Stand Up Paddle Surf

Custom NC Dumpster (almost)

2011-12-30T22:33:00.000Z

He she is - first the numbers

Length 8' even if I squint I can't make it less ???

Width 30"

Nose at 1' 17 1/2"

Tail at 1' 21"

Nose rocker -

at tip 6"

1' from tail 3 1/4"

Weight 17 lbs

Glassing Schedule

Top 3 x 6oz plus a 6oz standing patch
Bottom 2 x 6oz
Hull contour - dead flat until 37" from the tail when a slight V starts and increases slightly through the fins.

Now the pictures -

Initial reaction is - I love it and I reckon I can do this, next thought - I want to go slimmer and shorter, third maybe listen to Bill next time and slim down the tail a bit, followed by, I really need to get out and ride this puppy. Problem is the forecast is so shite for the next week or so and we are off to Costa Rica soon. Nice dilemma.

Merry Christmas Blog World

2011-12-23T22:07:00.000Z

Bill from Escape just emailed me this picture.

7'10 NC Dumpster resplendent with St Piran's flag

(Baner Peran The Cornish Flag)

How good does that look? I have to say I'm more than a little excited about this. In fact this picture has been giving me Tissue Issues all day!

Massive thanks to Tris from Home blown for cutting the blank and Bill and the crew from Escape Surfboards for all the finishing and especially to Dwight over at NC Paddlesurfer for the modified Dumpster design, incentive and inspiration to get this done, My mum for her unwavering . . . you get the idea.

I've not seen it in the flesh yet and I have to wait until next week before getting my sweaty paws all on it. Could be queuing up a New Years day session, now that would be something.

I've no idea if I'm going to be able to ride the damn thing yet, but even if I can't, you just can't beat a bit of Cornish tribalism and this looks like pure art to me.

"I wander if Charmaine will let me hang it on the wall? Hang on. What the hell am I thinking? It's going to be phenomenal!! Just look at it ferchrissake it's amazing . . . . . UUurrghmmmph "

Oops, SORRY slight gentleman's accident, that's five today. Can't accuse me of not being passionate about my sport. Anyway more pictures to follow as soon as.

Thanks to all who read this blog and a massive thank you to those who have left comments over the last year - always appreciated - hope you all have a fantastic, happy Christmas and a healthy and rewarding New Year - Regards Steve.

Escape to The Rescue

2011-12-06T19:14:00.001Z

These are the first images of the raw blank straight from the machine at Homeblown, got to say I'm pretty chuffed with the way that it looks. Tris told me that he glued three blocks of foam together and then hot-wired the basic blank prior to having the shaping machine deal with Dwights numbers for the final shape.

On the Machine

Rail Line and Nose Rocker

Bottom

I love the look of this bottom profile - it looks like a porky version of my Naish and there is something comforting about the width of the tail. Above all though to me it looks like a proper job surfboard.

Top

Ok - to sum up the story so far is -

I have a 129litres of surfboard shaped foam all ready to rock and roll.

A big, fat resounding N.F.I. from three local shapers, one of whom I had hoped might be vaguely interested in hand finishing the blank, and slinging a couple of layers of epoxy drenched six ounce glass on the bottom and three layers on the top.

And an increasing feeling that I was going to need a crash course in glass lamination and epoxy resin.

The prospect of having to do the glassing myself was looming large, there was no way that I could pull this off without help so I called Andru to see if he fancied re-awakening his board manufacturing skills.

'I could probably get the loan of a shaping shack' he said, 'and I'm pretty happy to stand over you whilst you screw things up'.

Well it was a back up plane least. Then Tris who could obviously feel my pain mentioned that he was about to travel up to a customer of his in Wadebridge, who not only had experience in epoxy but also with StandUps. That customer was Bill of Escape Surfboards. He suggested that I gave Bill a call. So I did, and you know what? The guy was so easy to talk to, he was interested in my project, his first comment was -

'Yep we can do that'

His second was

'No problem'

and his third was

'Give me an email of exactly what you want and I'll give you a price.'

So I did - glass it as you see fit, twin leash plugs on the tail, twin plugs in the deck to use the paddle as a carrying handle, (no balance issues with this one) and a leash plug and FCS plug in the nose for a GoPro mount. Paint the bottom with a Cornish Flag and you know what - he emailed me back within 24hours with a price. Happy with that I thought and off we go again.

I was gobsmacked - apart from being an easy going guy that made me feel like a customer and not a pain in the ass, Bill had pretty much single handedly restored my faith in custom shapers, and he hadn't yet seen the blank. Top bloke.

So there we go at the moment the blanks with Escape being hand finished prior to glassing and fitting out. Can't wait.

Custom Board - About Time

2011-12-05T19:34:00.001Z

Four years in now and I've pretty much lost count of the stand up boards that have crossed my path. When I was surfing prone longboards I would probably order a new custom every 3 or four years and each new board would usually 'retire' it's predecessor gracefully but totally.
The idea of buying a 'pop out' was alien. I always wanted a little bit of 'Me' in my boards and bizarrely I liked the notion of using a local shaper. Quaint eh!

Then along came the standup's and everything changed.

Board ownership has been measured in weeks and months in what must look like an orgy of stand-up spending. Fortunately a lot of these boards were subsequently snapped up by fellow SUPaddicts. Limited supply (here in the UK) meant that depreciation was pretty much non existent especially on the used boards and moving boards on and between friends was commonplace and easy.

The source of this board fever could partly be traced to the progression that had taken place in my still limited abilities and also in the availability and design of the boards on the market that convinced me that I could advance said limited abilities. Funny I never bought into this with prone boards perhaps it was the excitement of being close to the beginning of something new and evolving. Perhaps it was a perverse form of pressure that stemmed from keeping this blog. Who knows? But the boards kept coming thick and fast.

So where now?
I have no doubt that for me boards are fast approaching the end game in terms of size and possibly design. As far as size is concerned both Gong and Starboard are now producing boards under 7' and even sub 6'.

At some point the paddle advantage on a stand up is going to be lost over lying prone especially on windier days when we present a significant sail area when standing and with shorter boards offering little or no glide advantage over lying prone we may as well ride prone boards.

Design? - Well I could be wrong but there can't be that many undiscovered 'magic' hull shapes, rockers, plan shapes, rails etc. etc. that have not been tried and tested on conventional surf boards over the years. There may be as yet untried combinations and maybe new materials and construction methods but true design? Not sure. Which is why Dwight's custom shape made so much sense.

I had been hankering after a custom board for a while and the thought of riding something shorter than my 9'0 Mana was an itch that was gaining in intensity.

My Nah Skwell 7'8 proved beyond doubt that short was not only viable but also capable of wringing more out of less than perfect conditions. When Dwight over on ncpaddlesurfer started down his foam frenzy of home shaped boards I watched with envious admiration. He first shaped his downwinders which was impressive, but he really caught my attention when his first surf stand up was hot-wired from the solid block of foam.

His philosophy seemed simple and obvious - take a proven surf shape and blow it up to a size that would support a rider and paddle. Keep the hull flat in order to maintain wetted area helping with both stability and speed. Beautifully simple, and for me the fact that his Naish 7'8"'s were immediately put up for sale and sold bore testament to his shape.

There was no way that I could personally copy Dwight's handiwork, as I said to him in a recent email my manual skills are stretched when I have to dig a hole with a shovel. My only option then was to get a blank machine shaped using DW's detailed CAD designs and then get a local shaper to glass the beast -

Easy right - WRONG!!

Phone call to Tris at HomeBlown surf blanks.

'Urgh Hi, I don't suppose you could shape me a Stand UP blank could you? I've got some drawings and numbers for your shaping machine'

I was desperately trying to sound

a) serious
b) not a numpty
c) Technically together

There was no chuckling from the other end, I don't think I even detected a snigger.

"Yep, no problem, send us the drawings and we can give you a price."

Bloody hell that was easy. So I sent over DW's drawings and back came the quote - £180.
BLOODY HELL this was going to be a doddle and not crazy expensive. Better ask a few questions.

'So how finished would that be? What weight foam is it? Would it have a stringer? How long would it take? Could you glass it?'

I was now sounding

a) desperately naive
b) like a cock
c) totally clueless

The answers came back almost as quick as I had asked them.

'An hour or two hand shaping to finish', something in kg/m2 that passed me by totally, 'no', '3 days' and 'yes, but not a chance'

"Brilliant", I said "lets do it"

So I paid my money and set out on a quest to find a glasser to finish my board. It would have been easier to milk a Unicorn.

Call one -

'Hi - it's Steve, how do you fancy glassing a board for me, it's ok it's not huge, in fact it's just 7'10, yes it's EPS. Right so it needs to be done in Epoxy. Right so you're not keen then because you think it will fall apart and you could end up with herpes. OK not to worry, thanks'

Strike one.

Call two -

'Hi Any chance of glassing a Stand Up Blank for me, . . . . yes in epoxy, ok so you would rather nail your hand to tree Mmmn so that's a no then is it?.'

Strike two.

Call three -

'Hi any chance that you can glass a Stand up blank in epoxy for me, it's pretty much finished, just needs glassing. You can!! Fantastic !!! £1800 and it will probably be a pile of shit, the EEC will fall apart and I'll get herpes. Mmmn, not short of work then?'

'F@$k Me - Will someone somewhere just glass my F@$king blank!'

I could be in trouble here or worse - I could end up doing it myself!!

Call from HomeBlown three days later.

'Hi Steve it's Tris, your blanks ready'

"Great! - I'll be over to get it then."

They could hear me crying down the phone.

To be continued - with pictures.

Trip Summary - Intense

2011-11-25T07:50:00.001Z

Been back nearly a week now and the trip is beginning to feel like some surreal experience that happened to someone else. Red summed it up succinctly on the way back on the plane.

'That was bloody intense'.

He was right. From arrival at Agadir airport and for the next seven days we were totally immersed in the hospitality that was Moroccan Surf Adventures. The routine, although clockwork :
Sleep - wake - eat - surf - eat - surf - eat - drink - sleep
was relentless BUT never intrusive or regimented. We instantly fell in with the easy going manner of the Surf camp and with the minimum of fuss got into the groove.

We came to surf and that's exactly what Denny and the surf guides and drivers, Hicham (who took most of the pictures) and Rashid enabled us to do even when it seemed unlikely that we would find any swell.
They always put us on waves.

The Moroccan Perfection that is Machine Guns

The mix of surfers that we found ourselves with helped a lot and during the week we met some great people and had a barrel of laughs. There were a couple of couples that were novices and some independent travellers that very quickly found themselves part of the overall house group along with the three of us and another group of five (KernowSurf Doc that were always on 24hour call out), that also happened to be from Cornwall. Small world surfing.

(Man stumbles into the Doctors office in a blind panic, trousers around his ankles , rushes up to the desk and flops his old man down between the stapler and the stethoscope.

'My God man' Exclaims the doctor with the fear of god in his voice. 'What's the problem?'

'Nothing - beauty in'it')

Not so far from the truth that.!

As far as me being the only Stand Up paddle-surfer, Denny's crew accommodated me and the board with the minimal of fuss and bother and apart from a couple of sessions when I felt that it was prudent to sit out a session (down to busier more focused peaks rather than conditions) I don't think that I was too out of my depth. Even during the post surf decontamination process people would still talk to me. I was generally able to get stuck in most days with the advanced party, and don't think that I let the Stand up crew down too much. In fact several of the house guests seemed genuinely curious, once they stopped sniggering!

"See that Muppet on the Paddle Board getting Nailed - that's what happens when you get old"

Anyone riding a standup, with some time on their hands and looking for a reasonably close, warm surf trip would be well looked after on a daily basis by Denny and his house-crew, Sophia, Russell and MoMo the cook, could he cook? So much so in fact that the distinction between staff and guests was often subtly blurred.

Denny said at the outset

'Make yourself at home'.

And you do. The camp has claimed some mighty scalps, Taj Burrows, Taylor Steele, Sam Lamiroy to name but a few. It's easy to see why. I don't think anyone would argue if I said that the stretch of beach from Banana Beach to Taghazoute was not exactly a pristine piece of coastline, but the area does enjoy some cracking and consistent swell, especially if you know where to look.

Water temperature when we were there was supposedly 20'c , to me it felt more like 15'c. I was fine in boardies and a rash vest and occasionally a tube suit (2mm shortie john). The other guys needed their 3/2 full suits. First session at Devils Rock and I went in without my Vibram's - my feet were pretty much shredded on the rocks in the shore break. My shins caught it inside at Machine Guns. One week later and the itching as the scrapes and cuts heal is driving me nuts.

The practicalities of taking a Stand Up are only limited by the airlines. I think I was lucky with mine. I double bagged my 9'Mana and slipped my one piece Werner Nitro in it's case in between the two bags. Total weight of the board bags and paddle was 19kgs, having booked a surfboard I had a total allowance of 32kgs. No problem. BUT officially the maximum length should not have exceeded 2.5meters(8'2 1/2"). MMnnn. My 9' Mana in the Nash bag inside a 10' bag should really have had me going back to the car for my ULI Munoz. I reckon I just got away with that.

Had we been gone for longer than a week I think that I would have taken my ULI Munoz by choice anyway. The board is lighter than the Mana and possibly a tad more lively. It does take a little more adjustment and acclimatisation to get the best out of it so a week would be iffy whereas the Mana is instantly doable. Next time however there is the distinct possibility of taking a custom 7'10 . . . more of that later. All in all fantastically, selfish, fun packed trip, that does not leave you wanting. Big thanks to all who put up with me and especially Charmaine for springing the surprise.

Moroccan Montage

2011-11-22T13:12:00.001Z

Little taster video of what we had during our trip.

Machine Guns

2011-11-19T11:21:00.001Z

Wow what a day - after a fairly heavy night it was decided to get up and on the road for seven am as we were going South to a spot with the slightly worrying name of 'Machine Guns'!

Denny had been giving us the lowdown throughout dinner.

'Yeah it's totally sick, a slab that you get onto by holding your leash and jumping off the rock between sets.'

He then looked at me and said

'Can you lie down and paddle your board?'

"Why would I want to do that?'

I asked, I was getting fractionally more nervous with every description that Den used to paint the picture that was Machine Guns. Words and phrases like, Slab, Reef, Firing and f'ing mental sprinkled with timing and insane were being used liberally.

He then dropped the bomb

' I just think that I would just prefer if you got going and got out quickly'

The other guys in the group lept to my defence Stating that I could probably paddle just as quick on my knees or standing, it was good of them but the seed of doubt had been sown in my mind. The counter to that was that it was Friday and almost certainly our last surf of the trip. So I was going in shit or bust.

So after an early start and an hour and a half or so on the road we pulled off the main road and headed down a desert track to a cliff overlooking Machine Guns. It was exactly as Den had described. The sets were stacking up well out to sea and were being focussed over a series of reefy lava outcrops up and down the coast. Our outcrop had been named as Machine guns.

Not wanting to spend too much time thinking about it I pulled on my rash vest and Vibrams and mooched off down the cliff. To be fair getting out was fairly painless - wait for a lull pushed through and over the wash and knee paddled quickly out behind the reef.

The sets when they came through were amazing and heeding Hishan's advice of 'Take the last wave Steve' I picked off the last wave of a set and paddled in to a steep drop and a rolller coaster ride down the green face before taking the high line and exiting cleanly as everything beyond shut down.

That was allright and the session that followed saw me rack up my wave count considerably. The break was mainly rights but a few lefts presented inside of me that the guys were on.

A couple of rides ended up with me holding on too long, ending up well inside in the washzone and I touched down a few times but really no great drama. If i had to go behind someone paddling out I would get caught if I cut across them I got away with it.

We all had a wave fest at machine guns and again credit to the Moroccan Surf Adventures team for once again placing us in perfect conditions and on a break all to ourselves.

As one or two decided to get out the real fun began. The wind which was virtually non existent when we paddled out had just gone slightly onshore, the swell had jumped up a bit and the tide was dropping back down the reef, all pretty small changes but together they were enough to change the character and atmosphere of the place from a benign, glassy break into something a little more grey and snarling. With the dropping tide the inside was hard enough for the guys with 6' shortboards - my Mana was going to take some holding on to. Three tentative attempts later, one involving me bailing inside and duck diving into three feet of water and six feet of wash saw me struggle to my feet and scramble up the reef carrying my board, desperately trying to hold on against the surging back wash.

All in all a great session and an experience to remember. Can't quite believe that the board came away unscathed from that but it did.

It's now Saturday mid morning and everything is packed up ready to leave at three. The offer of another surf this morning was tempting but it's great to finish with a good one under my belt.

As soon as I get a decent connection I will upload the pics - the whole guided surf camp thing has been a new experience and great fun. Imagine staying in a hosted ski chalet and you sort of get the picture. As Denny said it's not five star but if the alternative is camping or just taking pot luck and ending up in a scruffy guest house in Taghazout this is luxury. Always plenty of food, fun, hot water and waves. Perhaps recording the morning call to prayer on an iphone and playing it back over the outside house sound system at one o'clock in the morning was not exactly what Apple had in mind for itunes but it did make us smile and give the stray dogs some competition.

Chasing waves

2011-11-17T17:42:00.001Z

Quick update today got some pictures but will add them all in one go when I get back the internet is slow here.
The swell had dropped off overnight and the plan for this morning was to go South to get out of the swell shadow, however a last minute change of plans saw us drive up the coast past Boilers and on to a reefy point that broke over shallow flat rocks. A couple of the shortboarders in the party braved the descent down the cliff whilst the rest of us wnt on to Tamari Beach.

Got to say having Hishan and Rashid with us as drivers and guides has been a godsend. Driving away from where we are staying we followed the coast and it was sheer glass with hardly a ripple even Boilers was quiet. Crest the headland and there were the swell lines, not huge but waist to head high with a suprising amount of punch. Left to our own devices we probably would have fannied about and ended up not surfing at all. As it went we all gottwo sessions in on the beach. Net result totally knackered - feels great.

Day Three

2011-11-15T07:36:00.001Z

The wind had dropped off and with the forecast predicting a bump up in swell we all piled into the two 4x4's and headed north to check out mysteries and then on to the headland that looks down on Killers. With perfect lines bending around into the bay it made sense to get stuck in. Duncan Red, Mark and Jim joined me shortly after although they struggled a bit with the paddle out against the rip that kept taking them back to the beach. All in all a good session for me and to finish the day off Andru and myself paddled out into Banana beach whilst the others took the windier and bumpier option of Devils just around the corner.

Moroccan Day Two

2011-11-14T17:17:00.001Z

Sorry bit light on the picture front - the guys went in this morning at a very heavy and busy Devil's rock. Thought that it might be best to sit this one out but the heeby jeebies were well and truly laid to rest in the evening session. Managed some head and a half reeling rights to keep the Stand up flag flying high.
The wind was howling offshore and the sets were stacking up proper.

Wind dropped off overnight and wewent to Croco beach clean Head high plus with some Monster closeouts. All in boardies Couple of sessions. Arms are now officially toast!

Got a lot of Naish Mana 9 love going on.

Curry Night

2011-11-12T22:44:00.001Z

Easy Jet got us in an hour late - 17 hungry bodies from Cornwall to Copenhagen all made to feel incredibly welcome by Denny and the crew at maroc surf adventures

Morroco

2011-11-12T11:24:00.001Z

Guess which one is the paddleboard?

One week in Morocco

2011-11-10T17:10:00.000Z

Hopefully there should be a flurry of short, sharp posts over the next couple of weeks. Charmaine surprised me with a weeks surf camp in Morocco flying out with Andru and Red next Saturday. How cool is that? That's the joys of an impending 50th birthday.

So the big decision was board choice. The sensible option would be the 8'11 Uli Munoz. However with the fact that hard boards had been already been booked with EasyJet I opted to take my 9'0 Mana. Ticking away in the back of my head though was the notion of taking a shorter board not least for the convenience during travel - so why not just take the ULI? A circular dilemma.

Shorter boards were already on my radar for this year anyway, not to replace my current boards but to make more of less than optimal conditions. I sort of regret getting rid of my old Nah Skwell 7'8 and would probably take that with me if I still had it, the only downside with that board for me was the number of sharp edges that had my name on them.

I had been following Dwight's home shaped 7'10 and 7'8 Dumpster inspired boards with interest and envy and had tentatively made some enquiries both with Dwight and locally with a view to getting something home grown. I had also checked out a couple of Gong boards, the Mutant and Faking and had my eye on the Starboard Rush 7'4" which was coming out favourite on paper. The new 2012 Starboard Squirt also looks do-able but would it be viable? None of this however was going to help me with this trip.

Until Rich rang -

"Hey Steve - fancy a demo on our 8'6"?"

"Urrgh - funny you should say that Rich - how do you feel about me taking it to Morocco for a week?"

'Joking!' Got to say though the board does look good and following a quick pre-brekfast bash in super clean but close-outy conditions this morning I was sorely tempted to take it. As stable as a rock, just a tad less nose rocker than I think I'm going to need. Looking forward to getting some more mellow sessions on it when I get back though.

BSUPA 2011 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2011-10-09T16:28:00.002+01:00

Rich asked if I would post the details of the BSUPA championships on the blog for him - so here they are

Stoke - Lost and Found

2011-09-16T22:44:00.005+01:00

Can't deny I had a shite surf summer - part of the reason is that someone stepped on the season throttle and accelerated spring straight into Autumn. No sooner had summer started it seemed like all the leaves were turning brown and blowing off the trees. No idea where the time has gone this year. Anyway that coupled with a van deficiency, an insanely busy workload and . . and . . . . and bollox I'm just running out of excuses now. I just plain didn't make the effort and when I finally got some transport it just didn't seem worth going in unless it was 4 foot and clean with perfect offshore breezes. And we have had a lot of that this year. Haven't we?

So - load up the courtesy van and change up for first trip for weeks, and I put my shortie on inside out -

's'funny, I don't remember this being blue'

cock!

It was pathetic - lock the van, mess up my key routine , unlock the van - start again - it was like my first time ever.

'Come on Steve get your shit together and sort it out'.

Can't say it was an epic session but it sort of half fired me up, enough at least to make me want to go again. The next time I took the Sub Vector in - it was ok but still not feeling it. Couple of lame sessions followed on the Mana 9' in mush and I thought seriously about giving Gavin a call at The Traditional Surfing Co. for one of his belly boards. These puppies are going to make the ultimate Xmas presents and it's a great website.

Then I cracked it - literally, there's nothing like a bit of self harm to spice things up a bit and make you focus on the important stuff - so with a decent forecast (finally) in between gales I trotted of to Gwithian the Saturday before last and promptly decided it would be good move to get caught between the beach and my board and head butt the rail of my Mana - I thought it best to get out after that and trogged back up the cliff to the van trying to look all non-plussed like.

'OOOhh I think you might need a stitch in that'

commented a walker coming down the path.

'Really ?'

My nice white Naish deck pad was now looking like a slaughter-house floor, which was a bit of a give away. Anyway a quick trip down to casualty to collect 10 stitches in my brow (2 inside) made me think -

'This really isn't going at all well at the moment'

10 days later I gave the Mana another bash - the headaches, double vision and nausea had settled down a bit (joking). It was an evening high tide with a bit of swell pushing through about chest high. The forecast was promising to give a few decent days between the squalls. Again the session was lack lustre - I needed a bit of a system reset so I pulled out the 9'3 Hokua and the following night in super clean, albeit small conditions I nailed it. (My nailing uses very small tacks).

God I love that board. Whatever posessed me to ride anything else is beyond me. Again it was hardly epic the swell had dropped off to between thigh and waist high but it was so much fun eking out the most that the waves had to offer. Steve from work took his new toy down - a waterproof housing for his Canon Eos to get some practice in and Phil and Sam pitched up with their Starboard Drive and Naish Hokua 9'6 after half an hour followed shortly by Nath who had just bought a Starboard Stinger. Between us we made the best of a sweet little sunset session just the way it should be, tired, chuffed and desparate to get some more in. Hokua rules!

I had the Go- Pro mounted so enjoy the Music (Art of Noise) if not the video and pics. Forgive the clumsy editing.

STOKED!!

Use it - Or loose It

2011-08-14T10:25:00.009+01:00

Can't quite believe that it's been almost five months since my last post here - loads of reasons for that March and April were just nuts. The swell just did not die down and I was so busy making a pig of myself that to be honest I just could not be bothered to post.

My new (not now) Mana 9'0 was my turn to board throughout the run of swell and once I got dialled in I almost stopped missing the 9'3", not quite though.

Having decided that I could not do without a proper van and getting a blazing offer from Peugeot to buy back the Popemobile providing they could have it for the 1st May I once again found myself without transport for what was meant to be just 4-6 weeks.
Little did I know! - Soooo back on the motorbike with the ULI Lopez for the Summer - which just happened to coincide with the longest wave drought that I can remember, followed by me starting to get back on the push-bike and ride to work. I just could not take sitting in the back of the POLO one more day. We also had a few cycling jollies that I had to attend so there was an incentive to get a few miles under my sorry ass so that I would not let the side down (too much!!)

Then we get the start of the Tour De France so three weeks of catching up with the greatest show on earth and then - well I just don't know really I suppose that for a while I just ran out of steam as far as the blog was concerned.

I found myself checking into the forums less frequently and being less 'revved' and inspired by some of the stuff that was going on, things just did not seem as fresh and exciting as they used to be. Where once everybody who paddled out seemed to be breaking new ground and we all had something valuable to contribute there were now too many and opinions and rules all saying the same stuff that had been covered ages ago and yawn . . . and as a result my 'SUP Stoke' levels began to wain somewhat. I had no doubt that come Autumn, with a van and some decent waves I would regain my enthusiasm but for the moment I just was not feeling the love.

Around this time Mark rang me and asked if I would be interested in his Sub Vector - MMnnn not had one of those (was this the stirrings of a SUP Boner?) - had not even ridden one - 'Scwhinng!' - so I went for it and . . . for six weeks it just sat in my board store looking sorry for itself.

My get up and go had not completely got up and gone - I was being seduced and spoilt by my SEVEN Axiom. Jeez what a bike - cycling has been part of my life almost as long as surfing, it's how I earn a living but this bike, this one's special.

Not the lightest - maybe not the quickest but smooth and satisfying - within a few weeks I found myself doing all the things that I promised that I would not do - working on cadence - checking averages - drafting tractors - overtaking cars - generally being a total cycling twat and recording it all on another new toy that we had been selling in the shop the Bryton Ryder 50GPS. These puppies give loads of useful info and are dead easy to use - we still have not read the instructions - like we would anyway. Speed, time distance, heart rate, ascent, descent, slope %, direction and a load more besides.

If you click on this link you should get an idea of how useful the Bryton can be as a training aid without having to shell out excessive amounts of dosh. £279.99 for the all singing all dancing HRM version.

08/01-17:49:48: "Activity Type: Road Cycling"
Loads simpler that the Garmin Edge to use and a couple of hundred pounds cheaper to boot. An amazing piece of kit and they do a watch version for triathletes which should be a blast for distance paddlers.

Anyway having been told that there were some delays in the production for my van Rygor Mercedes came up with the goods and delivered me a courtesy van to use until the new bus arrives, now that's customer service and they delivered it to my door - oh yeh - is that surf I hear? You just can't beat a van for stoking up the surfing horn. God I love vans.

Surf's been shite since it arrived though on shore short period stuff - until this weekend and an early morning Sunday opportunity was looking good. Wetsuits and board (Sub Vector) loaded Gwithian beckoned.

Unload the van - pull out the wettie and, - shit that's a lot of fleece - I had brought my winter suit with me - no way was I going to poach in that, fortunately I also had my shortie, it was 7am, grey, mistly drizzle and I was going in. Changed up locked the van and I don't remember this shorty being pale blue. Cock - I had put it on inside out. Amazing how it's so easy to get out of the rhythm of things.

So the Sub Vector - my first impression was that it was heavy, significantly more so than my Naish boards but with the stiff onshore breeze and choppy conditions that I paddled out into that might be a good thing today. Jumping onto the deck for the first time and paddling through some waist high chop the board was indeed rock solid and the nose cut through and rode over the oncoming mush without any drama, good sign. However turning side on to the wind to patrol across a face or turn to catch a wave had me staggering around for a minute or two like Bambi with a broken leg. My 'sweet skills' had deserted me.

It felt like the wind was getting under the high boxy rails and tipping the board, my reaction was to over correct and it was not until I sussed that the board would only 'tip' so far and the opposite big rail would come into play that I began to settle down a bit.

