The golden coast

Had to share this...
Queensland where all the queens live has been going off lately!
Imagine rocking up and it finding this on your doorstep and then having it like that for a week?

Put the chicken in

Wind: SSW 12kts
Swell: 3.0 ft
Period: 5-7 seconds, with 8 sec underlying period
Tides: 10m+

I was wondering what to call this one so my wife has just given me the title. I've just been informed that I get to watch a free breast feeding dvd we've been given. We're having a baby soon, just incase you thought we were a bit twisted! ;)

Anyway onto the surf.
What an amazing day today, eh?
Warm and sunny apart from the wind which seemed to veer between NW and SSW.



Not much swell to speak of but the Gower cams were showing small, defined lines and Doc had promised to show me his super x spot if conditions were favourable.

I'd been keeping an eye on things since last weds and the forecast looked like it might just give us enough for this particular spot to work...possibly.

So I headed off west in the hope of finding something to surf.

Laidback Larry had bounced back and forth between not being allowed to come, to being excited about surfing to not being allowed to come again - surf pass revoked! so it was just Doc, Bic (our trusty photographer) and I.

Doc stylin' on his fish:


So off we went, clambering across fields of grass and rock on the first leg of the journey - a one hour hike with all our gear :(

We reached the x spot to find the wind had turned slightly onshore (SSW) but there was a small occasional wave breaking and the wind was fairly light. After getting our breath back, we laid out in the sun and waited for the tide to recede.

Gradually it began to improve and I announced I was going in as we'd come this far! Doc needed no encouragement, so we suited up and climbed down the rocks to the waters edge.

Gull on a kelpy one:


Luckily neither of us had large fins in today. I was on the bonzer with the 6" rear fin and Doc had his newly refurbished fish aka 'Dawn' to hand, complete with swanky red rails. It's been a long time since I'd seen Doc with a fish rather than his trusty mal but it was a good call and nice to watch him getting plenty of speed up.

The sets got better as the tide dropped and we had fun 2ft+ rights in very shallow water. We were surfing in and around exposed/dry reef and kelp beds and it was a bit of a slalom course but apart from the odd fin scrape we had some fun rides and the boards escaped unscathed.

The take off at one point consisted of paddling hard, bottom turning around a large rock and then racing along inside, weaving in and out of the rocks as far as you dared. Great fun though and it added an extra dimension to the session which we'd not have had at a small beach break.

"Rocks to the left of me, rocks to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you..."


Doc sat a bit further out waiting for the bigger sets which were def nudging 3ft and I sat a bit wider and picked off any of the set waves that which broke on his head ;0

It didn't take long for a huge male seal to join us outback. He surfaced about 6ft infront of me after a ride. I tried singing and performing my best seal impression to him but he kept is distance.

That's one thing about surfing that people who don't surf, will never understand - just how close to nature we can get. Who needs documentaries when we're living them?!

Cormorants swam by catching fish in the gullies and sea gulls soared overhead, no doubt crapping on the walkers watching us from the cliffs tops.

My last one of the day:


We both scored some nice rides, short but nice and plentiful. I had a few really fun longish rights, going past one clump of kelp before turning and winding through the inside islands, all the while looking for dry rocks. I was kicking out in knee deep water, standing up on jagged rocks.

The time came to go and the hike loomed. It seemed easier on the return leg (we we're prob hallucinating due to fatigue) until we reached the last qtr mile uphill - which proved to be a proper leg burner! Wearing a wet wetty probably didn't help but it seemed better than carrying it and my board was heavy enough already.

Shattered but stoked. A new spot, surfed :)

Big thanks to Bic for recording another great session.
More photos from the session here.

The return of British Summer time

Moderate NW
Tides - 9.5m+
Swell - 1.7m
Wave Period 8 seconds, average 4.9 seconds

Clocks change tonight..'spring forwards' so we'll soon be enjoying lighter mornings and more water time. Yipeeeeeeeee



Jumped out of bed pre alarm for a change at 6.30am and checked the wave buoy data and decided to have a wander.

I'd texted Sven the night before to say 'leave a bit later due to the tides' but a phone call later and he informed me he'd not checked his phone and was en route from Swansea. Oh well!

We visited a spot I've checked many times before but never actually surfed...perhaps today could be the day? It generally needsa decent swell to get it going and works best through high on a couple of reef breaks to the north of the carpark.

Lovely blue skies and sunshine greeted me as well as a brisk NW wind but the coastline was sheltered here and the sea was being feathered by a moderate offshore wind with perfectly formed 2ft+ barrels reeling off onto a high tide pebble bank. The washed up logs and driftwood and scenery reminded me of somewhere lke Novia Scotia!



The tides were huge today, 10m + and so my compadre Sven Miguel aka 'Goldilocks' and I decided to do some exploring and try to find a few spots I'd had my eye on since the introduction of google maps to the world.

Unfortunately for Sven who arrived wearing flip flops...the woodland trails were thick with mud and wet mud at that, so I had a good time filming him whilst trying to push him off balance in the hope he'd provide some entertaining 'you tube' footage ;0



Sadly for me, he had his 'mountain goat' legs on today and stayed upright for the whole time - quite a feat considering he can normally trip up, 'at will' on relatively smooth pavements, wearing sturdy footwear.

After a 10 min hike we found some lovely views, some old ruins and one or two spots with potential...



The wind however was swinging round and increasing in strength and the tide was still too high :(

We opted for Dunraven Bay in the end and scored 2ft+ and clean to ourselves. I say scored...it was pretty weak and gutless but had a nice shape and was offshore and at least the sun was out. The far left and right hand reefs were breaking but getting anything out of them was hard work.

Still, a dip's a dip!

Wood is Good

and this was too good not to share:

The past and.....The Present

Rumours abound about Malcolm Campbell's shaping visit to the UK shortly but in the meantime his brother Thomas Campbell of Sprout fame has released his latest surf flick - The Present.

The film is touring the UK this spring throughout April-May 2009, showing in: Poole, Devon, Bristol and Cornwall. Details are on the website.

The film is shot on super 16mm film so expect all the usual arty shots. The boards range from quads to Ancient Hawaiian designs like the alaias and plenty of other radical shapes.

Watch the trailer

Thomas was also responsible for The Seedling and Sprout so I personally cannot wait for this film. The gallery pics tell the story: amazing surfers on boards of all shapes n sizes surfing perfect waves in remote spots.

Definitely my cuppa tea :)

Wave drought over?

Recent Atlantic storms seem to have provided relief to a few lucky individuals but the winds haven't been kind to us in South Wales. With strong WSW winds and a moderate to large swell running, we should have something to surf over the weekend :)

It's a mixed chart but the winds are set to go NW for the weekend, lightening considerably on sunday so the Gower reefs could be thumping.

I'll hopefully have some pics for sunday evening...

Earth Hour

2,398 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.

Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm

Come on people we can do it! It's only for an hour.