Bad Habits

It's felt like ages since there has been a decent wave - and I just don't seem to be revved up for flat water stuff at the moment. The forcasts for the week leading up to the bank holiday suggested that a smallish pulse would show up Thursday, BBC weather charts backed this up with a break in the high pressure and rain towards the end of the week.

So Wednesday evening I trotted off to Gwithian to find the tide full and a decent little swell pushing through. I surfed in the corner of the beach by the steps, and was the last man Gwithian side - Godrevy was rammed and some of the guys I spoke to who were coming back from there said that there was almost fighting going on in the line up. Line up!! That's a joke 200 people chasing three peaks - can't see the point of that anymore. There were two guys on mini-mals and myself Gwithian side of the mid beach rock - no hassle, plenty of banter and decent waves although it was a bit fat for the mals to get into.

Thursday saw the return visit after work and the swell had picked up a bit - the later tide meant it had to be Pete's Point. What a session - I pretty much had the place to myself - still no sign of rain in fact it was bloody hot. I surfed on until 9 and then paddled back to The steps at Gwithian - it must have been 9.30 when I got out - still light just knackered.

Friday night it had dropped off a bit plus the later tide did not do me any favours - the waves seem to jack up a bit better and hour after high at Pete's. Still decent little soul session and a good work out.

Things that I need to work on (the bad habits).

Because the SUP is so easy and the rides are sooooo long I am getting greedy and 'hang' on to the wave past it's sell by date instead of kicking out before the wave crumbles. Probebly trying to pull off that ultimate floater - anyway net result is I end up in the white soup with nowhere to go and no control (fins dont bite in foam). This is not a problem other than after a decent ride I end up falling off in Knee high foam and looking like a cock (kook)!! Plus should anyone be inside of me - well best not think about that. So I have to remember kick out on the green - stay standing - paddle away - look cool. (for a fat boy).

Next issue - I have gotten into the habit of changing sides on my last couple of paddle strokes before dropping in to a wave - this usually results in the wave passing me by - I know why I do it and I know how to stop it but it's a habit that is hard to break at the moment. The 9'8" does not have the glide of the JL11 so I tend to drop in a bit later as I cant get up to and maintain the wave speed as easily. Beacause there is more yaw on the 9'8 I tend to paddle parallel to the on coming wave sometimes even slightly towards it and take the last few strokes to turn the board and drop in. Easy. However if the the wind (or the swell) is not behind you I try to correct the last power stroke by changing sides the board slows up a bit and the wave gets away. Lesson to be learnt here is suss out the swell direction and use that to help keep the speed up.

Saturday night - Thai meal and enough beer to convince me to go up the Bucket for more - Sunday - huge hangover - lazy lie in and a text from Gavin - Jimmy Lewis demo day at Gwithian - not at my best - anyway dragged myself up there and met some really nice guys Olaus and his brother - Pete from West Country Watersports - Bill from Satorial - Steve Carter from Sunset - Gary the South African ripping it up on a JL11 plus loads of first timers. The swell was a good size but the chop was making life difficult - managed to get a couple of decent sessions in the better one being late in the day. Didn't manage to get a ride on the Jimmy 10'4 but Olaus offered me a bash on his 10'r sometime. Good day really social - no fighting.

Surfed out sleep depravation??

Don't really know where to go with the blog now - I can't imagine that anyone really wants to read 'I got up - and it was sunny - and I went for a paddle - and it was knee high' blah blah blah - so I was thinking about knocking it on the head. It was always intended to be a 'start up' journey. It's nice to read about Blane Chambers dropping into 15' Waimea - blindfolded - and Laird Hamilton paddling to the moon and back and Adam Zervas 'busting up' the Cribbar, but although it inspired me to start paddle boarding it didn't really help me how to do it. I wanted to see, actually I wanted to know that people were falling off and smacking there head on their boards and falling off and pulling their shoulders and falling off and stuff just like I was. So that's how this started. Plus - I had a ULI - a blow up inflatable, full on stand up paddle board, and it was so much fun I thought that others might like to be turned on to it as well.

So as I start thinking about stopping the blog - I notice that people are referring to it and asking me stuff not because they think that I am an expert - WHICH I MOST DEFINITELY AM NOT but because people like to talk and swap ideas and simply get another viewpoint - without a vested interest. And that's made me feel that the blog is worthwhile - so unfortunately for you guys - for the time being I will ramble on . . . and on . . and on . . ZZZzzzzz...

So anyone had so much paddle surfing that they hurt - not bad injured hurt - just that fully knackered all over muscle ache that makes it had to find a comfy spot in the bed at night. I have had a few sessions now, usually over a couple of days when I put in two or three hours each time and am just in bits the next day.

Quick lay person's lesson on sports nutrition follows - the body generally stores muscle fuel in the form of Glycogen in the liver. This is usually enough following a decent meal to sustain about forty minutes or so of fairly intensive exercise after this point you either put more fuel into the body in the form of carbohydrates (difficult noshing on energy bars, gels or paste when it's 3' and clean), or the body has to turn to an alternate fuel source to fire its muscles - this fuel is body fat. Perfect - go paddle surfing don't eat anything loose weight - right ?? Well sort of. Converting fat to fuel is a very S L O W reaction essentially you burn fat but not at a speed that will keep the muscles happy unless you ease up on the effort. Muscles treated this way need repairing this repair needs protein and the best time for muscle repair is nightime - sleep is the time the body resets and repairs.

Again I'm not an expert on this stuff so if you are and I've got it wrong please correct me my knowledge comes from a few endurance cycle events and triathlons.

'Where the hell is he going with this?' you are probably thinking - well I found some stuff that helps me and having tried it a few times and tried not using it I am fairly satisfied that it pretty much does what it says' on the tin.

SIS NOCTE - basically it's a protein milk shake that you drink (cold in my case) 30 minutes before bedtime. Not sure if it helps me sleep better but I definitely feel sharper next day - still sore but more 'worked' than w£^ked - if you get my drift.

I don't believe in crystals or witchcraft or alien abduction or have any direct financial interest in SIS (science in sport) but I think this stuff works - I wouldn't use it every time, only when I'm toast. Might be worth buying / trying a sachet - at a £1 a pop I think its worth a wiggle.

