wave forecasts >> websites >> exciting!?!

all this week people involved surfing here down in the south west have been getting excited at the swell coming through from the atlantic ocean looking to reach our shore over the weekend.
swell is predicted using advanced computer models based on the wave/weather buoys anchored offshore. it makes a fantastic image regardless of the real function of the chart.

whatever actually happens this weekend (I think is will be a couple of very stormy wet blown-out days in all but the very sheltered spots, where it could be special) the better forecast sites like magic seaweed have been creating a feel good factor amongst the surf addicted students and staff and population in the area I live. it seems that it is all people are talking about.

stormsurf >> probably the best

in another web presence I maintain. I spend ages looking at weather charts on the internet in order to produce the data for surf98 the uk surf site. along with actually looking at the ocean which is almost at the end of my road (I do feel lucky).
of the many different weather forecast sites the one that stands out and probably is my favourite along with the bbc, is stormsurf.
This picture /chart shows what will be reaching the shores of the uk in the next few days. to me it is a thing of beauty not just because it means that we will have some very good surf (probably the best weekend so far this autumn) but as an image it is also very pleasing to look at.

logos >> sammy the surf dog

I just thought I would show that even I will design something on a whim, I was just checking out paula the surf mom's site when I saw she had a little competition. to design a logo for the surf report for north carolina's outer banks (usa), written by sammy the surf dog.
well how could I resist and just a short while later I had emailed my freshly designed logo. (macromedia fireworks is a wonderful thing!)

little did I know that not only would it be used for the surf report but also a complete clothing range, and accessory range. (the hoodies look good and the messenger bag is a must have!)

what more surfing >> design has not been forgotten

I feel a bit bad/lazy having two posts in a row with a video from youtube in them.
gabes sent me the link and it made me feel so happy I had to share it.
it has such a great feel about it really makes me remember just how many great days at the beach I have had with hopefully many more to come.
even the song is written by: (b. gallagher/g. lyle), who funnily enough I went to see at the brighton dome in 1976, with due reverence to davidthedesigner's post today with the fabulous stevie wonder youtube clip, giving me an idea.
granted gallagher & lyle live was not the best concert I have ever been to but the surf film is so good and the music fits it.



strange then at the same time I was in deep consideration about some of the interesting thoughts muted by digital nomad & others got side tracked in to looking at fusionview however both blogs are well worthy of a look.

I am the one who introduced the 'innovation equation' you know (insight/ideas/impact) in to the conversation but I do like the idea that information + experience = knowledge taken directly from soho-quest friday the 13th post.

perhaps I should watch the donavon frankenreiter (green board-shorts) & rob machado (multi coloured board-shorts) surf clip again? yes, do you I think I will.

back to normal >> if there is such as thing

well enough about the complexity of my family and the posts of the last two days.
back to some observations.
I was in of all places tesco today and was very surprised (I started as a fashion/textiles designer in 80's when ms hamnett was a fashion icon) a katharine hamnett display, in tesco.
it made me think I was surprised perhaps I should not have been but as I no longer follow the fashion business from the inside as my work has lead me to a different side of the business.

I really only get my information from looking about me and reading stuff. I don't have to go to trade fairs that tell the designers what the yarn company's and the colour forecasting company's will be telling what colours will be available the following year and then design stuff for between 18 months to 2 years ahead. which is a bonus as far as I am concerned.

I thought a lot over a tesco coffee (the ham salad was for ben) about whether katharine hamnett had sort off sold out to have a collection of her clothes (well clothes that she adds her name to) on a rack in the largest retailer in the country famous for under cutting other mass-market sellers/supermarkets. even allegedly producing the £3 pair of jeans, which you can buy in the same store using cheap (I did not say slave labour) labour at that price it would nave to be cheap,
the selling points of the tesco/hamnett range is that the E in the name is for ethical, all clothes carry the fair-trade mark and are 100% organic.

I have come to the conclusion that I agree with her, even bought a 'choose love' 100% organic cotton hoody (for carol).

lazy day >> but still posted this

I have been so lazy today all I did was played a bit of very light rugby outside in the sunshine for a while with the my boys. then searched to see if there was any beach to go for a surf. we didn't go any where looked a bit crowded and small.

