Tidal bores in China

Tom Blake, the World's most influential surfer.

The world's most influential surfer was born in land locked Wisconsin, 1902. He wasn't the face of surfing like Duke Kahanomku. In many ways the Duke was the front man. No not Blake, Blake didn't court the public. Blake was the brains, spirit and passion of surfing. This is the man who took 14 foot solid redwood boards that weighed 1500 pounds, that were ridden straight to the beach and invented wave riding. By making the boards from hollow construction (though initially he simply drilled thousands of holes and then slapped a wooden veneer over them to make the board water tight) he enabled boards to turn and also to be carried single handedly to more inaccessible places (he was after all the first man to surf Malibu, which in itself is an amazing story as Rhoda May Ringe refused to let the state build a highway there, losing her millions in the law courts and even resorting to employing armed guards who dynamited the states construction efforts).

 Not that building hollow boards was the end of his contribution. He then realised that a skeg, to use the language of the time was needed to give the board, pivot and drive. Throw in the invention of hollow paddleboards, the first ever sailboards (a.k.a windsurfers), the invention of water proof housing, patenting the first commercially available surfboards, he also wrote the first book devoted to surfing, oh and did I say that he invented vital lifeguarding aids such as the torpedo tube and the rescue ring. He practically invented the surfing, windsurfing and paddle boarding and then all the things needed on the beach to make it safe.

 When not doing this, he broke and held the World Ten Mile Swimming Record,  he won the first ever Pacific Coast Surfing Championship and inevitably won many prestigious paddleboard races....And none of these things make him the greatest , but make no mistake they make him great.

 He was a Beatnik before there were Beatniks, he lived Kerouac's "On the Road" before Kerouac was born (He was born in 1922). His Mum died whilst he was in diapers, he met the Duke in a Cinema in his home town and then he turned to the road, train jumping and bumming his way around the States before finding SoCal and then in turn Hawaii. He liked his big waves, he loved tandem surfing the smaller waves, his passion was surfing under full moons. He dedicated himself to his sport, with rigorous physical training, a strict vegetarian diet and a passion which verges on transcendental. He virtually invented the sport, lived and breathed it, improved it and passed it on in a better state than he found it. Respect.

I woke up this morning with the cold water

Outcome the boots and twat cap.

Different craft

Baliwaves.com

There was a time in Renon when a man inspired me. He committed himself to his passion and had blind belief that that was his destiny. May be he didn't care if lost everything trying, may be he had blind faith it would all work out, may be he just did what made sense and didn't over think it. I may well have given it too much thought. I've never met the man, although I've been out surfing at spots like Balangan when he's turned up in boats or with a board, he's inspired me. He started a website called http://www.baliwaves.com/ which he used to post a daily photo of a wave in the area, more often than not Uluwatu or Seragan. It's funny cause then he started off doing fishing trips, surfing home stays and I remember the first time he advertised a trip to G-land...well these days, there isn't much you can't sort out from Baliwaves. He married a Balinese girl and set up shop and set up his stall, sure it's not Santosha....but I'm not in Renon now, I have a child, a mortgage, a job and this morning as I dreaded work and drove through the rain shivering.....Jim inspired me and I had a look at what was happening in his life and got to live a little vicariously for a minute, and felt all the better for it.

The Eddie

Well the Eddie invitees have all been signed in, ready for the day of days. 8 times in 26 years means more likely than not it won't happen but here's hoping. Super excited to see the mad Chilean Ramon Navarro and a bit surprised to see Jeremy Flores in the mix. Apparently he didn't own a rhino chaser till this year and overlooked proven big wave surfers like Skindog Collins, have been keen to point out that he's a Quicksilver rider getting a spot that many dedicated riders have spent a lifetime trying by trial and error to achieve.

 Interestingly it was also pointed out that at this year's XXL Billabong awards 4 out of the 5 winners were Billabong riders. ..... disgruntlement in the big wave camp!?!?!?

 Should the bay call the day footage will be available by clicking here.

Rails

As I  struggle with a whole host of injuries, building a house and the water temperature dropping like a stone, I had a little think about waves and stories that inspired me when younger. Sunset beach, Hawaii the old proving ground of the North Shore, where big balls and boards ruled. It was interesting to see Dane Reynolds, new skool dog showing how to use a rail and do things classy yesterday....made me smile.

The Perran Pipe

November 4mm, 9 ft 4" log, apply sun and small clean swell......good times.