Still with me? - Had couple of sessions this week - mellow little surf at Sennen Cove with Gavin on Monday night so hot I almost left my wetsuit on the beach. The wave was bairly knee high occasional set at waist high - beautiful evening and the water at Sennen is always so clear - stayed in till dark. Bit of a laugh and Gavin is really getting to grips with his 9'er now (still laugh at him when he falls off though).

Tuesday night I jumped in after work at Gwithian. The forecast looked sound four feet at ten seconds - trouble was everyone else thought the same - I think that you could have walked from Godrevy to Gwithian on surfboards - it was very hard to find space. Few good waves but hard going again knee to waist high, and then as the tide pushed up building the swell slightly - so did the wind - bang offshore but stiff.

So I went home and mixed a Nocte chocolate milk shake !!!

Now I'm desparate for a decent - big scary - clean wave.

Sometimes it's just crap

Good things?

The water is warming up - can't say that I've actually been cold all winter though. I have not been out of my summer Billabong (cheapie)but this week saw me loose the rashie and the boots - yippee - like sex without a condom - class. So that was nice!

So there was a couple of evening knee high sessions 'out the front' of Gwithian car park one of which was just one of those 'Hell we are here lets do it' things when normally you just wouldn't go in - part of the sesh saw Steve from Sunset Surf lend his board to a lass who was longboarding. She loved it and her pal was eyeing up her mates progress to the extent that I thought Steve was going to loose his board for an hour. Sooo I lent her mine - 10 minutes and she was doing it - on waves - fantastic. But this meant that I had to ride 'Tinkerbell' for 20 minutes. 'Tinkerbell' was / is a 9'2" x 22" Pink lonboard. Looked so narrow when I got on but suprise suprise first wave I was off - it was so easy. I have not been on a prone surfboard since October. Hell It was fun - Sssshhh don't tell anyone.

I had an early morning (Sunday I think) surf with Gavin)- looked bad - wasn't good but was worth having - and ended up with one of the longest nose rides ok so it was a cheater five but hell I was stoked. Ended up with a three hour session in the morning and almost the same in the evening - Monday I blanked but I was so beat I didn't sleep well. Fantastic.

Bad things?

Sorted my board store out on Monday and F*5&%ing - bl$6dy - sh"7 - Bas7&££ing C8$k s&*king p6££!!!! I found a ding in the rail of my Starboard. God knows whats happening - it seems that I only have to fart in the vicinity of the board and the paint cracks. Might be me but I thrashed about on the Jimmy Lewis for months with hardly a mark.
Heh Ho. If anyone actually reads this and has a sport/tuf/deck/skin/organ/bollox/proper board let me know what they think. Perhaps I'm heavy handed with it but I just use it like any of my other boards.

I also have some foot impresions on the deck - that,s down to me being a fatty though - my ULI gets rammed up the beach without a mark. Am I whinging???

(I thought it prudent to ergh Moderate my rant a bit the board has to be 'dung'!! to be dinged and the fact remains - it's a stunning board plus it looked a bit harsh when I sobered up - apologies)

Family stuff/sh17 happening all for wrong reasons - that's crap as well - surfing suffers along with everything else - priorities. Next few days are not looking particularly fantastic on the wave front.

Come on people engage with this - it helps everyone hungry for information.

This Weeks Sessions

God I love lighter evenings - seem to be getting more than my fair share of waves this week - Rush home from work, in the water by 6.15 and paddle away until almost 9pm. Fantastic. Been going to Pete's Point mainly because the tides have been late evening highs, (springs) and there is always a bit of shelter from the wind under the cliff. Bonus factor is that there is always fewer people due to the yomp across and down the cliff.

Really getting to grips with the board now, every time seems better than the previous and my tolerance of poor conditions seem to be increasing. Gavin has been 'off it' a bit recently so arranged to borrow the 9'0 demo board to refuel his stoke. We paddled it out for the first time into a crowded middle beach break with a howling 20mph 'cross off, shore wind. This was not shaping up to be fun. How wrong can you be the waves were steep and the tide was pushing up the beach - we had our moments, just staying on the boards was a result and paddling into the wind was VERY hard but we both scored waves, not dozens but those we had were soooo good.

We swapped boards and I wobbled about on the 9'0 - stability at rest was minimal under way she was fine and turned at will, dropping into a wave at the last minute was a real hoot. I am a fairly lazy person and have gotten used to the 9'8, the 9'0 was harder work for me - the conditions were grim but I felt a bit more comfy on mine. Gavin seemed to get the bit between his teeth though.

From being fairly crowded most people got out around 8pm - the wind had dropped a bit and I stayed on until almost 9pm. Great fun.

Saturday evening the wind had dropped significantly and the swell had built. I had Pete's point pretty much to myself. This was just one of those sessions - I hate to use the word 'Epic' but it was Epic.

This morning (Sunday) I met Gavin at Gwithian at 8.45 and we toddled off to Pete's again with the 9'0. Although it looked shite it cleaned up really well and we were both on fire (relative term) - I was surfing better than I have ever surfed I think. I have some dodgey video but as I don't seem to be able to work out how to make the last one work it might be a while before anyone see's it, plus with the now much improved camera mount (bungee corded onto my belt) I have 2 minutes of surfboard in shot. Zero perspective of waves due to the camera hanging low. It's getting there. OOps here it goes and . . . . cue music



Music is by the Jesus and Mary Chain - top stuff!

Again we swapped boards - The 9'0 is no doubt the better surf board although I think that both boards are limited by their width and as a result I have a tendency sometimes to catch the outside rail in the steeper sections of some waves. I also saw Gavin do this once.

Gavin got totally dialled with the board this session - no prizes for guessing which one is going to live with Gavin on a more permanent basis.

We surfed on until almost 12 pretty much on our own - looking over to Godrevy we could see that it was rammed - nice.

Elegantly catching Up with a few Sessions

Been out a few times over the past month or so but in the main the conditions have been shite. In fact probably the worst since I started - consistent onshore high winds coinciding with my free time. Still one or two sessions have been excellent and we managed a really mellow high tide paddle from Gwithian to Godrevy back to Pete's Point, in and out of the stacks at the head of the beach and back to Godrevy.

BLAIR WITCH PADDLE BOARD



The video is very shakey as the camera was swinging from my belt - to edit it I had to cut it in sections, turn it and stitch it up again. This is a first off hopefully they will get better or I will give up. Audio is poor as well - sounds like I ran over a seagull half way. BUT I managed to cover up most with a damn fine Radiohead track. The underwater stuff was when we swapped boards. I know its all a bit crap but I figure that if this blog is going to be at all credible it should contain the entire journey not just the best bits.

