Archive for: Surfing

Here are a couple of pictures I took with the underwater camera today, not amazing, but a little proof all the same. I actually got pounded trying to take the pictures as I was caught inside. they don’t really do the surf justice, but to give you an idea it was about 4-5ft today, still fat, but the wind was blowing onshore and so it wasn’t as hollow as yesterday.

Today Rose and I made the trip down the coast from Massaguacu to Maresias, via Sao Sebastiao. We are staying at the Tambayba Hotel Pousada, an Indonesian-style resort set in lush, tropical surroundings.

The surf was pretty intense today and I felt a little out of my league alongside a handful of local surfers. The set waves were in the region of a good 6ft, very thick, fast and pretty hollow. I haven’t surfed waves like this since Fiji a few years back, and more recently at Itamambuca. I think I got about 3 waves in the space of about an hour, not that many to be fair, but at least I didn’t snap my board on the (heavy) lip of the wave (i’ve already broken 2 leashes and a fin).

I’ll give it another bash in the morning.

After breaking my fin on the 6’3 fish over at Itamambuca, I had real trouble in trying to get a replacement. More frustratingly I was getting used to the board and also the waves. I had taken off on a wave and half way into the drop, the tail of the board flew out to the side. I immediately knew it was the fin that had either snapped or come loose. Either way when I resurfaced, I was left with one fin and as it turned out it had snapped off right at the base due to the pressure of the water from the wave. I was really pissed off out of desperation I hired a 9ft soft top board for 30 minutes, only to break the leash on it and have to swim back to shore to retrieve the board and replace it. After that I called it a day!

We returned to Massaguacu that night and made a plan to visit the local shaper Renato over at Breeder surfboards the following morning. It is funny, most of my mates know that I don’t really spend a load of money on material things. I mean, I have a nice Mac laptop, some cameras, some skis etc, but I don’t have a super flash car or anything. But when it comes to money and surfboards, I go all out.

We went in to the shop looking for some fins and left with a new 7’0 surfboard, leash, wax, board sock, travel bag and fins. Either Renato is a good saleman, or I just can’t say no to a good looking board. Ironically Breeder was the first shop we went into when we arrived in Massaguacu 3 weeks ago, but I didn’t make a purchase as I wanted to check out a few other options.

Renato said the fins on the other board were poor quality, and I have to agree with him as in 6 years of surfing, I have never broken a fin on a wave before, I simply don’t go that fast, haha!

To sweeten the deal, Renato chucked in a nice little wax container, a few bars of wax and gave me a discount on some of the gear I had bought. If that wasn’t enough, his father (parter in the business) then offered to drive us back up the road to the apartment as we had too much stuff to carry on the 20 minute walk back. Two top blokes, 1 great new board and a renewed stoke!

Pics of the new board, Renato and the shaping room coming soon!

I awoke on our second full day in Massaguacu to see desmonds out front and had a pretty good feeling that there might be a wave to be had up the coast somewhere.

I convinced Rosana that I had to get to a surf shop asap so we spent the morning hunting down a new surfboard. Before travelling to Brazil, I had checked out a place called Breeder surfboards (more on the cool folk at Breeder later on), based in Massaguacu. It turned out that is was only a 20 minute walk up the coast road, or a 5 min drive. Rosana’s mum leant me her car and I cruised on down with Rosana to check out what they had. After looking around and seeing some nice boards, we decided to go to Lagoinha up the coast to see a few other options (it is always good to see what the options are).

After going to 3 shops I bought a second hand 6’3 fish (with leash, board sock, fins and wax for £130.00). This wasn’t exactly the board I wanted, I should have gone for a more versatile fun board, but I was so desperate to surf that day that I bought it.

The afternoon was spent at Lagoinha testing out the fish in the 3-4ft surf. I got a few nice waves and was stoked to be back on the board.

Yep it was a pretty intense birthday afternoon today, the footage was a bit poor as I was mainly concentrating on trying to not get a severe pounding, but I caught a few waves in what was a very crowded Brazil line-up of 100+ surfers.

Here is a pic I took from the shore just before sunset of a surfer getting some evening action.

Will update tomorrow with a bit more info (if I make it back from the surf).

Cheers

Birthday boy!