I know it maybe strange for someone who runs and updates a surf website every day (me) surf98. I live on one side of cornwall and rely on not just computers and forecasts but real people to check that my reports are correct for the other side if I am not going. no-one was around today don't blame them lovely day and beaches to sit on, etc.

I found this link that's really cool not only can you look at the surf on a north coast beach but you can control the web cam as well just when its busy you have to wait your turn is good fun click this

I know Mr Nielsen doesn't like a link to use the 'click this' but still.

surf-time >> even if there is no surf

strange how having some-one around who is keen to find out about something that you are obsessed with. gabriel my 13 year old son is staying with us for the school easter break and he has started to become interested in surfing not through any major influence form me I have purposely kept away from pushing any of my children in any particular direction. (though obviously if I go on about stuff enough things rub off, gabes also has a rather nice mechanical pencil).
He has spent the last day and a bit asking question after question about when I started surfing and what I did when I was in Spain or France and how big was the biggest wave I have ever surfed, to be honest I love it but I have also got to get the surf article written for the new magazine only got about 700 words I need a minimum of 2000, they are hoping for more.

I relented and did something I prefer not to do with my children (sticking them in front of the TV). I put on some surfing videos from the era of surfing that I grew up with so that I could get on with writing but I ended up watching the films with gabes, and I spent most of the time talking through them he didn't seem to mind.
so I haven't done anything except spent some really good time with him watching 'old school' surfing videos. that isn't a bad way to spend and evening.

I love the way the surfing film became influential as far as lighting, colour and concept, being outdoors, often not telling a story, even creating such quality/inventiveness from pretty much always limited funds.
the surf movie was not often under funded because there wasn't the corporate sponsorship seen so often on the 00's. films were often made by surf obsessed hobbyists, and even some successful surfers would pay for a film to be made with the winnings of a surf contest, including them of course.
the visual impact of the all films we watched tonight was incredible considering they were made more than 35 years ago! it was really nice to see surf films without product placement and sponsors logo stuck all over the place. two stand out as classics crystal voyager and the morning of the earth I fully understand they are not to every ones taste but if you are involved in surfing they are must.

shame really I would have liked to gone surfing tomorrow but the ocean has already decided for us as currently cornwall is not getting any surf and is unlikely to get any before the weekend, but hey that is the way of surfing and part of its attraction. not like football were you all arrange to meet at a certain time and have a game, surfing has its own unique way you surf when the ocean says, I like that, I really like that.

I didn't go to the beach

I didn't go to the beach but ben and the others did, when he came back he had brought me this stone. I thought he had found a TV remote as we find all sorts of stuff washed up. so we made it in to one anyway. he insisted that it had a button for subtitles, coincidence then Robert Adler the co-inventor of the TV remote died at age 93 today. I think it looks like a rune stone or something any way that's about it really. funny it seem I do less the more time I have!

kneeboard surfing >>

this such a good picture of richard smith the current world junior-pro champion I had to post it. you can see the speed he has generated from the trail his board has made through the wave.

should be great waves on the north coast of cornwall (where richard comes from) on friday 16/feb/07. for forecasts check surf98 and a1surf.

pic credit DarcyM

surf obsessed, me?

really windy~ a long wave period (the gap between waves) ~ the promised huge waves didn't arrive on our coast today. by the sound from the bay tonight (Saturday) it has got bigger so we will be out hunting for the big ones tomorrow (Sunday) just to watch. an obsession with surfing and following the weather is something that creeps up on you. I didn't realise I was quite so driven to get to the ocean if things were going on. So many weekends, holidays, places to live, even friendships, have been made, changed even lost because of surfing and waves or worst still the lack of waves. it's just a shame that the back/shoulder problems I have at the moment are stopping me from getting in the water as often as I should. having said that I would probably give it a go if conditions were right. maybe not tomorrow as it looks likely to be huge. the surf forecast and the computer driven wave height charts are predicting some big stuff. north coast getting it full on but the south coast may well get a better a shape and still be big. I will be sure to tell you tomorrow.

ob·ses·sion (n)
1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.
2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.