Pumped up the ULI for the flat water paddle - what a blast - it was good to be able to get it down the cliff without any fear of 'mashing' it as well. Swapped the ULI with Gavin for a short while - amazing the difference that the 'bounce' in the ULI makes when there is a bit of chop on the water. Just love that board it makes me smile every time I ride it. There was a bit of swell running - just enough to catch a few waves at Pete's point and Godrevy. The beach was pretty rocky at the top and again there was no worry about running the board up the beach. Also managed to 'sneak' in a very small wave sesh at Perranuthnoe - the beach was empty and the sun was going down fast but I had a bit of a blast on the 1' clean waves that were pushing through with the tide. If it was not for the SUP I would not have got in at all - and my shoulders were so work sore after. You (read I) seem to go harder in smaller stuff. It's just endless. Managed to get a wave in with Steve from Sunset one Sunday - again took the ULI but there was so much chop the smaller board would probably have been a better bet. Caught a few waves the 'bounce' effect made itself felt by burying the nose on a couple of waves. I am guessing that the 10'er - the 'Steamroller Model' is a bit stiffer. Loads of fun though - Steve is borrowing it to take it to Lake Geneva and then on to Cyprus - it's going to be a well travelled board. Had a few sessions at Godrevy - one was a bit busy but had some decent waves - the other was a 2' clean evening glass off. Hardly anyone in and endless little waves. Great work out. Stunning sunset. Managed a decent wave at Pete's Point last night - wasn't going to go in but decided to at the last minute - shared such a good wave with half a dozen surfer's and bodyboarders - thought I did alright - don't think I disgraced myself anyway. Stayed in till dark. Onshore and mushy at Gwithian this morning - bit of a laugh though - plenty of waves albeit hard work. A guy came up to me in the car park afterwards and questioned me about the board and general stand up stuff - mainly how do you get out in bigger waves. You just do. He seemed genuinely interested - then he said he thought it looked elegant - ELEGANT me?? Like a dog in an ashtray. (I'm married with kids right) - Blokes my weight don't do elegant or dainty - we do beasting and driving and powering and hawking and scratching and . . . . anyway thanks whoever you are. If you read this - and don't leave a comment - I'll be so hacked off that I will stop being elegant!! Come on you read it - comment.

Two Sorts Of Stability

Never gave this much thought to my conventional surfing - probably explain why I was never much good at it - plus I think that the actual 'thinking' time on the board is less with conventional surfing. With stand up you are on it all the time and the paddling element is as big a part as the surf element. This means that the way the board reacts when paddling and at rest is given as much consideration as how it surfs. When I started off it was all I could do to stand on the board - the Jimmy Lewis was very stable side to side (Yaw) due to it's width and stable end to end (pitch) due to it's length. It was only today that I realised that pitch has as much effect as it does.

Dropping to a smaller board (my 9'8" Starboard) seemed like an easy, natural transition from the JL. IN FLAT WATER! Introduce some chop and the balance training starts all over again. Something that I just did not realise until this morning.

Since getting the Starboard I have had a couple of abortive sessions due to the weather - naturally I went in (new board) but got blown to hell - Wednesday night I managed a quick surf after work in the middle of the beach with Shane. The wave was waist to chest high and glassed off really well - we only got 40 minutes or so before dark but I couldn't go wrong. Lefts, rights, full rail cutbacks just one of those fantastic sessions, albeit too short. Friday and Saturday was blown out but Sunday looked promising.

I paddled out at Hayle Rivermouth, Gavin was ill and Steve had Pupils for flat water tutoring. I had the wave to myself. It was fairly small, waist high, bit bigger on the sets perhaps and clean as a whistle. The tide was pushing up to high and the wave was fairly slack, the wind had yet to show. The first 40 minutes I picked up where I left off on Wednesday - beating into to plenty of waves and, for me, styling it up, paddling hard as the the wave backs off then catching up with the reform on the inside going the other way - you gotta love it. Then I got greedy for some bigger stuff, always happens, so I paddle off up the beach a bit. I catch a couple of decent waves and again manage to make the reform on the inside sections. It was getting harder though, I started to struggle a bit, particularly getting into the waves. All too often my last paddle stroke would send me side on to the wave and I would miss it, or I would get the nose bogged down in the confused water between the start of the wave outside and the reform inside - really frustrating.

Stepping back stopped the nose from bogging down but slowed my paddle speed up and made me less stable resulting in even more rinsings. The wind had got on it a bit and I was getting tired. It was very noticeable that the board reacts much more to 'chop' than the Jimmy. It's not so much the 'Yaw' (side to side) or the 'pitch' (end to end) individually, but combine them both and you have a very lively, three dimensional balance board. The extra length of the Jimmy spans more wave and water and has much more of a dampening effect.

I am sure that I will adapt and deal with it but lets just say width is not everything. Neither is sheer volume and float, length actually matters as much to stability as width. - Good job I did not go for the 9'er though - at least not yet.

Please add your own thoughts and comments to this blog.

Well - it looked do-able!

The trouble with long week-ends and new boards is that you feel that you've just got to get out there - regardless.

Pretty much every weekend since Christmas we've been getting a decent wave in on Sundays - the last couple of weekends though the weather has been pretty grim - verging on evil!! This weekend was no exception - howling winds and no immediate sign of a let up, apart from one tiny glimmer of hope - can't see how they can be quite so precise but the forecast sites were all predicting a massive drop in wind between 9am and 12.

We pitched up at the car park at Gwithian 8.45am with every thing just about looking do-able. The wind had dropped off, but not disappeared, the waves were sloppy waist high mush but Gavin's Southcoast surf check was dead flat - so for any chance of a wave this weekend it was here and now.
And that's how we convinced ourselves that we should brave the chill and get stuck in. Steve from Sunset Surf and a couple of his friends, Gavin and myself.



The paddle out was challenging - cross chopped confusion with a steadily stiffening onshore wind. The chop buried the nose of the board with every paddle stroke - stand back a bit and having too much rail in front caught the wind and spun the board around - it was that windy. Soon standing became a challenge. Wrong board I thought but from the frequent rinsings that Gavin was also getting I think that the Starboard was actually coping OK.

Picture above shows Gavin making it look a lot better than it actually was.

