(
Then a longboarder arrived along with a slightly clueless shortboarder and 3 spongers. Time to go!
I
paddled into a medium sized left, took off, saw the kooky shortboarder
paddling the wrong way towards me and ended up roding straight over his
boots on my way down the line. What a twonk!
Lovely morning though and not too cold, still surfing without a hood which is nice. As I walked back, the tide was dropping and lots of barreling peaks began to appear so I'm sure plenty of waves were ridden later!
Monday, 5 November 2012
Monday, 22 October 2012
Monday morning
Light E winds
1.21m
16 seconds
It's still good just not as big although the tide was pretty low at 7.30am. Clean 3ft waves were coming in and typically it got good just as it was time to go although was getting a bit deep too...so who knows?! I'm sure other spots are all time today
The wave period is till insanely good too thanks to a 987 i Biscay and slight ridge of high pressure over the north of the UK:
I got in for a quick hour before work and the nursery run today at Rest Bay. Fin was a bit late starting pre-school but dad had a couple of nice waves!
Bumped into Rattz, Aran and Chris out back. Rattz was on his twin mini-simmons ripping to pieces!
First wave, aran drops in on me and falls off! LOL much hilarity was had ;) Huey punished him later with a nice over the falls bail on a wave he prob would've made. I was inside standing still watching and waiting incase his board hit me.
Very funny to see and I had one myself earlier as I was sucked over after my board!
Let's hope there's some tomorrow but looking at the chart, that low is running out of gas and there's not anything spectacular behind it. There will be waves but we've had the best of it for now...
1.21m
16 seconds
It's still good just not as big although the tide was pretty low at 7.30am. Clean 3ft waves were coming in and typically it got good just as it was time to go although was getting a bit deep too...so who knows?! I'm sure other spots are all time today
The wave period is till insanely good too thanks to a 987 i Biscay and slight ridge of high pressure over the north of the UK:
Bumped into Rattz, Aran and Chris out back. Rattz was on his twin mini-simmons ripping to pieces!
First wave, aran drops in on me and falls off! LOL much hilarity was had ;) Huey punished him later with a nice over the falls bail on a wave he prob would've made. I was inside standing still watching and waiting incase his board hit me.
Very funny to see and I had one myself earlier as I was sucked over after my board!
Let's hope there's some tomorrow but looking at the chart, that low is running out of gas and there's not anything spectacular behind it. There will be waves but we've had the best of it for now...
17 seconds to comply
0.9-1.3m
16-17.8 seconds!
258 degrees
Gusty E wind
It's not every day we get epic surf but this weekend was pretty special. The Splashup was a big success in Porthcawl but sadly the waves on Saturday night didn't deliver for the night comp.
It went ahead anyway on foamies and by all accounts a huge cheer went up whenever anyone stood up!
Tom Anderson won but it was then held again in better waves on Sunday night but I'm not sure who won?
I got up early for a Sunday and was down at Sker for 7:30am. The sker buoy was only registering half a metre from a 3am update but the period was 16 seconds!
The carpark was already jostling so I knew it would be busy. Bumped into Mike and Kev so wondered down with them after laughing at a group of longboarders heading off towards the lake, clearly lost and wondering where the beach was!
We arrived to finda stiff E wind blowing, quite a rip running along the whole beach and clean 3ft surf. It looked okay and would only improve on the push. I stretched and paddled out after the boys hoping for a dry hair paddle-out. It wasn't to be!
A set came in and absolutely nailed me ;) It was a big bigger than 3ft and had the power of a small elephant behind it.
Snagged a few fast, steep rights to begin with but didn't get any good rides, just drops and explosions around my ears. Eventually things settled down on the push andin between long lulls of complete flatness we scored some nice waves.
Mike took a few good beatings as his old tired arms failed to dive under a few lips! ;) But it gave us a giggle as he was washed inside and then down the coast in the rip for a while but he kept plugging away and got back to us eventually!
The waves got better and bigger with each surge of the tide. We found a nice little 3-4ft bank for about 30 mins which served me up a little tube. I didn't exit but had a lovely almond view from inside as I tucked into a tiny barrel on a 3 footer.
The boys went home and I paddled over to the middle peak and bumped into harv, aggers & co. It was heaving down there, surfers galore but most not doing much, tea bagging and generally getting in the way. I wish they'd stay at Rest Bay!
Ianto pulled back from a nice right so I did a quick swivel and dropped into a sweet right, paddled back and another oe came my way - it was rude not to so I took a steep drop to find Harv had paddled inside of me and gone too! lol we rode the wave rail to spongey rail, had a laugh and then bailed under the close out behind us.