Keeping things in perspective I don't think that I did that bad. Picking off a few very messy set waves in adverse conditions (I did not see anyone else out) the board began to sow me some of the magic that has been accredited to one of the original hi-performance short stand up boards. The odd wave allowed me to work the face and fire off down the line, nothing too exciting but there was potential there. This was the first time back on a board for six weeks!

I missed the sheer nose kick of my Naish boards, The Sub Vector did not 'pearl' in the mush so much as 'bog down' slightly. There was always enough float for it to recover but a couple of times the submarine'ing caused just enough delay for me to miss the catch. I'm not criticising the board for one minute, in fact it reminded me a little bit of the Bonga Perkins 9'6" that I had some time ago. No the issue was with me my foot placement was poor and I was rusty and awkward and it was probably a testament to the board that I caught anything at all. Throughout the session I kept in mind that the next time would be loads better. I must have started to get it wired as I kept telling myself 'Last wave' - then shortly after - 'Just one more'. it's alright this paddle surf stuff.

Naish Mana 9'0 - ULI 9'3" Fat Ass Quad

2011-03-20T18:29:00.016Z

Desperately needed to get in this Sunday come hell or high water, as it happened it was neither. The forecast was for two and a half feet South to South Westerly light winds with high tide at 5:17am. Not brilliant but it would do. My 9' Mana pitched up on Thursday and I wanted to see if I had made the correct decision in moving the 2011 9' Hokua on in favour of the Mana. The cunning plan was simple. Keep my 9'3 Hokua for decent, clean and meaty days, and the Mana for choppy conditions and small days to hoof about on. At least that's the plan. Today was small, therefore it was Mana time.

I had already rail taped the board with a clear bike frame protector and had applied Versa Traction to the nose hoping that I might be spending some time up there. The Mana and the new ULI quad were loaded up Saturday night ready for an early Sunday morning getaway. The ULI was sporting a rather fetching homemade GoPro mount that I had crafted from the base of the GoPro presentation box. This was then zip-tied to one of the four D rings that Jim fitted to the quad's nose for me to tie down my fishing box. I was counting on the Quad's 33" width to give me a stable fishing platform for the summer.

Anyway - steady with the cider on Saturday night and I woke fresh and early getting to the car park at 6:30ish. Empty - good stuff.

There were a few clean lines pushing in but really nothing to get overly excited about. Good to see that Naish have sorted the issue with the fins not matching the slots in their board bags, they have stopped putting slots in the bags altogether!! Stroke of genius that. The board with fins will now go in the bag but she flashes her tail as the zip can't be done up, which is a shame as it's a really decent quality bag!

The fins look stunning as well, sort of bamboo in clear resin. 2 plus 1 set up and not too big.

Off down the path dodging the little plastic sacks of dog shit that owners insist on decorating the Towans with and onto the beach for the maiden voyage. ( Just realised that I didn't notice the handle depth or any out of balance carrying issues at all - it's just perfect.)

The conditions were hardly going to test the Mana but she paddled out easily and turned without fuss in her own length with a minimum of paddle strokes. I think that I was expecting the board to paddle faster than she actually did, in my head she is a big board and I need to remind myself that she is only 9' x 29 5/8", that's not big.

Stability was great with foot adjustments coming easy. Sometimes on new boards the first few minutes feel like my feet are glued to the sweet spot, like I'm scared to move them, this one was easy to move around on.

First wave was a nice, easy, smooth catch and lazy glide down the line - no fireworks but there was not a lot of punch in the swell to really get the board going. Next wave - same thing no drama and easy to catch, in fact I think that I caught every wave that I paddled for.

Initially I thought that the Mana felt a little 'stodgy' but that was not really the case - the Mana reacted superfast to my input the second I thought about doing something, the Hokua reacts a second BEFORE I actually think about it. That's the difference. (Bear in mind I think very S L O W L Y, if someone accused me of being retarded I would take it as a compliment!)

As the session progressed the tide dropped back and the waves weakened further, even so I began to identify more and more with the boards character. It definitely responds best to an easy, relaxed style totally unlike my Hokua that needs me take it by the scruff and hustle it. The Mana gets you there without the hectic bullying and hustling. The more waves I caught the more 'kicked back' and relaxed I was. I almost managed to slide the tail around on one wave and even with the lack of speed in the waves tried to make progress with my sorry attempts at cross-stepping. Decent nose riding was looking like it was going to feature heavily in the future.

So - I like it, in fact I like it a lot. Given the lack lustre waves I was managing to wring out some reasonable rides. Can't wait for a decent swell.

Back to the car and I swapped over the boards in order to give the ULI 9'3" Quad a bash. Having agreed to sell my 9'11 ULI Lopez I was using the funds from that to go towards the FAT ASS QUAD.

The Quad material is of a heavier built construction, similar to that ULI used prior to the Lopez X1 models. My old 11' and 10 Steamroller were totally BOMBPROOF, and this newer version feels like it's one tough board. I believe it has been designed with river running in mind where it needs to shrug off boulders and rocks in the rapids. From my point of view as a fishing board this was comforting.

So how did my intended fishing platform surf?

The FAQ (FAT ASS QUAD) is as stable as a planet (at 33" wide it should be!) yet it still retains that amazing super skatey, loose feel. The pulled in nose and rocker dealt easily with the white water there was just no way that I was going to fall off this one.

The 33" waist and superwide tail makes for an interesting combination in late breaking, going no-where, beach mush - you don't fall, but you need to get your paddle-in angle bang on square or the tail gets kicked around.

Bigger waves with more shoulder and entry speed and I reckon the board will fly. One things for sure - at 9'3 I have got a very short, stable stand up fishing board that surfs well and I can carry on my bike, and it don't get much better than that.

WHY WE DO IT - GIVE UP THE GHOST - FAT ASS QUADS

2011-03-06T22:17:00.016Z

THE FAT ASS OF THE ULI FAT ASS 9'3 X33"

The amazing run of swell over the last few weeks finally petered out in time to coincide with my day off. So whilst everyone has been coming in and telling me what bloody good waves that they have been slicing up I have been keeping an eye on Magicseaweed and hoping that the swell would stay Northerly, the Easteries would drop to a manageable sub 20mph and I would be able to get my sorry ass out of bed in time for a morning session. BUT the evenings are getting longer and the mornings lighter so before and after work sessions should be on the cards soon.

It wasn't looking overly promising. Swell was levelling off at a dizzying one and a half feet at 10 seconds thankfully Northwesterly and with the wind between 12 and 17mph from the East we were in with a shout of getting wet at least.

Pitching up at the car park at 8:45 and I could see that Gary was already fully testing the Glide characteristics of the 9'Hokua. I think this was his 2nd outing on it and it looked like he had the little Naish firmly under control. I find that when it's small the more performance orientated boards are harder work, they need 'juice' to get them locked in and tight but my 9'3" Hokua actually copes really well with small conditions and from the clifftop it's 9' replacement was picking up everything that Gary was paddling for. My old 10 C4 BK Pro was an amazing surfboard but a total mare to catch waves in small swell and if it was at all choppy - forget it. Naish have certainly got something special going on with these boards.

Changing quickly and fitting the GoPro to the nose of my board I trogged off down the cliff track. The recent combinations of rain/freeze/thaw had seen off some major portions of the cliff face slipping away down to the cove - it can only be a matter of time before this way down to the beach is going to be off limits.

Finally managed to get my head into gear enough to work out how to turn the GoPro on to shoot video - not sure but think that the stills slideshow may look a bit better, anybody out there actually reading this care to leave a comment and let me know, I wont charge. The whole self-picture thing does feel a bit odd and feels faintly like I might be somewhat up myself but the blog's going to be pretty dull with just my keyboard drivel.

Conditions were hardly 'EPIC' knee high with the sets almost towering over our waists! But it was clean and apart from a soul longboarder who was practising some pretty nifty footwork we enjoyed endless amounts of waves to ourselves until 10:30 ish when the wind started to pick up and mess things about. Credit to the boards though, the only time they felt at all unhappy, mine anyway, was at the end of the wave when the speed had dropped out leaving a slightly nervous feel as the dynamic changed from planing to displacement. Bigger swell makes kicking out of the wave whilst carrying some speed easy, slow it all down and it begins to wobble, but it was fun.

A decent session in conditions that were at best less than average and you could get a tan off Gary's stoke! That's why we do it! Because it's fun, and it levers the best out of the least.

Playing around with some heavy editing on the video makes it all look good, well I think so, but apart from all that it gives me an excuse to play 'Give up the Ghost' as the soundtrack. Amazing stuff from the new Radiohead album King of limbs, it's a slow burn album but I reckon it's every bit as good as OK Computer, well almost.

IF you are a Radiohead / Thom Yorke fan you may have already seen this but it's always worth checking out again. It's a live, solo performance of Give up the Ghost played at Cambridge - absolutely mesmerizing - treat yourself and give it a go - trust me!!

How good is that - of course it might just be me - I played it to Charmaine who said

'I'm bored now' and got up halfway through to turn the TV on. AArrrgh!!

Anyway the ULI Fat Ass Quads have pitched up - looking forward for some inflatable fun time.

New Boards In New Boards Out Sunday's Session

2011-02-20T19:39:00.006Z

What a week!! The new ULI Fat Ass gets officially launched and I think - that's got to be worth a wiggle - a 9'3" x 33" that looks like it surf's reasonably well and with a few 'D' rings added to the front should take a fishing box and at 33" wide ought to be stable enough to double up for that task. Theoretically that means I can get away with just taking one inflatable away with me regardless of conditions and maybe make some use of it through the summer at home as well. The fishing is something that I have been meaning to play around with a bit more and the heavier built FAQ should lend itself nicely to that.

So - I need to sell an inflatable and one thing for sure - it's not going to be the MUNOZ. Having tentatively punted the prospect of letting the Lopez go Gary, a recent SUP convert expressed an interest in trying it, he currently rides a Starboard Element. I got the impression that he was quite impressed with it, so impressed in fact that he opted for a FAT ASS as well - bugger!! Fortunately at the same time Jussi, who we met in Costa Rica asked if I knew where he might get a used ULI. Sometimes things just fall into place.

So that was that - I was selling the Lopez, getting an ULI FAT ASS and had sort of resigned myself to stepping up to the mark regarding the HOKUA 9'0 that I had just bought before Christmas. I mean the board is ace and with the bigger fins and thruster set up I knew that it would be fine with time and patience. Having said that I got Whippet from Willis surf boards to put the FCS plug needed for the Go Pro on my old 9'3 Hokua.

Email from Naish Sales Heaven -

"Hey Fatboy - the Mana 9'0 has just arrived - make up your mind cos if you don't have it someone else will"

Double Bugger - There is no way that I'm getting that past the shed door - in fact now that I've got a Fat Ass I don't need it anyway - so you can stuff that in your HOKUA board bag that doesn't fit - what do you think I am STUPID? How many boards do you think I need?

Reply to Naish Sales Heaven

'Ughh yeh ok - I'll have it, can you give me a few weeks to move on the 9'0 Hokua first?

This is going to cost me - but if I keep the 9' Hokua and don't use it that's just daft! Better to take a hit while it's new and get what I wanted in the first place.

Quick add on the forums - SupGlobal and Standuppaddlesurf UK and I reckon it must have taken all of 20minutes before someone who is obviously as afflicted, affected and patently SUP sick as I am sent me that magic "I'll have it" email. We can work out the finer details later.

As I said sometimes things just fall into place, got to say it though decent kit pays off in the long run.

So - the surfing?

We have had an amazingly consistent run of swell recently - must be at least two weeks straight with waves that have been lighting up all the sheltered 'secret spots' - trouble is there aren't that many secret spots any more, last Sunday we were out house hunting and counted 50 surfers tucked away in a little corner that 5 years ago you could guarantee having quietly to yourself and a few mates when the big south westerlies kick in.

All week I was watching the forecasts and although it was consistently showing at 10'+ with looooonnnnggg swell period (for us) 12 - 17 seconds the winds were banging through at 20 - 40mph on the Sundays that I was up for it. That's half the problem with going away and getting three weeks of solid perfection - I just don't feel too inclined to get up early on a Sunday morning to get a full sinus rinse with 9-10 degree water. Jeez I must be getting soft!!

This Sunday was different - wind was going southerly - big spring tides with a 7am high and it was all looking good for a bash at Hayle rivermouth. This mark used to be capable of insanely long rights up the river when everywhere else was closing out. Just going out the door thinking I ought to text Gav but spookily I don't have a board to lend him when I got a text from Phil -

"Just heading to the Bluff (Rivermouth)"

Fumble fumble -

'So am I'

Not really much of a conversationalist me!!!

Quick change - bolt on the GoPro - sort of a bit embarrassed about doing that - hope nobody sees me - don't expect fireworks - I'm a bit shit - What??

Down the path with Sam on her Sup and Phil who took his longboard out - they swapped about a bit you can spot them in some of the slides later - yeh I know more slideshow stuff - to be honest I thought I had it set up for video but being a bit of a milky eyed old codger I still don't really know how it's menu works yet.

Long and short of the session was I paddled out in the River to the Bar took a couple of steep ones and paid for it paddled back in to where everyone else was and wished that I had stayed outside. Chest to head high closeouts beating the crap out of everyone in cold grey shallow water - not ideal, certainly not the epic session that I thought it was going to be but good fun and a filthy good excuse to listen to the Verve Lucky Man as sound track to my slideshow, unfortunately there is an issue with the track with you tube so . . . . Have some Radiohead.

Next up new board stuff - and hopefully I should be back on plan to sort my quiver out with my cunning masterplan. Boards that are easy and fun to surf in most conditions and don't make me wish that I was on something else. Used 9'3 Hokua anyone ?? - Only kidding

Mana Fat Ass Mana Fat Ass Mana FatAss - Twat!!

ULI Munoz Nicaragua Costa Rica

2011-01-28T21:58:00.012Z

So long story made short - here goes - we fly into Managua in Nicaragua, rent a 4x4 drive to our beach, stay a night, drive to the border drop the 4x4 off, get totally ass raped by touts at the border, hand our passports over to some unknown quasi official, get them stamped with exit stamps, walk across the border to Costa Rica Immigration, drive to Nosara, drink a beer and think how lucky we are to be at Casa Romantica and then start to worry how the hell we are going to fly out in three weeks when we have non transferable Continental tickets from Managua. Fun Fun Fun.

So back on familiar ground, woke up at 5:00 am and trundled down the path half an hour later with the ULI Munoz 8'11" - it's still dark and I can hear the surf even if I can't see it. I got to admit I'm a little bit scared. Last year I was pretty much always first in the water but all I could think about this morning was sharks and stuff I was really rattled. Weird how the mind messes with itself. Anyway as I gingerly knee paddled out, got some steam up and popped to my feet I began to get my first feel of the new ULI with some proper water moving under it's fins. Fortunately it gets light as fast as it gets dark here - and that's very fast - so the heeby jeebies were soon left with dawn's dark.

I'd love to say that I picked up exactly where I left off last time but that would not be the whole truth. There was a LOT of water moving through and I was definitely a bit sketchy, once on the wave however the board just lit up. It took any drop without fear of pearling, snapped back to the curl like a short board and hung in perfect trim for the longest nose rides, any worries that the fin placement was wrong were soon dispelled.

(Disclaimer : obviously these descriptions and any others that follow have to be applied to and taken in context with my own personal standard of surfing - average is generous - Shane calls it geriatric - which I'll settle for!)

Between the waves however it was another story I had not quite dialled into the conditions which were a steady head high plus at 16 seconds and double that on the sneaker sets. Maybe not huge for some but still challenging when you had a bit of a wave drought for a month or so. (Roughly translated into Cornish reads as a tad munchy)

For the evening session which is always a bit busier I took out the LOPEZ and immediately got it wired, the LOPEZ is a lot more stable and very forgiving in comparison and for the next few sessions the LOPEZ was the board of choice. I hate falling off the board at random and the Lopez was rock solid. The swell was still building.

The signal for my last session on the LOPEZ came as the tide dropped back and the swell built creating steeper faces, I pearled two or three waves on the trot and found the ragged mid beach rip a little more difficult to paddle into, so I swapped out in favour of the more rakish nose rocker of the Munoz again. This proved to be a good move and the couple of days board time that the Lopez had given me stood me in good stead as I felt much more comfortable on the 8'11" than I did on the first day. There was no more pearling.

Me and Mr Munoz just got down to business for the rest of the trip.

I'm not going to bore you all with a session by session account - here's the figures:

17 days - 36 sessions - 74hours give or take - I was and am totally shagged!

I'll stick up a few slide shows which naturally will be the smaller days- they always say that (it's the fisherman in me), - and thanks to DW over at ncpaddlesurfer I'm messing about with my daughters MacBook and my GoPro in order to liven up the blog a bit.
Dwight has been brilliant with encouraging email's and messages like -

"Jeez Steve - give the keyboard a rest will you - life's too short to read all that shit - just give 'em pictures"

So here is a little slideshow of a mix of pics taken from the one session that I did with the GoPro clamped to the paddle. Its all a bit sycophantic but what the hell this blog is my SUP diary as much as anything else and with the sorry state of my memory I need all the help I can get, besides I needed an excuse to mess with the Mac's picture stuff.

This is the Arty one with music combining some GoPro stills with some of Jeff Logans beach pic's.

My last session of my last day was probably the most memorable. The swell had started to build again and the full moon had brought the hide tides to the evening sessions. The back wash off the beach was noticeable 200 yards off shore and could still sweep the board from under me if caught unawares. The waves were held up by it creating some magical left and right handers of biblical proportions (length if not height). All we had to do was dodge the logs and trees that had been washed off the head of the beach. The vibe in the water was amazing - such a cool place - I even got hooted into waves by some local Tico short boarders who were obscenely good.

I finally got to meet and surf with Scott Allen a mate of Glen GJB Atlantic Paddle Surfing whose blog I follow. Scott's a great guy and was taking some time off the paddleboard to get in touch with his longboard again, I was tempted but I was having way too much fun to .

Made loads of new friends Jussi,Hanna, Pete Wickistone, Dick Hilmer and reacquainted with some old ones Pete and Pam, Alan and Pam, Brian and Pat and of course Reimo and Sylvia at Casa Romantica along with the guys at the Guilded Iguana and Jeff Logan whose efforts to make my surfing look good via his big lens was much appreciated.

I don't want to make this blog seem like a commercial for ULI - cos it's not. I take ULI paddle boards with me through choice because they don't cost me anything to travel with, (Pete got charged $100 each way for his 5' fish and they dinged it!), they wont hurt me or anyone else if I loose it, you can't hurt them, and although they may cost a bit more to buy when you factor in postage and tax I can sell them dead quick second hand after a year or two for decent money to help me finance the next one, but the main reason is that I have got no reason to take a hard board - I get all fun with none of the fuss.

One thing that does make me smile above all else about the boards though, there was not a single moment when I thought

"I wish I was on a Hard Board"

I mean come on these things have no rails - or hull concaves - or 'v' channels or fin options, and the fins that they have are so flexible that they could easily be made from recycled products taken out of the Anne Summers warranty returns bin. So whilst I accept that at my standard of surfing (best described as mediocre to average) I am unlikely to appreciate or test the finer points that some of these design features offer, and a lot of this stuff is probably lost and waisted on me anyway - I don't think that I could have had a better time than I did. Makes you think?

ULI PROTOTYPE 8'11" Sshh you ain't seen me right!

2011-01-28T16:24:00.000Z

I'm always pestering ULI for new boards and Jim,Chris and the guys being the nice people that they are sent me a pre-production prototype to shut me up for a while.

As I started writing this (Late November) I still do not know how much of it, if any is going to be published. As mellow and easy going as the ULI guy's are when a board comes with a warning like -

'Ride it and enjoy it - but photograph it, forum it, it or blog it and we will send the Steamroller around for some personal correction therapy!'

- well you just don't argue with that - do you? Jim finally gave me the green light following some customer requests for shorter boards and some 'spyshots' breaking cover on the Standupzone relating to a thread started by alap - another avid ULI fan. Reading this thread makes you realise how strong the vein of ULI brand loyalty runs through their customers. ULI make you feel like one of the boys.

The thing is the inflatable standup market is becoming quite a crowded place and although some of the raw products may originate from the same factories the subsequent work and tuning that is done on the boards does make a difference, resulting in the endorsements and inputs from shaper's that ULI have been involved with, like Gerry Lopez and in this case Mickey Munoz - there I've said it. Thats the sort of thing that sets these boards apart from the others and in the pre-production stages creates the need for an element of secrecy in order to maintain a commercial market advantage.

So whats with the board? - My sample measured 8'11" with a 28 1/4" width and just a smidge under 4" thick. The nose and tail are both pulled pretty tight and there is 4" of nose rocker.

Those figures would make pretty exciting numbers for a hard board I was worried that the board might not even float me. My fag packet maths put the volume at around 100 - 110 litres - pretty much borderline for my weight at 90kgs.

First time out was during that long spell of Easterly airstream that we had during November - barely any swell and glassy. I struggled to find anything more than a lazy knee high bump but you know what it's like when you have a new board and desperation sets in.

The board floated me - some of the deck was just above the water but I was definately on the dry side. The side to side 'tip to recovery' point was incredibly sensitive and although I thought that I was used to fairly small tippy boards this one was going to be a challenge for a while. The board is unbelievably light, 16lbs on our shop scales and this was also noticable on the water as the boards reaction to paddle strokes was instantaneous.

Don't get me wrong the board tracked straight and true and I could easily paddle half a dozen or more strokes on each side but dig the paddle too deep or too wide and she would either tip or turn - no messing. Stationary stability was hard to judge given the conditions, absolute glass, however get the board moving and she felt fine.

The 4-5" of nose rocker made light work of the knee high wash that was pushing through the inside section. Waves were tiny with barely enough power to tighten the board up however I caught a few ripples and was stunned at how easily the little inflatable accelarated and caught the bumps however the waves were so slack I was struggling to work them to any degree and fell frequently. The nose, although narrow, held firm and was stable paddling in and did not show the tendancies of my Naish boards to 'dive away sideways' if I got the entry wrong. The session was too short and lacking in any significant wave power to come to any significant conclusion about it's surfing performance however, if anything it felt a bit lack lustre in the tiny slack conditions.

DECEMBER 6TH SUNDAY
Just got back from my second session on the MUNOZ. Managed a little session last Sunday in tiny clean ankle slappers, I thought then that the board was a bit tippy and that it was fairly hard work even in super clean conditions.

TODAY however was a totally different story. This board is a beast. We had a bit more swell to deal with, still very clean and small, sort of waist high and a bit on the sets but what a difference some speed and punch makes to the board. I was able to make a total pig of my self and caught everything going. The ability for it to turn both on and in front of the waves is nuts. I was in with a couple of freinds who are just starting out with stand up. Sam had a 10' x 30" fish (local home grown board) and Phil borrowed my 9'3" Naish Hokua. We swapped around boards during the session and honestly the best tool for the job was the Munoz. My Naish is a real hi-performance board lots of nose rocker and tippy as hell. I would normally ride it in most conditions but the Munoz was just a wave machine today. Even Sam who had a quick go on the Munoz found it easier than her 10' Fish. I think that ULI have got a winner on their hands with this one, they would need to pitch it at the lighter or more experienced user, but honestly it's one of the best boards that I have ever ridden, no bull I am serious. It has a real longboardy feel about it yet it will snap 'flat' turns on the wave so easily.

If I was super picky I would say that it could possibly do with some tweaks to the fin placement. I not quite sure why but I seem to 'loose it' a bit if I try and crank it around super hard on it's rails. The Naish or the Lopez will take it but this one washes out a bit soon, possibly needs the front fins pushed forward some or maybe even a quad set up?? Or maybe I just need to ride it a bit more. I had some of the longest cheater fives on it today and dont think that it would take too much for me to get the fins out and spin it, amazing. I dont think that you would need to do too much to this one to make it perfect, thats perfect compared to any board not just inflatables. Perhaps if it was a inch wider it would have a broader appeal but as it is it could easily double up as a travel longboard.

The way that short performance sups are taking off at the moment I think this would compliment anyones quiver and give them a travel board to boot. In fact thats how I would pitch it

'A performance Standup - that just happens to be a travel board as well', this puppy is a real peach and it's definetly going to Nicaragua with us. I love it

OK This was all written before January but kept as a draft until the cat was out of the bag.

New Years Day - Glass

2011-01-01T16:29:00.006Z

Had a quiet'ish new years eve, packing the kit ready for our holiday, boards, paddles rods and reels and a ton of other stuff that all needs to pack down into a couple of 23kg holdalls. No bother.

Forecast was looking great for New Year's day - and it was spot on, 2-3 foot and clean as a pin - no wind. I swapped out the rear Quad fins on the 9'0 and popped in a single 8" longboard fin hoping that it would steady up the board a bit. It did. That and a slightly shorter 8' and thinner leash and the change in the boards manners was amazing. Stable and quick to accelerate it was beginning to feel familiar and comfortable. Phew!! The 9'0 is definitely borderline for me and I would say a step on from the 9'3, the larger fin evened out some of the differences between the two boards but the nose would sink away at the first sign of incorrect weighting making foot placement more critical than the 9'3. I probably only fell about four times today when holding station - hopefully that will get better.

I picked up a GoPro HD from a chap recently - brand new, unused and unwanted. I can hear the groans reverberate around SUP'dom. Anyway it was a good price and I thought why not? Today's trip was a bit experimental and I mounted it on the paddle shaft. The effect when paddling is really comical as it gives the impression of the paddle remaining stationary and me sliding myself around the paddle arc. Dead impressed with the picture quality - unfortunate how bad it makes my surfing look. Don't worry there wont be too much of this as a board mount is being sorted.

This is the spot where I was going to post a little GOPRO video but the damn thing wont load up and I cant convert the mpeg4 file into something that Windows videomaker will recognise. PC's are giving me so much grief at the moment, time for a Mac I think!

For me the 9' is everything that the 9'3 is but with a little more chili. It has a better handle and obviously it's shorter with all the practical advantages that offers. Above all if it is going to stay it's a board that is going to keep my weight in check.

January the 2nd and I managed to snag another early morning session (without the ball ache of the camera). Again this session was so much easier than the last one, again it was like glass. I had some decent waves but the swell was dropping off and the peaks were shifting about making decent shoulders hard to find.

There was a chap out on a 10'4 (I think) Jimmy Lewis this morning, it was Gut's Griffiths old board and as we chatted during the session we swapped over boards. The Jimmy was really nice, so easy to paddle and early into waves, compared to the Naish it felt sluggish to turn (unless your Guts) but still easy as. Why am I making things difficult for myself?

As good as the Hokua is (VERY GOOD) I'm still not convinced that it's for me. It will float me I can surf it but I have to be honest I'm too damn fat and just a bit too shit to get the best out of it, and that's a shame.

I was missing too many waves and felt awkward like I did in the beginning, and I don't think that I want that anymore. The trade off, more surfability versus ease of use just was not stacking up for me today. My little Nah Skell was more stable, shorter and could surf it's tits off but you really had to 'work it'. Always having to be in the right place, always having to make the correct last paddle stroke and for me with the 9'0 never being able to relax and that's in glass. I just want to surf now, I'm done blazing my own trails.

When's that 9'0 Mana available??

Naish 9'0 Hokua versus the Christmas Coma

2010-12-08T18:47:00.010Z

I started writing this entry on the 8th December, funny how things can conspire against you sometimes, I'm now posting it on the 28th December. Christmas has come and gone and no doubt the shops will shortly be crammed full of Easter eggs. The joys of consumerism! Anyway back to the 12th.

What a week, spent most of it thinking that I should hold out for the Mana, but that would mean waiting until February and I'm just too impatient for that, so I ordered the new 9' Hokua.

There was a small swell forecast for last Sunday, the 5th, which gave me the opportunity to have a second spin on a board that I had first ridden the week before. Last time out conditions were so weak it was a struggle and difficult to make any judgement at all, this time however it blew me away - totally.

I rode three different boards on Sunday in a dead clean, waist high, mid tide wave and can honestly say that one of them stood out head and shoulders in those particular conditions.

Phil was on my 9'3 Hokua and struggling a little which is hardly surprising as he has only just made the leap from longboard to Standup and until now has been on my 10' Steamroller.

Sam was picking a few off on her 10' Escape and I was on the 'new un'. We swapped boards about during the session and I found the Naish and the Escape bloody hard work compared to what I was on - hard for different reasons, the Escape was wide, stable and held it's speed but was a lot slower than the others, nothing wrong with the board but I would think TURN and after a while it t u r n e d . The Naish as always was clinically brilliant, always begging for more juice and never showing any signs of a refusal to go, but just not as much fun in the conditions.