Steve paddled out on his Starboard (UB) I think. Like us he did not find it easy as the wind was picking up by the minute, the odd few short waves that came our way just 20 minutes previously were now impossible to repeat - retreat was the only course of action available to us - and that was not easy, hanging on to the boards as we made our way up the beach made me realise the potential in Kite boarding!

Back at the vans it was a two man job to get the JL onto the roof racks due to the wind - a very quick improvisation with some straps and the Extremist slid in to my van at roof level - bonus .




We decided to retire to Sunset for coffee and a chat - there have been better surf days but it was good to get out albeit briefly. We took the opportunity to check out and compare the range of Starboards available to rent out at Sunset Surf . They have Mr Easy's / Ultimate Blend's and a 9'8" Extremist all in the full deck Tufskin versions. There's going to be a lot of happy trippers on the beach this summer.

From Left to Right Ultimate Blend / Mr Easy's / and the 9'8" Extremist

New Board - New Camera - Shocking Weather

Having ordered my new board I was counting the minutes until it arrived - Due date Thursday - No chance whatsoever of getting on it today but I was like a kid at Christmas - 'Santa' for the purposes of this story is played by John Hibbard of Starboard.

4.30pm Thursday - text to Santa

'Where the f#*$ing f#*$ is my f#*$ing board?"

5pm Thursday Santaphone text reply

'In the back of my f#*$ing Sleigh, I'm 5 minutes away from Tim's - now chill out dork'

And rest. Pulse is a steady level 3 about 150bpm - Not getting it tonight!!!

Picture shows Tim explaining to the world that it would be a better place if we all rode the 9'0" Extremist. The board immediately behind is the Tufskin 9'8" - left of shot is a rack full of Starboards - new Jimmy Lewis' - C4's and Custard Points. That's walking the walk as well as talking the talk.

9.00pm Text from Gavin to Dork

'What's the board like?'

AAArrggh

Slight spot of artistic licence there but you get the gist - never been so keen to get a board.

Got to Tim's just after 10am Friday to be confronted by the 9'0" in pride of place Bugger - I reckon I could ride that. Tim halfheartedly suggested going to the harbour to give it a go - He is as excited at stocking these new boards as I am at getting one.

Santa John turns up with more boards - we chat for a while and I PUT THE BOARD IN MY VAN, Oh yeah it fits without popping the front screen out!!! Done that before, and drive back home racking my brains for some sheltered little spot for a test run.

I wax the hull, fit the fins and leash and wipe all the fresh drool off and gloat for a while.

She is so pretty - decent proper rails and rocker and side fins and light and pretty and short, and pretty.

And its got wood! On the deck - apparently its makes it stiffer and lighter than the tufskin jobby.

You can just about see the change in the deck grip area where the Diamond 'Target Zone' is for your feet.

The bevel on the tail is a nice feature and this shot shows off the rail plan. Tried to turn the pic but couldn't (be bothered). There are two leash plugs - one for goofy's a nice touch I feel catering for the disabled . . . . . (and duck).

This next shot shows the rails,tail and rocker quite well - The rails on my Jimmy are ummm - soft, yeah that's fair I think, the Starboard - well its has them they are quite hard and they go well up the sides.

The daft thing about the fins is - you don't get side biters with it. You get the big red Drake centre fin - and an FCS key in amongst the comprehensive owners wallet, Stickers, Warranty book and cuddly toy - but you don't get any side fins - Why is that then? Arent we meant to use them? Was it a mistake putting the slots there - sort of a slip with a router?? Come on Starboard - you got a great piece of kit here - not cheap - so don't get all cheap on us for a pair of fins.

Top side the deck is just beautiful the faux stringer line conceals a first joint deep handle - could be deeper but so nice to have.

Two or three phone calls later and I'm on my way to Praa sands - meet Shane there but it's so grim - I bail out to Perranuthnoe - Its shockingly bad - but I have a new board and can conquer anything - well almost. I manage one or two waves, get blown down the beach and sort of kneel and stand paddle my way back before getting blown back down the beach again. But I know that I would not have been able to look at it on the Jimmy and probebly not even been able to stand up.

Can't wait to get a decent day on it - shame is it's not likely to be this bank holiday weekend.

Please please please - if you read this rubbish - leave a comment. Anyone?

Frustration and Turmoil

Been a while since my last post - almost a month - several reasons really - the last session at Hawks was a blinder and being a greedy bugger I probably stayed just a bit longer than I should, the wind went round and the paddle back to Carbis was Hard actually BLOODY HARD. This took it's toll on my shoulders that were already work sore from the previous week.

It's fair to say that my paddle technique is far from graceful - Neanderthal is probably a better description - harder - faster - more, if you get the picture. Result one painful week of sleepless nights and a grim session the following Sunday at the River mouth when I should have known better. The pain seemed to travel across my back from the right to the left shoulder eventually taking up residence in the deep centre of my shoulder blade. I don't consider myself to be a wooss, I've broken ribs, smashed my collar bone and taken stitches without pain relief (I may have cried like a baby, peed my pants and called out for my mummy) but generally I've taken stuff on the chin. But this was real SORE and smarts. Plus I could not paddle Neanderthal - no strength. Double arse. Apparently a rotator cuff issue (self diagnosis) and I gather not uncommon with Kayakers. (Internet circumstancial evidence). Add all this to a couple of abortive sessions due to 'The Perfect Storm of the year' and here we are - fatter, less paddle fit, aching and desperate to get a decent session in.

So enough self pity wheres the surf stuff? - Still on the trail of a demo session on the Starboard 9'8" I got hold of John Hibbard and loosely arranged for a Sunday session at Gwithian. This saw today's early morning meet overlooking a flooding tide of the most dire onshore slop. I got out of bed early for this North Easterly nightmare. We chatted for a while and I had my first 'in the flesh' look at a 9'8" Extremist. It's soooo small, chubby but cute sort of a Lucy Ewing of boards - am I showing my age here? Anyway all I wanted to do now was ride it!

John introduced me to Steve Carter - nice bloke , who handles the surf side of Sunset Surf cafe at Gwithian and we eventually abandoned the car park and had some most excellent coffee at what is likely to become Sup surf central this summer. We talked and chilled and as the cafe got busier and busier we said our goodbyes and resigned ourselves to a blank day.