I caught one more sweet right, this time Aggers dropped in but after hollering like Tarzan for a few seconds he got the idea and jumped out of my way :)
A great session! The middle and left peaks were absoluttely thumping and it was a solid 5ft as I left.
16-17.8 seconds!
258 degrees
Gusty E wind
It's not every day we get epic surf but this weekend was pretty special. The Splashup was a big success in Porthcawl but sadly the waves on Saturday night didn't deliver for the night comp.
It went ahead anyway on foamies and by all accounts a huge cheer went up whenever anyone stood up!
Tom Anderson won but it was then held again in better waves on Sunday night but I'm not sure who won?
I got up early for a Sunday and was down at Sker for 7:30am. The sker buoy was only registering half a metre from a 3am update but the period was 16 seconds!
The carpark was already jostling so I knew it would be busy. Bumped into Mike and Kev so wondered down with them after laughing at a group of longboarders heading off towards the lake, clearly lost and wondering where the beach was!
We arrived to finda stiff E wind blowing, quite a rip running along the whole beach and clean 3ft surf. It looked okay and would only improve on the push. I stretched and paddled out after the boys hoping for a dry hair paddle-out. It wasn't to be!
A set came in and absolutely nailed me ;) It was a big bigger than 3ft and had the power of a small elephant behind it.
Snagged a few fast, steep rights to begin with but didn't get any good rides, just drops and explosions around my ears. Eventually things settled down on the push andin between long lulls of complete flatness we scored some nice waves.
Mike took a few good beatings as his old tired arms failed to dive under a few lips! ;) But it gave us a giggle as he was washed inside and then down the coast in the rip for a while but he kept plugging away and got back to us eventually!
The waves got better and bigger with each surge of the tide. We found a nice little 3-4ft bank for about 30 mins which served me up a little tube. I didn't exit but had a lovely almond view from inside as I tucked into a tiny barrel on a 3 footer.
The boys went home and I paddled over to the middle peak and bumped into harv, aggers & co. It was heaving down there, surfers galore but most not doing much, tea bagging and generally getting in the way. I wish they'd stay at Rest Bay!
Ianto pulled back from a nice right so I did a quick swivel and dropped into a sweet right, paddled back and another oe came my way - it was rude not to so I took a steep drop to find Harv had paddled inside of me and gone too! lol we rode the wave rail to spongey rail, had a laugh and then bailed under the close out behind us.
I caught one more sweet right, this time Aggers dropped in but after hollering like Tarzan for a few seconds he got the idea and jumped out of my way :)
A great session! The middle and left peaks were absoluttely thumping and it was a solid 5ft as I left.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Foul swell
Wave height: 3.5m
Winds: Strong W
Period: 9.8 seconds
Swell angle: 270 degrees
The ocean is angry today. There's real menace out there as a storm rages beneath blue skies. It's my favourite kind of weather with spray and foam flying across the road and I have to go and check the waves before hitting work, I just can't help it.
Rest Bay is a mess of white water with frothy mountains pounding the rocks but it's certainly not double overhead as reported my Magic Seaweed, the official forecasters for the Ripcurl ASP contest in Portugal...the mind boggles!
Cove was looking a good 4ft today, Shit Pipe was sheltered, around 2ft.
Esp looked around 3ft with a nice right coming off the rocky point to the right.
Coney was the cleanest option around 2ft+ and offshore on the dropping tide but no-one surfing.
We've another big hit coming on Wednesday as a 976 arrives fresh from the Atlantic and the winds are forecast to swing more SSE so we could be in for a treat.
The SPLASHUP (water sports & music event in Porthcawl) is on this Saturday and the forecast currently looks great with better weather and lighter winds so hopefully there will be enough swell for the night surfing contest at the Esp.
Wednesday's chart:
Forecast models show the current low weaken on Friday afternoon after hanging around all week but we start to see the arrival of a new 988 low arriving, so we might get a blip off that on Saturday night.
It should be a good night whatever happens. I'm itching for a surf. Yoga today so I'll see how the old back holds up...
Winds: Strong W
Period: 9.8 seconds
Swell angle: 270 degrees
The ocean is angry today. There's real menace out there as a storm rages beneath blue skies. It's my favourite kind of weather with spray and foam flying across the road and I have to go and check the waves before hitting work, I just can't help it.
Rest Bay is a mess of white water with frothy mountains pounding the rocks but it's certainly not double overhead as reported my Magic Seaweed, the official forecasters for the Ripcurl ASP contest in Portugal...the mind boggles!
Cove was looking a good 4ft today, Shit Pipe was sheltered, around 2ft.