Fun - remember that? Fun's why we (I) do this, the opportunity to act the goat and mess about on the water. In fact I reckon this could well be one of the best (read most fun) boards that I have ridden since I started on standups, and I truly did not expect that.

This board is a beast and I wish that I could say more. I had a bit more swell to deal with than the last time out, still very clean and small, sort of waist high and a bit on the sets but what a difference some speed and punch makes to the board. I was able to make a total pig of my self and caught everything that I went for with the minimal of paddle strokes. The ability for it to turn both on and in front of the waves is nuts. Really nice noserides, for me anyway, cheater fives, backwards, mini slash cutbacks, little fin first slides and all preceded with a full thrust rocket launch into the catch - truly amazing. And that's it! For now, but watch this space.

Anyway the 9' Hokua pitched up yesterday at the shop, how pretty is this board? Naish Yellow with white accents and the bamboo deck, I know that most manufacturers are getting smacked with the Bamboo stick and it must be difficult to keep things like graphics and image fresh each year but Naish have created a clean look for 2011 product that instantly dates my old Hokua. Clever.

First things first, sliding the board out of the supplied travel bag proved loads easier than the thin foam lined cover that my 9'3 came with and my first impressions were that it would last a lot longer than a couple of trips. Out of the bag and slipping my hand into the new 'undercut' hand hold. She's reasonably balanced, I think with four fins and a leash the tail will dip but we'll see. One things for sure - finned up it ain't going back in the bag despite the fin slots. That's a bit crap.

She looks sleeker and less porky than the 9'3 which makes the narrow nose look even more rakish. The rails however look positively huge and until I checked I would have put money on them being almost 5" thick, they weren't. The tail has a slight 'stinger' mullarkey going on that blends into a thinned out step deck arrangement before finishing in the mini bat tail. I have to be honest here, aesthetically this was my least favourite element of the whole board. I'm sure that there is a sound reason for all this additional mold work but it just seems an unnecessarily complex finish to such a pure shape that works well on my 9'3. I do like simplicity.

Whipping the board over I had expected to see a dead flat hull but there is a very pronounced keel line and that surprised me. It's not as full on as on the 9'3 but it is there. The rail edges are softer than the 9'3 as well with significantly less obvious nose rocker. Five fin placements and it's supplied with 4 FCS fins and a Naish ??" centre fin for the longboard fin box.

Back over on it's belly and the diamond cut 3/4 length Naish deck pad with kick tail is factory fitted. I hope it stays that way as I had a mare with my 9'3 before I finally replaced the Naish pad with a Dakine that has stayed stuck.

So the figures

Length - End to end top side I made it 8'11"
Around the hull curve 9'
Nose 1' from the tip 15 1/2"
Middle 28 1/2"
Tail 1' from end pre stinger 18 1/2"
Tail 1' from end after stinger 17 1/2"
Thickness 4"
Nose Rocker @1' 4"
Nose Rocker @ Tip 6"

The hull has a double concave creating a 'v' keel that starts 3' from the nose and finishes 16" from the tail at a point that is level with the front fins. The deck hollow starts 43" from the nose and finishes 40" from the tail. All up she weighed in at 18.2lbs 8.27 kilos.

Standing back and checking her out I started to question my last minute swap out from the Mana 9' - this board is very similar to my 9'3" which although well used is still in excellent shape the BIG differences are the Quad fin option and the lack of three inches in Length and 3/4" in width and how that will translate on the water I had no idea.

So back to today - Xmas has been and gone preceded by one of the hardest cold snaps for decades bringing much of the UK to a complete standstill . The North Easterly airstream that brought the snow and ice to us usually results in clean offshore conditions however bar a couple of days there was no swell giving me a three week dry spell. That had me checking every predicted 1-2' pulse. Even Dwight http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/ was getting impatient, email from Dwight. -

'What the hells going on over there fatty, you got that board wet yet?'

'Uhh sorry guys' quick think of something . . . ' I urgh umm, well it's complicated, but it should clear up as soon as the Penicillin kicks in'

That usually does it.

It was pretty much total bollox until Xmas day, that looked perfect. Naturally we were entertaining our Mums, and Mums always trump surfing these days. Boxing Day looked possible however the winds had now turned Southerly and were increasing from 20 - 30 knots, and that's how it stayed until today when I woke to - silence. No tiles rattling - no wind - no second thoughts - I loaded up the Naish and headed for Gwithian. High Tide was 10:00am light South Westerlies and a slight WSW swell showing 10' at 12 seconds . Plus it was warm the air temp was 12'c and the water was 11'c paradise. The air temp has not been much above 0'c for the last two weeks and we now have permafrost in the garden!!

Quick change and off down the path and into the water - looking good. Usual story push the board out spring (did I say spring?) onto the deck and straight off the other side head first. Bugger! It was an omen of things to come. I struggled like hell today. I was like Bambi with broken legs and must have fallen off 20 times in the session. When I actually managed to get up and paddling I felt like my feet were nailed to the deck.

'For F**ks sake Steve, come on get it sorted you twat'

I often find that a little loud but positive verbal encouragement helps to get the tension out of my system, that's one reason why I surf alone,

'Look Mummy - see that nutter shouting at himself in the surf, do you think he's in trouble?

Probably!

The best way for me to describe what was going on was pitiful. It wasn't the board although the quad fin set up MAY have speeded the tipping recovery point to a pace that I just could not match. The tail was sinking under my Xmas cheer filled wetsuit and as I said my feet felt leaden and stuck down, I just could not shuffle and weight my forefoot and heels quick enough and as a result I had trouble not just staying still but also spinning the board around prior to a catch.

TIME OUT

'Come on think about this'

I had spent three weeks out of the water, I have just eaten pretty much a whole herd of roast turkeys, an entire flock of cows and half a pig along with endless cocktail pork pies, roast potatos, leeks, parsnips, some Gucci little bacon wrapped sausages, cheese, cake, cream and anything else that happened to be lying around the house in glittery wrapping paper. The resulting food induced torpor and endless diet of inane regurgitated Xmas television had dulled my previously highly honed Stand Up skills - in short I was shagged. Colonic irrigation was looking like an attractive and welcome proposition.

I managed a few lefts, badly, and paddled out again and tried going in later and caught a few more but the questions and voices were flaring up in my head.

'This boards got you beat' - no it hasn't it's just that I'm a bit shit today and then just to prove my point I nailed a half decent right and popped out the back still on the board. That took an hour to get to that point. Slowly I began to spend less time flailing and more time surfing and the board was good. I'm still not sure about the fins and made a note to put in a decent longboard fin to hopefully slow up the side to side tipping and give me a little more time to dial in.

Another left, cutting back to the wash and then hooking the nose around to the left again had me smiling, again I managed to stay on my feet and paddle back out. The Naish cuts through the wash well but until I get my timing and balance reset my feet semed stubbornly stuck to the deck. It was coming but slowly.

The tide was dropping back a little now and the set waves were jacking up a bit more. I paddled down the break a little and dropped into a decent right. Suddenly it came together albeit briefly. Bottom turn, up the face, cranked it around watching the wave feather a little just in front wandering if it would hold up long enough for another, crank the bottom turn and booosh off the breaking lip before another bottom turn and running through the wash for the green exit door. Nice!

So is it better than my 9'3 - well it might be but not based on this mornings performance. I think I need to ditch the fins for a 2 plus 1 setup and possibly change the leash that I put on. I thought that I would try a new 10mm cord knee leash and whilst the leash is very good in the back of my mind was the extra drag that the thicker cord was creating. Excuses? Definitely. But that's how it goes.

Anyway possibly one more chance to get in between now and the 5th when we fly out to warm seas and constant swell - hopefully I wont be dripping on about lack of water time then.

Hope that you have had a great Xmas and have a healthy new year - might try a few changes on the blog for 2011 - fiddle about with the look a bit, and try posting smaller entries more frequently with some more pics - let me know.

All the best Steve

Naish 9' Mana morphs into 9' Hokua - Reef Live.

2010-11-28T14:21:00.012Z

There seems to be some form of synchronicity in the world of sports equipment manufacturing. Our bike launches are always around September / October with the finished product dribbling though from November to April. It would seem to be the same with paddle-boards. You get the odd few rumours and then some 'spy shots' then some outdoor shows followed by very limited stock going out through a few chosen dealers by which time the rest of us are salivating like a long term prisoner on the eve of release. Accident or design, who knows?

Anyway I have been waiting to get get my hands on the new Mana 9' and you know what it's like, you pretend to be all cool and chilled out

'Don't worry - it'll be here when it gets here'

sort of thing, but really deep down I'm bubbling up like a seven year old kid at Christmas. What the hell is it about new boards? It just doesn't matter how good the current one is we convince ourselves that the next one is going to have that special sprinkling of 'shaper dust' that will transform our surfing.

We consume every piece of information about the new board, we read every blog and forum comment we try and compare ourselves to the writers situation, weight / skill level / previous boards / conditions ridden in until there is nothing else to read and then - we start all over again but from a slightly different perspective. Each rehash of the same microscopically small snippets of second and third hand information is teased out of text and pictures and builds up the confirmation that this board is the one that will take me to the next level. Paddle surf Nirvana.

UUrggh you don't do that? Really?? Just me being a sad twat then. Bugger.

Anyway revved to the point of popping as week 46 approaches, (Mana Week) and the email comes in.

'Good news Steve, the shipments arrived'.

Oooohh here it comes.

'Bad news is although they have been booked and advised on the manifest, the Mana's are not on the shipment, there are some 9' Hokua's but the Mana's wont be here until week 2, Sorry.'

Have you ever looked into a seven year old's eyes and told him not only has Christmas been cancelled but you have also just run over his pet dog Bruno in the driveway? Not a pretty sight. Get a grip Steve. It's not as if you have been rejected for a kidney transplant is it? Email back.

'Hey that's ok, it's just a board, I can wait, its not a problem, it's not as if it's a life support machine is it? I'm away most of January so I'll have it in February.'

There, that was ok calm, cool and collected, no point making a fuss I got a board, I'm not stuck, every things cool.

New email.

'F*c& it! Send me a 9' Hokua please'

Deep breaths, . . . . and relax. It's an obsession, worse an addiction and it needs to be fed.

Last Friday Charmaine and myself went to see the newly reformed REEF at the Hall for Cornwall. I like REEF, I liked them the first time round and always regretted not making the effort to see them back then. They combined the full on heavy, youthful rock metal with a laid back Indie twist and a sprinkling of Stone Roses thrown in for good measure. Their breakthrough to mainstream hit 'Place your hands' was actually the least typical of their entire catalogue.

As I watched them last Friday I thought

'Either I'm too old for this or they are'.

It was a good gig I just felt that the guys were too old too be giving it the 'HORNS' maybe Ozzie could still get away with it but I felt slightly uncomfortable for them. Gary Stringer slipped up a couple of times on a wet stage - Incontinence is a bugger to deal with. I swear that Jack Bessant had actually been replaced by Robert Lenkiewicz. Robert Lenkiewicz died in 2002 I think.

I swear that the bass player was Robert Lenkiewicz!

JACK BESSANT

ROBERT LENKIEWICZ

It was a good gig and the band were sound - but just out of time. In hindsight it was probably me. I don't age well and what the hell do I know, I ride paddleboards and my nose hair is thicker than whats on my head.

My Movember Tash is coming along nicely though.

So the only other thing that I have to write about I can't, but that's the thing about secrets knowing that there is one is half the battle of discovery. damn I've said too much already.

ULI STEAMROLLER 10' For Sale NOW SOLD

2010-11-23T20:23:00.007Z

Got something very special on the way so am selling my trusty ULI Steamroller. The board is in very good condition. It has had the deck grip peel back and been re-stuck down a few times but other than that the board is terrific. An excellent standup board capable of much more than I can do. Complete with pump. £450 - Delivery possible from £25 to the UK. I could possibly chuck in a 6' ULI inflatable surfboard for £500 ALL UP plus carriage!!

UPDATE 2nd December 2010 - Many thanks the Steamroller and the 6'ULI is now sold! And will be living in Germany. Well they are travel boards!!!

I know they are old pics but I do like them.

Obviously as it's a travel board I could ship it overseas subject to having cleared funds but please be aware shipping costs to the U.S. for instance could be as much as £160. Way less to mainland Europe but Italy and Switzerland seem to attract a premium.

The Steamroller was brand new to me in July 2008 my first blog entry was here http://csx355.blogspot.com/2008/07/10-uli-steamroller-and-stuff.html

It was my second ULI standup board. The Steamroller was my last twin skin construction boards before ULI started delivering the lightweight single skin jobs. Hard to describe but trust me they are bombproof.

Construction is excellent no cracks or issues. As I said the deck grip has come unstuck through being rolled up and with the temperature differences in aircraft holds etc. but I have just restuck it down and I dare say that anyone that has it will do the same from time to time. The Fins are hard flexible plastic and they have some 'slight' scuffing on the edges. They can also take a 'set' after being rolled up however with warm water / warm air temps they always return to straight.

The 10'r was much more of a surf board than my original 11'r however as my pics show it is still more of a cruiser than a short board. You have to turn it from the tail but it nose rides really well. My Gerry Lopez 9'11 is much more 'slashy' and way more tippy.

My only relationship with ULI is as a very satisfied customer and they used some of the words from my blog on their website. The guys at ULI are totally genuine and care about their product. I had the pleasure to meet with Jim Weir this year in Costa Rica and share a few waves with the guys - never stopped laughing.

Total respect for Team ULI - they have totally transformed my trips away.

The Board rolls up and is then held with a strap before it is packed away in a bag. It comes with a high pressure pump and guage (only pump to 15psi).

Be sorry to see it go but I have the ULI Lopez and that's all I have to say about that!!

Quick Movember update - we have currently raised £334 with the bulk of it still to come in. Currently sporting a Mexican Bandito sort of thing. Charmaine likes it!!

Quick Mana update - should be getting the new 9'er towards the end of the month - Come on!!

Totally busting to say more . . . but can't !!

Go Global for your Gland - Stand Up and Paddle your Prostate - Get stuck in and Feather up your face!

2010-10-26T08:16:00.025+01:00

Yeh I know, sounds like the lyrics to a bad country and western song but you are going to have to read it all to get to the bottom of it!

Sunday went pretty much according to plan, the general forecast was a bit iffy, dubious surf - light to moderate winds, spring tides and two boards to play with.

Into Gwithian first thing for a quick surf in a smallish, clean but confused swell.

A few decent ones coming through but mainly short period stuff with lots of little double ups. Interestingly there was a guy out on little Nah Skwell 8'8". Looked like he was getting to grips with it as well. Top little board.

Back home for 11.00 and a quick check to make sure that I'm not needed for the day and with the green light on I was straight into the shed to knock up a fishing box for the board and sort out some kit. Basic plan was shoot down to Perranuthnoe - paddle upwind a bit, back across the bay and then back to load the box up and try a bit of fishing.

And that's pretty much what happened, South coast was flat with a small bump pushing through and again a couple of guys on stand up's making the most of the little swell. One of the boards might have been a white Mctavish. Amazing how many Sup's are beginning to show up now and the diversity of boards out there.

TOP PIECE OF KIT - £14.99 AVAILABLE HERE

Remembering to set and check the GPS app on the phone, and double checking that the Overboard waterproof Iphone bag was sealed, I pushed off the beach and headed South East across the bay. I was getting used to the board now and made fairly decent progress up to Cudden point without busting a gut. I was still knackered from the mornings surf. Plus I had only had 3 Weetabix all day!!

CUDDEN POINT

Turning back just before the point I had expected to have the benefit of the wind on my back but it was actually North Easterly cross off and I was pretty much able to maintain my albeit wobbly heading by paddling on my left side most of the way.

ST MICHAELS MOUNT

Catching a little bump into the beach I rememembered to step well back on the board and then jumped off in good time to avoid stuffing the fin on the beach. That was alright. I had just racked up my third ever session on a race board.

Off up to the car and out with the rods and box which was duly strapped to the board just behind me. I have no idea if the kit is better off in front or behind, answers on a postcard please. Fifty yards from the beach I stopped and popped out a Mackeral coloured Yozuri sinking plug and trailed it fruitlessly around the Western headland and into the little bay that I used to call 'Boat Cove'. Not a touch - never mind it was all good practice and part of the learning curve. The part that told me that fishing off a race board probably is not the ideal option. I'm guessing it's as easy as racing on a fishing board.

MAKE SHIFT FISHING BOX

By the time that I got back to the beach the tide had pushed up so far that there was no beach head left and I had to 'Gingerly' surf in and carry the entire assembly level up the steep shingle bank. Another lesson learned.

So heres the download of the trip using Everytrail.com which I pinched from a recommendation by Ponobill on the Standupzone.

Perranuthnoe sup paddle

The app is dead easy to use and once I had deleted the part of the trip that was recorded driving from Hayle to Helston actually made a bit of sense. Just hover over the panel and click on the little icons at the bottom right of the window to view the data in either graph or list format.
Little bursts at 5mph average of 2.5mph total trip of 4.1 miles. Easy.

Top stuff and just £1.79 from the app store.

The recording was all made possible by being able to pop the iphone into this little Gizmo

amazing bit of kit available here (blatant plug) http://triworld.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=98 and I reckon at £14.99 it's a bargain. They do audio enabled pouches as well as waterproof ear phones, bum bags, ruc sacks and storage sacks. Great range of kit and decent prices.

OK - Movember - what's the score?

In the shop we have decided to get behind the Movember movement that raises money worldwide for prostate cancer charities. Everybody gets a bit 'charity battered' these days so what we thought we would do is fleece everyone for a £1, not set our sights too high, grow the facial hair, have a laugh and if nothing else stick two fingers up to prostate cancer!!!

And then I thought,

'Hang on - here I am bashing out this blog just for the love of it,

(and of course for the hundreds of free boards, paddles, wetsuits, leashes and cash that come pouring through my letter box on a daily basis)

all totally ad free, and maybe, just maybe some of the 1500 or so visits to the blog each month might like to chip in a $1 or a £1 and maybe even get inspired to get in touch with their own prostate, you know get to grips with the old fellow, check him out, say high. I'm guessing that most of you reading this have one and would probably appreciate keeping most of it intact.

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Anyway if you feel that you want to do something join our team here for a £, or a $ or just grow your own and raise a bit of awareness throughout Movember.

Mail me a pic and I'll post it on the blog - (faces not gooches).

Come on - Go Global for your Gland - Paddle your Prostate - Get stuck right in and Feather up your face.

Cycle Logic MOVEMBER team site here site here

Nah Skwell 12'6" Race - Seriously?

2010-10-17T20:48:00.010+01:00

I have no idea what's going on here sometimes. There's me, in my comfy little cocoon, mooching about buying the odd one or two surf boards and pretending like I know exactly what I'm doing and that I have a grip on things when

B O O M

I end up driving up to Watergate bay to collect an ex-demo Nah Skwell 12'6 Race Board - I mean come on - me on a Flouro pink white and grey 6" thick leviathan of foam filled glass sporting a fin as big as a sail. To be honest it looked to me like something Pocahontas should be paddling down the Pamunkey River.

Actually it looked pretty cute, and after relieving Rich of his board and an amazingly light carbon Xpaddle I trogged back off to the car to load it on the roof. Thought that I was done with that sort of stuff.

John Hibbard busted me just as I got into the car park.

'It's not mine honest mister'

I lied - well actually it wasn't yet.

'I'm just looking after it for a friend'

'Why am I explaining myself to this man? He is a mine of information, just shut up and listen.'

We had a quick chat and conscious of the fact that Charmaine wanted to get something from her only day off as well we booted off.

Having done all the stuff that I should do I drove down to Carbis bay to beast the beast. Cos it was going to be easy right? Wrong!!

Something Rich had said that I dismissed out of hand at Watergate came drifting back into my consciousness as I wobbled, corrected, over corrected and teetered my way off the Beach. Something about being wobbly at first. Really!!!

The board tip's like it's going to roll totally but then gets to a point and tightens up, by which time I had already corrected my foot weighting, pitching me over to the other side. Ok,ok, relax and paddle and relax and paddle - there we go, phew that was a bit of a shock.

The bottom of the NS126R has a well defined keel that gets very prominent towards it's well defined prow (do surfboard's have prows? This one does). In fact everything about this board is well defined, not least the colour scheme, which I have to admit was beginning to grow on me.

Other than a 2 minute paddle on Steve Carter's Starboard Point a year or so ago I have never been on a race board so I did to it exactly what I thought a race board would need. I gave it beans. Rich had lent me a new carbon XPaddle and we were getting on just fine, I felt that even with the insanely high standing position afforded by the NS126r's deck the paddle was a tad too long but it was so light and easy to swing even with the bigger blade than my Nitro sports. The shaft was super skinny and round, which I like, and even allowing for the fact that there was no grip on the shaft I really dug the 'steely stiff' feel of paddle. Might have to fight me for that one Rich.

Once I got the roll - hold - roll thing under control we made steady progress out into St Ives Bay. I had my iphone running with a gps app but like a total twat with fat fingers I had failed to correctly press the 'GO' button at the start so that was a waste of time. I had wrapped the phone in yards of polythene bag and popped it into a water proof bum bag. Have to get that sorted.

Once I decided that I was going to blow my tits off if I kept up the stroke and weight that I started with I settled down and began to enjoy myself. I messed about with my cadence, I counted my strokes per side, I took some pictures and I began to wish that I had brought some fishing gear. This board's a blast. It's pretty much flat calm, dead loss for surf and here I was in the middle of St Ives bay feeling pretty much in control of things thinking

'This has got potential'.

Black Cliffs

Turning at the Channel Markers

Hayle River Mouth

I kept a heading for Godrevy across the bay and when I got level with Black Cliffs I turned for the Channel markers. Heading back the very light breeze was now on my shoulders and the board seemed to sing with the lightest of paddle strokes. I wish the gps had been working as the feeling of speed during this leg was significant.

Skirting the beach back past Hawke's Point, I started to dig deeper and faster on the home stretch. I was really enjoying this. Beaching the board I thought that I would drop off the phone and then just ass about and test the tilt factor, plus I was so hot I needed to get in the water as up till now my hair was still dry and I was poaching in my summer suit.

The second loop took me off the beach and out of the bay past Sunny Corner towards St Ives. I stepped back on the board as far as I dared and paddled a couple of left and right 360' turns. Again the board would lean, tighten up and correct. My hair stayed dry.

I have to admit I have no idea what to look for in a board like this. I have no benchmark and no comprehension of what is good bad or indifferent, but I know that I enjoyed it and in the short time, 80 minutes or so that I was on it I knew that I was going to be blanking a lot less this winter, and that has to be a good thing.

Walking back up the beach to the car I thought 'The handles in the right place', how good is that? If a company can get it right on a board over 12 long even factoring in a fin and leash . . . .

Ok I have not been over the board with a fine tooth comb but there are some really nice touch's dotted about. For instance - the detailing on the deck. There were two pairs of fittings up front for I believe additional handles which I'm already planning to use as hold downs for a fishing box. There is a vent screw and an additional leash plug part way up the deck, one more and I will be able to use straps to carry the board.

JP If you read this can I fit an additional leash plug in the deck forward of the handle recess? If so How??

So there we are - From a lame sort of Google Earth reckoning that first trip was a tad under five miles and loads more to come from this baby I think. I'm already loving it and thinking about waterproof iphone packs, tackle box attachments etc etc etc . . just wish I knew what the hell I was talking about.

If Chuck Norris had a surfboard .. ..

2010-10-12T20:40:00.004+01:00

Here's something that you don't see everyday, two genuine, first generation ULI inflatable surfboards. A 6' x 24" twin fin fish waxed and used and a 7'6"x26" twin fin minimal unwaxed and never used. Both 5" thick. I'm the wrong side of 14stone and have ridden the little one, not a pretty sight but it does the job when you need to scatch that itch.

These boards inflate in seconds (well under two minutes) and pack up so small that you can easily smuggle them into the holiday luggage, only to miraculously produce them at an opportune moment instantly making you the hero of those all too frequent

'Whoops, I've lost /broken / had stolen / forgotten, my surfboard!' moments. Priceless.

Tougher than Chuck Norris, . . .

Chuck Norris doesn’t believe in Germany.

If you want a list of Chuck Norris’ enemies, just check the extinct species list.

Chuck Norris has never blinked in his entire life. Never.

Chuck Norris doesn’t need to swallow when eating food.

Chuck Norris is so awesome he gave himself a vasectomy, before he fathered his kids

. . . yet still kind and sensitive to the skin like a ball pool full of Abyssinian Guinea pigs soaked in Pro Generis Oil of Olay, making them perfect to teach the little un's all about surfing before sending them out into the world of VW T5 ownership. OOoh I hope that does not come across as being a tad cynically stereotypical?

Great fun boards my preference would be to sell them both for £325 with one pump but would seperate at £150 for the 6'er and £200 for the minimal both with pumps. Postage easily arranged at £15 (UK Mainland) tops as they would pretty much fit in a padded envelope.

I could possibly be tempted with a swap / px cash either way for something interesting - tempt me. Or at least pass on some more Chuckies!!

Happy reflective SUP Birthday to me.

2010-10-10T10:41:00.009+01:00

I just got back from an early Sunday morning 'nothing to shout about' session and re-read my first ever post on this blog http://csx355.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html and realised that it was pretty much three years ago to the day that I bought my first Stand Up board a Jimmy Lewis 11'from Tim at the Longboard house, and started down this road. Seems longer somehow.

I cant quite recall the exact web info that made me decide to buy one but I do seem to remember an article about Olaus Mcleod

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2007/03/26/scillies_sennen_feature.shtml

and his original SUBCULTURE website that was pretty inspirational.

The first post on the blog was on the 28th of January following a holiday in Mauritius where I got to know an ULI 11' travel board prompting me to start writing the blog in the first place. Clinton Yap a.k.a. 'Steamroller' was the initiation of that with his amazing video clips surfing 'Ovah Rocks' on his ULI. Other videos followed like driving over the boards with his 4x4 and generally having a ball and not taking anything too seriously. Fantastic stuff. Still keep in touch with Clinton, Chris and Jim at ULI - great guys all of them, genuine and helpful.

The first person to comment on the blog was 'Stoneaxe' from the Standupzone, it's always been the comments that have made the blog worth writing sort of still comes as a surprise that anyone actually reads this.

Hooked up in the real world with Gavin another Jimmy Lewis user in December 2007 and we surfed every available Sunday through the winter and into Spring 2008 before both realising that we needed more from our boards. So by March we had both bit the bullet and had bought Starboard Extremist's, me a 9'8" and Gav a 9'0. Again as I write this it does not seem that long ago but the board choice available at the time in the UK was probably fractionally less than the number of Catholic priest's that didn't have multiple facebook accounts.

There were a few C4's and 3 or 4 Starboards, the Jimmy Lewis' some windsurfy crossovers but that was pretty much it. We tried the 10'6 C4 but that felt a little beyond us at the time and so the flat rockered call of the 30" wide Starboard's were the way that we went. The whole appeal of 'shorter than 10' was a big draw and thanks to the amazing stability of the boards and John Hibbard's willingness to let us demo them, we were of and paddling.

Re-reading the old post's the change from the Jimmy to the Starboard was not an easy transition and took a bit of acclimatisation. I would love to go back now and have a go on one of those boards just to see what they are like with the passage of time.

I can see a Starboard joining the family again soon - just not sure which one.

So we surfed our tit's off on the little red and white SB's and began to hanker for 'something' I'm not quite sure that at the time either of us new what that was, it was as if the Starboards had opened a door for us but were just that bit too wide to let us through. That's actually a pretty good metaphor for what was happening although strictly speaking it was not simply the width of the boards it was more a combination of our low skills level, coupled with the wide, flat, stable boards and a moderate increase in our ability to push harder each session on open beach breaks that started us looking for that extra 'something'.

The Starboard encouraged me to start to think about what and how the actual shape of the boards affected their overall performance, not just surf performance but paddle, static and wave entry sort of stuff. Deep ehh? But it was an eye opener and educational.

If the Starboards opened the door, the purchase of a 2nd hand 10' C4 BK pro showed me how to go through it, at warp factor five. This board was such a handful at 27" wide it scared the shit out of me every time I took it out, but what a surf board. Totally uncompromising, totally focused and the first time that I thought 'This sport has no limits'.

Time spent on the BK was well spent BUT there was no resting, no stopping and plenty of flailing and falling. It had to have decent pucnhy conditions to get going but I liked it.

