Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Howling at the moon
I'm a bit of a weather nerd at heart and find all things meteorological fascinating and as we all know, moon phases = tides.
I just discovered that our current moon phase is called 'waxing gibbous' which made me chuckle so did some digging and found some more for the Northern Hemisphere...
Phase
Darkened moon Not visible
New moon Not visible, or traditionally, the first visible crescent of the Moon
Waxing Crescent moon Right 1-49% visible
First Quarter moon Right 50% visible
Waxing gibbous moon Right 51-99% visible
Full Moon Fully visible Fully visible
Waning gibbous Moon Left 51-99% visible
Last Quarter Moon Left 50% visible
Waning Crescent Moon Left 1-49% visible
Image courtesy of wikipedia.
I just discovered that our current moon phase is called 'waxing gibbous' which made me chuckle so did some digging and found some more for the Northern Hemisphere...
Phase
Darkened moon Not visible
New moon Not visible, or traditionally, the first visible crescent of the Moon
Waxing Crescent moon Right 1-49% visible
First Quarter moon Right 50% visible
Waxing gibbous moon Right 51-99% visible
Full Moon Fully visible Fully visible
Waning gibbous Moon Left 51-99% visible
Last Quarter Moon Left 50% visible
Waning Crescent Moon Left 1-49% visible
Image courtesy of wikipedia.
Mavericks gets the green light
Gull @ Mavericks:
Image courtesy of www.surfline.com
California's only big wave competition has been given the go ahead!
The surfers have been selected and competitors have just 24 hours to get there or their place goes to one of the 15 subs.
This year, the invitees will compete for a cool $75,000 prize purse broken down as follows: $30,000 for first place, $12,000 for second place, $7,500 for third place, $3,500 for fourth, $2,500 for fifth and $1,500 for sixth place.
Image courtesy of www.surfline.com
California's only big wave competition has been given the go ahead!
The surfers have been selected and competitors have just 24 hours to get there or their place goes to one of the 15 subs.
This year, the invitees will compete for a cool $75,000 prize purse broken down as follows: $30,000 for first place, $12,000 for second place, $7,500 for third place, $3,500 for fourth, $2,500 for fifth and $1,500 for sixth place.
Monday, 4 May 2009
Welsh National Surfing Championships '09
Saturday 2 May: 4-6ft, clean faces and hollow sections, cross offshore, light NW winds and some strong rips.
Sunday 3 May: 2-3ft, choppy/messy surf with strong onshore NW winds and plenty of close outs in the afternoon.
My vantage point on Rat Island:
The competiton was finished off on the Sunday in testing conditions with strong NW winds making it feel very chilly if you were stood around watching or in my case filming but competitors made the most of it.
I saw Greg Owen get a lovely first couple of waves with some solid lip bashes gouging spray everywhere before blasting 2 more as he flew down the section. then Tom Anderson scored a nice floater on a right hander that briefly held up for him. Seeing the guys surfing was getting increasingly difficult due to a dip in the sandbank, constant close-outs no the inside and the glare of the sun directly above.
The awards finished up around 9pm and everyone was relieved to get back into their warm camper-vans as it was bloody freezing!
Saturday saw the best day with solid 4-6ft surf and strong rips.
Saturday surfing off Rocky Point:
The winds were light cross off but got progressively stronger as the day wore on. A great turn out though and a pleasure to meet everyone including Steve and Claire Beach who spent hours snapping all the action over the two days.
Women's U18 preparing for their heat. Gwen Spurlock is in the gath helmet following her nasty head injuries sustained in the Swansea wave pool last year:
Scotty aka 'Nineplus' kept me entertained for hours with his surf stories from past and present and helping me out spotting surfers in the sun's glare.
I also became a member of the newly formed Pembrokeshire Surfrider Club if I can sneak my name in past 'Fluff'. A great honour for an ex-pat like me. Now where's my car sticker?! ;)
This year the club had an honorary trophy for the best all round performance from the club and this went to local lad Jack Crisp. Fluff made a nice speech in memory of surfers we've sadly lost in recent years - Spyder, Benny and Jeff Price and a club contest is planned for October this year.
Back to the contest...Greg Owen blasted his way to victory in the Senior title again with a solid display in tricky conditions whilst Lloyd Cole was causing a commotion snatching the Open title for the 2nd yr running. Elliot Dudley won the Longboard contest, so no surprises there!
Beth Mason took home the women's title with Gwen Spurlock taking the U18's Simon Tucker showed us that old boys can still shred and took out the Masters with his son Max coming 2nd in the U16 division, pipped to the post by Tom Good.
A full list of the results can be found here.
Groms, trophies and goodie bags courtesy of Quiksilver:
Keep an eye out for some of my footage on Wales Today, BBC1 Wales on Tuesday, 5 May...they might just use some.
That's it for now.
Sunday 3 May: 2-3ft, choppy/messy surf with strong onshore NW winds and plenty of close outs in the afternoon.
My vantage point on Rat Island:
The competiton was finished off on the Sunday in testing conditions with strong NW winds making it feel very chilly if you were stood around watching or in my case filming but competitors made the most of it.
I saw Greg Owen get a lovely first couple of waves with some solid lip bashes gouging spray everywhere before blasting 2 more as he flew down the section. then Tom Anderson scored a nice floater on a right hander that briefly held up for him. Seeing the guys surfing was getting increasingly difficult due to a dip in the sandbank, constant close-outs no the inside and the glare of the sun directly above.
The awards finished up around 9pm and everyone was relieved to get back into their warm camper-vans as it was bloody freezing!
Saturday saw the best day with solid 4-6ft surf and strong rips.
