so pleased for gabi

I had to post up a picture of local (to me, south east cornwall) surfer gabi rowe. I have to declare an interest I work with her mum, and have given coaching advice, whether taken or not is another thing, as gabi has had a huge impact on her surfing aided by her coach kelly o'tool, and training as part of the GB squad.

yesterday she surfed in the last event on the ukprosurf tour at the animal sponsored event at fistral, newquay. gabi is a master of the understatement and was very humble in her acceptance of winning the womens event yesterday. she showed that there is more ability waiting to come, the youngest of the finalists gabi made the most of the left breaking as the tide pushed in, only making four waves in the 25 minute final, but it was enough to win the event, and secure second place in the women's section for the season.

south coast | surfing saturday

it might have been a horrid windy, rainy, cold friday - saturday night.

but the morning brought some good surf to the beach on my doorstep, the rain stopped and the sun even came out for a while. I live directly above this beach sometimes I get to realise just how lucky I am to live in the place I do.

surfing weekend

3 days of surfing, not much more to be said! me and moby walking up from the surf!

the surfing tribe

I was at croyde (devon) over the weekend for the saltrock open surf competition, part of the UK pro surf tour. where I was coaching international surfer gabi rowe. gabi was competiting in the girls U16 event. even though she was initially annoyed with her surfing in the semi-final it was enough to get her through. the final was a different situation after getting two steady waves she cut loose on her third wave with a committed powerful lip bash making her the clear winner in her category and me very proud to be associated with her.

click here for a very short video from the saltrock open

I also bumped into longtime surfer/surf historian roger mansfield whose son leon won the boys U16 event at the saltrock open. Roger has after some years of research published a new book 'the surfing tribe' documenting the rise of surfing in Britain from the 1930s to the modern day. I have had a look through seems an excellent book well worth reading, with some great pictures both historical and insightful. click here for more

so pleased for gabi, ecuador world junior surf comp.

If you have read this blog for a while you will know that I am involved with surf and surfing. today I spent one of the most stressful 20 mins for a while watching the scores coming through from the world junior surfing championships. gabi rowe a surfer local to me (SE Cornwall) and the daughter of friends of mine is competing in the girls under 18 in the surf in ecuador. sitting amongst her friends and her mum we waited for her first round heat to finish. great news for gabi was that she made in through the first round for team GB.

at some point >> no surprises

no surprise really but at some point during the christmas break I hope to be able to get in the water.

yes the waters cold and it is winter. but winter often bring the best conditions so I will be looking for something like the picture above, taken a couple of winters ago.

after all as the saying goes 'there is nothing a good surf can't cure'. (if only it were true).

kelly slater >> 9th world surfing title

I know this will be reported across surfing sites across the world but I just had to add my own congratulations to the man. as a surfer and a follower of surfing for as long as I can remember, to be able to be at the top of professional surfing for so long and continue to be so good is astonishing, to say the least. 

this year mr slaters 9th world surfing title won by simply reaching the 3rd round of the mundaka billabong pro (his results over the last few months on the WCT have been so good that that was all he needed. if you are interested have a look at some of the footage from mundaka on the billabong site.

god went surfing >> not sure why I looked

I am not sure how I ended up at god went surfing.com you know how it is, one click leads to another. I think the link in came though juxtapoz arts & culture online magazine.

I do not pretend to understand just how complex the situation in the middle east is but this site (blog) and the film it describes became very interesting to me. I am taken by the idea of life in israel and gaza, which is by all accounts (as I say I have never been so cannot be completely objective) a war torn area of secular hate. however within that area people still surf.

this is where I wasn't >> today

I spoke to carol and ben last night they are still in ecuador and seem to be having a good time. they were at the coast at montanita a very famous surfing beach on the pacific. I searched a bit on you tube to find a clip of surf there and found this. the waves weren't this big for them but I think they managed to have some fun. along with alan and the newly-weds.

still haven't got back in to the swing

even though I am only one day away from my summer break (from my real work, I will still be posting here). the french trip last week and a few other work related thing have left be incredibly tired. so there was no chance of joining moby this morning as he hit the water at 6.15am for a pre-work surf. he did however have enough time to send me some pictures of what I was missing.
here are just two.

surfing as design inspiration >> first in an occasional series

for a while now I have been thinking that it would be a good idea to explore the huge impact surfing has had, and continue to have on the design side of mainstream clothing/fashion (textiles),  as well as its influence on printed media. of course it is not one way traffic the surfing industry continually borrows from art and design movements throughout history. to start this series above are two examples both borrowing heavily from others, the first a 1970's lighting bolt shirt fabric the second a roxy (quiksilver) graphic made in the last couple of years. I will add that this is intended to be an occasional series so will hope to post a couple of examples each week.