What next? Easy, the C4 classic 10' slightly less aggressive and a little more stable but still very surfable with the bonus feature of being able to stop and look around. Glide was good too allowing early wave catching BUT it was still 10' long and the Starboards had shown us the promised land of 9' something.

I had been following a blog online http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/ written by and starring Dwight and Jackie Fisher, I had left a few comments on his blog as he had on mine, there was a little network of surfer's following the same path. Eric Linter's 'How to' collective site amongst many others.

DW's blog was always much more visual and Dwights technical expertise and board manufacturing experience offered great insight as volumes and rockers were compared when new boards finally surfaced in real life.

Gav then bought a 10'6 Naish (he still had his 9'0 Extremist). The Naish was an amazing fully rockered board which surfed so well, problem was it was a foot too long to be really practical, on the strength of this however I ordered a 9'6 Naish Hokua only to have a rush of blood at the last minute and swap it out for the 9'3". That was 18months ago and although I spent 3 or 4 weeks thinking that I had made a mistake it would take something truly special to prise it out of my dying hands now.

It was about this time that C4 had launched the Sub Vector and DW was extolling it's virtues as a one board quiver option. I have yet to ride an SV but Dwight has since picked up the Naish baton and not only run with it but cleared the stadium.

Since having the 9'3 Hokua I have bought an ULI Lopez inflatable such a good board, similar shape to my Naish very surfy, super light and loads of fun. A 7'8" Nah Skwell fish founf it's way into my boadroom that proved beyond doubt that smaller SUP's can be easy, stable and fun. The convenience of living with a sub 8' board is a revelation and the ego boost is stellar, however for me the board was a 'one peak' product. My Naish has little glide but I can paddle it a mile or two up and down the beach while I patrol the break. This is something that you give up a little of with the Nah Skell, and I would venture with other boards that are as short, not a problem, but not for me at the moment. I also had a Bonga Perkins 9'6", Very pretty, very surfy and were it not for the Naish very keepable but no point in having both. Bloody good value though.

So, to what was meant to be my wish list board, the Mctavish 9'0. What a total disappointment. I ordered it early, it turned up late and totally out of balance on the handle - call me a ponce but it really matters, and it was heavy, at least I thought so. Construction looked ok but come on ok for a board costing well over a grand - nah!! Fortunately the guys at TIKI were good as gold and did not hold me to it, they sold it on very quickly. I notice that it has sold on again twice since. MMnn.

So my Naish - it's the longest that I have kept a board and is now my only board other than my ULI's. It always delivers and realistically I should just order another but there is a 9'er somewhere out there with my name on it. The Naish Mana with a slightly wider nose might just open some more doors to me. I have plans, who knows . . . been fun this.

Nah Skwell 8'8"

2010-07-08T07:40:00.004+01:00

Knowing that I only had a few days to try the NS 88 I was hoping for a bit of a let up in the weather, we had the swell but along with it was 15 - 20mph onshore winds. That coupled with pretty much bang on low tides after work meant just one thing at Gwithian. Hideous, dumpy closeouts, (is that three things?). Anyway the forecast was looking better for Thursday, so in true forward planning style I decided to give it a bash mid beach on Wednesday night.

Sure enough trotting across the beach and staring out at chest high walls of white water I almost said to myself 'Sod it, I'll go back and watch the tour', but there is something about the investment that it takes to put on a wetsuit, even if it's only a little shorty, that makes it inevitable that it going to get wet, plus even with the stiff, gusty wind in my face carrying the little 8'8" was dead easy and not at all like fighting with some mad, kiting, wing of foam that almost has to be dragged flapping down the beach. It's the little things like this that can make a board grow on me.

Low tide Gwithian, like most flat beaches, is full of pits and hollows that churn the inside wash, pushing the board out until it was more than fin deep I had already made up my mind that it was going to be a short session given that I could get out at all.

Popping up onto the deck for the first time told me instantly that this was going to be fine. It was solid as a rock. I kept the nose pointed seaward and paddled alternate sides through the inside wash with no drama until I got caught in that 'pitching zone' just between the safety of the green and the inside maelstrom. Ok down on my knees and bide my time nose on, until I made my dash for the relative calm out back between what passed for a lull.

That was better than I thought but it had taken about 15 minutes to get out and I was knackered.

The swell was chest to head high and not well shaped, the waves were sort of all or nothing making taking off a case of going what seemed to be suicidally late, and I did not particularly want to get caught inside and battle my way out again. So I waited and realised that although the chop was lively I could stay on the board and up right. Ok I fell a couple of times but it was choppy, windy and this was my first outing. Top stuff.

After a couple of aborted attempts to drop in, two of which had me stepping forward to weight the nose resulting in me slipping off the front I made a note to 'self'. Wax!!! I caught a couple of pitching set waves and got the feel that the board was keen to go, conditions were not good but staying on it was a bit of a victory.

I caught one in and felt very positive - this board should sing in the right conditions, and judging from this session, the right conditions could be far from perfection.

Next day - phone call to Rich

'Hi Rich it's Steve, do you mind if I wax your nose?'

I jumped quickly back in as the pregnant pause told me he was probably bucking up courage to ask for a back, sack and crack as well and I knew that I had to stem that one pronto.

'And can I keep it for a few more days - please?'

No problem.

So, tonight - back to the same spot - the wind had dropped a bit, but more importantly had gone around and was cleaning up the head high sets. The nose was waxed up and every thing looked good to go. Paddling out was fine and I found myself a clearish slot although there were plenty of surfers up and down the beach.

The waves were punchy but going no where. I picked off the second of a set, dropped into a right and just had time to stick in a decent bottom turn back up and off the face of the already threatening lip before popping out still on my feet. Marker down, now relax.

It was not easy, staying on the board was fine - patrolling up the break was good but the speed that the waves were forming up and detonating in shallow water left no time for me to settle. That plus the sheer number of prone surfers in the water made it harder to find a shoulder in space. I had a few but everyone was struggling and every now and then a few big 'sneakers' came striding through just to keep everyone on their toes.

The board then, it's a cracker - a proper surfboard that is 'fairly' easy to stay on and has plenty of float and stability even for someone of my weight (currently 14 1/2 stone, 92.5kgs, the 9'3" must a doddle). BUT it is a shortboard and you need to be 'working' it consistently. It turns hard and fast and even after just two sessions it has been one of only two boards that has not needed too much acclimatisation to stand on and paddle even in pretty adverse conditions. Funnily enough the other was the Nah Skwell 7'8".

Standing and paddling on them is one thing catching waves is another. The transition between patrolling, spotting, paddling to and accelerating into a suitable wave requires so many adjustments, considerations and pre-emptions that are all highlighted on shorter boards. For me on the NS88 this was going to need some work.

Shorter boards don't have the glide and early bump catching speed of boards that are 10' plus. You have to go late, often just under the lip, this means the board needs rocker and lots of it, not just to prevent pearling but also to enable you to set the rail on it's edge and use the rocker to turn the board quickly to the safety of the shoulder, away from the curl. The NS88 does this, however for me the stability plus of the board that comes from it's totally flat hull led me to sort of 'skid' and 'slip' into the catch sometimes just wrong foot me. This is not a criticism, it's the nature of the board and with time and familiarisation could be utilised as a great way to slip in sideways.

I felt the need to get to the front to weight the board but often ended up just side on with the nose dipping under the water stalling any momentum that I had and watching the wave go past. Even then with the nose buried it was solid as a rock and totally recoverable. Setting myself up for the catch was the one thing that I felt that I would need to spend some time getting used to and I think that for a 8'8" performance board that's pretty bloody amazing.

This then got me thinking, my Naish has a pretty well defined central keel line running the length of the board, it does make it tippy compared to the Nah Skwell but I reckon it offers some 'drive' and 'bite' when making those last few paddle strokes that keeps the board pointing where you want or expect it to go rather than have it slip and skid out.

Like I said every board I try teaches me something, but then again it could all be total bollox.

It's Been Awhile

2010-07-07T23:05:00.007+01:00

It's not because I've not been surfing, in fact even while I was vanless I still managed to get out on the ULI Lopez carried in a rucsac on my little Honda 250. Great fun and a fantastic way to stick two fingers up to the principle of 24hour car parking charges recently imposed at Gwithian.(You can't put a pay and display ticket on a motorbike).

No more sneaking in early mornings before the attendant is on duty. Must be making the council tons of money(NOT!!!), as bizarrely in addition to the 24hr pay and display machines the council still have an employed attendant in place - smart!!

Anyway the van replacement is now on the road along with this little puppy that I've been getting to know.

30 years old, Unmolested, 15000 mile, 2owner(now 3) 653cc of thundering parallel twin insanity. Mellow, fun, ridiculously cheesy and I love it. It has to rank as the best way to check the surf,

Having thinned out a few of my boards and pretty much resigned myself to hang tight on the Naish I get a call from Rich -

"Hey Steve - do you fancy having a punt on the Nah Skwell 8'8"

"Sure - I'll get my cheque book" - here we go again.

So I immerse myself in the details of the board in order to try and pre-determine my ability to ride it, and when the board pitches up out comes the tape and calipers. (sad twat I know but hey).

These are my actual measurements compared to the Naish 9'3"

Length is 8'8" versus the Naish 9'3"
Width is 29.5" versus 29 1/4"
Nose is 17.5" versus 15"
Tail is 18" versus 17"
Nose and tail taken 12" down

Plenty of nose rocker but not as aggressive as the Naish and the bottom is pretty much pan flat whereas the Naish has a highly pronounced 'keel' or 'V' running full length. So what does all this mean?

First things first, first impressions. That's three firsts.

Like the Naish the Nah Skwell 8'8" is a long shortboard, not a short longboard. It looks right, even the little swallow tail works although I'd like a pin, don't really know why just would. Hard rail edges extend way down the rocker line towards the nose, and the satin / matt white finish has an almost industrial look about it.

Standard central fin box with two side bites secured with screws from the deck, Mnnn not sure about those. The deck grip is much more restrained than my 7'8" Nah Skwell and covers two thirds of the deck. The central handle is smaller than most but deep, annoyingly it's still just off balance, not as bad as the Mctavish as the tail does not drag but why don't manufacturers just give up with deck handles and fit leash plugs, boring I know. The great thing is the board is light, very light could even be Naish light and that's bloody light, I'll weigh it tomorrow.

I think it's fair to say that the 8'8" is not a 'Hang on the wall board' instead it looks like you would not be afraid of giving it a damn good seeing to without crying about every nick, chip and ding, you know just like a proper surf board.

So back to the question - What does all this mean? Ok - I like this game. Every board I have had or borrowed has taught me something. I still don't know much but I have a better understanding about how rocker and nose and tail profiles affect boards, and I reckon that this one is going to be as stable if not more so than the 9'3. Why? Because even though the board is 7" shorter, the slightly reduced nose rocker and 'hippier' plan carries further down the length of the board resulting in more board in the water. The Nose is also going to add massively to the stability in chop, not sinking so easily.

I'll let you know if I'm right.

RANTS BIKES SUP'S AND KITES

2010-05-05T22:19:00.007+01:00

Anyone that reads this stuff probably has a good idea by now that I have a habit - it's called compulsion. I recognise it and to be honest I celebrate it - my compulsion's are usually born from genuine passion and in my defence there have not actually been that many over the years. Fishing - Rugby - Motorbikes - Surfing - Push bikes - Triathlon and anything involving the sea, not getting bored and staving off wearing pissy smelling fleece jackets that seem to accompany the onset of middle age and terminal tedium.

I'm fortunate in that I can usually indulge my compulsions, not in a 'Bollox I'll buy a new Porsche' sort of penis substitute sort of way, but more of a £1500 quid MG Midget sort of whim way, if that makes any sense at all.

Charmaine has pretty much given up on trying to contain my disease, of course we'll go through the initial 'what do you want another board for?' stuff, but she knows it's got to go through the process until the possesion thing happens and all my internal boxes are ticked and then I can move on to the next compulsion.

I actually envy people who have lifelong single passions like . . . I dunno running - that's a good one I would love to like running as a passion but the problem is I just couldn't deal with having that seemingly permanent dribble of semi dried caked spittle tracing down from the corner of my mouth, and I'd look shite in running shorts, and, well I just don't think that I could get that horny about a new pair of running shoes or think of enough excuses why so and so beat me. But a new board or a new road bike or another motorbike - hell that's something else . . that's something that tugs from deep inside something . . unreasonable - passionate - selfish even.

So - the story so far -

I drove Charmaine's car, nothing special in that except that it's a VW Bluemotion Polo and it does an average of 73mpg. AN AVERAGE. So there I was beating down the bypass at 80 plus and I checked out the mpg readout and it said 85mpg - WHAT??? The car is no rocket ship but it is fun, and lively and it cost's nothing in road tax like ZERO and it uses less fuel in a month than it costs to boil a kettle, and, I thought 'I want some of that rightous greenism'.

So I started touting my Vito about the dealerships and was amazed at how much Merc would give me for it after three years and 33,000 miles. So amazed I sold it to a customer.

It's not like it was particularly thirsty 27-35 mpg for a 3.0 v6 diesel, 205bhp 0-60 in 8 seconds auto van, it's just that I fancied something that would do 50 plus mpg carry my board and impending motobility scooter and full range of varying thickness aromatic fleece jackets to the surf with . . .

So having sold the van and with at least 12 weeks before the new bus arrives I went surfing, . . . . on my moped. ULI Lopez on my back and no car parking fees, and you know what - I had a ball. The look on peoples faces as I walked back to the ped with a 10' SUP and paddle and proceeded to pack it all away and then disapear out of the car park in a haze of Aprilia generated two stroke smoke, accompanied by the sound of a thousand wasps in the confines of an empty Party Seven tin. Wonderful. Life does not get much better than that, then I saw this -

http://www.surferpeg.com/

And I thought 'Great - but not on the Moped' - I know I'll get a SLR650 Honda single, or a Bonneville, or a Kawasaki cruiser Twin or maybe being totally content in the trouser department I'll pick up dirt cheap 250 Honda Nighthawk twin and email the surfer peg guys and see what they can do. I'll let you know how it goes.

In the mean time and against my better judgement I bought a Flexifoil Big Buzz, I know what your thinking but actually it's a kite, and it packs away to nothing, and I took it down on the beach in 20mph Northerly onshores, and had a blast. Gavin - if you say I told you so I'll run you down with the Ped!. Ok it's only a small two line kite but - it has got me thinking . . . .

Mctavish - The shortest time I've ever owned a board.

2010-04-08T22:38:00.002+01:00

Getting back in the swing of things now - had a few Sunday, sloppy sessions at Gwithian and had my first full fat beating in the middle of the week. An evening session that had overhead surf and blistering offshores put my lack of paddle fitness to the test. Not nice and I should have known better but it's been pretty desperate and as the clocks had gone back I thought I better make the most of it. WRONG!!

One thing that was definitely right though was going to see Joan Armatrading for the start of her latest UK tour - last time we saw her was 25 years ago and we were worried that her voice may have suffered with time. Not a bit - in fact if anything it seemed even stronger and richer than before and if anything more confident on stage, however she don't say much!!! Nice mix of old and the new 'This Charming Life' album which is a bit rockier. Great stuff and totally recommended - Swear that I spotted Billie Jean King there, might be mistaken.

So the Mctavish - Gutted. Unpacked it like a kid at Christmas - perfect not a mark, I thought that it looked similar in finish to my old Starboard 9'8" but I would guess that it would be a bit less chip prone than that as board construction have moved on a bit - haven't they?

Everything checked out with my naive set of requirements. Pointy nose but wider than the Naish, significantly less nose rocker, and the rails held their width over a greater length before pulling into the tail with the stinger steps. Great so far. Whip the board over and a full set of fin fitments. Quad / 2 plus 1 you name it - it's all there. The fins - all of them were supplied as well, this is going to be fun. Stick my hand in the handle and BOLLOX this can't be right, the tail was dragging on the floor, with no f'ing fins and no f'ing leash.
NOOOO!!
In November I was assured by Mark Kelly (Kel) from GSI that all the UK stock would have this fault remedied. It wont affect the way the board surf's and a couple of leash plugs set in the deck would cure it - but . . . BUT double bloody arse.

Tiki were good as gold and smiled,(no doubt through gritted teeth), and took the board back to check out the score with HQ and promptly sold it that week. That'll teach me for being a fanny. It was hard seeing that board go back out the shop but I gave up carrying SUP's on my shoulders when I sold my Jimmy Lewis 11' and I ain't starting that all over again. No firm date for more boards yet either and to be honest the shines gone off it a bit especially as . .

I paddled out at Gwithian tonight on my Naish having climbed down the rapidly disappearing cliff in front of the car park, cos that's what I do. The Naish complete with fins and leash, and paddle all in one hand was super light and perfectly balanced - the tail of the Mct would have been toast before I got to the bottom, sorry guys but it would have driven me nuts. Shame. It did make me realise just how good the Naish is - the surf was small and slack but it was clean with a few waist high sets pushing weakly through, no fireworks but I had a decent little session.

The whole thing has got me thinking seriously about the boards that I have and the insane addiction to collecting more and more. So now it's one in and one out. (yeh right).

Anyway first up to go is my original 11' ULI Inflatable. I had plans for using it as a fishing/cruising board and while I have no doubt that it will be tough enough to cope with strings of dancing hooks I reckon it might be prudent to use a hard board instead. List price for one of these puppies is $1395 plus all the associated import costs - yours with a pump and bag for £495.

I may be persuaded to trade it for something interesting - Surftech Lopez possibly - try me - I'm easy.

This was the board that prompted me to start writing this stuff and my initial thoughts impressions and pictures can be found here.

http://csx355.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

2010-03-26T22:25:00.002Z

Now that's how you store boards on holiday
And not a single baggage charge amongst them

It's strange how fast things can go downhill sometimes, and how soon after your highest high's you get your lowest lows. Our Costa Rica trip was amazing, surfed everyday bar one sometimes twice a day and occasionally three times. Totally ace. But I reckon I sort of peaked in Nosara, and everything since has been cold, wet grey and painful. Here's why.

I had exchanged a couple of emails with Jim Weir from ULI and had arranged to hook up with him for a couple of days to say hello and catch a few waves, that was going to be on the 19th of Jan. 17th of Jan I was getting down to my usual morning business and just paddling out for another wave when as I stepped back to lift the nose up over the incoming wash I heard / felt a loud 'pop' and the lights went out. The left to right swell had taken the nose of the board sideways along with my lower leg. Trouble was the rest of me was going the opposite way. My first thought was that I had broken my leg and it was all I could do to lie across the board and prone paddle back to the beach. Back on the sand it was obvious that it was my knee - 'game over' I thought. . . . . .

OK what was that mnemonic for injuries I C E? Yeah that's it
Ice . Compression . Elevation (actually it was RICE but I substituted Rest for Lots of Beer and L I C E did not seem such an attractive idea, plus Rest was out of the equation. So I iced it up and unbelievably managed to find a perfect knee brace in a Costa Rican super market, and drank loads of Imperial and ate Ibuprofen and paracetamol and by giving the surf a miss all the next day I managed to hobble about enough to get to the 4x4 two days after the event and drive to our rendezvous with team ULI.

The evening session was thankfully short, and choppy so I don't think I looked too bad, the next morning we scored some small, perfectly formed waves and I had a lesson in nose riding from Jim as he cruised past me serenely in perfect trim. I was not on form, my knee was just holding up but we made the best of it and had the best, longest breakfast ever.

Not looking bad for 60 - Jim must be getting on a bit as well!!

Jim and his pals Larry and John are the funniest guys and the least pretentious people you could wish to meet. Charmaine was in fit's of giggles the entire time and we made a point to watch the Sponge Bob Squarepants movie as soon as we got home. I hope to meet up with them again sometime.

Jim Weir and Larry

Anyway we saw out the remainder of our holiday and met up with Kath and Richard for the last few days of the trip, taking the opportunity to catch the Rodeo again. Brutal and all the more real for one of our fellow hotel guest's getting to take part. Crazy Dave.

Two days back home and my leg from my knee to my ankle got so swollen I started thinking DVT. Having got it checked out it I realised that I was now paying the price for running on Ibuprofen for the last week of the holiday. It was almost a month later before I felt that I could risk getting back on the board. My Naish felt so scatey that I could barely kneel on it let alone stand. That coupled with me 'covering' my knee made me very wooden on the board. After a while I loosened up a bit but stale does not describe my performance properly. It was almost another three weeks before my next attempt during which time I had sunk so low in the miserable winter conditions that I picked up the phone to cancel my Mctavish, the conversation went something like this -

'Hi Steve, it's Steve Coram - any chance of cancelling my 9'0 Mctavish, I'm surfing like a girl and feel shite about everything, put on all the weight I lost pre christmas and have a bit of a water retention problem at the moment, plus it's cold and grey, raining and I'm a bit pissed off.'

To which he replied

'Not a chance - man up you big Jess and stop feeling sorry for yourself. . Twat'

'Fair enough.' I thought

Which brings me pretty much up to date barring today's conversation which went -

'Hi guy's where the hell is my Mctavish? I'm desperate'

' It's here, it's just arrived but as it's THE ONLY ONE IN THE COUNTRY we wanted to bring it down ourselves'.

Oh yeah - that's what I wanted to hear, my Mctavish is the only one in the country. Now the paranoia sets in, can I ride it? Will I like it? How is it going to compare with my Naish? Will the handle actually be in the right position?

Well if the spec sheet is anything to go by it should be 3" shorter, 1/2" narrower, the same thickness 4 1/4" and yet have 6 litres more volume. Which makes me think that the nose is going to be a bit wider and with the stinger quad tail carry the width further down the length of the board. I can't imagine that it will have more rocker than the Naish - Jeez that board has more nose rocker than Elvis . . so where does all that leave me. Pretty bloody amped actually. I'm hoping that with more board in the water me and Mr McT are going to get on just fine.

Early Mornings and Armadillos

2010-02-04T19:07:00.013Z

Now you might be asking yourself 'WTF has a long eared, belly shuffling, ant powered, armoured plated rodent with poor eyesight got the hell to do with paddlesurfing?'

Fair point, but it's being able to see stuff like this in the wild -

That makes it possible for me to do stuff like this -

There is so much . . . ergh . . nature going on that both Charmaine and myself can get our kicks without either of us feeling that we have had the bum's rush of holidays.

Going West for our holidays also has some major advantages for us, for many years we would travel East, India, Kenya,Sri Lanka etc. Great places offering humbling, mind blowing and life altering experiences with fantastically cheap living and the best food if you escape the tourist traps and eat with the locals. However there is a cost. Most Westerners are viewed as being fabulously wealthy in comparison to most locals and as such are targeted by the beach boys whose sales skills, memory recall abilities and persistence have to be seen to be believed.
Fun, at first, but tiring after a while and sometimes next to impossible to find 'space' just to sit on the beach alone and not fend off vendors. Sometimes it's difficult not to be rude, and I don't want to go on holiday to be rude. Lovely people, genuinely as curious about us as we are about them but difficult at times when you are eating breakfast and trying to dodge any eye contact with your new 'friends' on the beach.

Costa Rica is not like that, you can walk along a beach (a long one) and not see anyone else, and even this year on Playa Guiones as busy as it was you have zero beach hassle. You always feel safe, never intimidated and always can find your own space. Plus as we travel West and Costa Rica is 6 hours behind the UK I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed at 3am in the morning making paddling out pre-dawn at 5.30am feel like mid morning to me. This gave me the opportunity to see some beautiful sunrises, surf an empty break (for an hour or so) and still get to breakfast for 8.00am. Totally waisted by 9.00pm though!!

This pretty much set the tone of our stay, up first light and straight into into a chest-high offshore wave fest without even checking. Sometimes a lunchtime session and followed up with a much busier sunset sesh with the evening crowd.

Early in the week the winds were stiff offshore but more help than hindrance holding the waves up and providing excellent workable faces with massively long lefts and very workable rights. The Lopez was so much fun, never fazed and always capable of more than I could deliver.

It amazes me how a board with totally rounded rails can hold into a steep face so well and carve (for me) such a hard bottom turn. It's also noticeable how much turning force centres around the paddle in the wave face, always a bit of a worry with a three piece paddle but again the Werner Nitro gave me no cause for concern, quite the contrary in fact as I decided to get myself a one piece job for when I got back.

As the week went on the offshore winds got stronger and stronger, culminating in a couple of days and nights of virtually storm force conditions taking off sections of the Casa Romantica's roof. The force of the spray off the back of the waves was enough one day to take me off the board blinding me in a dense cloud of warm Pacific ocean. During these days I missed one morning session but still managed to keep up my 100% daily strike rate by sneaking into the slightly less windy evening slots.

It was during one of these windy sessions that I had the bizarre experience of paddling down the face of a wave only to be stopped dead in my tracks by a gust and pretty much held in stasis as the wave passed me by. It would be fair to say that these sessions were hard work, but great fun and not to be missed.

One of the more endearing aspects of the board that came to light was the way in which the fins would progressively 'release' their hold when standing on (read close to)the nose. Nothing drastic just a noticeable, controllable tail 'S..L..I..D..E' that made me think about the prospect of pulling off a helicopter. Fortunately thinking about it was as far as I got, however the nose heavy tail sliding sessions were great fun. The closer to the nose the easier and further the tail would slide round, yet the board's trim could be kept in check with slight 'nudges' of the knees.

Anyway all I know is that the board took everything in its stride and left me smiling. The only time that I thought that I needed anything slightly altered was during a session when the swell had picked up giving some just overhead set waves. This coincided with a rare onshore breeze. The catch was easy but the wave face was quite choppy, and the until then unnoticeable 'ULI BOUNCE' conspired to stick the nose in the chop once or twice causing me to pearl spectacularly. I have since discovered that my LOPEZ was one of the very early ones and subsequently they all have more nose rocker.

You never know who you are going to meet in places like this, the Casa Romantica is a very comfortable and friendly hotel and pretty soon all the guests get chatting over brekfast and around the pool during the afternoon siesta's. Most surf, and with it's own beach access you sort of spot the guests in the water. Ron and Ania were two guests that we got very chatty with, Ron was a fantastically tidy short boarder who was totally 'dialled' into his boards and very interested in the ULI. He rides an 8'11" Joe Blair at home

Ania is Buzzy Trent's daughter and is custodian of all Bud Brown's surfing archives. Lovely people and a pleasure to have met.

More to come including 'Crazy Dave' the bull rider and 'Team Uli on Tour'

'Party wave' !!!!

ULI LOPEZ - COSTA RICA

2010-01-27T17:50:00.019Z

December 20th was my last post, such a lot has happened since then it all just seems such a blur now. Since then I managed to get a couple of decent sessions in, one on Christmas Eve on the Bonga with Shane and another on a beautiful New Years day on the 7'8", but to be honest my head was already on the beach at Playa Guiones.

We just managed to dodge the snow and ice and flew out of Heathrow on time on the 6th of January, connecting painlessly in Houston to arrive at Liberia having been on the road for 24 hours. Those that read this regularly will probably be pleased to know that I'm going to keep the travelogue to a minimum. If you need more info about Costa Rica feel free to contact me but this blog is mainly about the people and the board. What a board!!

The ULI GL-X1 has been in my board shed since May, I have taken it out on occasions, pumped it up and had a few sessions on it but being a travel board I have basically kept it for travel and used my hard boards at home. I had packed the Lopez, an original 6' Uli surfboard, the new high pressure pump, spare Uli 3pc alloy paddle and my new 3pc Werner Nitro carbon paddle all in the same Gelert bag that I use to keep the Uli Steamroller in. All up weight still way under the 23kg bag limit. On arrival at the Casa Romantica we unpacked our kit, pumped the boards up fitted leashes, put the paddles together and made our way down to the beach to check out the surf. Not that we were keen but it took about 25 minutes tops.

The tide was pretty full with a decent swell forming plenty of usable peaks all down the beach, it was good to be back but where the hell had all these people come from? Last year Playa Guiones seemed to be a fairly quite, sleepy little place - 12 months on and the sea was full of surfers.

Nervously I paddled out, I had not been on a board for a week and it had been ages since I had been on the Lopez in decent surf. Desperately trying to avoid any eye contact I paddled out, up and over the wash. The pulled in nose and rocker made light work of the breaking waves and I was soon out the back with dry hair. Good start. Easing my way into some space I cruised along the line up hoping for a decent first wave. It's always good to throw down a marker not least to let other people know that you are basically competent, sort of sets their mind at rest.