Saturday surfing off Rocky Point:
The winds were light cross off but got progressively stronger as the day wore on. A great turn out though and a pleasure to meet everyone including Steve and Claire Beach who spent hours snapping all the action over the two days.
Women's U18 preparing for their heat. Gwen Spurlock is in the gath helmet following her nasty head injuries sustained in the Swansea wave pool last year:
Scotty aka 'Nineplus' kept me entertained for hours with his surf stories from past and present and helping me out spotting surfers in the sun's glare.
I also became a member of the newly formed Pembrokeshire Surfrider Club if I can sneak my name in past 'Fluff'. A great honour for an ex-pat like me. Now where's my car sticker?! ;)
This year the club had an honorary trophy for the best all round performance from the club and this went to local lad Jack Crisp. Fluff made a nice speech in memory of surfers we've sadly lost in recent years - Spyder, Benny and Jeff Price and a club contest is planned for October this year.
Back to the contest...Greg Owen blasted his way to victory in the Senior title again with a solid display in tricky conditions whilst Lloyd Cole was causing a commotion snatching the Open title for the 2nd yr running. Elliot Dudley won the Longboard contest, so no surprises there!
Beth Mason took home the women's title with Gwen Spurlock taking the U18's Simon Tucker showed us that old boys can still shred and took out the Masters with his son Max coming 2nd in the U16 division, pipped to the post by Tom Good.
A full list of the results can be found here.
Groms, trophies and goodie bags courtesy of Quiksilver:
Keep an eye out for some of my footage on Wales Today, BBC1 Wales on Tuesday, 5 May...they might just use some.
That's it for now.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Surfing in Poland?
I thought I'd seen everything and then this popped up - A Polish surfing comp in the Baltic. I'm guessing that the 'drop in' rule doesn't apply here. The surfer who can drink the most vodka and still surf in a straight line, wins!
Utopia Surf Foundation
Utopia Surf Foundation
Dirt farming
Just had a go on a mate's dirtsurfer or dirt farmer as I prefer to call it along with Andy 'soul arch' davies and Gavin 'grass stains' James.
An early attempt filmed on my phone:
It basically involves letting your inhibitions go and flying down a hill on two wheels with not much in the way of brakes.
I've resisted the temptation for a few years now as Andy has repeatedly tried to coax me onto it, but whenever I've seen it lying there on the ground...self preservation mode kicks in!
I have a tendency to injure myself when trying new sports. I think it has something to do with being a Leo. We don't know when to stop and enjoy showing off until we hurt ourselves...
Andy 'soul arch' Davies showing how it's meant to be done:
The dirt surfer looks a bit like the sort of a bike, a gypsy might put together with a welding kit his brother has nicked from a building site.
It basically consists of two wheels. The front one pivots from side to side whilst the back is set up to just go straight.
The two wheels are separated by a skateboard deck where you stand. Your feet go into foot bindings and you have a brake on the rear wheel, which you operate by pushing your back calf muscle into it. That's about it!
It all happens pretty quickly once you master the 'standing start' and you soon find that life without the brake is a lot easier.
You place your back foot in to begin with and then push off with your front foot and try to get your foot into the front binding as fast as possible.
Once you're in that stance, the surfing kicks in and it felt very natural to be crouched and flying down a a green and muddy wave face.
The faster you ride, the easier it becomes to turn and once you get good enough you can start soul arching into some sexy turns like Andy or going off road a bit more.
Surprisingly I came away uninjured! After a couple of false starts I found my balance and away I went.
The dismount is pretty straight forwards as you wait until the end of the ride and hop out so my nightmares about flipping over and over with my feet stuck in bindings like I do when snowboarding, were completely unjustified.
I'm still not sure how safe I'd be on tarmac but for now, grass is great!
Once you progress you can buy kite wings to fly along wind swept beaches and apparently there's some guy in the Black Mountains in Germany whose customised his with aero-dynamic panels for insane road speeds.
Sounds painful to me...
Visit www.wingsurfer.co.uk to find out more.
An early attempt filmed on my phone:
I've resisted the temptation for a few years now as Andy has repeatedly tried to coax me onto it, but whenever I've seen it lying there on the ground...self preservation mode kicks in!
I have a tendency to injure myself when trying new sports. I think it has something to do with being a Leo. We don't know when to stop and enjoy showing off until we hurt ourselves...
Andy 'soul arch' Davies showing how it's meant to be done:
It basically consists of two wheels. The front one pivots from side to side whilst the back is set up to just go straight.
The two wheels are separated by a skateboard deck where you stand. Your feet go into foot bindings and you have a brake on the rear wheel, which you operate by pushing your back calf muscle into it. That's about it!
It all happens pretty quickly once you master the 'standing start' and you soon find that life without the brake is a lot easier.
You place your back foot in to begin with and then push off with your front foot and try to get your foot into the front binding as fast as possible. Once you're in that stance, the surfing kicks in and it felt very natural to be crouched and flying down a a green and muddy wave face.
The faster you ride, the easier it becomes to turn and once you get good enough you can start soul arching into some sexy turns like Andy or going off road a bit more.
Surprisingly I came away uninjured! After a couple of false starts I found my balance and away I went.
The dismount is pretty straight forwards as you wait until the end of the ride and hop out so my nightmares about flipping over and over with my feet stuck in bindings like I do when snowboarding, were completely unjustified.
I'm still not sure how safe I'd be on tarmac but for now, grass is great!
Once you progress you can buy kite wings to fly along wind swept beaches and apparently there's some guy in the Black Mountains in Germany whose customised his with aero-dynamic panels for insane road speeds.
Sounds painful to me...
Visit www.wingsurfer.co.uk to find out more.
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