Esp looked around 3ft with a nice right coming off the rocky point to the right.
Coney was the cleanest option around 2ft+ and offshore on the dropping tide but no-one surfing.
We've another big hit coming on Wednesday as a 976 arrives fresh from the Atlantic and the winds are forecast to swing more SSE so we could be in for a treat.
The SPLASHUP (water sports & music event in Porthcawl) is on this Saturday and the forecast currently looks great with better weather and lighter winds so hopefully there will be enough swell for the night surfing contest at the Esp.
Wednesday's chart:
It should be a good night whatever happens. I'm itching for a surf. Yoga today so I'll see how the old back holds up...
Friday, 12 October 2012
Ouch
In typical fashion I returned from Ireland with a stomach bug which led to a proper stinker of a cold which I followed up with a bad back from carrying fin across the playground monkey bars a few too many times and crouching as I went, to stop his head banging the metal!
All this, just in time for some proper swell too... a week of small, clean offshore's which I've missed as I've been skulking around the house barely able to put my shoes and socks on, let alone think about surf.
Tuesday seems to have been the best day of the week with Sker delivering solid 3-4ft 'proper waves' as one of the boys put it and 'Probably the best it's been in 6 months' according to Harv!
On the plus side it looks like my BBC walking book is going to go ahead so I'll be a busy boy over the next few months juggling that and a new baby girl in December! It should be out in summer 2013...and will help fund my trip.
Yesterday we finally put down some $ for our Maldives boat trip so the dream is now a reality. Boat deposit paid and flights booked so there's no going back now! Here's our boat - the Hariyana.
Plenty of things going on here. We've got a night surfing comp and surf festival happening on 20 Oct in Porthcawl followed up by the legendary Surfer's Ball the following week so it's going to be a busy fortnight!
I was up in my loft yesterday and discovered a hidden costume gem which I will unleash at the fancy dress ball so it should be good fun! ;0
And finally I've ordered my first custom winter steamer in about 20yrs! from local legend and wetsuit manufacturer Greg Owen @ No Limit Wetsuits here in Porthcawl.
So, look out for my 'tigerman wetsuit' coming to a beach near you in December!
Looks like plenty of surf on the horizon with a couple of big days next week and waves all weekend. I just need my back to make a swift recovery now.
All this, just in time for some proper swell too... a week of small, clean offshore's which I've missed as I've been skulking around the house barely able to put my shoes and socks on, let alone think about surf.
Tuesday seems to have been the best day of the week with Sker delivering solid 3-4ft 'proper waves' as one of the boys put it and 'Probably the best it's been in 6 months' according to Harv!
On the plus side it looks like my BBC walking book is going to go ahead so I'll be a busy boy over the next few months juggling that and a new baby girl in December! It should be out in summer 2013...and will help fund my trip.
Yesterday we finally put down some $ for our Maldives boat trip so the dream is now a reality. Boat deposit paid and flights booked so there's no going back now! Here's our boat - the Hariyana.
Plenty of things going on here. We've got a night surfing comp and surf festival happening on 20 Oct in Porthcawl followed up by the legendary Surfer's Ball the following week so it's going to be a busy fortnight!
I was up in my loft yesterday and discovered a hidden costume gem which I will unleash at the fancy dress ball so it should be good fun! ;0
And finally I've ordered my first custom winter steamer in about 20yrs! from local legend and wetsuit manufacturer Greg Owen @ No Limit Wetsuits here in Porthcawl.
So, look out for my 'tigerman wetsuit' coming to a beach near you in December!
Looks like plenty of surf on the horizon with a couple of big days next week and waves all weekend. I just need my back to make a swift recovery now.
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
The magnificent but cold, Causeway Coast
Just back from a great 3 day expedition to northern Ireland chasing two half decent low pressure systems as they tracked across the country over to Scotland.
Friday night's alright! Local lad at East Strand:
I arrived on Saturday morning following a 5am start from home to catch a flight over from Bristol. Mark picked me up from Belfast and off we went in search of some swell.
Our biggest problem it would seem was where to go as there were too many options and the forecast was enormous for Monday.
After driving the north coast, calling in at Troggs to see photos from Friday night showing East Strand breaking at a good 8-10t and clean!
We ended up checking one of Mark's quieter spots - PBD. I'd visited before but never seen surf there so was excited to find small, clean waves nudging 3ft as the tide turned.
Mark always thought this spot was a low tide mark but a crew of regulars from Larne, nr Belfast informed us it works best from mid to high. After an hour watching and waiting we got suited up.
A good slap at White Rocks!