Paddled for my first wave and . . . bugger it sort of slipped by with me putting my last paddle stroke in on the left when it should have been on the right. Result - missed catch, never mind still dry and no-one too close so paddled back to where I thought the next peak would be. Nose to the horizon I back-paddled rear to front on alternate sides and waited for the next chance. Back paddling swings the nose around massively with each stroke and providing the stroke is balanced with rail pressure and followed up with an opposite side normal stroke, I can scan for sets with my back to the beach and easily and very quickly turn the board 180' left or right with a single paddle stroke. Great for watching out for 'sneaker sets', maintaining position and 'sculling' in to adjust for a catch. The technique also helps me with balance, anyway next wave showed as I back paddled left, single front paddle right followed by a couple of digs and away - to a lovely peeling right which I managed to work top to bottom with a fairly hard slashy cutback thrown in before popping out the back neatly and smugly. Oh yes Uli Lopez 1 - rest of the world 0.

A good start to a session seems to set the tone and pretty soon I was making a pig of myself, pushing harder on the bottom turns and turning the board in down the line earlier on the catches. Very quickly I dialled in to the Lopez - this was going to be a fun trip and I did not think that I was going to miss my Naish 9'3 at all.

I decided not to milk the first session as I had the best part of three weeks here and paddled in after an hour and a half paddle surf orgy of indecently good waves in 26'c water - not bad for a first day - now where's that Imperial?

Photo's - some of the pics are mine, some are Charmaine's but the really good ones (apart from the beer of course) are by a guy called Jeff Logan. He set's up camp at the Guilded Iguana in Playa Guiones and can even make a muppet like me look reasonable - if you squint - and drink lots of the aforementioned Imperial.

Look him up if you are there he looks like this.

His contact phone number in Costa Rica for 2010 is the Guilded Iguana (2682-0259).
Jeff Logan
Email: jlog927@gmail.com
Skype: Logan.Photo

193 Lake Drive North
Orchard Beach
Ontario, Canada
L4P 3C8
1-416-560-5074

Off the Rails - Holiday Head - Round Up

2009-12-20T17:54:00.010Z

As expected the wheels have fallen off my 6 week SUP Specific plan.

Coinciding with the weekend of our works Christmas do, I sort of increased my ratio of rest days to work out days and it was going so well. Having said that it's not been a total loss, I have got shot of the best part of half a stone of lard (7lbs) and dropped a few waist sizes in my jeans PLUS I am now 13 stone something instead of 14 stone something. So that's nice. With the festivities almost upon us it's harder to find the time to disappear for an hour or so, not too concerned as on the 6th January we are on a plane and off to Costa Rica for a few weeks. Board shorts, offshore breezes, and a consistent waist to head high Nosara surf within stumbling distance of my bed. Sorry chaps but I am going to indulge myself here for a moment or two and bask in the glow of some of last years snaps just to get me in the swing of things.

NORTH END OF PLAYA GUOINES

OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLE RETURNING TO THE SEA AT OSTIONAL

LOOKING NORTH FROM NOSARA RIVERMOUTH OVER THE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY TOWARDS OSTIONAL - DOZENS OF EMPTY UNRIDDEN PEAKS

It's going to be an interesting trip this time as the Steamroller is staying at home and the ULI Lopez is coming with us. Hopefully this should give me a bit more scope to 'work' the walls a little more, the Steamroller was so much fun but with my limited ability it was more 'cruising' than 'bruising' last year. There is a good chance that we are going to hook up with some friends while we are out there as well and I might even take the ULI 7'8" MiniMal that has been lurking in my board room.

So with the old year coming to a close and plenty to look forward to in January I thought that I would take stock of the boards that I have had and ridden this year.

1. My Naish 9'3" this has been my first-choice board all year. Initially it was a bit of a clash between my ability (or lack of it) and the board's potential (unlimited). Gradually I became more comfortable and even though there are still choppy sessions when I fall more than I should the board delivers so much it's hard to leave it at home. In fact I have just given the board to Whippet to tidy up as it has collected a few minor rail dings over the past 12 months but given the total assing that it's had in this time it's been fantastic top notch build. I will probably rest it up when it comes back from Whip and try to spend some time with my other boards.

2. The Bonga Perkins 9'6" - This is the board that I want to ride more of in the new year. Everytime I take this board out I discover something else that I like about it. The teardrop shape with the fat forward section and super slim pulled in rear makes it very stable in chop but offers a loose drivey tail that I have not really had the opportunity to explore as I always default to the Naish. The stepped rails are another thing that sort of make sense in theory but I can't say that I have noticed their effect in practise (YET)! The Bonga has good glide and cuts through, up and over the white water well, and best of all - Its not dear. In fact it's almost half the price of some boards and the build quality seems cock on. It's not perfect the balance point of the recessed carry handle is just out which is so annoying especially when I surf Petes' as it's a bit of a trog to get there. Sooo I think I'll get Whippet to stick a couple of leash plugs in the deck and use the paddle to carry it, makes life so much easier.

3. The Nah Skwell 7'8" - This board has been a total revelation this year. There is just no way that I could have guessed that it would be possible for me to ride a board under 9' and this baby is under 8'. It's not mega wide either - there is a rash of super wide 30" - 34" short boards on the way which are going to bust open the concept of SUP's being huge and unmanageable, however they are wide and the Nah Skwell is still under 30". It seems to excel in smaller waves and makes it possible to eke out the most from the least. It does ride very flat on the wave face, I'm guessing like a conventional short board fish, but I really can't say for sure as I have never ridden any standard surfboard as short as this. It's not a board to crank up on it's rails, by me anyway but its fun, very convenient and it's only 7'8" fantastic.

So that's about it for this year, can't see too many more blog's before Christmas although with a bit of luck we should get some sessions in over the holiday so who knows, and then it's full tilt into 2010. My plans for the new year, spread the load and ride more boards, MMMnnnn Mctavish 9' due in February, eat less and take more pictures and bizarrely, maybe just maybe, ride some longer boards, downwind sort of style, might have to get some advice there but the rowing has got me thinking . . . . Watch this space.

Many thanks to all who have taken the time to read this stuff, and huge thanks to all those who have left a reply.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a healthy and peaceful new year.

Steve

2009-12-06T11:52:00.005Z

Finally this morning after three dry weeks I managed to drag my sorry ass out of bed early enough to check out what was going to be one of the few sheltered spots that would be working. Magicseaweed was giving this for Gwithian -

Swell 17ft @ 13secs
Wind 29mph

Got to the beach just after 8:00am to be greeted with a big, fat high tide and dozens of birds working the surf really close in. It looked like they were taking sand eel, whatever it was there was loads of it and they were filling their boots for winter, almost wanted to go back and get a rod.

Text from Shane said

'It's a bit full but it's going to crank as it drops back, and there is still some parking'

By the time I got there there was just one space left, I slipped in and got changed immediately. The word was out and cars were turning up left right and centre. We trogged off down the path and launched ourselves off the rock's at the cliff base into a decent, clean, chest to head high break.

The wave here gets a bit of backwash from the cliffs where we get in creating a lumpy left hand wedge. The short boarders love it and for a place that only really works when everything else is pretty much maxed out it's got a bunch of punch. I left Shane to get on with it and paddled outside past the half dozen or so guys that had made it in earlier than us. I took up my station way to the right of the last guy where there were a few more peaks and got down to it.

The further from the corner the more exposed to the wind you are, but it had to be better than battling with the pack on the first peak especially as there was a steady drip drip drip of more surfers coming down the path, thankfully they must have been cold as they all decided to 'huddle up' in the corner. I'm always amazed at how much water moves through here , it's almost as if the sea was convulsing, it was very clean just so strange.

Three weeks off the board coupled with the rising wind conspired to make things a little difficult for me. I caught plenty of waves but can't say that I made that good a show of it. getting caught inside was fun as well, a lot of power for such a small wave, straight out of deep water I suppose. Having said that I noticed that a few of the surfers were struggling as well so it's all relative I suppose. The wind was cross off and again I found that holding my mark with the nose into the wind made it more difficult to turn and catch as the wind would get under the nose rocker of the Naish making me concentrate more on staying on the board and less on paddling in. Turning away from the wind resulted in easier footwork and an easier catch. Trouble with this was I was being blown further down the beach, away from the lee and into harder conditions. I suppose I fell about a dozen times in the session, not too bad in hindsight.

I had some reasonable if not spectacular lefts and rights and decided to call it a day after my last right which was a decent little cover up, always end on a good one if possible. By the time I got out there must have been 30 people in what used to be a 'secret spot', including a group of three or four longboarders who again plumped for cuddling up on the inside. Not sure that they would have been too popular.

Back to the car changed up and off by 11.00 which made me realise how easy getting my new SNUGG winter suit on and off was. It was funny seeing guys struggling with their 5mm steamers, mine's 3mm and warm as toast, I have used it before but this was the first time when the conditions have really warranted it and it was the first time for the year in boots. MMnnn have to work on that one I think, for some reason I have been loosing the sensation in my toes the last couple of trips better today with boots, getting old I suppose things are bound to start falling off sooner or later.

Talking of which, better keep this short and sweet as I can hear the groans already, latest check post surf this morning 13 stone 10lbs OOhh Yeaahh. That's 192lbs ok ok I know its weighing my lowest low but hell that aint bad going. 4 weeks 190,000 meters to date (apparently 60,000 meters burns 1lb so the diet must be good as well) and I feel great. Two weeks to go and I can PIG OUT, silly thing is I don't want to now.

Follow the link for the last rowing session training chart.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tQFGnF8-r6vE9t7Dwu8-5pg&output=html

Blanked on Sunday - Go Row

2009-11-27T21:05:00.006Z

When is this weather going to change? Seems like we have had three weeks of Westerly storms fantastic swell but with winds averaging 30mph very few opportunities and spots sheltered enough to get in on Sunday.

Most of the places I stand a chance of getting in need half tide up to be in the lee. Winter waves eh, love em and hate them. Full of good intentions on Sunday even got a text from Gav which made me get down to Penzance, sure enough a great big fat wave pushing through in a place where it's usually calm as. Loads of longboarders and still very windy. I'm just making up excuses now but in any event I passed. Go on you - one more Kite Surfing comment - I dare you !!!

Anyway I made up for it in a small if not insignificant way by beasting the Rower in the bedroom. I'm writing this as I have just finished my third week. Five sessions a week and to date I have pulled myself stupid to the tune of 140,000 metres, and if I'm honest I'm actually enjoying it. How sad is this? My best 2000m split to date is 7minutes 23secs as part of a 5000m - 4000m - 3000m 2000m interval session. Should have finished with a 1000m split as well but was toast.

I'm rubbish at the long easy sessions, my head just is not in it, too easy and I get bored too hard and I end up avoiding the pain, so I don't do those, instead I end up doing various intervals that give me a session total of around 10,000 - 12,000 metres and a time of around 40 minutes. All this has resulted in me being able to see bits of my body that have not been visible for years. For instance I've discovered a few ribs and moving further South . . . . .

some hip bones. Still looking for that jaw though.

The end of the second week saw me loosing a bit of motivation as having dropped from 14stone 4lbs to 14 stone 1lb in the first week I sort of stuck there. This week has seen the scales tip in at a low of 13 stone 12lbs (post exercise). This is the first time I have been 13 something since primary school, well almost. Still three weeks to go, could 13 and a half be possible? I'm so chuffed. It's going to make riding that 9'0 Mctavish a doddle. Well easier anyway. God I fancy a pasty.

Sunday's session - Weight . . . Update

2009-11-19T08:04:00.013Z

South coast had been blown to bits Friday and Saturday and with a Westerly swell and high winds Sunday was always going to be a run for shelter. I met Shane at 11.00am at one of the most sheltered spots available to us. It was very sheltered!!

The tide was half way up and there were a couple of longboarders out but looking on from the cliff the we could see that they were having fairly long waits for anything half rideable. It would have been fun on a SUP but anything less would be beyond dull, and probably cold. I had a chat with one of the longboarders as he climb the path to get out. He looked liked he was getting the best of it but where he was the wind was strongest. Turns out he has a couple of Stand Ups as well, a Laird and a Starboard Whopper I think he said. Anyway we watched it for a while, contemplated going fishing instead and then decided to hang on until after lunch when the tide pushes up under the Dunes a bit more and try to get in at mid beach.

2.00pm and something must be happening, what used to be a quiet 'in the know' access spot was busy with cars all with boards on or board bags in. Shane had met up with Dan and Nick both shortboarders and we went in mob handed. There was quite a few in but still plenty of space, we found our slot and the lads got down to business. The wind was still between 16 and 20mph and I was struggling a bit to stay on the board, the biggest problem was turning away from the wave. The wind would get under the nose, the board would stall as I was ready to paddle in. It was pretty frustrating for twenty minutes or so until I found my groove and began to take some waves. Slowly I picked up my game but not before I heard howls of

'Next Time Try doing a TURN' shouted at me by Shane and the guys as I paddled back out.

Dan then proceeded to call the sets for me, Jeez please no more.

'Outside Steve' and 'Here comes a big one'.

They might not be very old but they are all masters at pisstaking. We had a blast and most of the line up was in stitches especially when Dan had a pop on my Naish. Give him credit, he was up and paddling about instantly and just managed a small inside wave. Fair play. Nice touch when he handed the board back saying 'How do you keep them in a straight line?' I had to think about that. 'J strokes pulling towards the nose before back along the rail'. I said, Jeez I'd forgotten how much I used to think about that sort of stuff.

Wave of the day for me was a lovely laid back, slashy cutback. I have been reading through Casso's new Australian Paddle Surfer magazine and have made it a mission to keep the paddle behind me whilst cutting back to the curl like the technique shows in issue 1. Sad eh? Well it sort of worked, well enough for the guys to hoot and Shane to clap me back out. Chuffed with that, just have to remember how I did it.

We stayed in until just before dark. The wind dropped throughout the session and we had moments of glass. Fantastic. As warm as I was in my summer Snugg SUSpec, my toes were beginning to feel the cold. Not really sure whats going on down there but one of them keeps going white. I don't want to wear boots, not yet.

One thing I noticed, as much rowing as I have been doing, and I reckon it's a lot, nothing beats my body up like a decent surf session. I ache for days afterwards, a good worked ache not a milky eyed, rheumatic, help needed in the bathroom ache. In comparison the rowing has hardly been an issue. So what about the rowing:

' Hi my names Steve and I eat too much'.

Starting weight 14 stone 4lbs

1st week Rowing Log

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tCEGaydHvYc14H4qw75Z1ug&output=html

Finishing weight 14 stone 1lb

So a loss of 3 lbs in my first week. Does not really seem enough for the work involved but I suppose there must be a bit of muscle building going on as well, pretty chuffed though and actually enjoying it at the moment and almost keeping to what I think is a fairly ambitious plan.

SUP Specific 6 week Indoor training plan

2009-11-13T20:05:00.011Z

Been thinking about this for a while and finally decided to do something about it. Having a body mass index describing me as verging on the obese (such a harsh word) and overweight has made me get my thumb out of my bum and start a structured 6 week pre Christmas training program. The key to this being the pre Christmas bit. Hopefully it will help me fend off the insane onslaught of the food and drink mountain that is about to reign down over the festive period.

The other incentive was my general fitness. I want to be able to do what I do for longer and weather the beatings better. I mean I'm 48 next month and with the darker evenings and the distinct possibility that too often the weather on Sundays is not always going to be conducive to surfing, the possibility of winter vegetation, expanding waistline and big smiles through several chins is looming fast on my horizon. When I started paddle surfing I was almost 15stone /210lbs/ 95.5kgs. Thankfully a lot of that has come off but I now seem to have reached a status quo.

The big question then is what indoor training method would be closest to and most beneficial for Stand Up Paddle surfing?

Easy. Which bits hurt the most after a decent couple of sessions?

Everything!!

Calves,thighs, back, shoulders, arms. Has to be some form of rowing machine and as it happens I have a Concept 2 lying about neglected. Perfect. And the best thing is that it's going to give me the same callouses on my hands that paddle surfing gives me . Double Bonus. So the next thing is to set it up in Kath's bedroom (she has sort of moved out) dig out my MP3 player and decide on what might be a sustainable, easy to follow program that should give me some weight loss, improve tone and hopefully help with stamina and strength.

In the past most of my 'Training schedules' have followed the same pattern. This sort of thing.

1 . . 2 . . 3 . . GO! GO Hard!! . . . . GO HARDER !!!! . . . BLOW UP

and collapse in a heaving, dripping mess of hairy sweat soaked salty flesh at the back door, convinced that I've done myself a power of good. I would then get bored after following the same routine for three days having pulled muscles, got sore feet, knackered my back, ripped my stomach muscles, suffered random bleeding from tear ducts, ears and most other orifices and had to endure the ignomany of walking down the stairs backwards in the mornings resulting in me not being assed about anything anymore and giving it all up until the next time.

But this time is different - because I'm going to go after a RAT, (Reasonably Attainable Target) and (and this is the killer) post my progress on my blog. How stupid is that? Which sort of got me thinking 'Iwander if anyone else fancies doing the same?' Sort of a cheapskate, cyber weightwatcher's for out of condition over the hill paddle surfers. Think of the shame of not making weekly progress. It could work, message or mail me if you fancy a bash, who knows where it might lead other than total public humiliation in the eyes of the entire paddle surfing community. Fantastic - this has to be even better than riding blow up surfboards for a hobby.

Anyway - the plan: Find and download from the web a 6 week weight loss plan that is easy to follow and does not involve buying copius amounts of bizarre own brand protein shakes containing some foreign gentlemans special relish. Eat more salad than shite for lunch and dinner. Stay off the beer and wine except for Saturday night when the gloves come off and surf on Sundays as much as possible.

Goals - to loose half a stone / 7lbs / 3kgs / from my current 'fighting weight' which sort of fluctuates almost daily between 14 stone 4lbs / 200lbs / 90kgs and my alarm bells weight of 14 stone 7 lbs / 203lbs / 92kgs.

Basically I just want to see 13 stone something on the scales and maintain it. Not as easy as it sounds as I think I was born at just under 13 stone and the resulting stitches still give my mum considerable jip.

My plan is based on a % of my theoretical maximum heartrate. 220 - my age 48 = 172. I know it's a crap measure but I just don't fancy doing a maximal test at the moment as I figure it might be quite nice to actually survive until the end of the six weeks without vomiting or soiling myself.

All sessions start and finish with an 8 minute warm up /warm down at 64% (110bpm) of maximum heart rate.
For the last minute of the first 8 minutes warm up the heart rate is brought up to the training interval level.

Week 1 session 1
Warm up - 2 x 15minute intervals @ 75% of max(130bpm) 2min rest between - warm down
Week 1 session 2
Warm up - 3 x 5minute intervals @ 81% 0f max (140BPM) 1 min rest between - warm down
Week 1 session 3
Warm up - 4 x 4minute intervals @ 90% of max ( 154BPM) 1 min rest between - warm down
Week 1 session 4
Warm up - 2 x 15minute intervals @ 75% of max( 130BPM) 2 min rest between - warm down
Week1 session 5
Warm up - 3 x 5minute intervals @ 81% of max(140BPM) 1 min rest between - warm down.

Each session is roughly 30 odd minutes and has a mix of longer, lower level sessions progressing through to shorter more intensive sessions as the week goes on. Following weeks see the sessions build in duration and intensity but never both at the same time culminating in week 6 with sessions about an hour long. I fully expect to be totally bored with it by then. So expect to see me advertising the Concept 2 on www.SUPGlobal.com

So thats it, this is what I'm doing and I'll post my progress or lack of it once a week along with my next weeks program, and with a bit of luck I should end up with some really convincing paddle callouses.

If you fancy a go feel free to use the plan, message me your results and I can shame or fame you along side me. Please satisfy yourself that you are not in danger of a stroke or a coronary and if you think you might be, seek proper advice or at least try to film it with your Go Pro.

I am not a coach and this is just a hamfisted plan for me to follow and anyone else to use at their own discretion. I would guess that any stepper / rower / climber /ski trainer would give you a similar value workout if not the callouses.

Good luck - Steve.

Currently BMI = 29
chins to spare but no jaw line to speak of.
14 stone 4lbs / 200lbs / 90.9 kgs

P.S. obviously I'm going to cheat having already completed my first week, so you are already a week behind. Bona fide' gym bandits and anyone with a six pack need not apply.

As far as the surfing is concerned, it looks like the storm from Hell is about to hit us tomorrow with just a slim chance of getting in on Sunday afternoon somewhere very sheltered.

Yawn - Please no more holiday snaps

2009-11-06T19:53:00.016Z

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning and I stuck to routine, up brekfast and bike it down to the break only to be faced with head and a half plus of bedlam perfection. Clean, offshore, sunny and lines racking up as far as I could see. No-one out. Bollox! Just knowing someone else is there sometimes is all I need. It was pushing up towards high tide and still the beach would not hold the swell. Double bollox!! I had left my Storm rider guide at home and I needed a wooss out wave.

Meanwhile back at the Van : (Tonto, disguised as a bucket was feeling a little pale)

'Charms, how do you fancy driving into St. Giles and sitting on the beach reading for a while? We can get our salad in then'.

(All our holidays seem to rotate around food. Where, when, what etc? Last time in St. Giles we had a fantastic salad Nicoise at a cafe' opposite the car park looking across the river towards the slipway).

ST GILES HARBOUR SIDE

It was a plan, stacked heavily in my favour, but a plan. We loaded up an drove to St. Giles, parking up at the roadside near to the beach access just shy of the Southern end of the promenade. Small world for such a big country France. I reckon that I parked in exactly the same spot that we parked in five years earlier when we took our first lads trip. Bizarrely I could not remember what the town was then, it just felt familiar and came flooding back as I walked to the beach. There was a very long sea defence wall with built in seating jobbies backed by shops and hotels. With such easy access it was reasonably busy but the sheer size of the beach ensured that there was loads of room and again plenty of peaks. I had a decent couple of hours here on the Nah Skwell. The wave here was a little mellower and the paddle out was do-able first time. It was still a bind getting caught inside and my timing had to be good not to get caught under the lip paddling out, but at least I was not in fear of my life. The weather was fantastic and the sun was behind me and the skatey little Nah Skwell was on song. 'Did you get any pics?' I asked Charmaine after taking my last wave just a bit too far inside to make the paddle out beating worthwhile one more time. She flashed me her 'dont push it pal' look. So I didn't.

Got to admit I'm not be too keen shopping with Charm's and probably would not sit around taking pics if she asked me, and that's pretty much all the ladies do you know, shopping, decorating perfectly fine rooms, making themselves gorgeous for us, questioning valid road signs whilst driving. (sit back, count to ten and . . . . ) You know I don't mean it I'm sure that there are some ladies that hate decorating.

The salad was every bit as good as we remembered it. So fantastically decadent sitting outside at the harbourside in late October soaking up 21'c of sunshine, wine rocket, anchovies and French cafe' atmosphere watching people that ooze style without even trying. God I love France.

Later that afternoon I checked out our beach again. The tide had dropped back and although still pretty big it looked like the low tide banks were shaping up a few shoulders. Plenty of surfers out. Charmaine wanted to read her book and I thought hell let's go. Possibly one of my best sessions of the trip. Plenty of decent waves, nothing too 'slashy' but again loads of variety including a very satisfying, very long, tucked tight under the lip backhand and a seemingly endless ride that had me fixed on (near don't exaggerate) the nose, with the Naish set high on the wave and me just shimmying my hips to alter the trim and accelerate or slow the board. Felt so good. This place really rocks from mid to low tide.

I Got back to the van where Charmaine said a chap called Dan stopped by to say hello. She said that he introduced himself and told her that he reads the blog. I suppose he must have recognised the van. Be nice to catch up with him, maybe have a wave. Small world.

THURSDAY

Loosely arranged a dawn(ish) session with Dan who assured me that the swell was dropping off a bit over the next couple of days. Can't say I'm too sorry about that. Got to the beach about 7:30 and it looked like Dan's forecast was spot on. Clean, offshore and chest to just overhead on the sets. As always it took me a little while to crank it up but soon it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Lefts, rights, cock ups the lot. This was why I like coming here, always a decent variety of waves and often walling up offering long rides peeling both ways.

There were a couple of other chaps out on stand ups who seemed to be enjoying themselves, I said hello to one but to be fair the rides were so long and the beach so big you could easily loose hundreds of surfers there so basically it was a nod and a smile, catch a wave and we were miles apart.

Back to the van for a shower, a cup of tea and brekfast consisting of much needed dietary fibre. I wont go into details!

11:00 on the bikes and back onto the piste cycleable. This time we headed South back through the Olonne forest stopping off to check out Sauveterre. This break is a legendary Stormrider venue and it was fair to say that she was showing off a bit when we got there.

SAUVETERRE BREAKING WELL OFF

The cycling is predominantly traffic free and pretty much flat. Personally I would say head for St. Gilles if you have 5-6 year olds or younger. Whilst not hilly, the Southern route to Les Sables is a little more undulating and has a few more traffic intersections. Both ways are very scenic and it's easy to rack up the miles, the routes are well waymarked although we did get lost a bit in Ollone. Doh!. All up we did thirty miles or so and had a great afternoon in 26 - 28°c heat.

Back home we knocked up a quick homemade salad (more fibre) and I was back out the front to soak up the last of the afternoon sun and hijack some more of this amazing swell. The water is so warm I was tempted to go in with boardies and a rash vest but instead wore one of Malcolm's Snuugg Tube Suits.

MELLOW EVENING SHORTIE SESSION

What a piece of kit that is. Short bottoms, body with wifebeater arms, only one of which has a double velcro fastener over one shoulder. Fantastic, I've been so hot in the water this week in my SNUGG SUSpect, this worn over a short sleeve rashie was perfect. Snugg offer so much stuff that is and could be Sup specific and the beauty is that they make it, so they can totally tailor it to you, it's so worth given them a call. Even Shane has succumbed to the custom suit option. Malcolm said when he measured him up, 'You seem to be made up of all sort's of different bits.' Poor kid did not really stand a chance.

Anyway, the wave had dropped a little further and I had a great time. It did not start off too well though as my first wave involved dropping in on a French lad. My fault entirely, there was a bowl like take off section and I was on the outside of it. I just did not see him inside me. He rightly called me off, which I did and as he passed me paddling back out I did my best to apologise profusely. He shrugged, I think he was ok about it.

SHAME THE MOST SPRAY I SEND UP COMES FROM MY PADDLE

The French wave claiming system seems to comprise of everybody paddling for everywave and the guy who catches it who is the deepest has the wave with everyone else pulling off. Anyway, no harm done, and I had a belter of a session.

Tomorrow is our last full day here, what a fantastic spot, decent waves close to the beach, clean site, kids play area, very good cycling. I'm sure that there must be loads of other great spots in France that can offer all this, if you read this stuff and know of one please let me know, but until then Les Dunes does it all for me.

FRIDAY

Caught up with Dan again this morning. He was longboarding it at the Northern end of the beach. We chatted and surfed for a while before he packed in having been in since dawn.

NAH SKWELL 7'8" IN MORNING GLASS

I started the session on the Nah Skwell, the wave was a rolling lazy chest high and although I kicked of with a couple of decent skatey rides I again thought that a bit more paddle speed was in order to get the best from the session. I swapped boards but was equally crap on the Naish. I hate to admit it but I may have been suffering from a bout of paddle fatigue. Eight fairly hard sessions to date one last one to follow, thirtyish miles of albeit easy cycling, and twisting the neck off countless bottles of '33 EXPORT' had taken their toll. I was going to need a holiday to get over this.

Out at 9:30, back for brekfast and really looking forward to a mellow evening session. Not quite sure where Dan was getting his forecast info from but it was spot on pretty much to the hour. The latest was for the swell to build again, the wind going onshore and with foul weather coming in for Sunday.

Dan gave me the web address of the French site that he had been using for the forecasts. 'Seems only fair to pass it on' He said. So here it is.

http://yadusurf.com/Meteo-Surf-Report-Les-Sables-D'Olonne.aspx

We checked the top gate end of the beach that evening, and as predicted the wind had just gone onshore, the swell had also jumped back up to the size that it was early in the week. I had had a great trip and did not want to spoil it now. It was time to pack the boards up for the Saturday drive back to Roscoff.

So that's it - another French raid over and all I want to do now is keep some of my hard won paddle tone until January. Well that and sleep, I'm bloody knackered, good knackered but knackered all the same.

Anyone who actually reads this and who wants a heads up for the campsite etc. please feel free to message me. It's through hooking up with people like Dan who has now been twice to the site as a result of reading the blog and people who leave comments that make these things work. If you read it, say so. It costs nothing and lets me know that this stuff gets read. I bet the same thing applies to everyone that writes a blog.