A quick trip with Shane to the Longboard House to get another paddle, that was destined to be cut shorter in a bid to prevent over reaching on the high handle grip and hopefully relieve my shoulder issues. Yawn Yawn Yawn, saw me pawing over the C4 9' bat wing 'I wish', the 10' er 'Still wishing' and the 10'6". Tim is convinced that the 10'6 is the board for me. Shane agrees with him and to be fair I know that if I were to persevere with the board it would be great - I just want a a shorter board and 10'6 ain't that much shorter than 11'. It might be thinner and prettier and more surfy but it ain't shorter.

Driving home I had a text from John Hibbard - something along the lines of

' Decided to stay on for a while - Marazion is working at waist high - do you still fancy a bash on the Starboard or are you still whinging like a girl about your poorly arm?' (I might of made the last bit up).

Quick call to Gavin - 'Sort out your Man Flu - the Starboard has landed on your doorstep'

I paddled out to see John spanking a decent knee to waist high clean wave ON HIS OWN. I was a bit rusty and slow off the mark but started to pick a few off - Gavin turned up and immediately got on the case and then we paddled out to a rock outcrop which seemed to be turning the swell up a notch. It was, but it was not easy to get on John had a few but we soon went back to the beach. Gavin sloped off towards Penzance and we could see that he was well into it. I swapped boards with John and 'oh my God' how solid was Lucy Ewing? Very stable no drama and excellent recovery when my balance let me down - it seemed like I was on it for ages before I fell off. Rock solid. The other noticeable trait was how easy it was to weight your back foot and turn before an oncoming wave whilst remaining stable. I was amazed. Paddling did not seem to present any major 'yawing' or 'row' issues. I like this board, all I need now is to catch a wave.

All around me John was picking off waves on my Jimmy - could I get a wave? Could I hell. I struggled and struggled and eventually positioned myself for a late take off (late me - never) and a couple of strokes and - away we went. Surfs nice - stayed upright on the inside and punched my way back to the line up with ease - I am really liking this board. It turns so easily. A few more waves and I'm beginning to feel at home - working the wave face a bit more and generally getting comfy. I want one - it fulfils my criteria - it's small - pretty and I can ride it. Conditions were kind but sometimes you just gotta go with it. When Gavin had a bash he felt that he would like to spend more time on one, even though his first wave on it was a peach. He is definitely getting too much practise. Having said that he did spend more time on the C4 than me and reckoned that it got better and better. I can see that the C4 could possibly be the better surf board BUT I felt instantly at home on the Extremist.

We all swapped back to our own boards and moved down the beach where the peak seemed a bit - well peakier. John very soon started chatting to a longboarder and volunteered the 9'8" up, it was noticeable how quickly John's wave count shrank on a longboard.

As the tide pushed up the wave got fatter and fatter it was obvious that the Stand Ups were getting the Lion's share of the action - Gav and myself both spotted a monster set cranking up in the middle of bay and stroked out for it - turning I shaped to go right Gavin left. Gavin got it spot on and scored what was probably the wave of the day - again. Flushed with success he then feigns sickness and says 'I gotta go before I pass out' and paddles off home. Sort of rubs salt into the wounds.

We surfed on for a while before John makes tracks off - it was getting dark and life must be hard when you surf for a living!! Only kidding John's a genuine sort of bloke as today proved when he gave up his board to us in what was pretty decent if small surf - As the advert says;

' I'm not sure I could do that' !

So there we go - what started as a pretty crappy day ended up really well - Even my shoulder seemed to hold up well , had to concentrate on keeping my top arm straight (advice from Tim) which seemed to have a beneficial effect. Have to ring Tim to get my order in tomorrow. It would be nice to get it from Sunset Surf, Steve is also a decent bloke and they are on my doorstep but I have a prior allegiance to Tim at the Longboard House. hard to explain but there it is and there will be other boards. Good to know though that there are so many decent folk out there willing to put themselves out.

So many thanks to John and Steve for letting me test their board, buying me coffee, saying nice things about my Uli and listening to my drivel, Tim for being Tim and medical advice above and beyond the call, Gavin for STEALING ALL THE BEST WAVES and not talking about it like I do, and most of all the love and support of my wife and family for just being there, without whom none of this would be possible. Sniff Sniff.

P.S.
If you do read this and take anything from it Please leave a comment - it makes me feel wanted and worthwhile in a fractionally sad sort of way.

Sundays just dont come round soon enough

Usually I get one chance a week in the winter to get a surf in - Sunday. Thats partly why I thought that paddle surfing would be right for me. I was growing middle aged man boobs at a rate of knots and was always looking for 'the right surfing conditions'. The effect of this was the conditions were seldom perfect and my man boobs were getting to be.

So for my wifes' sake I got a paddle board (she'll appreciate me more if I'm buff) and I'm on it every Sunday (my paddle board!) - regardless of conditions. I didn't expect to stop surfing - but for the moment I have - this is more physical - more fun - more waves - just more everything. And it's in my wifes' best interest. Result.

So having spent all week cuing up for Sunday - toning down the copius amonts of Saturday night red wine in readiness for an early start - here I am standing at the Bluff (Hayle Rivermouth) thinking 'Thats big' and it was. A few hasty phone calls and we re-arranged to meet up at Carbis Bay to Surf Hawk's. We being Gavin and myself on the standups and Shane, Andru and Red going in off the Rocks at the break.

Nice little paddle round the point and 'bloody hell' there were loads of people already in. 'We are going to be popular' I thought.

Actually there was plenty of room and we paddled towards the rivermouth taking plenty of long empty waves en route. I being greedy was hanging onto the waves like each was going to be my last and then paying the price getting caught inside several times. The waves were chest high with the odd head high set - and so clean. We both had plenty but very soon it dawned on me that Gavin was on fire - every time I looked around he was into another. I would get caught inside - he would be charging down the line. I paddled out to the break - he would be sliding down another clean green wall. You could get a tan off the grin on his face.

Shane was also having a field day - the waves on the inside would ramp up super quick and Shane was taking advantage of them.

Red and Andru were also getting their share but I have to say apart from one very stylish guy on an orange long board I thought we (actually Gavin) had the best of it.

In hindsight it's possible that he only caught one wave - he just stayed on it for the whole session.

I had some very nice - very late take-offs almost paddling into the backdoor before setting up the right. I seem to be too dominant on my right side paddling something I am going to have to address as it sends me left on a right - if that makes sense. I know what I mean.

