Surf Nation

Synchros, surfing and the Sahara

Jake Stephens, a surfer and small company director, is doing something a little different for New Year. With his partner Claire, their friends Russel and Shamsa (and two children Zara, 4, and Leah, 2) and Andrew and Melanie (with 18-month daughter Amara), he's hitting the road through Morocco in search of snow, sand and surf, roughly in that order. Each family has their own expedition-equipped VW Syncro 4x4 Camper. Although they're 15-20 years old these vehicles have been fitted with modern TDi engines and overhauled in preparation for the trip by Russel's specialist company, Syncro-Nutz. Usually the domain of Land Rovers and Toyotas the travellers hope to prove the VWs' worth in outback expeditions and surf trips, via the snow of the Atlas Mountains. Some of their friends and family have concluded that they're the wrong side of sane to take on such a trip with three very young children, but here's hoping they all remain in rude health. We might even be able to check their progress - thanks to the miracle of satellite broadband from AST (www.satcomms.com) Jake reckons he'll be able to keep in touch, even at the most remote breaks on the Western Sahara. Let's see...

It's official - you can win money if a great white shark is caught off British shores in 2007

There I was fretting about a few seals, and now I learn that Totesport is offering odds of 25-1 that a great white shark will be caught off British shores in 2007.
See www.surfersvillage.com/surfing/25521/surf-news.htm for the story, which comes just over a week after a serious attack near Melbourne, Australia. Peter Galvin, a 25-year-old Australian surfer, suffered repeated bites to his leg as he sat in the line-up, before managing to fight off the shark. For years, I've delighted in the fact that shark attacks off the British Isles are about as likely as snow in the Sahara, but Totesport's odds suggest I shouldn't take anything for granted. And this scary video offers another reminder that as surfers, we're only ever guests of the seals, sharks and whales whose waters we play in. Even, as here, when the action is taking place in a swimming pool.

Too many seals spoil a surf

I love seals. Few things compare to being out in the line-up and having one pop up next to you. Only one, mind you, and I do prefer it if he or she keeps a reasonable distance. And when there are a few in the water, their cute little faces do tend to take on a different hue. Which is why, on Christmas Day, I spurned the chance of surfing secret spot perfection. I'd gone out at first light on my mountain bike to check Spot J, only to find that it wasn't working. On the way home, I looked down a gully to see immaculate A-frame sets rolling into Spot K. And I mean immaculate. The problem was that about five seals also found Spot K highly congenial. I could have zipped home, grabbed a board and made my way down to Spot K, to have it all to myself - and the five seals - but the truth is that I bottled it. This break is miles from anywhere, prone to severe currents and known for its territorial seals, and I just didn't fancy rubbing them up the wrong way. It was also Christmas Day, and there were - thankfully - other things to be done. Which goes to show that, even if surfing is better than sex (as to which, who knows?), sometimes it's a relief not to be in the water.

Is surfing better than sex?

A surfer I know once made the grave error, after a three hour session in immaculate 5ft summer surf at Watergate Bay, of saying to his wife that surfing was better than sex. Admittedly he was surfed out at the time, eyes glazed and wits dulled by memories of pure stoke, but he's yet to be forgiven - and probably never will be. I have told him that he should have kept his thoughts to himself, but he was unrepentant. He suggested the following 10 reasons for being right:

1. No time lapse - you always want more straight after a ride.
2. No risk of disease.
3. It doesn't matter if it's raining.
4. Dolphins and seals are wonderful animals, but you never see them in the bedroom.
5. Similarly, rainbows at the back of breaking waves.
6. You don't need to buy a wave dinner first.
7. Waves do not get jealous.
8. Six foot thrusters are perfectly adequate.
9. Waves don't mind being photographed in all their glory. In fact, some seem to enjoy it.
10. The act of riding a wave is, quite simply, more intense and rewarding than even the best orgasm.

Is he right?