FAT CORNISH BLOKE IN FRANCE 2009

2009-11-01T22:49:00.016Z

SATURDAY
Got the ferry Saturday night, with the swell forecast that we had been watching all week there was a better than fair chance that it might be a bouncy crossing. So the obvious thing would be to settle down for an early and get a decent nights sleep. Straight into the bar then to get stuck into some vin rouge and Guinness. This was the first time on the new Plymouth to Roscoff boat, The Amorique, and she is a beauty. . The old bus never had enough decent seats and would rattle, shudder, bang and creak along all night bearing scant regard to the sea conditions. Not sure if it was down to the boat or the particular swell conditions but this one was a bit 'cork screwy'.
SUNDAY
Lots of green faces at breakfast and Henry's wet and dry cousin was out on regular duty. Still rocking as I write this and I’ve been off the boat for 9 hours. Anyway we got into the campsite at Les Dunes at 3:15; we chose the slower coastal route via Quimper and St Nazaire eventually getting into familiar ground where we painfully shut down our female version of HAL9000, (what are you doing Dave¿) as we drove past La Sausaire reef. There was a Solid swell showing with a crazy amount of random peaks. Looking across to 'our' beach all I could see was white water. Last time I surfed here with the guys it was pretty solid. This was the same if not bigger. 'Could be interesting'. I thought ,surfing chunky waves with a few mates is one thing, paddling out on my todd in this might well be character building. Booking in to the site we checked out the accommodation. It was basic but clean and when you take into account that it was not that much more than camping it seemed good value. We unpacked and sorted ourselves out before jumping on the bikes and cycling off to check out the surf, as if we needed to, it was all that we could hear on the site, even in the mobil home it drowned out the fairly impressive farmyard noises that our fridge was making. Ghosts of pate' past? Who knows? What I can say was that the surf provided the soundtrack to the entire trip. The beach access was very close and having negotiated the numerically coded gate we were soon at the edge of the dunes watching a solid head high set come piling through. Nice.
LOOKING GOOD - LINES TO THE HORIZON - MELLOW ??
Except that a hundred yards or more behind the darkening lines starting to focus their energy were revealing the actual well overhead first wave of a seven wave set each one just a bit bigger and a bit scarier than before. The waves were not full on close outs just huge rolling walls of full fat Atlantic juice.
BETTER PERSPECTIVE WITH THESE TWO - CHECK THE LONGBOARDER OUT - DOUBLE CLICK THE PICS
Charmaine thought it looked pretty. 'Going in?' she asked 'course' I said as casually as I could given that my brain had just passed the evacuate signal to my colon. Well jeez you can't look bad in front of your lady can you? And it was the reason that we came here for.!! So back to the van change up and in. The paddle out was challenging, about five tables of white water to negotiate, I managed the first three on my feet. Looking good Steve nearly there don't cock it up now. Boooom. I was off and for the next hour or so (well it felt like it but actually it was probably only 5 or10 minutes I sloshed about barely holding my position. Off the board, on the board, off the board. . . Etc. as soon as I saw the lull I was onto my knees and short paddling like buggery. I was knackered already, but I was out. I had already decided that should I get caught inside it would be game over for the day so I paddled well behind the break even so I did not feel that I could look to the beach for fear of getting caught by a rogue set. It was pretty chunky, with so much water moving in, out and across the beach. My first wave was the second or third of a set. I tried to take it as early as I could and lucked into a fast moving left shoulder. I held on for a short ride and popped out early on my feet and paddled for the horizon. 'Ok one in the bag, out of breath but alive, result'
PLENTY OF PEAKS TO CHOOSE FROM
I had a few more, nothing special just decent size with plenty of punch. I fell off one or two and the thought crossed my mind that I might be better off on a longer board; the Naish was being bumped about that much whilst traveling down the faces. I stayed in for about an hour but I was toast partly from the trip but mainly from the paddle out beatings. I caught a long right to the beach getting out a couple of hundred yards from where I went in. 'You looked like you were struggling a bit' Charmaine said as she met me at the path. 'Mnnn' I mmnnnd. 'The short boarders seemed to be having a few good ones'. I explained that they were in first and had the pick of the peaks. Tomorrow’s going to be fun. Decent meal at Cafe Sol et Luna and back to the van. I was totally out of it and I crashed at nine. It was quite cold through the night and all I could hear every time I woke was raging, pounding surf. It did remind me however to make a note to bring a thicker duvet or sleeping bags if we came this late again. The days might be warm but the nights were bloody cold.
MONDAY
Next morning I was not the eager beaver that I usually am on holiday. I hung around the van fiddling and fannying about before jumping on my bike to check out the waves. It was very misty, foggy even, all I could see was two lines of white water appearing from the gloom. The constant freight train roar told me that there were more unseen waves out of sight. I have to admit I was pretty spooked. So I abandoned any thought of an early morning session and bimbled back.
9:00 AM - SWELL BUILDING - BOTTLE FAILING - CAR PARK EMPTY
'Didn't think that you'd get in this morning' Charmaine said. How do they know all these things about us? I called her bluff. 'I was shit scared' I said. She smiled, she knew. We jumped onto the bikes and cycled along the 13km or so along the off-road cycleway into St Giles. There are hundreds of kilometers of cycle paths both along the coast and towards the interior.

All well way marked and easy going, a far cry from what I jibbed out of earlier. Later that afternoon the sun burnt off the fog and the beach came alive. I could see a dozen or so out further down the beach at the far end but no one where I was. I paddled out having stood and watched for a while. The were no permanent channels but between the two access paths seemed to be a spell of rippy fast moving water that seemed to be an obvious entry point. It was, I knee paddled through the rip and made it to the line up easily. It was only now that I was out that I could see the half dozen or so short boarders that were hidden from view in the turbulence. Paddling away and out a bit from them I took up station and waited. It was not a long wait.
PADDLING OUT INTO A WARM OCTOBER EVENING
What followed was an endless succession of rights, lefts, cutbacks, and under the lip rides. I felt good. I did not feel scared (I didn't honest) exhilarated, pumped and knackered maybe but my previous apprehension had faded with the fog. I think that I have said this before but for me there seems to be a key to unlock each successful session find the key and I’m sorted. These waves had their key. As high as they faced up simply paddling in front of them did not automatically result in a catch, I had to paddle down the face with the lip just feathering otherwise the wave would simply pass me by. It felt wrong almost suicidal but the nature of this break meant that the shoulders were long and workable. Back home I would be paddling into closeouts. Here you either went under the lip and pull round to the shoulders or you didn't go. The prone surfers were also suffering a few abortive catch's. I got hooted at by a French lad on a short board who beckoned me over. 'Bonjour ' I said with a big smug smile and a lousy accent. 'Bonjour ' he said. 'Le wav c'est bon' I said trying to organize my best nasally, throaty French. 'Oui c'est tres bon' he said with a smile. I paddled off happy that I had spread a little bit of SUP ‘Entente-cordiale'. I have to admit that I stretch my Franglais every trip with the same conversation. In my usual fashion all the things that I wanted to work on technique wise went straight out of the window as I made a complete pig of myself. I took my last big right all the way into the beach and stepped off the Naish onto the sand pleased that I had faced down a few personal gremlins. Shane would have laughed at me and called me 'his gay dad' but I was stoked. Standing back on the beach where there used to be a lifeguard hut I looked back out at the break across dozens of families soaking up the last of the late October afternoon sun's heat, all blissfully unaware of the dramas unfolding in front of each wave just a few hundred yards away..
TUESDAY
Very humbling today, revved with my performance yesterday I thought today was going to be a doddle. Checked out the wave on the bike first thing, the tide was high and the wind was offshore. Huge clean lines striding in from as far as I could see, perfection!!!? Changed up and in the water inside of ten minutes, I was keen. Twenty minutes later the distinct possibility of a blank was was racing through my mind, along with another major rinsing. Getting caught inside was only the half of it. Three or four times I thought 'That’s it, I’m out', before another huge clean up set from way outside dumped it's load all over me. 'FOR F**KS SAKE' I shouted as the last wave of the last set knocked me off my knees. As if someone had heard me the path to the outside went flat, I needed no second invitation. Onto my feet and paddling like I was fitting I found my self in the safe haven of green water unstained by speckled foam. My heart was pounding my arms were limp and my balance was shot but I was out. Now what? I had expected to be half way down the beach such was the nature of the beatings that I had taken; in fact I had made it out pretty much in line with my flip-flops sitting safely at the top of the beach. Not that I could see them or anything else on the beach for that matter, I was miles out!!! Bugger. I told myself to catch my breath and paddled up and down behind the break for a while, trying to gauge where the peak was and where the shoulders were. Hah! I was kidding myself. From the outside I could tell nothing. Worse I could see no one else out. Paddling in a bit made me feel super vulnerable to the huge dark faces that seemed intent on finishing their thousand mile journey on my head. Tentatively I tried paddling for a few. Not a chance. Each failed attempt at re-entry was followed by a manic panic to turn and flail towards the deep water sanctuary of the horizon. The gentle offshore breeze seemed to be accelerated a hundred fold up the wave face. I just could not get into them. My priorities were beginning to shift from 'how am I going to catch one of these buggers' to 'How the hell am I going to get in without getting proper bum raped' and 'Will my dental records be enough to id me'. I'd asked Charmaine to come down and take some pics. That'll be nice I thought. I paddled for the second wave from the next set, missed, stay cool, stay here, paddle from deeper, next wave, dig in gasping, missed, bugger - shit or bust now the next wave was rearing up behind me. Stop paddling, stop paddling, don’t get deeper just take it steep and hope it does not fold. The foothills of the wave lifted the tail of the Naish and I dug in in and BAM! It felt like an Apollo second stage kicked in. I crouched as the board accelerated from pretty much zero to Mach 5 in a split second. STILL GREEN STILL GREEN STILL GREEN. I hung on to ride the right to the inside painting a pretty white paddle trail down the green face. The wave felt huge the photos say 'what's all the fuss about?' I was just happy to walk up the beach with a board that did not need a Pope Bisect sticker.
LOOK'S NICE AND EASY NOW

SAME WAVE - TUCKED IN, HOLDING ON AND PAINTING PADDLE LINES

OUT-RUNNING THE FOAM BALL - JUST!!

NOW WANDERING WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT

MORE OF THE SAME THREATENING OUTSIDE - DOUBLE CLICK FOR FULL VIEWS

'Nice wave' Charmaine said, ' I just got here! I was going to take some pics. I got some of that last one though.' Bear with me as it's the sequence that's needed to actually give some perspective. This was beginning to worry me a bit now. Big waves are ok but you have to get out to get them. Plus the majority of these buggers were going no-where. It's like - you get battered trying to get out, finally make it and all you have are monstrous clean up sets to work with. The alternative is to hang around for the non too small inside waves and risk racing out again as the sets comes in. Thats the joy of beach breaks I suppose. One thing I did learn however was that it pays me for me to stay on my feet as much as possible when paddling out. I have been getting lazy recently and knee paddling through the wash, which is fine up to 2-3' but anything bigger and I'm better off attacking it on my feet. The shift / balance control is better than simply leaning back when on my knees. Plus the wider stance and sea-saw shift in weight from my back foot to my fore foot seems to 'pivot' the board over the wash better. Not having to short grip the paddle shaft lends a bit more power to that first steadying stroke should I actually make it up and over the other side. I had plenty of opportunity to contemplate paddling through wash and work on my technique. So that's how the first few days shaped up. Don't expect too many surfing pics though, one it's hard to get Stand Up Body Doubles and two staring into a compact digital camera on full zoom for a couple of hours into a setting sun for pics for hubbies blog is not a whole bundle of fun. Can't quite understand why but there you go.

WANTED a cure for my hunchback left's

2009-10-21T19:02:00.012+01:00

Mooched up the road to Watergate on Saturday Night and met up with Ritch and Matt. Judging from the sea of knackered faces the waves were well worth having and the BSUPA finale had waves!!! Looks like a good time was had by all who entered. I caught some of the results on the SUPGlobal forum through some form of live feed. Impressive.

Sunday saw a reasonably early start, the tide was half way off high and dropping, wind was offshore and light. The chart was giving three and a half feet. I don't know how people measure their waves but I would say it was head high and pitching fairly fast. The lower the tide got the less workable the waves became. I stuck with it until 11.00am when the close-outs were just a bit too frequent to be fun. My last wave was shaping up to be a reasonable left, my back hand, where I rode it high and proud, hanging on just too long. The lip rolled the wave side rail of my Naish up and over from under my feet. I landed squarely on the rail and was tumbled nicely over the falls catching my arse on the fins. Through the stinging I thought

'Please not my new suit.'

followed by

'Surely one ass is enough for anybody, I don't need another.'

It was fine. How you can get a scrape on the skin yet not mark the suit I have no idea. I decided that was my cue to give it up for the morning. I think that's the difference between good surfers and average ones. Decent surfers seem to be able to make the most out of all conditions and look good doing it. Whereas I need everything to be right to look average.

Text that afternoon from Gavin -

'Green light for 5pm'.

Excellent. High tide with a strong swell and clean as a pin. Pete's has to be one of my favourite waves anywhere. A strong punchy swell offering big walls that were shared by a couple of mals, three or four short boarders (including Gavin on his Linden quad) and me on the Naish. Loads of waves and a good vibe. We surfed until dark. Brilliant.

One thing that I know I need to sort out are my lefts. Going right I can make a passable imitation of a surfer. I can paddle in, set the board on it's rail, crank up a reasonable bottom turn and work the face top to bottom hard enough to leave me feeling gooey but gasping for air, before occasionally popping neatly out the back still on my feet, and paddling smugly back to repeat the process. But, my lefts STINK! Jeez will someone please tell me how to do something with a backhand wave. Currently my left repertoire consists entirely of -

Paddling in. Fine.
Hard bottom turn . MMmn sort of ok.
Geriatric hunched over, semi constipated stance with a pained expression. Perfect.
Stand tall and statuesque pretending to be 'on the nose'. Sorted.
Crouchy kneely thing. Fine.

But anything over than setting the board up for a variation on a cruise down the line and I'm stuffed. Gav has suggested switching my paddle from my beach-side grip (causing my left shoulder to drop and lead forward, to trailing it wave-side, thus widening my shoulders and possibly offering a little more control. Sounds plausible, but I would welcome any more tips to improve my backhand.

Can't help it - even though they are lousy pics - some waves really give me the horn

Sunday's sessions' were going to be the last before my 'boy's trip' without the boys. But with the swell steadily building through the week, peaking on Wednesday we had to check out Godrevy after work.

With forecasts showing up to 14' at 14 seconds we had expected to see the bay totally out of control. Surprisingly although big it looked really do-able although the strong offshore wind would have been a pain. Peaks were well defined with decent lefts and rights running right through the bay. It did look very grey and was bloody cold standing there and watching for a few minutes. There were about a dozen or so out. Fair play.

Apologies for the lame snapshots - they were the best of a bad bunch - if Shane's turn out better I'll pinch some of his.

So it's off to France Saturday night - I'll bore you with holiday snaps when I get back.

Sunday's Looking Good

2009-10-14T22:49:00.013+01:00

Really flattered about the SUPGlobal thing but it sort of gives me a bit of a dilemma as well. I keep thinking things like,

'What can I write for the next post?' and

'How often will they want stuff?' and

'What do I know about anything anyway?'

And then I think, 'hell to it, I'll just keep writing my blog and posting my post's and when everyone gets bored with it they'll let me know'.

So check this out for a Magic seaweed forecast for Sunday

Sun 18/10

12am 4ft 15secs 4mph 12c
3am 4ft 14secs 7mph 12c
6am 4ft 14secs 5mph 12c
9am 4ft 13secs 7mph 12c
12pm 4ft 13secs 9mph 13c
3pm 4.5ft 13secs 10mph 13c
6pm 4.5ft 12secs 10mph 13c
9pm 5ft 12secs 15mph 14c

(damn I wish I knew how to insert tables into BLOGGER properly so that they look neat)

Winds are South Easterly first thing, going South Westerly through the day. Given that it's been pretty good all week with light breezes I reckon that's shaping up for an epic all day bash (well at least 2 sessions) which should sort of make up for being stuck in all week. So an early night and off the beer on Saturday to make the most of a dawny Sunday morning session.

With conditions like this the BSUPA crowd are going to have a blast on the last of their series at WaterGate Bay on Saturday and Sunday. I'm going to say hello to a few guys on Saturday night but Gwithian will be calling me on Sunday.

It's not that I'm anti-social or anything - honest, it's just that I have never felt too confident surfing in large packs, I go right off my game and end up making a complete cock of myself. Even when I prone surfed I would always sit right off the peak and take the scrag ends of what was going. The difference now is that the scrag ends are so worth having.

The only exception to the rule is when I'm surfing with Shane and his mates then it can all get a bit ' freestyle' sometimes. Like this recent pic of Shane launching himself off a Swell- Board to destroy Jon Boy's classic Poo Stance. Kids eh? See what I have to put up with.

Gavin's been on the 7'8" Nah Skwell this week, making up for lost time since he sold his 9'0 Starboard, and hopefully re-building his stoke levels enough for him to sort a board out for the winter. Sunday should give us a good opportunity to compare notes and swap things about a bit.

The week after that it's off to Bretignolles in France with fingers crossed that these conditions hold out. At the moment it's looking pretty good with a decent low building in the Atlantic and light off shores all down the West coast. Come on!

So I'd better start sorting out my kit out, One thing I have been meaning to do is tape a couple of my paddle grips. I have been using this ace super thin, rubberised BBB Handlebar Tape. It grips really well and keeps the paddle shaft diameter pretty much the same. The first wrap that I put on was over six months ago and it has held up fine . According to the pack it's -

'High grade Synthetic material gives absolute no-slip grip under any riding conditions.'

as well as having

'Super strong, water-proof and sweat proof adhesive',

Whatever, its only £8 a pack and that's enough for two paddles and I have not waxed my shaft since putting it on.

Taping my Werner three piece Nitro with some bar tape for grip and duct tape to re-inforce / support the joints.

Half wrap overlaid taking care that you start at the blade end and work up towards the handle so that you don't 'rub over' the open ends.

End result - finish off with a wrap of tape. 5minutes job done, and should last all season.

Snugg Wetsuits, SUP Global and Asparagus

2009-10-09T18:22:00.009+01:00

Smooth skin arms and back panel

3mm Smooth skin arms and Pecs into Thermal 3mm Chest

Liquid seal inner seam and fleece

Its fair to say that I get enthusiastic about things. I get revved really easily. So having ordered my new Snugg wettie I was pretty excited to get it this Thursday. So much so that I have not stopped telling people about it all week. I would be serving some one at the counter and just randomly drop into the conversation.

'Yeh I've just ordered a custom suit from Malcolm at Snugg, sort of a StandUp Special Specification. Bit SUSpec!!'

Well I thought it was funny, but judging from the yawns and tired expressions on every ones faces - at least from the people who don't surf. It was hard to convey the level of my enthusiasm to the un-enlightened. Those that do surf were like -

'Yeh he makes really good suits'

But it's more than that - it's what makes it possible for me to do what I do, when it's too cold to be doing it, and not make it too hard to get it on, to do it.

Inside showing orange fleece

Let's be sensible about this, for God's sake it's only a bloody wetsuit. But this ones special. It fits, its only 3mm, it's fleecy and it has the shoulders and arms that come straight off a high performance Triathlon suit offering zero movement restriction and it's sort of unique to me. Don't get me wrong, there are surf suits sold that have elasto this and mega that but unless you have worn a full blown, triathlon specific wetsuit then you have no idea how inconspicuous smoothskin neoprene is. My TRI swim is pretty good, but if I ever have to swim for my board in a surf suit I'm beyond crap, which tells me that my paddle movement must also be somewhat restricted. That's in a summer suit. Multiply this by a thicker winter suit and the reason my sessions are cut back in the winter is more down to me being knackered fighting with my suit than actually being cold. Hence the SNUGG SUSpec Special.

During the course of the day Shane suggested a quick after work bash at a little known South Coast spot that in theory should catch the majority of the small South Westerly swell that was running. Ace, Charmaine could drive Shane's Bungalow back home while we high tailed it down the beach to grab one of the few remaining evening sessions left to us and give me an opportunity to wear my new suit.

At some point during the day I had a message to call Matt Argyle, 'Names familiar' I thought, 'Oh yeh - he's the SUPGlobal guy who's just got himself a Nah Skwell to test'. Probably wants a bike.

'Matt, - hi it's Steve'

'Hi Steve, thanks for calling back, how would you like to contribute some of your Blog articles for SUPGlobal'

'What?'

'Look I'm only going to say this one more time so listen up carefully, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE SOME OF YOUR BLOG ON MY SITE?.

'What? Bugger off, what?? Ergh Yeh ergh What? Why me? Ergh . . . Is it because I'm cheap, no seriously , you are serious, me? What do I know . I just sit at home and never go out and write my blog'

'Well it's like this, we tried pretty much everyone else and to be honest the reason that they are all so good at doing standup is because they spend all their time doing it and not sending us in any copy so we figured because your crap, you would actually have more time on your hands.'

'Excellent, I'll do it . . thanks, I think.'

Bugger.

So off we go at bang on 5.30pm. The tide is half way up and there were a few small lines showing. We quickly got changed up, and that's the first clue, I have almost dropped a plum with the effort required getting into some of my old winter suits. This was so easy. It felt that I needed to be careful but it did not feel fragile and once on, well it was like it had been made for me. Which it had. I could even do it up. All by myself!!! Some of you bigger guys might understand the joy that that brings.

The Suit was warm and to be honest with the super small wave and glassy conditions I was very soon begging to fall off my Nah Skwell to get a cooling flush. But I didn't, and the best thing that I could say about the suit is that apart from the heat I simply just did not notice it at all. I was just very warm.

Shane soon got boared with the wave and I saw my chance.

'Fancy a go on this?'

'Go on then'

'Bloody hell - that's a first'

It was almost exactly two years to the day since I had picked up my JL 11' and went with Shane to Gwithian for my first ever stand up session. That was the last time that Shane had got on a Standup board. Like me that day he struggled and fell, unlike me he said 'Sod that - it's a tanker' and has not been on one since. Tonight he still struggled but fell less and actually paddled into and surfed a couple of waves, the difference being that this board was only 7'8". It's that stable!

So, the suit. Well I got on and swamped Shane's little 5'11" eagerly anticipating that refreshing, cooling flush through the zip and . . . nothing. Still dry , still hot.

I made a few little mental notes to myself -

1. make sure that I always try to take a pee before suiting up.
2. never ever risk that last minute waz before getting out of the water.
3. Never ever eat Asparagus or corned beef the day before surfing.

Walking back across the beach the sand was cold enough to hurt my feet so even though the water temp was still summer suitable at 15'C the evening air had dropped considerably and was getting fairly chilly.

Getting the suit off in the car park was as easy as getting it on, I'm looking forward to this winter.

Mixing It Up - Road trip - Wetsuits

2009-10-05T21:00:00.011+01:00

Had some really fun sessions recently - seems like the swell has been small but constant for a few weeks now and I have been making an extra effort to get home and in as we are rapidly loosing the light in the evenings.

This has resulted in 3 - 4 sessions a week sometimes, and I have to admit my shoulders and back are beginning to complain a bit, not to mention my chest which has that 'cardiac crisis' feel when I twist a certain way or take a deep cool breath. Fantastic.

Some of what I'm writing now seems vaguely familiar, I know I have a short term memory issue, I just can't remember why I mention it!!.

Any regular readers of this blog will have worked out that I have aquired a few boards over the last couple of years, with the swell running as it has been I have been taking the opportunity to swap and change boards about for each session. It's amazing how much a different board can eke' out the most from a particular session that would otherwise be a complete 'write off'. Its also the measure of standup that some sessions end up as being 'alltime' when the decision to go in was pretty much borderline. two in question.

One overcast Sunday afternoon 4.00pm ish. The forecast and weather had been pretty crappy all day, in sheer desparation I decided to check out Gwithian. I drove in as Gavin drove out, he had been out the front on his shortboard. 'It's better than it looks' he said 'pretty chunky'. I was not particularly convinced but as I had brought the Bonga 9'6" down for a run out I thought 'Hell to it, lets go'. It was a blast. I went in at Pete's and surfed my way back to Gwithian over the course of a couple of hours. It was rippy, onshore and fun - the Bonga has a solid feel about it when punching through wash and the glide is a luxury that I have not had in my regular boards. What the hell do I want to sell this for?

Another evening session saw me standing on the cliff for 10 - 15 minutes trying to decide wether or not to go. There was another guy checking out Pete's, I quite often see him in there. 'Iffy' I said 'Last day of my holiday' he said so I going in. I knew he was a short boarder and that was it decision made. I took the Naish in and had one of the best 'quiet' sessions of the summer. The tide was pushing towards high and the backwash was bumping up the swell - it was endless - the wind dropped out and the 'glass off' was spoilt only by the two of us ripping tracks in the grey mirrored surface. Perfection.

Last night was another fine session. Again late afternoon at Petes' with a high spring pushing through. There were a couple of anglers at the base of the steps so I paddled off to the right. The waves were small and fat, just about workable on the sets but the little Nah Skwell seemed to be able to make the best of them. I posted a reply to SUPGLOBALMATT on standup zone about the Nah Skwell, being lazy I figured it was worth repeating here. -

The 7'8" seems to be able to maximise the use of the wave face and facilitate more turns and re-turns as the wave gets critical. This means I can surf smaller waves without getting 'board' bored, if that makes sense. Whereas for me a longer board sometimes seems to 'bog' down as the smaller waves steepen up. Most of this is probably beacause I'm crap but some boards do make me think 'I couldn't of done that better'. My Naish 9'3" is one of those boards - the Nah Skwell 7'8" is another.

I don't suppose it's that much of a secret really - big boards for glide and 'down the line' cruising - smaller boards for that manic chuckability. It's just that this design allows bigger guys a piece of the action as well.

Plus I can indulge myself by trying to explain further what I mean. I find when the swell is small, clean and fat, a longer board, like my old JL11' would be ideal to paddle into and catch 'the bump' but this would lead to me simply riding/cruising down the line with some non too delicate attempts at stumbling to the nose before getting kicked off the board in the shallows. The sheer length of the board meant that any 'radical' turns were impossible for me on knee high waves. My shorter boards turned quicker and got bogged down less, the Nah Skwell although taking off much later allows for more 'sweet tricks and turns' as it can change direction within it's own length. Thats why I like smaller boards. I don't get bored. Phew glad that I got that sorted.

So what else is new - well our October lads' road trip was going to be a December raid to Portugal but I did not get around to the booking plus December is a bit awkward so we sort of rescheduled the old faithful, into the van and down through France, until Red's workload got in the way and it just did not seem right to go without him. So it was a case of 'Charmaine, do you fancy a week in Bretignolles at the end of the Month?" she bit my hand off, the only proviso was that we stay in a mobile home rather than under canvas. No problem. I booked that one right away. Les Dunes here we come. Might even take the Nah Skwell home!

If anyone can recall seeing one of the few pictures of myself that I have posted on this blog you can't fail to have noticed that I am . . . ergh . . fairly well insulated. Yeh thats it - I'm one of the lucky ones that just does not seem to feel the cold, as such for my surfing I have never really indulged myself with expensive wetsuits. In fact exactly the opposite, I tend to buy the cheapest model in the range. I have however always promised myself that one day I would get measured up for a SNUGG custom suit. Seeing that both Malcolm from Snugg and us at Cycle Logic sponsor Perranporth Triathlon I figured that it was about time that I got one. Now the beauty of a custom made wetsuit is that it is, well . . . custom made. So I rang Malcolm and said.

'Don't laugh, but I standup paddle surf'

I waited but, he didn't laugh.

'Good start' I thought.

'And I would like a suit that has triathlon material in the shoulders and arms'

smooth skin, super super flexible

'and a conventional abraision resistant body and legs. I want it fairly warm but not too thick like an industrial duty, reusable Eastern Bloc Condom'

He knew exactly what I meant -

'How about a double lined, fleece backed 3/2 Yamamoto neoprene made from a limestone based polymer with 99.7% calcium carbonate rather than the usual petro chemical based neoprene. You will probably be able to use it all year round'

'Urrrgh, yeh that sounds exactly what I had in mind' I lied but judging from his past clientele that includes multiple world champions and even royalty who was I to argue?