Today also marked a moment of realisation regarding the Jimmy Lewis - there were times when I just couldn't 'get it round' fast enough. Shane also spotted the the board was becoming a limiting factor. Hell can't complain but at the same time I'm looking forward to trying the Starboard 9'8"

Bring it on.

A weekend of two halves.

Bizarre - this Paddle surf thing can become quite consuming - I have always been 'into' something that takes up my spare time - Surfing - Motorbikes - Mtb's - Fishing - etc. . . etc . . . etc - Perhaps it's because I have a limited span of attention, that gets worse as I get older, but nothing has engaged me at the rate and intensity that this SUP'ing has. Perhaps it's because it takes one of my long term passions and enhances it. Perhaps it's because the initial learning curve is short and then steepens as quickly as you determine. Anyway I initially thought that it would supplement my surfing - it was not until this weekend that I seriously considered the possibility that it might actually replace it.

Shane checked out the forecast for the weekend - the best prospect of any sizeable wave was going to be before work on Saturday morning - in the water at seven. He was up for it - I was a bit reluctant - but ever keen to recruit a sole to the dark side I tried to broker a deal - I'll do the dawny if you ride one of my Stand up Boards on Sunday - Sundays forecast was looking pitifully small even for a longboard. Shane laughed and said that he would rather have a chilli enema and that he was going anyway so I gave in - We met in Gwithian car park the next morning just as it was getting light - I drove there in my wetty to save time - that's a first.

Climbing down the cliff was interesting with 11' of Jimmy's finest and a paddle to contend with but time was pressing on. We got in the water at 7.00am and Shane got out first - it was clean, consistent and shoulder high - overhead (just) on the sets. We did not have much time to waste having to be home showered and back in work by 9.00am so we set about our work. - I always find that the first waves of a session either go well or I completley loose the plot - these went well and Shane's response to my cheesey grin said it all. We have always been competitive with each other and even though his surfing skills are light years in advance of mine we always have a laugh, goading each other on. He said "Don't - alright just don't say a thing".

The session was one of those perfect little interludes that although we did not want it to finish getting out was not too much of a bind as we had made the most of our time. A perfect surf raid that made me feel smug all day.

Saturday evening I text'd Gavin and we arranged a 9.00am start Sunday - I got to Gwithian at 8.30 - it looked soooo small. I went straight in and found myself a little peak that was firing (yeh right - at knee to waist high!!) with both lefts and rights. This was all right - hell it was better than all right it bloody good fun. I paddled up and down between Sheep's Pool and the Rock taking as many waves as I wanted - looking over towards Godrevy I could see that it was bigger - but it was already very busy - I surfed pretty much alone save for three other hand paddlers until Gavin joined us.

Both of us worked the whole break - well away from anybody else, however it was comical how we seemed to attract hand paddlers to whatever peak we were milking. We would then move a hundred yards along the break and again - shortly there they would appear.

'Listen Guys - it's the boards not the waves!!!'

One of them said "That looks fun". - He was right I offered the guy a go but he declined. Had to try. You just had to smile.

Both of us remarked that the day would have been pretty much a write off on hand paddlers. The wave was fat, slow and as the tide built so did the offshore wind holding things up and making entry harder - unless you had a paddle.

I stayed in until I could not paddle any more - three and a half hours - God knows how many waves - If it was only one every four minutes that would be 50 plus and even if the 'caught inside time warp rule applies' and it was only half that number - it was still like shooting fish in a barrel - all in a Summer wetsuit with thermal fleece rash and boots - IN FEBRUARY - how good is that??

So that is how I considered the possibility that I may not ride a hand paddler again - Anyone want to buy a mint Stewart - Colin McPhilipps Pro???

Hard Day!!

Arranged to meet Gavin at Gwithian 9.30 this morning - I got there early. There were lines - big lines. I counted 5 surfers in and I only saw one get a wave - briefly. Gwithian won't hold much more than 8' of swell before closing out - I thought it looked head and a half.. And it was closing out!

We had a re-think and decided to get in half way down the beach - the wave drops off in size the closer to Hayle that you get so we picked up Shane and marched out across the towans. It was still big but there were shoulders - we passed a couple of shortboarders coming back they reckoned they had been in for an hour and a half and had only scored one wave - nice!Undeterred we paddled out.

Gavin and I had been trying out the 10'6 c4 over the last week or so - today we both brought our JL11's - good move. NOT. Shane was on his short board.

I fluked through a lull and managed to get out early - It was glassy, light offshore breeze and BIG. I paddled along the lineup and spotted a likely candidate - turned and slipped into a very nice right - fast as hell - too fast for me to cut back but a great ride using plenty of paddle and all in front of Shane - didn't care at that moment if I didn't get another for the session.

Obviously a result like that comes with a price - mine was high - I'm guessing that the wave I caught was either the first or just before the first of the set - it felt like 20 minutes before I made my way back outside - it was probably only 10. I thought don't be greedy - dont get caught inside again.

Back at the line up with Shane and Gavin it looked as if the swell had jumped up a bit - Gavin was way ouside Shane was lurking around on the inside. Brave I thought. I paddled somewhere between them and turned for another the drop on this one was the first indication that I might be in trouble - it was huge - I managed to land the board and bottom turn on another right - just as I was making myself comfy the entire wave walled up, over head high for as far as I could see down the line - I thought I had got away with it by trying to jump through the curl - the wave knew different and I was planted well and truly with the biggest hold down that I can remember. A real lung buster, didn't think that we ever got those over here. Once again time went into reverse as I was nailed on the inside - how does that happen? I stopped fighting it this time and waited for a lull and made my way back to the guys.

Shane hollered at me something along the lines of 'Dad 2 - offspring nil' - excellent that doesn't happen very often - but I knew it wouldn't be long before he dialled in.

I had a few more non-set waves and paddled over to a rippy section that seemed to hold a shoulder a bit longer due to the extra depth - Gavin was picking them off and Shane seemed to be getting his eye in as well - There was so much water moving through that it was hard to stay in the same area as each other - one wave and you could be over a hundred yards away. Paddling back out after another I was met with Gavin holding the end of his leash. With the swell as it was and the frequent bail outs we all knew it was session over. Shane from the inside had seen Gav take off on what was the wave of the day Shane is prone to understatement but his description was something like 'Loads of paddle - great style' - Gavin was enjoying himself that much he had not seen the beast behind that was about to eat him - result one broken leash.

