The Wadebridge Flowrider

Sometimes you can't let dignity get in the way. And so Chav's masterpiece is now out there in the public domain. For the bargain price of 25 quid each (as we proved our cornish residency very easily by nodding our heads and saying "yeah we live here") we got ourselves on the flowrider for an hour with two teenagers. You get yourself a 2 minute H + S chat and then the instructor who was a good dude gets you into the mix on a body board, after about 10 minutes Chav wanted 2 stand up and 5 minutes after that he wanted to drop in.

 There's no point in lying and pretending that anyone apart from Chav and myself and our mother's will find this footage of any interest and I would definitely use in our defence the fact it was our first go, but I tell you what, we didn't stop laughing from start to finish.......I reckon a few more goes and we'll be all over it. Incase you wanted to see something a little more "advanced" I've also added on a clip of people who'd got through a few ponies.

Save Doolin Point and Crab Island.

Due to chronic insomnia probably caused by neck muscles which haven't recovered from the Flowrider experience the other day, I have been trawling through the surf media in the wee hours.

 I've always meant to go surfing in Ireland, I mean its got world class waves, its right over the way and I love Guinness and pies. I haven't got there yet because after my disastrous and super expensive surf trip to the Outer Hebrides I vowed never to go north again and technically speaking, Ireland is further north...this opinion might need reviewing...but its done me pretty well so far.





 I digress, so I discovered yet another wave was under threat. This time the legendary "Doolin Point and the fearsome Crab Island"  from the EU and there demands for a deeper ferry terminal. The guys at Drift Magazine are all over this and promoting an online petition which Spinalsurfer has signed. Its an interesting article and an interesting debate, between preserving natures wonders and progressing. I think this one needs a rethink myself.

New Toys

Inkawaves legend Terry very kindly gave me his Go Pro Camera and sent it over from his homestead in Peru, the operating of said device looks pretty difficult especially as it only has two buttons. I decided to take it on a novel project and promptly failed to get any pictures out of it save the one attached.

Thankfully Chav back from Taiwan after 3 years and numerous Sumatran adventures took his video camera so more action to follow.

Land locked surfing inspiration.

Longboard inspiration from Sennen

 

  These amazing photos were taken at Sennen Beach by Dave Muir who has a fantastic blog, is a great photographer and runs the surf school there. I feel bad stealing his piccies but hopefully The Pumpkin can now see where the inspiration to get a longboard came from

Longboarding

I think I may be about to rejoin the longboard owning fraternity....I feel that I have been wooed by resin tints and  a cruisey image or enjoying smaller, fatter, summer waves.

 I once owned a progressive longboard that I actually couldn't catch waves on it was so thin, added to that it had  a fabric inlay of a spine with what appeared to be a tumour coming out of it....It didn't last long. The best thing about that board was, you could put it in the sand on a busy summers day and your friends would know where you were from miles around due to the orange glowing tumour...the worst thing was none of them came over as they didn't wanna be seen near the thing.

 Anyway for the last 3 weeks I have been out of the water with cracked ribs and spasmed muscles and bronchitus, its been a bit miserable and there's been a fair bit of swell missed. I have to be on my game to ride my fish physically on the slacker waves of England and that certainly hasn't been the case. My two thrusters have both been gathering dust as they simply don't budge in the mush burgers...and so I guess it's a natural selection thing.

 Over the weekend the guys at Gwithian Sunset Cafe the guys there kindly offered me free SUP lessons and rides on their various longboard demo boards which I didn't take up due to sore ribs and howling winds, but I did come to a few conclusions.

 SUPing may look fun but if it isn't calm then your at the hands of Neptune and its a hell of a lot of board to be swanning around line ups with. I still like the idea, just not yet.

 Every house should have a longboard in it regardless of personal tastes and since the mini mal was taken by those smack head bastards down the way, we have not got one any more.

I am not getting any younger and can  probably get more surfs in when my back isn't perfect, just as long as I stay clear of the G - spot steps.

 And so the interested in second hand and new surfboard bells chimed, the offers have been coming in thick and fast.
E bay had an interesting specimen mini mal bonzer by Mandala surfboards:

Although not really a longboard I constantly drool over the Mandala boards especially their rounded pin quads. I spoke to Tim Stafford in north Cornwall even though his boards didn't even nearly fit the desired profile I d'oth covert them so!