Mark's wetty zip decided to ping off! so was left with a pair of pliers and some engineering to do to save a drive back to Portrush for a new wetty - which he ended up buying anyway!
I paddled out, not quite sure of were to sit but snagged a few lefts before the rest came out.
We surfed for a couple of hours with a great bunch of lads, a big friendly bear of a man called Tommy with a zz top ginger beard and shaved head who had the place wired and his two friends - both of whom dropped in but didn't mind me burning them back later ;)
PBD, small but good fun in the morning:
The rides weren't long but it was a fun take off and I managed to find some nice rights at what was meant to be a left hand point break! :)
We snuck off to find some much needed food and hot drink - it's bloody freezing over there folks!
A good 3 degrees cooler than Porthcawl and I had some serious shivers going on. Feet like ice blocks, chilled to the core and shivering by the end from a gusty SW wind.
I ended up buying winter boots from Troggs and a 1m thermal fleece lined rashie which saved me for the rest of the trip! Mark bought a stupidly thin new Ripcurl winter suit with no stitching in a 5/3mm which felt and weighed like a summer suit.
We ventured back to PBD to see if anything was going to happen. The crew we'd surfed with decided to head home unconvinced it would build but we stuck around. Mark snoozed, I read and 2 long boarders turned up and made a right meal of it.
The swell definitely started to build but with 2 guys in who kept missing every decent wave it was hard to tell if it was worth bothering with. By 5pm regular 4ft+ sets were pushing in so we hit it for a evening session.
Stunning views towards Benone Strand
It was soon evident that a new swell had kicked in.
Mark went way out back to catch a few big lefts on his long board and I took my chances in the middle picking of the smaller more regular waves and catching the odd bigger one that refused to break out back in the deeper water.
The rights were good fun, reeling in parallel to the inside reef and rocks but I dared to go as far as I could in the high tide wobble before kicking out in time.
The only left I attempted to catch was a big set wave which just flipped me skyward and sucked me over the falls!
A great little spot and one I'd love to visit again when the swell is bigger as I saw some amazing pics of it this weekend - resembling pipeline.
TBC....
Friday night's alright! Local lad at East Strand:
Our biggest problem it would seem was where to go as there were too many options and the forecast was enormous for Monday.
After driving the north coast, calling in at Troggs to see photos from Friday night showing East Strand breaking at a good 8-10t and clean!
We ended up checking one of Mark's quieter spots - PBD. I'd visited before but never seen surf there so was excited to find small, clean waves nudging 3ft as the tide turned.
Mark always thought this spot was a low tide mark but a crew of regulars from Larne, nr Belfast informed us it works best from mid to high. After an hour watching and waiting we got suited up.
A good slap at White Rocks!
I paddled out, not quite sure of were to sit but snagged a few lefts before the rest came out.
We surfed for a couple of hours with a great bunch of lads, a big friendly bear of a man called Tommy with a zz top ginger beard and shaved head who had the place wired and his two friends - both of whom dropped in but didn't mind me burning them back later ;)
PBD, small but good fun in the morning:
The rides weren't long but it was a fun take off and I managed to find some nice rights at what was meant to be a left hand point break! :)
We snuck off to find some much needed food and hot drink - it's bloody freezing over there folks!
A good 3 degrees cooler than Porthcawl and I had some serious shivers going on. Feet like ice blocks, chilled to the core and shivering by the end from a gusty SW wind.I ended up buying winter boots from Troggs and a 1m thermal fleece lined rashie which saved me for the rest of the trip! Mark bought a stupidly thin new Ripcurl winter suit with no stitching in a 5/3mm which felt and weighed like a summer suit.
We ventured back to PBD to see if anything was going to happen. The crew we'd surfed with decided to head home unconvinced it would build but we stuck around. Mark snoozed, I read and 2 long boarders turned up and made a right meal of it.
The swell definitely started to build but with 2 guys in who kept missing every decent wave it was hard to tell if it was worth bothering with. By 5pm regular 4ft+ sets were pushing in so we hit it for a evening session.
Stunning views towards Benone Strand
It was soon evident that a new swell had kicked in.Mark went way out back to catch a few big lefts on his long board and I took my chances in the middle picking of the smaller more regular waves and catching the odd bigger one that refused to break out back in the deeper water.
The rights were good fun, reeling in parallel to the inside reef and rocks but I dared to go as far as I could in the high tide wobble before kicking out in time.
The only left I attempted to catch was a big set wave which just flipped me skyward and sucked me over the falls!
A great little spot and one I'd love to visit again when the swell is bigger as I saw some amazing pics of it this weekend - resembling pipeline.
TBC....
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