We all got out within about 10 minutes of each other and during the long walk back to the cars Shane and I reflected on the session - Biggest waves that I had surfed to date on the SUP - can't speak for Gavin but Shane said that the grin on his face on 'that wave' suggested that he had enjoyed himself. I think that Shane was a bit impressed as well - of course he wouldn't say as much, but he did say that he thinks that the SUP thing 'suits my style' . RESULT.

Back at the cars we arranged to to pick up a spare leash and finish the session properly at the Rivermouth - Should be nice and mellow there - right - wrong we spent an hour paddling around behind the heaviest, dumpiest, low tide shore break - manically hard work and only scoring a few short waves. Didn't see many regular surfers catching too much either.

So that was that - another notch on our SUP ladder of experience and if the saying 'If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger' holds true today was very worthwhile day that made us strong!

Inspiration / Stoke / Enthusiasm

Weird this - I have been surfing for years - never particularly well but have always enjoyed my sessions. I taught my son to surf when he was 8 or nine - when he was 11 he started teaching me - he is now 22 - My enthusiasm has blown hot and warm over the years - never cold just other pastimes have taken precedence sometimes - Then tonight I read the Jerry Lopez interview on this site's home page www.standuppaddlesurf.co.uk - and what he says felt very familiar - sure there is a mountain of skill difference between us and I would never presume to be considered in remotely the same league as him or the people he mentions - but the reasoning behind can be similar regardless of skill levels - as can the personal sense of achievment and satisfaction.
I always felt like I was just missing something with my regular surfing - never quite reaching my potential despite having some 'epic sessions' (and some monumental crap-outs). I was always looking for that 'magic-board' that would sort it all out. Well now I have found it, except that it's a style not a board. My son thinks I'm nuts - but even he recognises that I am surfing more - way more and that's the point.

A novices view of a C4 Waterman 10.6 Demo

Filthy day today - 30mph plus Southerly winds with a little bit of West in it - Bang offshore but never going to be an easy session. I had arranged to borrow the C4 10'6 Demo board from Tim at the Longboard house and was therefore pretty committed to giving it a bash over the high tide at Hayle rivermouth.

The wind had dropped considerably by 3 pm and although there were quite a few people sizing it up there were not a lot of takers. The Rivermouth is always confused on the inside but out the back it was looking clean and consistent 3-4' ish on the sets.

I was a little nervous that I might not get to my feet at all let alone get through the inside chop. I knee paddled my way to some more settled water and popped to my feet - it was lively but I was standing - first thing I noticed was that the board needed to be paddled to be stable - stationary I fell off with alarming frequency - 'should have brought my JL' I thought - but I was not going back for it. The board reacted to each paddle stroke with a bigger 'turn effect' that my Jimmy Lewis so I was constantly alternating paddle stroke sides. Taking white water on the nose however was a bit of a blast the board seemed to pop up over the wash and providing I kept some forward motion going and left the paddle trail in the water behind me I made reasonable progress to the line up.

Side on to the swell at rest was hard - The slightly narrower width of the C4 would catch a side chop and bury itself and with the resulting loss of balance I was thrown off frequently. I soon realised that by paddling up and down parallel to the line up I was spending more time on the board rather than under it. Great workout.

My first wave was a bit of a peach - a shoulder high left - the Rivermouth does offer up a few lefts although the break is predominently a right. I paddled in thinking 'this is a bit late' stepped back and the board just took off. The pure surf board feel of the C4 was striking - it was fast and loose I could cutback and catch up with the shoulder with ease and it was not until I got to the reform on the inside that I actually used the paddle to get over the hump and start the wave all over again - magic.

I would love to say that I repeated this at will - but I found it hard to paddle-in generally as I was always just that bit too off balance to be able to give those last few decisive strokes on the face of the wave that make the catch. In fact the waves that I did catch always felt a bit too late for comfort the board however just dealt with the drop like a performance longboard.

I was finding that I had to take the waves as a straight hander and then stick in a big bottom turn - trying to take the wave slightly at an angle always seemed to let the wave pass me by. Odd. The angled take off works with the JL but I am probebly going in a bit earlier with more board speed. Whereas with the C4 and my constant 'zig-zagging' paddle approach I was never really up to speed - hence the late takeoffs.

I am sure that this was just first session blues - the Jimmy Lewis is a fantastically stable board and can be slipped into the wave very early. The C4 is much more of a surfboard and would need some adjustment time. It is obviously a performance board (and there are far more performance focused versions than this) and whilst my head told me 'yeh go on you are ready for a shorter board' my actual skill levels brought me up short and wanting.

The other noticeable thing was that I found myself riding the waves that I caught and hardly using the paddle on the wave. The board just felt that surfy. I like getting weight on the padle and I like the feel of bullying the longer board a bit. The C4 does not need bullying. I had in my head at these moments 'Why not just ride a longboard' Traitorous thoughts ehh? But the paddle just seemed to be extra baggage.

I got more tired on this board - it's harder work which is not a bad thing but in the end I was so knackered I gave it up - a shame as the waves were good but I was looking like a nob from the start and did the cause no favours so I dragged myself out with my tail between my legs.

Chatting with Gavin after the session he noted that at first on his JL he would barely use the paddle when on the wave - not the case now. As Gavin said a few more sessions would probebly see thing come good it's just that at the moment I'm not sure that I want to take the next step just yet. I have hardly had the JL for four months and have barely scratched it's potential so for the time being whilst grateful to Tim for the chance to try the C4 I am going to stay with the JL for a bit longer. Gavin however seems ready to be challenged and is making noises about the C4 10'er. Be interesting how he gets on with the 10'6 this week.

ULI 11’ Stand Up Paddle Board

I have not been riding SUP’s for very long October 2007 to be honest, but I have been an enthusiastic surfer for the last 20 years, with varying degrees of success – some days I’m shite, some days I can do no wrong – the one thing I can’t be accused of is consistency.

Long boards have been my thing and I have amassed a fair old quiver over the years so it was an odd day when I first saw a couple of web articles on Stand Up Paddle Boards, odd because I just knew that it was for me. My son laughed long and hard when I told him – he said “Your getting old, fat and gay” old and fat I’ll give him. So I read every article that I could find and watched all the you tube videos posted and eventually scratched my new found itch with a Jimmy Lewis 11’ from Tim Mellors at the Longboard house in Newquay. Tim listened to me made a judgement and got it spot on, first session on the board and I was hooked – don’t think that I have been on the longboards since. Funnily anough I don't think he has either - says something when you consider he has been the British Longboard Champion on several occaisions!

