Surprise

Have been land locked for the past week, and resting up away from the surf. So, whilst I was away, I was sifting through some shots and found this, for which I am not responsible. I recall leaving my camera with some kind folk on the beach, and this made me chuckle when I went through the shots after. Support the RNLI, they do great things.

Revisited

I found this from the other day, and wanted to give a little perspective of the size of the swell.

Le Tour

If you have been following the Tour de France, maybe you'll appreciate this as much as i did.

Westo

Well, I managed to miss just about everything with my whole 'parent' routine and had to settle for some light westerly and seriously reduced swell. However the clouds cleared and the sun came out, not to mention the wind notching up after Andy left !!

South South West

At last some real wind, although trapped behind the camera, till after three. Hmmmmm.

PWA POZO

Timing

Funny to read the comments on the Adventures in Trim blog site. Tom wrote how he turned up in the wind last night, only to hear stories of how perfect the morning had been. I feel a bit like that at the moment. Always just missing it, or taking the wrong board etc etc. Today was just fine, but I chose to windsurf, and felt a little underpowered in what looked pretty chunky at times. Still can't really complain, as at least I managed to get out. More wind for the morning and lots and lots of rain.

Pass it on...

Someone kindly sent this through to me, so thought it wise to share.
Apparently there has been lots of surf etc, but just seem to be reprioritising right now. Feel a bit listless. Enjoy.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Cross Shore

Pretty light winds, and a touch on the mellow side, but still nice to get out in mid summer. However what did make me jump, was the sighting of either a large seal or dolphin within a meter from me, whilst 500 yds from the shore.

Mist-o surf spot

A new board

At last the wind blew, and we scored a little summer action. Swell was pretty chunky considering it was mid summer and thanks to Luke and the gang for all your support. On that note, this is Carl heading out on his 2010 RRD Wave Cult, just before the wind died and his long eventful swim. With a bit of luck, wind will be with us for a bit longer, and great to see the rain again. I can't wait for Autumn !

What can you do ?

I have noticed a real lack of reporting in the British media (compared to the US) about this whole debacle. I feel in part so embarrassed that the company drilling carries the name BP, and that its spokesman is so clearly British. However, whilst the disaster continues to spread and my heart goes out to all those affected, it is hard not to question why a government would sanction such deep sea drilling. Not to mention we the consumers of oil who use it so abundantly in our everyday lives. Whilst the nay-sayers question whether global warming is really happening, surely no one can dispute the fact that burning and consuming oil, is ultimately a bad idea. We need to break our dependence with immediate affect, its just a question of how, and when you look at the net effect of drilling and all its risk, perhaps Petrol (despite it being 4x higher than the cost in the US) is still too damn cheap. The true cost is shown in the video below (thanks sea layer for the Youtube Link), which no economic model can value.

A day in the life

More Surfing Videos >>


I am pretty happy with the place where I am right now, but its always nice to get some inspiration. Ben dropped by today and showed us what he's been getting up to...enjoy if you can.

Dawnie

5.45 am, Quad fin and a good friend. Thank you.

Love

8am, no one out, waist high glass, 10'2 of fun.

Hate

I can't believe how much this saddened me this morning to find this at the bottom of such a beautiful and sacred spot. Apparently it is more common than you might think for 'people' to tear down signs and use as firewood without any regard for others. If you see people abusing our beautiful coastline please speak up, or at least make the relevant authority aware.

I have had to resort to verse (inspired by Tom) to vent.

F&*k you, to the chumps who litter our beaches,
Who drink 'wife beater' and leave us with faeces,
The empty wine bottles just left for the hell of it,
and ripping down signs to burn in your fire pit.

So spare a thought when you visit this place of beauty,
Keep your litter to hand, beware its brethren serve duly.

60 Day visa

Indo from luke parkhouse on Vimeo.

Amazing little movie put together by the very talented Luke Parkhouse. Really great to watch this the other evening and finally get the chance to share.

Summer

The wave might be decreasing but its summer, its going off shore and its sunny !

Fishing

Fun little wave to be had, and nice surprise session as we wrestled with the idea of whether to rig our sails or not. Surf was actually pretty fun on the sets and good to catch up with Andy.

Tonights post courtesy of Ed, and its somewhere about 9mins and 20 seconds that the footage seems to get somewhat spectaular. Praying for some wind soon, like so many of us up here.

Reunion Wave Classic 09_Final Video from Open Ocean Media on Vimeo.

RRD Quad fin

I really should know better, but I am really tempted by the new quad fin by RRD.
Thanks Andy B for the heads up.

Jebel Musa

Finally got back, and have been sifting through all the images from the trip. Certainly proved fruitful from that point, but a little slack on wind and waves. Needless to say, there are other people in my life to consider who don't need wind or waves, so as a family trip it was a real success.

Apologies to all those in the small slop last night who I dropped in on (Aymeraund was keen to point out : ), continual email and talk of the waves I had missed, made me like a man possessed. Of course my theory on this is that I would only ever want to share a wave with friends, hence to drop in is the highest form of kinship.

Sunset at the dump.

Sunday

After two sessions on 7mtr sails, I realise why I don't sail on such big kit. It feels more akin to sailing an Americas cup yacht than wave sailing and is certainly not my ideal type of windsurfing. That said, my arms and shoulders are in total pain, so its kind of nice to feel like you are getting a good workout. Here is the beach today doing its best impression of a wave in mid summer flatness.

A board, some wax and a leash.

I just caught up with what I was missing at home, and couldn't quite believe the picture on Toms blog. Check it out.

Levante

Or the less glamourous name of the East wind has just arrived. Traditionally this system lasts for about 5 days and builds and builds upto 50-70 knots. At one point Tarifa had an exceptionally high suicide rate due to the winds driving the locals crazy, and after just 72 hours of constant wind even the hardiest wundsurfers start to get jaded from the coninual howl. A small swell is still apparent today so it should be a fun session in the cross off winds.

Tarifa

There's been a long standing connection with this stretch of beach and I forget how much I miss it until I return each time. Peculiarly the wind has turned off currently and a large swell has started to pump in from behind a heavy vail of mist.