This is my signature move "walk like an Egyptian" is how I like to look at it.

If I could just get one hand on the hip I think I could add "I'm a tea pot, tall and stout" to my manoeuvres.

Dave Muir from Sennen Surf centre and Lekker fame was kind enough to give me the photos despite having far more proficient surfers to snap etc, so big thanks there. Dave's amazingly proficient yet chilled surf school is up for water sports provider of the year, so give him a vote, it only takes 1 minute at http://www.demographix.com/surveys/2KVG-RM5T/8WX72K4F/

Is this the biggest wave ever ridden?

Nazare is a Portuguese big wave spot. It's a Geographic freak and one of only a handful in the world. The underwater canyon is actually a gap in the continental shelf which allows waves to reach close to the shore without the friction effect of continental shelf and actually serves as an intensifier.

 Garrett McNamara was the big ball bloke who may have etched himself into the record books with what looks like a 90 foot  bomb. Good to see Europe getting in on the XXXL scale. Al Mennie from Ireland and Andrew Cotton from the UK were also present at the session.

The Cribbar has been breaking here in Autumnal Cornwall and here's some footage from an October session.

"I have a dream!"

Recent times

Old Faithful sings

The only person who I've heard who surfed this wave was a lad named Wilson, who lost his battle with cancer this year in his early 20's.  It was all for him on this day. RIP

I'm no lover of winter and dread the onset of the dark, cold and the grey but Autumn is a blessed time to be a surfer in Cornwall. Some pictures "lest we forget."

The most lined up I've ever had it. Although an undoubted secret spot the amount of non local surfers who visited on this day and the lack of local readership of my blog, have led me to think that its okay to post this shot...I think. It never breaks if its not grey.

 South swells mean different spots break....Danger bay AKA Three Tunnels not quite firing enough for Greg's stick.

 Sunny Pipe in November

A Cornish surf shack, a converted pump house from the mining days...greets the new swells.

Sunbathing whilst it lasts.

Young love.

Young lovers on a spring tide and a south swell.

Mums on the run.

Buenassssssssssssssssssssssssso

Region: -33°,42° to 10°,65°   Dataset: multi_1.glo_30m    All Times GMT (Zulu

Great Whites goes aerial.

Winter's at our door

Winter is slowly creeping up, its even let the sirens out a spot early, with a well groomed and long period south swell lighting up every south coast nook and cranny. I wish I could post the photos of the best spot on the day, but I can't the location must remain just that.

Harry Daily

Harry Daily hails from San Diego, California. He also goes by many other names such as Sketch Holiday and /or Harry the Hat. I met Harry a few years back when he visited England, wearing some seriously bohemian threads and sporting a handle bar moustache. Whilst he beavered away on a Switchfoot style drawing. A lady said "`Well done, absolutely fantastic." in a rather well healed English accent, to which this rather strange looking bundle of hair replied " Thank you, I always try my hardest.", which struck me as pretty comical.

He's a bit of a well travelled surf and skate artist whose work has not only been published in the switchfoot series but also used by many surf brands in advertising campaigns. Harry seemed more interested in pasties, music and the night life as far as I could tell though.

 Anyway with my house build erring towards the latter stages, it seems time to acquire a bit of art. So I phoned Golden Balls up at Driftwood Gallery, a supplier of surf art amongst other treasures and bought myself Adam and Eve has a pair of hand embellished limited edition prints, which look great. Adam's below, thanks to Driftwood Gallery for doing me a deal, that I was very happy with.

Bobby Martinez update.

I used to love watching Bobby Martinez at Mundaka. He just seemed to have been made for that wave, or any other big  barrelling left. I wouldn't necessarily be too interested in what many pro surfers have to say too often, "It was super fun" and "I'm stoked" can be used to answer any question it would seem but I was interested in why he wasn't around much this year. A few years ago I'd read how he was all jaded, hated the industry and thinking of going back to work for his Dad, which I thought was pretty .....left field.

 He's a Mexican in Californian who lives in a neighbourhood that has been described as a ghetto, whether rightly or wrongly, still it's a bit unusual compared to the luxurious beach pad of most. He has a few pit  bulls and loves his boxing.

 Bobby Martinez dropped out of the surfing tour cause he smoked so much weed he couldn't get his act together but apparently that's all in the past, back in 2005.