So that will be here next week, and I cant wait. The best thing is that I can have certain panels in any colour that I want, excellent 'Black please' I said. I'll let you know.

SHOCKINGLY BAD - SO MUCH FUN

2009-09-09T21:19:00.013+01:00

Tonight I was determined to get in no matter what - I got to my mid beach mark and peeked over the Dunes - it was grim Magic seaweed gave 6' at 10 secs - I like that, high tide was at 8:50pm perfect, but the wind was a constant 16mph right to left cross onshore that ripped all the shape and form from the swell. In fact it felt more like 25mph.

This probably looks better than it actually was - the first pic across the bay to Godrevy shows the white caps blown off the tops of the waves.

I changed up into my wet wetsuit that had been fermenting in the back of the van since Monday. Above and beyond for this blog - I hope people still read it. Off down the 60' high dune and once at sea level the true horrendous state of 50 metres of white soup became fully apparent. Be back home in half an hour I thought.

I waded out and jumped onto the deck. I had to keep the nose of the Nah Skwel pointed into the wind and was expecting an immediate rinse. Nope! The first few, foot high walls of wash slid under the fat nose of the board barely un-noticed. The further out I paddled the more my confidence grew, and the board seemed to just rise up over wash with ease. This was too good to be true. Finally I was in the Impact Zone proper. Water was rising up, threatening disaster, and melting away all around me like water boiling in a kettle. I was working very hard to stay on the board - but I was on the board. The paddle was deep in the water most of the time for balance but I was making way albeit slowly.

In these conditions there was no way I would have normally gone in and I have been thrown off much bigger boards in far more friendly seas. Then out of the blue I got caught side on in a trough and tipped over by a chest high lazy breaker.

Back on the board point the nose into the wind and up to my feet - steady - and away. Ok lets see if there was any possibility of turning into a wave and paddling in. It was hard to spot the sets coming - suddenly one wave would jack up from nowhere bigger than the rest of the chop and it would be followed by three or four more in close order. The swell direction was supposedly Westerly but with the Northerly wind the faces were running at 45' to the beach mainly from the East.

In strong winds I always try to turn into a wave away from the wind. This seems to avoid the wind getting under the front of the board and throwing me off. I know thats what I should do but most sessions it takes me a few wrong turns to remember this. As usual I turned the wrong way into my first wave - and caught it. No bother - it wasn't pretty and I basically just rode it down, but the wind did not seem to affect the paddle-in at all. Being rocked and knocked about was harder to contend with.

I suppose with such a short board there is less of it to catch the wind. Compared to other SUP's the board is not actually that wide - or that thick, it's just that the perspective of it is unusual with it being so short, plus it carries it's width all the way to the tail. That coupled to a reasonably flat hull and sane rockers seems to keep as much of board in the water as on a 10' board with heaps of rocker. Maybe even more.

So the scoreline was - NS78 : 1 Rest of the World : 0

By this time the wind had blown me a hundred metres or more down the beach - I thought that I should at least try to paddle my way back to my starting point. I could only make two or three paddle strokes to each side before switching but amazingly I was slowly making my way back into the guts of the wind back up the beach - again I think a longer board would have been more of a handful. Something else I noticed, with my weight, 90kg being pretty much at the boards limit in these conditions the deck was sloshing about with water - I was not sinking it, but there was not too much showing for the wind to get hold of either.

I turned and caught a few more waves en route and enjoyed some half decent rides, no major heroics but fun, long rides in conditions that were less than perfect (way less). Two sessions and I'm really getting to like this board. I managed to get the board on it's rails a couple of times but the waves were not really conducive to any smoking turns.

So good points so far?

It's 7'8" (cant get used to that)
It's Light (It makes a difference guys, honest)
It's surfable
It's more stable than Valium
It's great in slop
It's actually very attractive (Sorry Dom - but you have to see it in the flesh)
It's 7'8" (Jeez)
It's got Shane interested enough that he might have a bash (thats saying something)
It's going to be a useful addition to any quiver.

Bad Points?

It's deck grip seems a bit slippy sometimes (might have to wax the pad).
It's handle is a tad shallow and the balance point is a fraction off.
It's got lot's of sharp pointy bits - Big fins - Tail swallows (I just know its going to cut me)
It's not got Glide - (I'm not going to race it!)
It's not been mine longer (did I just say that)
Nah Skwel

The Nah Skwel has only just lifted her skirts and I have to say I like what I have seen. I reckon that she has loads more to offer. My gut feeling is that here is a board that has been designed by people in Brittany, who have extensive knowledge of what makes the water / hull interface work and more importantly design and use their products in pretty much the same conditions as I surf in, rather than that warm, mystical, magical Pacific perfection that is plastered all over the forums screaming 'you too can ride like this on our products'. And that makes a huge difference.

It also makes me think that I could be clearing out more than a few boards shortly.

Nah Skwel 7'8" - The morning after.

2009-09-08T19:14:00.006+01:00

More Pics

It's fair to say that I was pretty revved last night, still am really, I just can't get over the fact that I'm standing on a Paddle board that's only 7'8" long.

My first board was the Jimmy Lewis 11' and I can remember thinking that was challenging. Last night was not challenging just great fun. In fact I cant think of a board that I have ever tried that has been as easy right from the off. I was desperate to get back in the water tonight to see how it would go in a proper wave or choppy conditions or wind or anything, to be honest I just wanted to get back on it. Unfortunately work conspired against me, but it did get me thinking. Where the hell is this all going to end up? If the board is this easy to use then it stands to reason that the limit (my limit) has not yet been reached. God I love this sport!

It took me weeks before I was comfortable on the Naish, at least to the extent that I would not worry about turning to it first time every time if I was going out. The Nah Skwell is easy from the very first time. It makes me want to experiment and play about and fool around like taking off the fins altogether and try and slide it IVV style. Steady - take a breath and get a grip. . . . and breath.

I think we (I) can get a little too serious sometimes and forget how to just arse about - it's harder with a bigger board to just goof around especially if you are surfing around other people - which I tend not to do. With friends though all the normal surf politics and etiquette shoot straight out the window. Well mine do anyway.

I'll drop in on Shane or Gavin or Steve or Jason, ride the same wave and generally do all the bad stuff you read about on the forums, and expect them to do the same to me. (When it's just us and no one else about). The problem is you sort of hold back a bit on a Sup because the consequence of getting it wrong and cleaving someone open with a 9'plus epoxy scalpel would take a bit of explaining. But with the NH78, well it feels like it's a hot dog board - full on fun for nothing other than fun's sake. Plus and this is the big one - It's not a bloody mission to go out. Easy to store, easy to load, easy to carry, easy to ride. Its so convienient.

I can't imagine where this range is going to go but already I'm thinking 'Slightly slimmer - a little more nose rocker, tuck that ass in slightly . . . make it more serious !!

One thing I forgot last night was the nitty gritty.

The board is distributed by AHD UK Limited -
telephone number 023 80894333 and costs £879

and they are actually in stock and available.

Nah Skwel 7'8" - Total Parameter Reset

2009-09-07T21:12:00.007+01:00

Sometimes things come at me from left field - totally out of the blue and make me rethink everything that I have taken as granted , things like

'My kid's are so much like me could I have been that wrong at their age?' -
'So we are mortal!' (didn't get that one until I was about 22) and
'I can ride a Stand Up board under 8' long!!'

No Really I can - I did it tonight - it was bonkers, in fact it was so far beyond bonkers I'm still pinching myself.

I had first seen this shape some time ago on the Standupzone in a French video clip and pretty much dismissed it as being sort of quirky and . . . well French really - I mean that in a nice way because they seem to have things sorted, but things that work for the French in France you just can't get away with outside of France like hairy armpits and smoking in Restaurants - errgh big hole getting deeper - I know what I mean and it's why I want to live there (probably won't be allowed now. Anyway back to the Nah Skwell ( if I say it enough times it will start to sound normal) Nah Swel nah skwel nah skwel. Apparently it's Breton for Playground. Nah Skwel . . Nah Skwel . . Nope! That don't work. The NS78 (that's better) shares it's DNA with a board called the AHD Sea Lion. That was a multipurpose do it all. The NS78 (oh yeah that works) is a much more focussed SUP and the shortest of a range of three boards - this is the official blurb on them

The Nah-Skwell 7’8, is a highly competitive stand-up paddling short-board.
Already very radical in smallish waves, it will allow the most experienced riders to
attack waves up to 2.5m.
In less than 1m waves, this is the ultimate weapon which allows to throw curve after
curve with a true high speed.
With no other comparable board in today’s market, this is a board for fully dedicated
SUPers looking for extreme sensations and high performance.
Surfer < 90kgs

(I weighed this morning, I'm 91kgs, 200lbs in my birthday suit - not nice).

The Nah Skwell 9’6 is a perfect compromise for those who like SUPing in waves.
A very compact and lively board, it will complete short radius and fast turns, while
retaining a stability known only on 11’ « old-generation » boards, till now.
Surfer < 120kgs

The Nah-Skwell 10’6 is a fast board. With a flattish shape and a pinched tail, it will
slide easily whether cruising or playing with small and medium waves, no need to get
the trouble of carrying a 12’ weapon anymore.
Surfer < 115kgs

Nice descriptions - obviously not direct translations from French.

I also have some official pics on them - but as it's quite possible some of you might be reading this whilst eating I am not going to post them - But here are some of the pics I took on my phone this evening - AFTER RIDING THE 7'8" - proper riding like standing up and everything and it's 7'8" (pinch . . ouch! Charlie)

Now argue if you disagree but I reckon that looks pretty good. In the flesh this board with it's Techno Europe deck grip actually looks quite sexy in a Miss Piggy fetish sort of way - It's blatantly not a full blown - blown up shortboard and it might look like it's got mixed up in a blender with a dozen other boards but in the flesh it looks pretty bloody good. And it's not that much longer than my paddle!!

The officicial pics are taken without any perspective and make it look odd, almost comic book like - it really does look much better in real life.

Have another pic.

It's different. So whats it all about? More of the official stuff -

Length (cm) 238 (7'8") Bloody Short
width (cm) 75 (29 1/2") Fat (ish)all the way down
Thickness 12 (4 3/4") Thick (ish)
Weight 8,5kg (18 3/4lbs) Bloody light
Volume 127 ltr
Fin concept Twins (bloody huge)
Who’s that for? - Advanced surfer - (Nah - I'm not read on)
- Small to medium frame - (well that rules me out)

This board is easy to stand on - It's very very stable - ok I have gotten used to my Naish 9'3" but this puppy is just nuts. I ran down the beach with it - conditions were not ideal the tide was pretty much fully high and quite a big one that ate most of the smallish swell that there was. It was dead clean and only the odd set wave made for anything resembling a rideable face but jumping on the board for the first time and - Nothing - no death wobbles - no falling straight off the other side - no rinsing. In fact everything seemed to work in slow motion - this board is super stable - obviously being only 7'8" the standing spot is fairly small BUT I can't say that it was critical. The super splayed tails seem to keep the house in order at the back and the full fat nose did the same at the front - this was a real surprise. Within a few minutes I was looking for a wave to bash.

Paddling - well you dont need me to tell you that G l i d e is not one of this boards strong points - it paddles fine and the yaw is manageable but stop paddling and the brakes come on - The first few excuses for waves that I paddled for passed me by with me flailing wildly with seemingly no effect. Hmmnn - tried for a few more - nope, nothing - so I can stand on it and it turns on a sixpence but I can't catch a wave.

I paddled around a bit more stepping back and forward - parallel and surf stance, which the board seems to prefer, and generally messed about trying to get the feel of it.

I decided to go late into the next wave. Bingo - one paddle start and away, ok the wave was knee high and pretty much breaking on the beach but I had time to catch, turn and trim before stepping off the board onto the sand, not something a longer board would have been able to do.

It sort of reminded me a bit of the Starboard Extremist 9'0 - only less glide and a little more 'skatey'. There were a few occaisions when the nose pearled a bit, but to be honest the waves were too short to draw too many conclusions from that.

Another wave, go late - and after that I did it again and again. The board surfs fine - sure it's not got that, 'I can handle anything you shove down my throat' sort of feel that the Naish has, but it certainly surfs and it makes me want to get it out in bigger faces and more adverse conditions with more swell and chop and wind and cack and see what it can do for me.

I reckon that there is loads of tuning potential with the fins - Two monstrous white outboard finbox 8-9"ers I did not measure them - just felt that they needed to be smaller.

I carried on until it got dark, and you know what? I loved it. I love the speed it turns beneath your feet in front of the wave - I loved the no fail stability (except that I did fail a few times) - I love the confidence the board gave me (enough to make me fail and fall through arsing about) - I love the slo-mo recovery feel that gives me a fighting chance to level the board long after I would be off on my other boards and I Love the stupid fat grin on my face that I had playing about like a total cock in rubbish conditions on a board that looks like it shouldn't work. But most of all I love the fact that it's only 7**$ing 7'8".

In itself being 7'8" is no reason to go out and buy another board - BUT I was looking for a more stable board than the Naish that I could use to get the best out of, in the worst conditions that I'm likely to go out in. I was prepared to go a bit longer than the 9'3" to get the right board - hence the Bonga - But the Bonga although more stable than the Naish is actually fairly close in performance and is just a bit too heavy, It's a top board and a great price at £619 but for me the Naish is the one when conditions are average to epic and that makes the Bonga redundant because it's aimed at the same territory so no real gain for me over the Naish.

But this Nah Skwell - this board is fun - I don't expect it to be the full on wave rocket that the Naish is but it is very managable, and interesting enough to make me want to play more, and it's 1'7" shorter than the Naish - you don't need a van or an estate car - hell you could even strap it to a push bike or a moped, it would almost fit in a bodyboard bag on your back (IMAGINE a two piece version). It's a convienient SUP, shorter than any of my surfboards and with a bit more use I reckon there are more surpises to come.

Bonga 9'6" for sale anyone - shortboard performance as new £475 - NS78 to buy

Nah Skwell . . Nah Skwell . . Nah Skw . .

As far as prices, distribution, availability and a bit better wave report is concerned - watch this space.

Edit - It was fairly late when I posted this last night so forgive the errors and omissions, hopefully most are tidied up now - Steve

Thursday

2009-08-07T22:03:00.002+01:00

Didn't sleep too well Wednesday night - all I could see was walls of white water.

We were very busy in the shop and that helped the day pass quickly. Thursday evening, dash home, get my self together and beat up to Gwithian. It was looking very mellow compared to the night before - chest high sets - clean and very workable. Perhaps now I could actually find out what the Bonga was like instead of simply fighting for survival.

I carried the board the three quarters of a mile or so to my favourite spot and thought 'this puppies heavy' I had to change hands a couple of times en route no big deal but not something the svelte 18lbs of Naish'ness makes me do. I weighed the Bonga on our shop scales later and it registered 23lbs with fins and leash. Actually not bad at all. The tail is also just slightly heavy for the balance point of the handle to be spot on. Again no big deal just a minor niggle that would not even register if I were straight off the beach into the break, in fact it's an easily solved issue by having a couple of leash plugs put in the deck a'la, C4 never understood why all the brands don't do this so much easier to carry using your paddle - come on guys! I would be very interested in the all up weight of a C Sub vector.

Paddling out was a breeze the board is super stable and to be honest I did not even notice the fact that it was a stepped rail or at least what their effect was - I have admitted to being a novice!!.

Turning into the wave was getting easier as was riding up over the wash. Step back, all my weight on the back foot with my forefoot almost 'hovering' in a sort of an olly manouver, and away we went. No drama. In fact the Bonga was probably my easiest first session of any board that I've had.

On the waves, which were VERY F A T and slow the board paddled in easily, cut back sharp and trimmed well enough for me to get as close to nose riding it as I can. It held it's edge solid and was totally drama free. Even on some of the later, steeper take off's the nose showed no signs of pearling or bogging down - it was great and were it not for the fact that I had the delights of the Naish under my belt I would have been totally blown away. The problem for me was that I had spent months - well at least three months - serving my apprenticeship on the flighty little 9'3" and whilst still far from being any where near competent I had been shown glimpses of what it can do. I think that the Bonga could take me close to the promised land if I were good enough or put in the time on it that would teach me the delights of board control from the tail, BUT I'm not sure that I want to loose any of the time that I have put in on the Naish.

I'm not sure that this really makes sense. My Naish has frustrated and thrilled me. It teases me and, on occaisions makes me actually believe that I can do this stuff and then . . . . . it's slaps me down like a total first time novice. I have dripped and moaned about choppy conditions - and then had a great surf in chop, I have fallen off in glass and excelled in the bumpiest of faces. The Naish has no limits and I'm sure that the Bonga does not either - it's just that - I've paid my dues on the Naish and it seems to suit me better. On Thursday on the Bonga when compared to the handfull of longboarders that were out struggling to paddle in to waves that I was tearing it up with three nice cutbacks, I knew in my heart of hearts I would have made five on the Naish - and that left me feeling a tad frustrated.

I have to keep in mind that the Bonga is £619 - its half the price of a Naish - surfs so well and is incredibly well made. Bouyant for it's size (I'm 203lbs 14 1/2 stone) and it floats me easily. I'm probably borderline on the Naish and yet would not want to give that up.

If you are looking for a performance, short Sup, and fancy a new board at pretty much used prices - get yourself a ride on a Bonga it's a bargain.

As an epilogue I surfed tonight (Friday) on the Naish. How could I ever of wanted another board? Next time it'll kick me in the teeth and I'll be begging for the Bonga!

Two very different days

2009-08-07T07:56:00.004+01:00

Firstly - apologies - It was not intentional to drag this out like some soap instalment - it's just that this swell has been a long time coming and we have been so busy at work by the time that we get home (6.15ish) load up, get down the beach, surf, get back, have some food it's gone 11 and to be honest I'm too done in to fire up the laptop and blog - anyway that's my excuse.

So - the Bonga - what's it like?
I have to say I reckon it's brilliant - bear in mind what's written here are just the first impressions of an enthusiastic fat boy who still falls off a lot. Please don't take this as a review - I'm not qualified or remotely good enough to do that this is just a comparison from my perspective and experience of the boards that I have and have had.

Wednesday - Big swell (for us) four or five lines of white water to battle through before getting into the green. I was worried that I might not be able to stand on the thing. Totally unfounded - pushing the board through the first few lines I jumped onto the deck and paddled out pretty much first time. The nose rode up over a couple of foot of whitewater very easily and was much more stable on the other side than the Naish - no death wobbles. Paddling was reasonably straight and true and there seemed to be a bit more glide than the 9'3" - the Bonga hull has a slight v in it but is flat incomparison to the Naish's full blown keel. Even with the huge amount of water moving through I managed to stay dry side up and line up for my first wave.

I find turning any new board in front of a wave takes a bit of practise - the Bonga was no different. I resorted to a few wide flailing paddle strokes with weight on my heels before stepping back and stroking into what for me was a bloody great big monster. Shit or bust here go's - The sets were well overhead this one was the 2nd or third wave of the set and like the total tool that I am I stroked in pretty much as soon as I got out the back - why don't I learn - my wave selection has never been up to much.

It was not pretty - but it was fun - cranked in to the dredging left and fired off down the line with the lip threatning all the time. Hard on the inside edge, backhand for me and I managed to pop out without getting caught. Nice - paddle out try again. Pretty much the same really - no deft turns - wild slashy cutbacks or anything else really - no time just dive down the face, hang on for grim death trying to look as cool as I could and pop out before getting eaten. 2 for two - I liking this - scary but fun.

By now I was a hunded metres or more Godrevy side of where I went in. No channels just big walls closing out - as I said wave selection has never been my strong point one or two more of the same I got away with the next one I got greedy and hung on till the wash surfing it way too far inside and that was pretty much it. I struggled to get out for the next 10 - 15 minutes finally found my way into the green when the first of a decent set came through managed to paddle over the first and just made it over the second. The third took me over the falls and following the inevitable few seconds of backward body surfing my new leash parted company. Game over BOLLOCKS.

The swim?? in was ergh eventful I was teasy at loosing my board the saving grace being there were only a small handfull of guys out and no one on the inside.

The beach however seemed to be littered with people in various states of distress and exhaustion - me included. I retrieved my board and checked it over - I had lost one of the side bites but other than that perfect - tough little bugger. I sat and watched for a while. Bit of a result I thought - still don't know how it surfs though!!

Thursday night - the swell had dropped off enough to make the break a bit more surfable - so off I went.

Nervous - Apprehensive - Disaster - Loving It

2009-08-05T23:01:00.010+01:00

The Bonga pitched up today coinciding with the best forecast that we have had for weeks.

3pm 8ft 11secs 11mph 17c
6pm 8.5ft 12secs 9mph 16c
9pm 9ft 12secs 7mph 16

High tide was about 5.30pm - this forecast would normaly mean a decent, head high on the beach wave - it's going to be a baptism of fire. Nervous? Well I knew / heard that the old 10' Bonga was tippy and this fish was narrower than my Naish plus the stepped rails gave the board an even more slimmed down look. Unpacking it I thought 'This baby is going to be hot - possibly too hot' The tail is super slim but she's busty on top. Board dimensions are

Nose 19" (1' from end)
Tail 17.5" " "
Length 9'6"
Width 28 7/8"
Thickness 4"
Weight - wait (I'll get back to you)

1st off pics

Prettier than the web Pics

Step rails

Nose Lift

Flipside

Making the Naish look Porky (And it definetly isn't) Now I'm aprehensive!

So having sized the board up I'm beginning to think 'This board is going to be too tippy' bear in mind what I wanted was something Fractionally more forgiving in chop than the Naish. Bugger. I began pinning my hopes on the fact that the board had less nose and tail rocker (hopefully keeping more of it in the water, and a slightly fatter nose that would not sink away sideways in chop.

Naish dimensions -

Tail 17" 1' off the tail
Nose 15" 1' off the nose
Width 29 1/4"

So the Bonga's tail is almost as tight as the Naish and the Bonga is a Swallow tail. I'm not sure but I think that shaper's use a swallow tail design to maintain the width of a board where a pin or a diamond tail would mean pulling the tail in too quickly. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The nose tells the story though, two inches broader, still not the full rounded spoon of my old 9'8" Starboard and with more rocker than the Starboard. That is sort of in keeping with my plan, but what the hell would the effect of those rails be??

Picking the board up it felt light - full depth handle grip centrally placed and a great looking white diamond cut deck grip.

5.30pm could not come soon enough. I'm now typing this at 11.40pm and am totally knackered - sorry but the surf impressions will have to wait until tomorrow night - having said that the surf looks good then as well - could be a late night. Just to wet your appetite - I will be going in on the Bonga tommorrow as well, as I said before, tonight was a baptism of fire having lost a side fin and broke a brand new leash!!!

What can I say - It's been a while!

2009-07-31T20:55:00.004+01:00

I dont know how it happens, sometimes things just fall into your lap - I was aware of the new Southpoint range but hadn't really thought too much about getting one, no need the Naish is just so good. Having said that I had been thinking about a board that would be just a fraction easier in chop. I didn't want to loose any surfability or add too much length, just keep the nose a bit wider and possibly add a little more glide. You can tell that I had not given too much thought to it.

I was eyeing up the new Naish / Kalama Nalu boards, but that element of the unknown and the opportunity to try out another shaper revs me up a bit . So in a moment of madness I pulled the trigger on a new Southpoint Bonga Perkins 9'6" fish. I have to admit one of the things that turned me on to it was the price. £619 for a new board with a bit of Bonga pedigree about it - can't be bad in fact I reckon thats bloody good value providing it floats!!!

The full story on the Bonga fish Width: 28 7/8”

Thickness: 4”
Fin-Setup: 2 +1 w/FCS side
Fin Set: 7 1/2'' Schaper center, FCS GX sides
Includes: Deck pad, handle

Step deck rails and the bigger brother of the 9'er and the smaller sibling of a 10'r and a 10'6 fish

The 10' Bonga Southpoint always intrigued me with it's stepped rails but I have to admit - I always thought it looked a bit naff at least in my opinion (that does make me sound like a bit of a tart?). I have never ridden one just gathered 2nd and 3rd hand from web reviews that it was pretty loose and my BK Pro was already a bit of a handful, plus I had progressed to sub 10'.

Anyway - instant decision and what you see above should be with me by the the end of next week.

June - Came and went in a blinding flash!

2009-07-02T08:22:00.006+01:00

Lazy summer days, insanely busy at work and irregular surf have kept the posts to a minimum recently, but then I think if there is nothing to say - best say nothing.

It's not been crap just odd. The most noticeable thing is that if I had relied totally on surf forecasts the chances are I would not have got in at all. They are not wrong but it's just too easy to slip into a lazy 'star watching' game. If the ratings don't give it I don't go. Theres no substitute for jumping on the bike and checking it out first hand.

Highlights? One of the few sessions that I got with Shane recently was at Praa sands a couple of weeks ago - was not expecting much it was blowing a fairly stiff onshore combined with a pushing tide creating a really confused very choppy wind swell coming out of nowhere. For the first 10 - 15 minutes I spent a lot of time falling off the Naish thinking 'What the hell am I doing here'. But it seems that each sea (and session) has it's own rythym, and as I dial into the rythym I anticpate the correction needed to stay on the board rather than react late to whats already happened, resulting in over correction and the inevitable rinsing. Perhaps it's just loosening up who knows? But in conditions that were on the face of it attrocious we had a blast.

The conditions were such that on one particular wave we both paddled for it side by side, Shane on his 6' Matt Adams, caught (dropped) down the face and I stalled, how does that happen? Yet as he passed in front of me his head was below my feet! Bizarre and probably not too clever but we always coose each other when surfing and never ever give any quarter.

Later that week the swell was predominantly Southerly with a little West in it. North coast was flat but there were some cracking clean conditions on the South coast. I took a flyer and got in mid beach and pretty much had the break to myself until this lone shortboarder paddled out to meet me - Gavin, having sold his Starboard and finding the Naish 10'6" a bit of a mission to get around he had taken to his shortboards for a while.

I did get to see this video of Ivan van Vuuren messing about without fins - totally blew me away -

I'd love to be able to add some of that to my sweet skills cupboard.

A couple of snatched, random sessions including a fun knee high evening at Gwithian on the Uli Lopez - and a very early dawny Sunday before last at Gwithian that just beat the onshores - in at 6.00am out at 8.30 fantastic.

Fathers day came and went with Charmaine getting a couple of tickets for Shane and myself for the Paul Weller gig at 'The Eden Project' in aid of the Princes Rainforest Project and Green Britain Day

First band up were Florence and the Machine - think Siouxsie and the Banshees meets Kate Bush and Clannad - it works check it out here - this is the first number that really gets going at about 2m30'

I liked it - but Paul Weller - that was something else - I have always been a Jam fan, they were the soundtrack of my late teens and I have the entire back catalogue but sadly never got to see them, after this I dont feel so bad about it

You will have to trust me that contrary to the anonomous recording on this mobile phone the sound was superb - it just seems in keeping to have it here like, this. Great night.

So Friday was a late night, forecast for the weekend was lame, onshore windy shite - Gavin text me at 8.00am Sunday confirming it. Settled for a family day until it started to brighten at 6.00pm. Quick sort out - text to Gav - going to give it a bash and I went in to an angry looking Pete's Point. I had bought some new smaller fins and fiddled about with the centre fin. Can't say I noticed too much difference however despite it being fairly choppy I thought I surfed reasonably well until about 9.00pm when a decent set came through. I managed to paddle over the first got caught by the second and had the third break the leash cord (not the leash) Arse - that has not happened for a while - heh ho. Swam in with the elegance of Quasimodo hoping my board was not getting trashed on the few rocks at the head of the beach. (It wasn't). Got out and took these pics.

Looks really mellow now.

ULI LOPEZ - Sweet second helpings

2009-05-24T11:23:00.004+01:00

Could not get in Saturday night but amazingly managed to keep off the wine and beer enough to get up early Sunday morning check the forecast and get stuck into a second helping of the Lopez. The wind had all but dropped off and from the car park there seemed to be a bit more order and shape to the beach. It was 8.30 and the tide was dropping away fast - still closing out but cleaner and with a few more workable shoulders than Friday night.

Jumping onto the board this time I managed to stay dry. Progress.

The session was so much easier than before - more waves - more sweet skills - and confirmation for me that the board nose rides both standing and my little kneely nose rides that I seem to have gotten into the habit of doing. I need to work on my snappy cutbacks but slowly but surely the board was given it up. Like my all time favourite music I think that this board was going to grow on me.