I'm even supposed to be meeting a guy in Plymouth to Paddle around on a 12ft plus SUP called the Big Easy, the name alone made me feel like a fiddler so I balk at that idea.

However a Science teacher from work drew out of his camper at 9ft 4 object of beauty called "The Don" by Nine Plus, I did have a sense of ...this could be the one.

The Official blurb reads:

'The Don' is the boss of all our surfboard models due to its overall size and beauty. However, its heavy persona is complemented by the soulful ease of the riding experience. It has a flat rocker, with plenty of volume throughout the centre of the board and a really soft, pinched rail right the way through to a 60/40 upturned tail rail.


 What a load of bollocks that isn't useful information it sounds like marketing on an air freshner, exactly why I have shunned longboarders.





And so the desired asking price for it is 300 pounds instead of the face value of a new one at a cool 600 quid......surely in this modern day and age its socially acceptable to own such a good looking thing!

The Gulf

The Gulf of Mexico produces quality waves ask Floridians like Kelly Slater and the Hobgood brothers, it might not be the most consistent stretch of surf due to the limited fetch (distance over which the swell is generated, travelled and groomed) yet lets be honest in an area that produces the strongest hurricanes on earth (remember Katrina) it's no surprise that the Gulf keeps the Seppos (septic tank = yank) and Latinos waxing up. As you can see from the clip below, not all of them ride the gulf too conventionally.

Oil tanker riding in Texas!

Surfing Florida's other coast

How ironic for the tanker riders that their very raison d'etre has been their downfall. Unless you've been been having mind expanding sex with a supermodel for months on end then I'm pretty sure you'd have heard of the worst oil spill in American history, the Exxon Valdez dropped in the region of 11 million tonnes of crude. The current estimate for the BP leak is in the region of 39 million tonnes. In an area that is a fishing breadbasket for the continent and a tourist hot spot, it is hard to see much positivity coming out of it. Yes $20 billion set aside from BP sounds good, we'll see how much the federal governments syphon off and how much actually is received, after all it's not cash. With Hurricane season blowing in, this could be a very depressing time for many.

Don't forget the wildlife either, paddypower.com, who I'm struggling to acknowledge, are offering odds on which species will be the first to be declared extinct

Kemp's Ridley Turtle 4/5

Loggerhead Turtle 12/1

Gulf Sturgeon 20/1

Bluefin Tuna 6/4

Sperm Whale 16/1

Elkhorn Coral 20/1

Leatherback Sea Turtle 8/1

Blue Whale 16/1

Smalltooth Sawfish 20/1

Brown Pelicans 8/ 1

 

 

Its a funny one though. The Federal government are responsible for granting deep water oil extraction permits (shallow permits are banned as its deemed too environmentally sensitive), they're also responsible for checking the successful implementation of health and safety  on all platforms, strange then that Obama demanded the 20 billion (even though he has no legal ability to see it through) as the government are actually culpable themselves. Could this be a back room deal? Smells a bit funny to me.

 

 One thing is clear in my mind, surfing is definitely not priority in this situation nor should it be. I wonder whether some in the surfing world take it too high up the priority list. In a world groaning for renewable energies we need to be encouraging a greener planet not hindering it with small mindedness. The Wave Hub here in Hayle, Cornwall had its problems with objections from surfers. My favourite being...

"We will not stand by and not fight this," said Ben Farwagi of the London Surf Club, a regular visitor to the region. 

London surfers......they certainly get tubes.

 

 We gotta be careful not to be shooting ourselves in the foot, riding tanker waves okay, objecting to wave hubs...no. The leak looks like it has now stopped and the eleven platform workers buried but this event has seeped into the consciousness of many and will linger for a long time. 

 

 

Joel Parkinson's fin cut.

3 days to go before the Billabong Pro kicks off in Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa and the defending champion has had to withdraw. I've had a few fin chops on my feet myself but his takes the biscuit. He claims he got slammed by the foam ball at the most perfect tube he's experienced at Snapper, quite some claim for a dude who rules the place and has done for decades. Anyway J-Bay will be that much duller for not having the style miester of right hand points present. Best Wishes.

  This years World Tour is the most open in history with every one in for a shout, although it won't reach the masses of the World Cup, it will certainly fill my TV hours as the Footy Final is on Sunday the 11th of July and the J - Bay waiting period begins on Monday.

Diving