Letitia Casta and the French Foreign Legion

A while ago I wrote about my old friend in the French Foreign Legion, Adjutant James Cunningham. I reflected on the differing sense of the line-up that he and I had, also on the evanescent nature of surf in Corsica, his base with the 2nd Rep, the Legion's crack parachute regiment. But maybe this picture shows that however hard it is, and however fleeting the rideable waves are, there is an upside to life in the La Legion Etrangere.

A Christmas D*** in a Box

Sales in the City - but what of real surfers' needs?

Christmas is upon us. Surf shops in UK cities are heaving. Here's Alf Alderson on the conundrum this poses for contemporary surfing.

Could someone enlighten me as to why London, Leeds or Leicester need surf shops? Because you can’t tell me that they were opened with the needs of "real" surfers in mind. Boards and wetsuits are relegated to a small corner of the store if they’re sold at all (and can you even buy wax?), and I dread to think what kind of advice the almost compulsory Aussie and South African staff can offer about the gear you need for surfing British waves. Instead of genuine surf kit, what confronts you as you walk in is lots of sexy surf fashion garments selling for outrageous prices and walls full of happy, shiny pro surfers in happy, shiny locations which are definitely not Sennen, Croyde or Pease Bay.

Surfing and literature - check out the stories of James Kim and Eddie Aikau

Picking up on today's earlier post, here's a link from Tom that takes things a little further - www.citymama.typepad.com/citymama/2006/12/another_story_o.html. Eddie Would Go, the story of Hawaiian ultra-waterman Eddie Aikau, is one of surfing's greatest books. James Kim, a senior editor with CNET, died after his family became stranded in heavy snow in the Oregon Wilderness. Kim set out to find help for his wife and two daughters, and his efforts - praised as "superhuman" by the local sherriff - ultimately resulted in their survival. How are the two connected? Both Kim and Aikau were humble men who had within them the capacity for the heroic. Both of them are inspirational figures. Aikau's story is so compelling because it is about so much more than surfing; so, too, were Kim's efforts greater than anyone could possibly have expected.

Eddie Would Go by Stuart Holmes Coleman is available from major book chains such as Borders, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Photo (C) Bernie Baker. See www.eddiewouldgo.com for more information.

Huck - cooler than ever

Vince Medeiros, the editor of Huck magazine, is on to something. The latest issue is better than ever. Quality articles throughout but best of all is the way in which Medeiros is tapping into the counter-cultural animus underlying each of surfing, skate-boarding and snow-boarding. Sometimes it's a subtle thing, sometimes it's in your face and full of attitude, but it's always there. Fans of Huck will be pleased to learn that additional issues are planned for 2007.

Surfing and literature - an unhappy marriage?

I went Christmas shopping in Penzance today. I'd had enough after five minutes but persevered. After all, how hard can it be, this shopping lark? You walk about and go into a few shops, and Bob's your uncle. Piece of cake compared with paddling out at raging Gwithian. Anyway, two hours later, laden with gifts, highly disorientated and - technically speaking - shopped out, I'd had enough. I made my way down Chapel Street, to the place where I hoped the car would not be clamped. Somehow, my eye was drawn to an image of surfing. There, in the window of what is one of the UK's few remaining independent bookshops, was a book by Jon Bowen entitled Surfing Moods: Catching the Best Waves in the West Country. Well, it's Christmas, the time of giving, so I thought I'd give myself a present. Even though the bookseller had just shut, I knocked on his door. He let me in, and we exchanged both pleasantries and cash. Now Bowen's book is mine. And you know what? It's a nice read. Or rather, it's a great view. It's photo-led, as are so many surfing books, and none the worse for that. But it's got me thinking about surfing and books. Why is there so little literature surrounding surfing? So little by way of pure words? Is it because surfing can't be described in language? Does anyone know?

Meanwhile, perhaps to illustrate the problem, here's a great shot from Al Mackinnon. How do you describe what you see?