Gwithian beach is 3 miles long and as time goes on the access points become more and more restricted and controlled. Annoying but it does mean that people being people tend to concentrate around the access, leaving lots of lovely empty waves if you are prepared to mooch up or down the break a bit. This morning I plumped for a mid beach mark in order to continue my painful apprenticeship away from the crowds. After an hour or so in the water I spotted another Stand up paddling down the beach on a Starboard - our wave choices brought us within speaking distance - we nodded and exchanged some brief good mornings, he had just come done from Plymouth to catch some waves, and then we paddled away from each other and you know what - that was just fine - no need to congregate in packs with so much beach and so many waves - good on ya pal who ever you were - clocked you having some decent rides - if you read this stop by and say hello.

So thats it - I can let the air out safe in the knowledge that I now have a real surfy travel board - Might try and get another session in this afternoon.

Riding the ULI Lopez

2009-05-23T18:40:00.004+01:00

Got to go out - I'll tidy this up later.

This is going to be easy - I have been surfing the Naish recently, well last time was over a week ago, since then the weather has been total shite, so jumping on my new ULI LOPEZ was going to be a breeze, wasn't it?

I had it all planned out - I have had ages to square it up and get it wired mentally plus as I've said all the practise that I have had 'breaking' the Naish in would stand me in good stead. Because that's what I have to do with a new board - I have to tame it. I need to gradually find out where to stand to paddle, to turn, to catch a wave, to punch out through whitewater, all these things I have to dial into initially in glassy conditions and then in chop before you actually take control of the board FROM THE BOARD. All these procesess enables me to get to the point where I'm not scared to take the board out for fear of looking like a bit of a cock and if I'm honest I do want to look as good as I can or at the very least capable.

So the latest inflatable offering from ULI using Gerry Lopez's design was sure to be an easy ride.

After all -

The 11'r, now sold, was a doddle to ride and would glide with the best of them.

The Steamroller 10'r - man that baby surf's not a ripper but soooo much glide, so stable, so easy,

and the Lopez, well that was going to be pretty much the same but with a bit more rocker, half the weight and instant membership to Cutback Central, right? WRONG!!

Tonight was the first chance that I have had to get the Lopez in the water - still not great conditions 2'- 3' breezy, cross onshore slop maybe the odd chest high set wave. The wind was dropping off and it was low tide, there were few faces mainly loads of white water low tide closeouts. Needs must.

Carrying the board down the beach was a doddle the board is incredibly light and the paddle loops are such a simple and fuss free way to make transportation easy.

Into the surf and I spring confidently onto the deck feet first, sink the farthest rail resulting in an immediate ducking. I surface laughing nervously. That didn't just happen - did it? I mount up again - first onto my knees and then onto my feet - Jeez this thing is loose proper loose. I reckon you can almost tell more and learn more about a board paddling out than you can surfing it sometimes. In fact I seem to dial in to most of my boards paddling out through the soup. Even if I have to knee paddle them for a bit it seems to give me 'a feel' for them. What I learnt about this board was the surgical way in which the nose, or lack of it, sliced through and over the wash.

Once out the back I found it easy to spin the board around for my first wave and - bugger what happened there? I was off. Next wave stroke in and - nothing! Paddled out again and turned in front of the rapidly jacking up face and I get caught side on with the nose sliding away left under the water - rinsed! This is getting silly now. The plan was paddle out - turn - catch a wave - walk to the nose - you know the usual sort of thing!! - I love it when a plan comes together - this one wasn't!!

So what was happening? - I stopped doing and started thinking. Sort myself out and get Paddle Steady first. I was sinking the side of the nose - not pearling but more bogging down. I stood back a step - instantly an improvment - with weight further back the board seemed to 'come alive' and I started catching a few - this board wants to go late - it just does not have the glide of the Steamroller - stop paddling and you stop. Familiar but not what I expected. The board is super loose and tippy. The pulled in nose means I had to to stand well back to paddle and step back even farther to turn, this focus's the weight on the narrow tail increasing the tippy feeling. Finding the 'paddle sweet spot' was harder than I had anticipated. I started to get my head into gear and slowly began to take a few late waves and began to get a few tantalising glimpses of what this board was going to be capable of.

A late crumbly close out left - my backhand - I took off with the soup on the tail and stood back over the fins - thats well back! Immediately the board 'pivoted' left around the fins and set me up for what little green water there was, does not sound much but it was one of those 'instinctive' moves that I did not expect to get away with - hard to explain but I know it when it happens and it allowed me to make the best of a bad wave. Some boards just dont give you that opportunity.

Another marginal left and this time the wave sort of backed off I bumbled forward on the deck and the board picked up speed and took off. Class, can't call it as a noseride but given the conditions and the previous half an hour or more of rinsings it was a result.

A couple of late fast rights - again not too much to work with but it was becoming more and more apparent that the board needs speed to work and then, when it does it's stuff, it's way better than me. In fact it held a couple of bottom turns so hard it took me by suprise and I was off.

Conditions were not good for any board - the beach gets rippley (Is that a word?) at low tide and the waves take awkward shapes even when it's clean - add in a short period cross chop and I generally stay in the dry, however on the Lopez a one hour tester turned into two - the board lifted it's skirts enough to make me want to see more and push on despite the conditions. It was frustrating but fun.

It's not a Steamroller - It's no cruiser and unless you weigh a lot less than I do, 14 1/2 stone, 203lbs 90kgs, I can't say that it's going to work for a novice. It's challenging - which I like (I think), It was hard work - my thighs are killing me as I write this, (still hurting as I edit it again 2 days later) but it's going to be a proper surf board - which I really like - I just want to get it in some decent clean waist to chest high surf for a proper try out. One things for sure - taming it is going to make me either a better surfer or give me thunder thighs.

ULI LOPEZ

2009-05-16T22:40:00.011+01:00

Look at that - and then tell yourself 'It's inflatable' - Just check it out. The board may start off life in Asia but the guys at ULI spend hours applying and custom tuning the rocker strips, which are what makes a surf board surf, and then fitting the paddle carries, the leash rings and the deck grip all sourced from stateside suppliers. Nett result a 18 lb, travel easy, FULL ON stable wave magnet.

At least I hope so - conditions have been pretty dire since my Lopez arrived. Desparate to get out and have a bash but the forecast is not looking good for the week. Have to slake your thirst with some ULI porn

First impressions - I did not see what the fuss was about. I was expecting something super thin and fragile but the build of the Lopez did not seem any different from the Steamroller UNTIL I put it our scales -
18lbs !!!thats lighter than my Naish and that's lighter than a very light celebrity that's just discovered the joy's of Bulimia.

The pump is new too - the old pumps shift a fair amount of air but get a little bit under geared as the boards get to full pressure 15 - 18 psi - the new one may take a few more strokes BUT it's soooo easy - no more swinging off the handle like an Olympic Pummel horse master. Wth little down force and about 250 strokes I got the board to 11psi - did not go any further but the pump is excellent.

Black fibre glass full length rocker strips run from end to end top and bottom. and contrast boldly with the grey board material. The deck grip mimics the rocker strip.

Regarding the rocker strips these are Jim Weir's words 'The three layers are applied by us in San Diego, they set the rocker and stiffen the board . . . . We assemble the fins, D-rings, tie-downs for carrying, and the deck pad.'

He then followed that up with 'Back to work, tomorrow, early surf with Steamroller, Lopez, Chris Koerner and Munoz, hope there's waves.'

So I guess it should be just fine!!

Which means I'm reluctantly going to be selling My 11' ULI - Great travel board - bomb proof construction 18 months old - Excellent condition £575 - includes Pump and canvas bag - pictures all over this site http://csx355.blogspot.com/2008/01/uli-11-stand-up-paddle-board.html more if required. The board is white with a white and blue logo'd full deck grip and blue rocker strip. The grip is just beginning to lift at a few edges but easily re-stuck down. Three fin thruster set up.

My ULI LOPEZ is on it's way!

2009-05-10T20:01:00.006+01:00

If you read this stuff you already know how I feel about ULI and their boards. It seems to go beyond the product itself - I have never met Chris Atkinson or Jim Weir from ULI, although I have spoken to Jim a few times - They really care about what they sell and how the customer feels. One day I'd like to hook up with them maybe share a wave or two and buy them a beer or coffee or something just to say thanks. Their boards have turned naff holidays into great ones and great ones into my all time surf fests. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I got this pic in my hotmail inbox.

Along with the tag line

CHRIS WITH STEVE'S NEW ULI LOPEZ

How good is that? - I always preferred the shots of the black and grey to the technicolour boards and the orange and yellow ULI logo stands out nice. Should be here by the end of the week all things being equal - COME ON - I mean check it out.

If you are sitting there reading this thinking 'What the hell is he getting so revved about an inflatable surfboard for?' You have never experienced the joy of ULI ownership - the smile that the 'ULI BOUNCE' gives you - the look of incredulity on the faces of fellow surfers as you smoke another swell, and the deep, smug contentment as you pop the valve, roll it up pack it in your suitcase and flick the bird to British Airways as you check in with a 10' paddle board, paddle and pump nestling between the boardshorts and bikini's. Makes me want to book a holiday.

I had been toying with the idea of getting hold of a C4 sub vector recently as a 'less than perfect conditions' board. Extravagant I know but hey, I dont drink (much) and I don't smoke (MMnn maybe the odd cigar!). But limited supply into the UK, high prices with poor exchange rates and the fact that I have been dialling in on my Naish more and more, you know I reckon that the ULI Lopez might fill that gap. I have had some great sessions in less than perfect conditions on my 10' Steamroller at Praa Sands - real choppy onshore shite - but on the right board that can s m o o o o o t h out the chop a bit it can still be fun. Being a realist I know that the minute the wind turns onshore and cranks up above 10 - 15mph I'm going to struggle on the Naish. I'm getting better on it - this morning was just peach. Light offshores and glassy with head high sets saw Gav and myself picking off more than our fare share of nice waves, swapping boards around, and generally having a blast, perfect. The rest of the week however is going to be rough and hopefully I'm in for some ULI TIME - I'll let you know how it go's.

Quiver Clearance C4 Boards for sale

2009-04-26T12:03:00.005+01:00

I really ought to clear some boards out from my shed - I just can't get to half of them and as I'm settling on just a couple of wave boards it strikes me as a good time to shift a couple. PLUS as anyone will tell you check out the prices of the new stock that the dealers are getting in. Some are up in price 20 - 30% due to the currency fluctuations. This should make the used boards look like very good value in comparison. So (deep breath) here go's.

My Lovely C4 BK Pro 10' x 27"

This was the first ever board that actually took my breath away, truly mental, and if it were not for the fact that I now have the NAISH I would keep it. The thing is the Naish will do everything this will AND it's only 9'3" long.

The BK is a challenging board - but as I found with the Naish it takes a bit of persistance and a few sessions to dial in, and when you do EVERYTHING else feels pedestrian in comparison when you go back. If you have only been used to riding a JL 11' this may be a step too far unless you dont carry the urrgh reserve insulation that I do, however if you are used to a Starboard, Ultimate Blend, 9'8" or 9' Extremist this board will take to a world you never knew existed.

The BK needs a decent wave, waist high plus, to get it going, it's not a lover of mush, unless it's big mush, it paddles well but you will be taking off later in the short boarders zone :).

Multiple fin set ups on this one, five fin box's mainly for Quad or 2 plus 1 - I preferred the latter.

The board had some typical C4 paddle chips on the rails which I had Whippet repair and spray in (TOTALLY UNDETECTABLE. A first class job.

The board is now in A1 - MINT - PERFECT condition. apart from the dirty wax on the nose - oh yes you can!

This is from the C4 site -

Originally built for Brian Keaulana, this Dave Parmenter shaped 10 foot wing swallow is 27 inches wide and 3 7/8 inches thick. It comes with five fin boxes so you can run it as a thruster or quad. The BoardWorks TEC construction makes this board light and strong. Wing-Swallow Tail Width: 27.0" Thickness: 3.85" Fin Array: 5-fin cluster. Adaptable to any fin combination, i.e. single, twin, tri, quad, or 2 X 1. DESIGN NOTES: The Brian Kealuana Model is the end result of a design evolution that commenced with the very first SUP short board back in 2003. This board combines a constant-curve Hawaii rocker which is calibrated to accelerate at nose and tail in sync with the pulled-in outline. The thickness distribution tapers toward the tail to allow harder turns at higher speeds, and the wing-swallow reduces tail area under the back foot, and grants greater adhesion and torque in carving turns. If you are keen on progressive, full-tilt SUP surfing and really want to push the edge of the performance envelope, this is the board for you.

C4 price the board at $1587 which works out at £1087 without any taxes and duties
Prices UK side vary from £869 if you can find one, to £1110

I want £650 Check out the Pics.

AND my very pretty C4 10' Diamond Tail Classic - which has been my first 'turn to' board since October Last year. This is what I would call 'A Gateway Board' Its takes you by the hand and gently moves you on from Tankers'ville to that magic land of 10' and below. You know the place - it's where you want to be when you walk back up the beach on a windy day with a 11' plus gliders wing.

Its fast and fairly stable but is still more performancey than my Starboard 9'8" ever was. I really liked the Starboard Extremists and Gav's 9'0'r is just magic but they dont have the nose rocker that the C4 has and that makes it difficult sometimes - The 10' classic just feels that must more 'racey' and does not complain or bog down dropping into late waves. At 28" it is more stable than the BK and as I have said it's been my first choice board whatever the conditions.

It noserides - better than I ever will - it will 'snap off the lip turns' better than I ever will. And it punches out through white water nice. That's the good stuff the bad stuff is when I got it I thought that I would protect the rails with clear tape, which I did, however like a total MUPPET I did not extend the tape far enough down the rails. Result 6 typical C4 paddle chips near the tail. There are also acouple on the nose. Not serious just normal, annoying and as such I can't describe the board as mint.

From the C4 site the price is currently $1520 - £1034 Ex taxes and carriage.

Again UK prices vary between £869 and £1050

I would take £600 (bloody chips)

OR would consider selling both as an instant ready made quiver for £1150

What a Week!!

2009-04-24T23:39:00.005+01:00

We have been so lucky with the waves this month - not huge but pretty consistant making for some great sessions. Conditions have varied between a steady waist to chest high and generally clean. This has allowed me to get some great board time on the Naish. Tonight it showed. Smell that? It's me oooozing surfsmug.

I had planned on giving it a miss tonight as the winds were forecast to go north easterly (bang onshore)and freshen to 20-24mph.

4.38pm I get a picture text from Gavin. It was clean and building. Last nights session at Pete's was so good I decided to get down there again asap after work in the hope of resuming where I left off last night. It's the pig in me I suppose.

Gav's text piccy - looking really nice - it didn't stay like that for long!!!

Gavin was already in and the waves in front of the car park were, lets say, impressive.

I was getting changed a guy pulls up and beeps his horn - 'still light and too early for doggin' I thought and it's Ash and his mate that we met at Lafitenia in France last October - Small world.

Only one board, decision made, in the van and after a quick change I was trotting off down the track to Pete's.

It was clean, but only between the waves - outside was quite choppy and getting steadily worse BUT I seemed to be coping with it. I'm sure that my efforts at staying topside resembled my amazing dance moves - you've seen them before but I don't get out that often.

I know, I have no shame - But tonight I was staying upright and catching waves - and having a total ball. It was hard work and my knees, calves and thighs bear testament to it but so much fun.

One thing - quick confession here - I got all righteous the other day about not bailing my board in order to preserve my leash and not treat it as a retreival tool. Tonight after getting caught inside I bailed and not just once or twice. Sorry guys - I'll work on it.

There I feel better now that I have got that off my chest.

If, sorry BIG IF, anyone is still reading this, drop by pull up a chair, tell me all about it - at least say hello.

NAISH REVELATION

2009-04-16T19:36:00.007+01:00

Funny how things can change so quickly sometimes. A couple of weeks ago I was making enquiries about a C4 Subvector, buying a nice woolly cardigan and toying with the idea of swapping my NAISH 9'3" for a 9'6 quad. Bloody glad I didn't.

Late last year I had some ripping sessions on the little Naish but this spring I have been struggling a bit and as a consequence been taking the easy option and riding my C4 10' Classic.

Easter saw a prolonged high pressure give us light winds coinciding with some decent, proper swell and suddenly I was like a Pig in Sh1t. Getting the Naish out at every opportunity.

Shane sort of summed it up for me today, he said -

'Dad - don't be a twat' Which I think roughly translates into

'You can have one board BUT you are really going to have to compromise on your wave expectation' (and wear a woolly cardigan).

I'll explain - Having spent a lot of time early this year on the ULI Steamroller (about 64 hours) my wave expectation was set by what I could get from the board, which was pretty much paddle in - bottom turn - nose ride (sort of) - maybe tuck in for a little cover up - glide, cruise and grin my way down the line to paddle board heaven. Nice - Comfy - Safe.

My ability would not allow for any major snaps or heroics even if the board was capable of it in the right hands (feet)! So my parameters were pretty much set.

9'3" x 29 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Jump on the Naish now and there are no limits - AT ALL. It just took me a few sessions to truly dial in to the board again. I'm probably not the most patient of guys and my spare time is as precious to me as it is to anyone else. Having convinced myself over the last twelve months or more that I can actually do this standup stuff here I was falling off again.

Dont like it - Didn't like it.

All my usual tricks - bigger fins etc. actually made it worse - so what a bloody total revelation it was when I finally got it sussed, re-fitted the 5.5" centre fin thought about where to stand and went surfing.

So pick the right board for the conditions and surf accordingly - not exactly rocket science is it?

Choppy days any size - bigger board ULI 10' (possibly the new Lopez) C4 Classic

Clean small days up to waist high - bigger board ULI 10' (possibly the new Lopez) C4 Classic

Clean bigger days Chest high plus - send me straight to NAISH 9'3" Heaven

I wasn't like this on regular surfboards. I always had a few boards kicking around but they were the 'old ones' or 'the new one'.

And I always surfed the new one until it became the old un, usually a two year life cycle.

Now I have and can see the need for a quiver. My surfing is never going to be described as radical, I'll settle for softly progressive - a bit like REM, BUT now I know that somewhere just over the next wave is a swell coming that I can do more with than just set the board up and cruise down the line - and I now know that, conditions allowing, with the Naish I have the board that in my own geriatric, sedentary way -

I can rip the crap out of it.

9'6" x 29 1/4" x 4 3/8"

And this has got me thinking - How much more stable in choppy conditions is the Naish 9'6" than the 9'3" and could it be used to replace the C4? It has a fatter nose and a more parallel plan thanks to the swallow tail than the 9'3" and is wider than the C4. It also has 25 litres or so more volume than it's smaller brother . . . . . . . . AND where the hell does this leave my BK PRO?
Its the narrowest of all the boards - almost as loose as the Naish But it is 10' long and if you are going to have a surfboard as opposed to a cruiser you might as well go shorter so it's pretty much redundant and as a result still for sale.

Length: 10'0" Nose: 18 3/8" Width: 27" Tail: 16 3/8" Thickness: 3 7/8" Weight: 23 lbs
Fin Boxes: 4 future side fin boxes 1 standard center fin box.

Damn shame but there you go.

Making Friends with a Naish 9'3"

2009-04-13T10:55:00.003+01:00

What a weekend - magicseaweed was shaping up for a perfect combination of swell. spring tides and light offshores, all this and an Easter bank holiday giving us a couple of extra free days off - things were looking good.

Friday and I made my way to a mid beach mark for the evening high tide - it was big and munchy with the tail end of the onshore winds. The full fat, wedgey beach break was getting jacked up double by the backwash from the head of the beach. Not pretty, very testing but great fun. Paddling in felt a bit suicidal and the rides were short but rewarding.

In the car park prior to paddling out a couple of prone surfers pulled up with short boards - I didn't see them get a wave but did see them spat out further down the beach. And that was nice!

So Saturday got in after work at Pete's point for the evening session again on my C4 fantastic - had the place to myself all over the high tide and just did not want to get out - a real soul surf session. I had made loose plans to get in at 9.00am on Sunday morning but the evening session was so good it was no hardship getting up early and I was in the water just before 8.00am ON MY DAY OFF!!! It looked very clean so I decided to risk another session on the Naish.

It's been no secret that the last few outings on my Naish have been difficult. We have not been the best of friends recently, like a true workman I have been blaming the tools. I have just not been able to stay upright on the thing. The centre fin has been growing in size in the vain hope to give me some static stability - having used the biggest fin in my collection 10" I opted to plug in the the smallest - the original Naish 5.5".

What a difference! From the moment I paddled out everything just felt right - ok I still fell a few times but the sheer surfability of the board was magic. And in turbulent water the board felt more stable. Perhaps the leverage on a bigger fin contributes to the rails sinking and going past that tipping point - who knows -, who cares? I was grinning ear to ear. I conceded that perhaps Harold Iggy might know a thing or two after all.

The Naish really needs to be kept under way, you can stop but loose concentration and you need to dig the paddle in to gain momentum and stability. During the morning session I sort of realised as well that I had to 'inch' back on the board a 'tad' in order to keep the nose up. Just a bit too far forward and the nose is under the water and it's douche time. Its also easier to stand and paddle the board than to kneel on it - how odd is that? Pop up onto the board on your knees and a fraction too far forward and the nose is under like Captain Nemo's Nautilus.

The sweet spot is minute on the board - but in the clean 2-3' surf I had one of my best sessions of the year. I can't believe that I had harboured thoughts of moving the board on. It just needs the right conditions - ideally clean and a minimum of 2-3' but preferably more, and more importantly the right attitude. One things for sure I am never going to reach the limits of it, or get bored with it.

During the session I met up with Steve Carter and we shared a few waves before swapping boards (he was on a Starboard UB 11'2"). Very nice but it did feel like a tanker after the Naish. Both of us agreed the Naish has an amazing 'skatey' feel to it.

I was in for 3 1/2 hours that morning and eventually dragged myself out when my hands started bleeding and the cramp made my calves feel like they were exploding.

Back to Sunset Surf cafe for some coffee and incredible flapjacks and cake to re-fuel and then back in for a couple of easy, mellow hours on the C4 over the low tide.

Jay and a few of the forum guys were out at Gwithian having made the trip down for the weekend. Just don't really appreciate how lucky we are living here.

What a difference a few sessions can make.

I HAVE A NAISH 9'3"

And it's the only one in the UK. SMUG SMUG SMUG.

Short Board Blues

2009-04-08T20:49:00.005+01:00

You know what? - It's been a funny few weeks - we have been busy as hell at work and even though the clocks went forward allowing for some evening surf time a few things got in the way to 'choke up the stoke' a bit. However a couple of weeks back the forecast started shaping up for a classic few nights of swell.

Clean. (ish)

Clean = Naish oh yes - get the zipper open and unleash the beast - in my dreams !!

The tide was a small evening spring - off I trots to Pete's and - it's small, much smaller than the 4.5' forecast. Never mind in I goes to an all too familiar routine. Jump on the board first 20 minutes no major problems - not much to work with but seemed to be making the best of it - paddled back to Gwithian where there was a bit bigger wave (still desparate) and proceed to make a total cock of myself falling off, getting stuck in the backwash from the cliff - anything but ride the board. I have had some excellent sessions on the Naish - tonight just was not going to be one of them. I sneaked out hoping that no-one would spot me.

Next night similar conditions possibly a tad bigger and I went in on the C4 10 classic. Fantastic. Almost like I could do it for real. Thoroughly enjoyed myself to the extent that I did not want to get out. In fact the struggling that I had been doing on the Naish made the C4 feel so easy. I surfed my way round to the middle of Godrevy beach and made a pig of myself on the break off the mid beach rock. Great fun.

Although the surf was good all week I did not manage to get in again until Sunday morning - pushing half tide up the wave was quite full and fat with a tendency to threaten then back off - it was good fun but I was making a meal of it - even on the C4. There were a couple of other guys in as well as Gavin and myself one on a Starboard the other on a Gong. The guy on the Gong was quite tidy and smooth and put us all to shame. Would of liked a bash on the board but was a bit reluctant to ask, plus there were a few prone surfers out and with four SUPs in fairly close proximity I felt that it was prudent to surf away from the pack. It's easy to see how intimidating and domineering a few standups can be in the line up. Not that there was any hassle or poor etiquette.

I have been exchanging a few mails with Casso from Seabreeze - he currently has a 9'3 Naish and a 9'3" PSH Ripper. It was encouraging to know that he has a few stinkers each session and a couple of sessions that just don't go well.

Perhaps riding the ULI Steamroller has spoilt me - who knows? However one thing is for sure after seeing these shots of Clinton -

with more shots here

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=3601.0

I can't wait to get my hands on an ULI LOPEZ.

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-17T20:47:00.001Z

Our 24th wedding anniversary and Charmaines birthday this week-end - coinciding with some epic spring weather, light winds and a decent swell. I was working Saturday, away watching Al Murray on Sunday but home for a class evening session Monday - top waves at Gwithian pushing up to high tide. It's been a while and I was pretty rusty to start - usual story - before getting some decent workable waves - including my final wave home that had me crapping my self as I was hurtling towards the mid beach rocks at Godrevy - fantastic.

Decided to have a bit of a clear out board wise and thought that it was time to move my Pope Bisect Carbon Stealth Longboard on. Really difficult one this -I've made half hearted attempts to sell it before, pricing it too high to sell but just in case someone really wanted it, anyway you know how some things are just 'right' this board is one of them.

It's a Wayne Rich 9'0 Carbon Fibre (like proper black pre preg carbon fibre) Stealth performance longboard. Made in the States before Bisect farmed out their manufacture and bears the board number #007!! Really it does, and it looks like it belongs in a Bond film.

Here is the 2005 Pope Ad for the same board

Wayne Rich shapes have pedigree and Wayne appears in the Shapers Hall of Fame along with any body who is anybody http://www.theshaperstree.com/hall_of_fame/index.asp

The board is a three fin (centre and two FCS sides)with a double concave bottom and has the upgraded Carbon centre pole and carbon centre fin. It comes with the travel bag as shown in the pics below. This board makes longboard travel easy. The original price when I bought it was $1800 plus carriage, import duty and VAT. About $2400. I bought it 4 years ago when the £ was pretty strong costing about £1200. I touted it about a bit at £750 a few months back but realistically would take £575 for it now as I have not ridden any of my Longboards for the best part of two years. This board is Carbon fibre NOT epoxy remember. More pics follow -

Charmaine showing the packed away board - total assembly / disassembly time is about 1 minute, the board is very light - its hollow - and damn tough.

I could ship it pretty much anywhere subject to cleared funds being available. Message me if you are interested.

Now for the Sups

I have a C4 BK Pro 10'x 27" Rocket ship of a board that would take either a 2 plus one or a Quad set up. It has had some paddle chips but I have had it properly refinished and the board is now like new. These boards are now retailing at over £1100 - anyone will tell you that the likelyhood is that they are going to get even more expensive - check it out here https://www.2xs.co.uk/C4_10'0_BK_Pro_SUB.asp?CID=273

Yours for £600

I also have a totally gorgeous pale blue C4 10' Classic diamond tail that I bought new in October list on this is now £1050 - £695 no offfers.

So there we have it - for a day or two anyway - until the Uli Lopez arrives!!

Surf Doldrums

2009-03-03T20:56:00.003Z

Having promised myself that I was not going to post a blog load of holiday snaps - I posted a blog load of holiday snaps - I had intended to put up a third Costa Rica post with a lots of mind blowing wildlife and natural beauty stuff you know the sort of thing - blue skies - golden sands - cold Imperial beers - the sort of stuff that you could show the wife to persuade her that it's not just a surf holiday destination there just happens to be surf there. Just didn't get round to it and then the moment was lost - the euphoria of the holiday was gone and the reality of splashing around in 9'c onshore Sunday slop sort of kicked in and I just couldn't get my ass into gear. So here is one I should have posted earlier.

An Olive Ridley Turtle laying her eggs at the end of the path between the hotel and the beach

The only decent day's surfing that I have had since i've been back was a couple of weeks ago when the high tide was about 8.30am and we had a clean 2-3' swell push through (peaking Saturday of course)still it was fun even if I struggled on the Naish a bit. I don't know if I am getting worse or my expectations are more. Twelve months ago we surfed every Sunday - regardless and every session was fun and a challenge - now we (I) are more picky resulting in more no go's. I can sort of remember the early days of my regular surfing being the same. Time to reset my parameters and get back to having a blast regardless of conditions - besides more time in adverse conditions should hone my sweet skills in preparation for when its 4' and clean, no wind and warm - and I might stand some chance of staying on the dryside a bit more - bring it on.