I depart for Brazil tomorrow with my (Brazilian) girlfriend Rosana. It has been 2 years since I was last there and I am already stoked to be going back. This time will be very different. It will be my first visit to Sao Paulo (where I actually get off the plane) and I will be staying exclusively with local Brazilian people (Rosana’s famiyl and friends).

I can’t wait to get into the surf again, without having to wear a wetsuit. I will also be seeing (in part) my first Brazilian Carnaval, which is an experience in of itself.

I’ve been avidly checking the webcams and it has been pretty consistent on the line of coast north of Sao Paulo up to Rio (Costa Verde). I will be making a new board purchase soon after I arrive (lucky number 5) and have already got my local lingo sorted: Eu gostaria de comprar uma nova prancha de surfe cara!

Here are a few pics from the latest webcams to whet your appetite.

See you out back!

Maresias

Felix

Floripa

A surf buddy of mine, Alex Wilkinson has just created a new website all about “guiding surfers through the ways of identifying problems and improving their mental state for surfing recreationally and competitively”. Some really interesting stuff on there, go check it out.

Rose and I will be heading off to Brazil next month (February 2009) to escape the cold and dark English winter and trade it in for some Brazilian sunshine.

I last went to Brazil (Rio and Salvador) back in April 2007 for 2 months. I had a great time and it definitely whet my appetite to return. This time around I am not visiting a girlfriend, I am taking one with me, which puts a different perspective on the whole thing as we will be going together and returning together (hopefully).

Our plans aren’t finalised yet, but we are thinking of travelling for about 5 weeks. Our first port of call will be Sao Paulo where we will meet Rosana’s family and friends. We will most likely catch some of the carnaval, which I am told I will either love or hate. From there on in we will be visiting Caraguatatuba which is on the Sao Paulo coast, north of the city where Rosana’s family have an apartment. I am then hoping we will be able to cruise up and down the coast to see the sights, take some photos and of course do as much surfing as possible.

I am hoping also to return to Rio and fill in the gaps from last time (I hardly saw any sights as I was in the water everyday). Other places on the hit list include:

• Maresias
• Islabella
• Ubatuba
• Isla Grande
• Paraty
• Itamambuca

Watch this space for more news!

As with every passing year I try to push the limits of my surfing that little bit further, both in terms of frequency and location, but also in terms of conditions: size and temperature of the water. 2008 was no different. So on a cold winters day back in mid December when the charts were showing a solid 10-15ft swell (it wasn’t actually that big) I made the call to The Dog and we decided to make the trip down to Newquay for a few days of cold water action.

The latest in the year that I have surfed in the UK is 6 December at East Runton back in 2007. This year we managed to push that date back to 13 December (only a week’s difference, but later all the same).

For the past few years, when it has got cold I have been doubling up the wetsuits wearing the 2/2 shortie underneath the 3/2 Rip Curl Classic with a few rash vests, plus Xcel 5mm boots and gloves and an O’Neill surf cap (yes they make you look like a knob, but keep you warm). This year I surfed the first day doubled-up, but the next morning I thought it was time to upgrade and get serious. Richie and I headed down to North Shore surf shop and I tried on various wetsuits. I particularly liked the Alder ones: they were in the sale, but also good quality materials. I tried on the Evo 5/4/3, but found the new top entry style too much of a stress to get in and out of, so I opted for the 5/4/3 Plasma Storm. This wetsuit is a cracker, with glide skin lining, liquid seems, super stretchy neoprene and a nice batwing enclosure to stop flushes.

Immediately after buying it, we headed out into the surf. I was toasty, minimal flushes, more flexibility and more time in the water, happy days!

I was also lucky this Christmas to receive an Xcel 2mm hooded polypro rash vest. I haven’t tried this bit of kit out yet, but I am already getting a solid pre-stoke on about our next cold water trip (penned in for sometime in January) as I know I am going to be even warmer (5/4/3 + 2mm hooded rashie is a sure fire recipe for toastyness). Throw in the Rip Curl tidemaster watch and I am set.

All I can say is thanks Santa (Rosana) for treating me well this Christmas :)

I was pretty stoked today whilst flicking through Carve Magazine to find out that one of my photos made it into the Sessions section of issue 102. The picture was taken just before I headed off to Greece at the start of October when Rich and I hit up an early session at East Runton and were rewarded for our efforts.