These day's he's taking some pot shots: (taken from extreme scene.com)


Martinez on Kelly Slater’s legacy, and whether Slater should retire: “I don't know and I don't care. I just hate how he says he's not doing the tour and then he does the whole year. Obviously, he loves the spotlight, but to me I don't care what he does.”

Martinez on Kelly Slater’s quiver: “He's only riding fishes because he can't get a good shortboard. That's why I left Channel Islands.”

 Bobby Martinez has the best back tattoo I've ever seen.


 However Bobby looks like his time is up as a pro tour kind of surfer due to his live broadcasted rant at the US Open at Huntington Beach...... Not sure he was too articulate but hey he didn't say "It was super fun" or "I'm stoked" once.

Believe it or not he'd just smoked Bede Durbridge and was through to a surf with Senior Slater. Anyway he's been banned for a year for bringing the sport's image into disrepute, seems like a long way from the free thinking and uncensored days....

Something different from Pukas

I've always fancied a Pukas board. I loved the look of a friends plonker and I dig the fact that Pukas are a European surfing house with shaping at the forefront.....their new model The Mix looks pretty sweet too.....so while pouring over their boards I spotted these clips which got me thinking about shaping again and may be adding a few LED's
Leds by Pukas. Tiago Pires and Joan Duru from Pukas Surf on Vimeo

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MUNDAKA 24H from aritzaranburu.com on Vimeo.

Viva la France

Right back at ya Shark!

 Just loved this board work.

La Graviere and the French WCt event is on!

 Some pretty good waves on offer already and even Dane Reynolds turned up.

Paris

For live feed and all the action click here.

Wood

Surf Photographer and Editor at Wavelength Magazine Greg Martin, recently reappeared after hanging out with some beardy weirdies in southern Wales who were transforming surfing through wood. What they hadn't counted on was that Greg (not exactly re known for his DIY exploits to put it mildly, just look at his lounge wall for gods sake) left without sealing the board in any shape or form.  I have a feeling the board will remain an unfulfilled promise for sometime to come.

 With all the roughly shawn timber on offer and fine opportunities for getting splinters I couldn't resist putting my 6 week old daughter through her paces to see how she'd get on. I have to confess there wasn't a moment when she just popped to her feet, grabbed a rail and then instinctively tickled the tube with her trailing arm. But she did look forward and arch her back......I'll keep her focused on the world title.

You

Triathalon guy

Mr Motivator McCreedy decided he wasn't fit enough to tackle to the two foot breakers of Crantock and pledged to do his first Triathlon which he completed  last Sunday....well he didn't really. The bike leg was cancelled due to high winds and torrential rain....I couldn't understand why they let the ocean swim go on in 12 foot onshore maelstrom but I've learnt not to question the Cornish on common sense, for fear of the answer.

He was looking remarkably sprightly at the end of some pretty serious sand dune running. The wind chill and baltic temperatures kept the athletes cool and the crowd cowed into the pub.

This young lady is a British Trialthlete and an Olympic shoe in...unbelievably Andy Mac appeared from the soup shorty after with his Blackberry  desperately trying to get her number as she pulled away from him.

Macker with the sea behind him.

I like this shot of Andy heading back towards Perranporth in a highly respectable 52 nd place out of the water ...I guess the field was somewhere in the 350 range.

The start was pretty impressive and the clothes in the crowd may give you a hint as to the conditions on the day.

 No surf today! 40 mph onshore winds.

Andy checking out this guys packet at the start.

I'm not saying the Lifeguards weren't keen to rescue anyone, but she was on duty and I'm guessing it would have taken her awhile to affect a rescue.

 Triathletes are sadists who enjoy pain and never smile......If you are thinking of doing one, head to Miami or Fiji is my advice.

Newlyn raft race

So with great fan fair and a pretty impressive crowd the Newlyn Raft race burst into life. There were some pretty unusual sites though I must confess its connection with a surfing blog is somewhat tenuous, I like to see a bit of real life community from the ocean dwellers!

I'm sure my mother in law will love this shot of her as she strides confidently towards her galleon...sadly due to a near drowning incident..mother in law had to abandon her vessel in waist deep water and return to the Tolcarne Inn for the age old medicine of Rum.

The Meadery Maids, California you can keep your SoCal girls , these are real Cornish girls who can out paddle Laird Hamilton...2nd place finishers after Marios men.

Enough said.

 Shenanigans before the bars tottered under the sheer weight of exhausted wannabe pirates.