With Charmaine's and my annual leave fast approaching 6th Jan 2008, and our trip to Mauritius looming (unfortunately out of their surf season), I began looking at the prospect of taking the SUP – except BA will now not accept surf boards – I have a Pope Bisect 9’ travel board but their SUP Trisect is not readily available and cost’s £1400 UK side – too much for me to justify having just bought the JL. Then I saw the Utube Videos of Clinton the ULI team rider beasting a blow up SUP –



and I began thinking !!!

I spoke to Jim Weir of ULI on the 31/12/07 and placed the order for their 11’ stand up paddle board. He sent Chris down to their local San Diego UPS office – no collections on New Years Eve and emailed me back within an hour or so with a shipping reference telling me that the board should get to me in three working days. It did! The box arrived on January 4th as promised – fantastic service – unbelievable. Jim if you ever read this you and your guys are to be congratulated - for anybody else ULI are obviously a company who care and can actually be bothered to do what it takes to make and keep a customer happy.

I unpacked the box and pumped the board up for the first time and was immediately impressed with the overall build quality of the board. This was no pimped up pool toy. The fabric of the board is exactly like the material that RIB’s (Inflatable rescue boats) are constructed from- it’s tough and it feels tough. In fact when pumped to the recommended pressure you would be hard pressed to tell that it’s an inflatable. It’s that good. The board is not light when compared to my Jimmy Lewis, however that is a very light board. The ULI weighs in about 36lbs – it’s not a big deal though.

The pump supplied with the ULI is a two stage (pumps both ways) stirrup pump that has three outlets, an inflation outlet, a deflation inlet and a clever little cap that when removed it changes the pumps function from two stage, fast inflation at lower pressures to single stage higher pressure pumping on the down stroke for ‘topping the board off’. The pump hose has a bayonet fitting on both ends one of which has a rubber seal that fits the board with a simple twist to fit action. The valve on the board has a push – push system. Push to open releasing the air, push to close to inflate – simple and foolproof. From taking the board out of the box to full inflation pressure 15psi took about 3 minutes and could not have been easier.

The three piece paddle fitted together easily, it was a little on the heavy side and a lot longer than I’m used to but I got on with it fine.

The deck of the board is covered with a rather fetching full length blue and white EVA deck grip. No need for wax – no complaint there. There are also two heavy, fabric stowing eyes that allow for the paddle to be attached down the centre of the board, making for easy carrying.

The inflation valve is at the front of the deck and covered with a grey cap.

The leash eye set in heavy fabric at the rear centre. The hull has three fibre glass stringer affairs, I would call them rubbing strakes. And three moulded thrusters style fins set into the zigzag patterned material.

The board is 11’ long by 29” wide by approx 4” thick and has an all up weight of 38 pounds, as I said not light compared to the Jimmy Lewis. the carry handle straps are a godsend! The overall shape of the board is not dissimilar to my JL. Spoon nose with squared off tail. The big difference is that the board is the same thickness from nose to tail with rails that are rounded, uniform and have zero ‘edge’. The board only has a slight rocker – these two factors suggest that it will have to be surfed off the tail – hence the thruster fin set up. Should plane easily though and paddle fast.

Overall my first ‘out of the water’ impression was of a decent bit of kit, slightly heavy but certainly not something to be ashamed of walking down the beach.

In the water for the first time was on 09/01/2008. Inside of the coral reef that surrounds most of Mauritius is a lagoon that varies between 200 and 600 metres from the beach to the reef, no waves and gin clear water with fantastic fish and corals. Generally the depth was no more than 8’.

Transporting the board to the beach was a doddle thanks to the paddle/handle system. Stepping or rather kneeling on the board for the first time was a bit odd, it was very easy on the knees. Standing was also strange as the board felt soft and slightly compliant, which of course it is. As rigid as the board feels out of the water there is a slight ‘memory’ underfoot, difficult to describe but most noticeable when trying (I am still trying) to shuffle my feet about the deck. It fractionally stays with my feet like a slight delay in letting go. Odd at first messing with your balance slightly but quickly accommodated.
To be fair I am a bit of a fat boy at 90kilos 198 lbs and feel a bit of flex in my longboards at times – the difference is that my longboards feel steely springy the ULI feels compliant, spongy is too ergh spongy – if that makes sense.

Paddling, the board seems to fly I would guess because of the long water line due to the slight rocker, although there is enough rocker to keep the board in a straight line by weighting the rail closest to the paddle stroke and by using a slight ‘j’ stroke. After a few days I found myself having to make a conscious effort to paddle both sides in order to avoid favouring my dominant left side. Acceleration from standstill is a little slower than my JL, this I would think due to the weight difference, but once under way I could maintain a decent paddle speed with minimal effort. In fact subsequently when on my JL it seems to paddle a bit on the slow side - again I'm talking about full speed paddling not acceleration from rest.

The wave on the reef was initially about 4 – 5’ breaking very fast into 12” – 18” of coral carpeted with billions of black urchins.

I am not the bravest of people and as I get older I have more than enough trouble dealing with the existing holes in my body so I was not too inclined to risk adding to them, however I caught a few small waves that made it past the reef. These were enough to tell me that the ULI wanted a bit more speed in order to ‘tighten up’ and that it needed to be weighted well back to avoid pearling. Practising some ‘sschweet’ footwork over sand the board seemed quite loose off the tail. I have still got the original 13” Fin osaurus Rex in the JL at home and that seems sluggish to turn on the spot compared to the ULI. I can't wait to try it in some proper waves when I get back.

And that sort of sums the board up really. The ULI is convenient, well made, good looking, and very usable. Its tough too – I have been on the board in mainly flat water for 2-3 hours a day for 10 days. I have paddled for up to 4 miles in a single session, I have cruised the lagoons, arsed about and run it up the coral beach and the board still looks great with barely a mark on it. I love it, so much so that if ULI brought out an improved model I would not hesitate to buy that. I just can not recommend it highly enough.

Don’t forget, importing one to the UK will get you clobbered by customs for import and various other taxes including Vat duty not only on the goods BUT THE CARRIAGE AS WELL.

Still, a bargain I reckon and worth every penny. Now I wonder if I could hire it out at £100 a week?