Posts tagged: UK Surf Trips

I’ve been thinking over the past year about doing a course to become a surf instructor/beach lifeguard. The idea being that I spend too much time behind a desk in London when I would rather be out doing something I really love.

OK this isn’t going to be a full time career change, but I was initially thinking of spending a few months in the summer down in the West Country teaching surfing and the rest of the year earning some dosh in London freelancing as I am at the moment.

Anyway the idea is just in it’s infancy at the moment, but hopefully it will lead to something, watch this space!

Last (Easter) weekend, me, Richie and James did a 3 day trip down to Newquay and were rewarded with great weather, good waves and the presence of a few pro-surfers in the water (Alan Stokes and Ollie Adams).

We missed the Easter crowds by leaving at midnight on the Thursday, getting to Newquay for 5.30am. There was no traffic on the roads as you would expect, and we were down to the West Country for first light.

We arrived in a misty, semi-dark Newquay for the early morning high tide where we waited in the car for first light and met up with James (who had recently made a new purchase on a surf wagon).

High tide wasn’t up to much, so we went and got some breakfast and relaxed for a few hours, waiting for the tide to drop.

By the time the water had dropped, we were left with a good wave, which was pretty much the order of the whole weekend. We all got some nice rides and then retired to the Indian Summer for an evening of curry and beers.

The next day we awoke to a glorious day, with shoulder to head high surf over at Fistral and waist-high in the bay. Rich, James and I hit it big time, with myself of course over doing it and surfing until sunset and nearly collapsing at dinner that night over at Dirty Dicks Mexican.

The final day was absolute glass, perfect for longboarding and catching some sweet peelers, unfortunaltey due to fatigue and a dodgy ring, Richie was left on the beach, but what he didn’t capture in terms of waves he certainly made up with by catching a few decent waves on camera for us!

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.

This weekend Richie and I hit up a dawn surf patrol at East Runton on the north Norfolk coast. We got up on Saturday morning at the unearthly hour of 5am. We strapped the boards to the frost-covered roof of the car and were on the road for 5.45am. En-route we were treated to a magnificent sunrise, the kind that makes it all worthwhile being awake at that time of the morning.

On arrival we were greeted by a solid 4-6ft swell, clean lines and plenty of enthusiasm to get ourselves into the water, albeit rather chilly.

We surfed for about 3.5 hours and I managed to catch a good dozen or so waves on both the 6’4 and 8’2. It was great to be rewarded with a decent session with some size after driving all that way and also after surfing in Devon earlier this year in quite poor conditions. I think I might have overdone it though, as I was shivering uncontrollably as I got out (took me the rest of the afternoon to warm up).

I took a few photos before we jumped in the water, all of which are on Flickr, check em out!

I returned a few days ago, from what could be described as the wettest holiday in Devon I’ve ever had. We had 1 full day of sunshine and then the rest was either showers or heavy downpours, which put a rather large dampener on the whole thing.

The waves were a mixture of 1-2ft clean lines and 3-6ft storm surf. We improvised and managed to use every board in the quiver from the 8’2, 6’4, 6’2 to 6’0. Richie even got stuck in and bought himself a brand new Tiki 8’4 Megamal and has now he renewed the stoke!

I took my Canon EOS and my new EF 55-250mm telephoto lens and got some pretty nice shots. Check out the a few of them on Flickr.

Hopefully as we move into autumn we’ll get some more sizeable and cleaner sessions, wonders will never cease!

Not many wave shots this time due to 2 factors: 1 not having a good enough zoom lens (yet) to get any close up action and 2. we were in the water all the time and had no one to take any pictures of us (the age old dilema).

Anyway here are a few scenic shots of a moody sunset over Fistral beach. More on my Flickr.

I am sitting in the back of my car trying to occupy myself whilst Beej drives us back from Cornwall. We have spent the past 4 days surfing in Newquay and have had a mixed bag of both weather and waves: a few sunny days, some rain, plenty of wind and varying degrees of small, fun summer waves.

We surfed Great Western (one of the town beaches in Newquay) due to there being too much of an onshore wind at our usual sport over at Fistral. This time we controversially left the 8’2 mal (a.k.a Mitch) at home and packed a 3 board quiver: 6’8, 6’4 and 6’0. The idea was that it would force us to step up our game a little (the longer your board the easier it is to paddle and catch waves). There was swell predicted for the entire week, so we felt reasonably confident that we were making the right decision.

On arrival on Friday morning, we we rewarded for our efforts with a nice clean, fun wave over at Newquay Bay. For some reason I surfed very poorly, I just couldn’t find my flow, and had a rather crap session despite the good conditions. Beej on the other hand was all over it, like a hoover sucking up every possible wave coming within earshot of him. End of day 1, 1:0 to Beej.

That evening a celebratory trip to the Indian summer was the order of the day after 4 hours in the water and the 6 hour drive. We supped on a few pints and then relaxed with a post-meal DVD.

We awoke the next morning to Malcom’s bell ringing and a quality breakfast. Day 2 was characterised by more of the same, although this time I found my flow and grabbed a load of waves, forehand and backhand on the 6’4. Beej bought a new board but managed to put the leash through the tail after about an hour (what a shredder), so that had to go back to the shop. I think it must have been the busted board, but Beej didn’t really get his groove on after returning from the shop, so the score at the end of day 2 was 1:1. That evening we settled for a couple of Strongbows, some fish and chips and another DVD.

The 3rd day, still with new board at the shop, Beej and I hit up a mid-to-full tide Great Western. The waves were a bit thick and dumped a little bit on the beach. The latter half of the day the wind got up and things got pretty choppy. We ended up surfing for 4 hours and called it a head to head heat. Later in the evening we stopped off at the Fort Inn for a massive platter of Surf and Turf and a couple of Guinness’. Bon!

The morning we left, Beej was still without a board after the shop not being able to get it fixed in time for our departure. So after a little stressing and some careful negotiation with the owner, Beej managed to wangle a deal that meant he could swap the broken board for a new one: a rather nice 6’4 Lost short board (that I had my eye on).

Following the “upgrade” we had to test out the new board, so we headed over to Fistral for a “quick” surf before we returned to Essex. The waves were a little bigger that morning, maybe 4ft and a lot thicker. We both got a couple of good rides before the conditions turned to slop.

We left Newquay having had a good time, but as always for me (am not sure about Beej) I wanted more: cleaner, longer and bigger waves. So although my appetite was satisfied for a few days, I am still as hungry as ever to get out there and continue to explore new places, feelings and styles. But there is no rush, as Gerry says “there is always another wave around the corner”.

Beej and I are off to surf Newquay (and the surrounding area tomorrow). We are going for 4 days (taking Friday and Monday off work). The forecast (see below) looks reasonable, plenty of swell, hopefully the wind won’t blow it out.

We just need to decide which boards to take (the age old dilema), hopefully there will be enough swell to merit using my shortboard. As much as I love using the 8’2 Mitch, I really fancy getting a little more technical and speedy, rather than using the usual cruiser, we’ll see!

Watch this space for some nice lomo-style photos (and maybe even some video).