Loss

When loss comes my way it normally takes me completely by surprise and flattens me, knocking the very essence I consider my soul out of me. It happens to us all, most commonly it takes the form of death. Loss is hard for some to talk about and leaves a void in its wake that is never filled, just buried somewhere, I've often thought that's what we call "experience".

 Anyway Loss has nothing to do with people but rather waves. Mexico is somewhere I have never visited to surf. The points of the north look pretty alluring, the beachies further south of Puerto Escondido and Pascales looking a bit too thumping, but it looks like  it has all the hallmark signs of a great surf trip destination and home for local surfers.

 What a shame it is then, that should I go to Mexico I will never to get surf Harry's Point. It looked like the kind of wave I'd love:

It was a right hand point in the warm with quality. I'll never get to go there because it passed away in 2005. It was put to sleep by Sempra Shell LNG who made it into a gas terminal . The real kicker is that it is debatble whether they actually owned the land in the first place, but that's Latin American Politics right?!?!

I can only imagine how local surfers felt watching as the trucks rolled in and filled her in:

There she went and now?

I can't imagine the state I could get into about someone doing this to my beloved G spot or Praa Sands. The places where we ride waves, make and meet friends, run away to, feel stoked, encounter dolphins and sharks, see sun rises and sun sets...you get the picture.

Save The Waves Coalition helped me regarding the changes to the wave "Herradura" just outside Lima in Peru. They do good work and they know they're stuff.

I learnt from them that if you are a surfer from:

1)  Bahia de Gijón, Spain,

 2) Bastion Point, Victoria, Australia,

3) Broadbench, United Kingdom,

4) Various places in Chile

5) La Boya, Dominican Republic,

 6) Los Cabos, Baja, Mexico, 

7) Playa Yankee, Nicaragua,

 8)  Rodiles, Austurias, Spain,

 9) San Mateo, Ecuador .

Then you are experiencing loss, you are losing waves now, today and tomorrow, whether its bulldozers of MNC's or mariners, Military access, dredgers etc... your G-spot is disappearing infront of your eyes, some may come back to you others will not.

Many more are in the waiting room not some distant time to be decided but next month, a couple of beaches are actually waiting for the bulldozers to be freed up from the surf they're destroying now. Save The Wave Coalition give support to breatheren and give us all a chance to stand together, their site is clear and interesting, to check it out click here.

 Despite the Germans trouncing of our football team the other day, they know about loss, pain and suffering, so my final thoughts on the issue I'm going to hand over to Pastor Niemoller who summed up collective action better than most, when testifying in Frankfurt in 1946, he gave the following address:

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist

.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Ladies and Gentlemen The Genius Of Dustin Humphrey

 I saw this work on the web on a Sunday evening half dreading the week ahead and was wondering who Dustin was going to be working with this week and thinking may be life could have been different and I could be parking a motorbike under pumping waves with an army of naked women...for the life of me I couldn't work out which decisions I needed to have made in my life so that our roles would reverse....one of a kind stuff.

Whaling

An International Whaling Agreement fell through this week. After two years of work to reduce the practice of whaling principally by Norway, Iceland and Japan: the process seems to have ground to a halt. Latin American delegates refused to accept Japan's rights to whale in the Antartic and Japan wouldn't budge. It seems as if the whaling countries thought the process was about stock management and everyone else was working on reduction and banning.

 The interesting story for me was that Japan were prepared to reduce their quota from 935 whales a year to 200 within 10 years, which unfortunately will now not happen as nothing was agreed. What is probably more revealing is that Japan sent their Deputy Agricultural Minister and New Zealand sent their former Prime Minister, kinda tells you were it stands on the pecking order of issues.

Bad news for this beautiful chappy who was hoping for better from humanity.

Dolphins..rock

In deepest darkest Penwith life is pretty good. Neptune's been kind to us, the sun is shining even if the wind is blowing and after my shark experience a few weeks ago, I was dealt the other hand. For about 20 minutes a couple of pods of dolphins put on a display whilst I was alone in the water, such a treat.

Most of the photos are by Heidi Row available at heidi.row@hotmail.co.uk

Shots from Cornwall, Spring 2010.

We had some pretty cosmic fog down at Mexico's, with some pumping surf that went from sunny to white out and back again very quickly. I love the body boarders position in this top shot, its Bodhi with the 50 year storm all over again.

All those that wonder are not lost.

Ginga Ninja back in the fold, Taff on the wall with The Stump, waiting for the tide before departing.

Secret spots are always tricky, especially when said spot is accessible from one very quiet and narrow back lane. I'm not sure people will tell me where any more are. I took Fred  with the longboard there after meeting him on the side of the road whilst putting my boards in the van.....I'd blab easily on the rack.....subtle as a brick, secret spot approach.

 Said Secret spot, bridge.

Buttercups at Porthcurno.

The Ginger Ninja back in the water after a five year hiatus.