more surfing stuff

picture courtesy bbc spotlight

I was interested in this story. I was it on local bbc tv this evening it seems that a run of northerly winds, though that is onshore for the beaches in question. I would have thought that off shore winds would have done this but I haven't looked in to the science, but I have seen it at the beach. what ever has caused the sand to blow away from the beaches into the sea, it is certainly making a bit of news. with even the idea that sand should be brought in from other beaches to make the popular surfing beaches sandy again. I have noticed over the years the shape of the beach changes and sometimes it looks good as far as sandy and the waves are less good, whereas sometimes rocky exposed areas create better waves, anyway all it would need would be a storm with a swell from the right direction to put all the sand back anyway. it is strange that the major concern apart that of potential injury to novice surfers is what it looks like. read/watch more

surfing >> it's never far away

while having a look at some surfing sites, well more sites extra to the ones I normally check. I found this picture, (from surfcore) and thought that it looked like something I should be doing to raise my surfing fitness, yes I know that I am way too old to be thinking about competing or stuff but I was recently encouraged when hearing that kneeboarder david parkes (a surfing hero of mine) had won a recent competition in 10ft surf in Australia at the age of 49 that's 2 years older than me. not that I could have ever competed at that level but it is inspiring. talking about competitions below is a 'rare' picture of me. judging at the cornish schools championships a couple of years ago, pro-surfer sarah bentley is just in view.

back to bouldering

many years ago I was lucky enough to be able to learn the basics of rock climbing. as a pupil at school we were able to take advantage of the schools climbing wall. in the 1970's it was rare in all honesty it probably still is. around that time I also spent some time climbing the limestone cliffs on the north somerset coast. brean down was a special climbing challenge. remember that it was a long time ago. any way in the last few years I have been drawn back to climbing in a slightly different way after a few french trips I planned to go bouldering more. but after big problems with my shoulder over the last couple of years and other excuses (I mean injuries). I am not saying that surfing is easier as I have been able to still surf, just I don't have to hold my now weighty frame on one hand and shoulder while in the water. I have decided that in the next few months I want to try to get back some fitness and go bouldering again. after a little look I found this film though not technically bouldering as it is over 10 metres high and a rope is being used. it looks hard as well as good fun.

breath >> pointless & elegant

the new book 'breath' by tim winton, caught my attention not just because it is about surfing. but for this quote taken from the book. "How strange it was to see men do something beautiful, something pointless and elegant, as though nobody saw or cared." I love the idea that surfing is pointless because looked at simply, it is. as far a elegant many surfers I have watched and surfed with over the years, are that for sure. I am also taken but the idea that for most surfers what they do goes largely unseen.

its all about go2 today >>

sorry but I had to mention go2 again today. 

just longer than a year ago I received an email from rachel from the then yet to be published magazine (to be based in south east cornwall) asking me to think about writing a piece about surfing (my other passion) to be included a new lifestyle & listings magazine. I did write something and subsiquently managed to write an article for every issue over the year. in that time the magazine has become a very well read and informative addition to the published media in the area as well as online. am not pretending that it is because of my articles by any means as there is so much more interesting stuff in it. viv, rachel, matt and the production team are consistantly responsible for producing a quality free magazine. I just hope that the magazine continues to grow and becomes even more well read, and hope that I can continue to write for them. 

happy birthday go2. 

six fin flex-tail >> it looks crazy >> but it might just work!!

I have just received these pictures from longtime kneeboard surfer, kneeboard design guru, and good friend chris cockett & I had to post about it.

generating speed, keeping a low centre of gravity and being able to change direction quickly make kneeboard surfing (to my mind) a much purer way of surfing. kneeboard surfers are constantly searching for better ways of doing this.

this newly designed board specifically for tight powerful turns hasn't been through full testing but is set to see more action in the next few days.

I wait to hear more from chris as he is still testing the six fin flex-tail kneeboard.

I have mentioned before in this blog as a kneeboard surfer my board of choice is a swallow tailed quad. perhaps the six fin is the future, with many thanks to chris for the photos.

kneeboardsurfing.co.uk chris's web site

notes >> off to the north yorkshire coast

notes from a meeting this morning. I liked the way they looked.

I will be away from this blog for next week, I am off to the north yorkshire coast. I have never been before I might even get in the water (to surf) if there is any swell coming through & I can cope with the cold. (big difference in water temperature between cornwall and north yorkshire).
see you in a week or so.

Go2 february - march issue 2008

just thought I would give an extra plug to Go2 magazine, not simply because I write a surfing column for them & have done since the launch in may 2007. but it is a good magazine and if you live in cornwall you can pick up a copy for free at most newsagents, music shops,surf shops as well as supermarkets, if not just go to the Go2 web site and read it online.

echo beach >> cornwall >> surfing

I never thought I would ever be writing on this blog about a television programme, especially on ITV1, but as it is based in cornwall and has a link to surfing I thought I had better get in early. (echo beach & moving wallpapers).
I have watched the first two programmes (of echo beach that is) and I think that though it is really not very good at all, I will probably watch many more. much like neighbours (the australian soap) is not very good but I seem to have watched it for 20+ years, (that's embarrassing).
it was the talk of work today as half of it is filmed very close to where we are based, and the rest about 40 miles away. so it is very funny to see familiar places seeming to be very close to each other. of course it is all in cornwall and it looks very english/cornish except that it seems sunnier and far less crowded than we are used to down here.