The Big M

Now here's a thought. The board pictured here played a formative role in the development of one of the stars of the superb new Relentless movie. That board is The Big M, and yours truly wrote about it for the current issue of Pit Pilot. The surfer in question is St Ives-hewn Tom Lowe, and if you've haven't seen Revolution yet, it's free with Carve 101. The film shows how Lowe and Fergal Smith are laying down the gauntlet for high performance big-wave surfers in the UK and Ireland - and beyond. Chaperoned (if that's the right word) by a man deserving of legendary status in his own right, Penzance snapper and bobyboarder Mickey Smith, the pair backdoor some of the most implacable slabs imaginable and live to tell the tale. It's great stuff from start to finish and inspiring even if, like me, you will never, ever find yourself surfing anything comparable. Meanwhile, with thanks to Greg Martin, here is The Big M.

Legend, n. A person having a special place in public esteem because of striking qualities or deeds, real or fictitious.

We all remember our first surfboard. Not the first serious surfboard we own, but the first one that gives us the feeling of riding a wave. Even if we don’t know who made it or where it came from, we can recall how many fins it had, what colour it was, how long it was, whether it was full of dings and if it had a leash.

For some people, that first board will be the humble Swellboard, while for others it’ll be the old Kamikaze shortboard that Dad is too old to ride anymore. It might be Mum’s fat-railed minimal, or a K-Bay longboard which an older brother pushes into a wave. But in St Ives, the chances are that it’ll be none of these. One board has towered over all others for 25 years, providing generations of the town’s surfers with pleasure and, in equal part, pain. That board is not a board to mess with. It’s a board that pulses with life and history. That board is The Big M.

“The Big M has a life of its own,” confirms Stef Harkon, who arrived in the town when The Big M was a mere twinkle in its shaper’s eye. The Liverpool-born surfer and skater has been a fixture in the line-ups of West Penwith, but especially Porthmeor, for over a quarter of a century. He admits that when it comes to The Big M, “there is so much myth and legend surrounding it that it’s difficult to know where truth and reality lie.”

Where, then, to begin? There’s nothing for it but to take a trip to St Ives to meet The Big M’s current custodian, 36-year-old John Navin. He promises he’ll have The Big M ready for inspection, and doesn’t disappoint. It’s there at the Porthmeor Surf School where Navin, a rugby player with Redruth for 10 years and now St Ives, runs surfing classes throughout the summer. Not, mind you, that he takes anyone out on The Big M.

“The Big M is in semi-retirement at the moment,” says Navin, “but in its current state it’s more likely to inflict damage than joy on anyone other than an experienced Big M rider.”

Even a cursory glance at The Big M bears out Navin’s fears. Its vital statistics are not too threatening – it’s an 8”8’ x 22 and a half Vitamin Sea board, bearing the initials ‘CJ’ – but its mouldering yellow deck and underside are scarred with more dings than a WW2 tank. Some have been fixed – in the loosest sense of the word – with gaffer tape, but where once were fluid curves and rails now there is little but an uneven, gnarled surface. To lie on The Big M would be rather like clasping the trunk of the most weathered oak tree in England, while to stand on it would be to feel one, if not both, of your feet sink into a crevice.

But The Big M has served St Ives’ surfers well. “Generations of us have ridden The Big M,” says Harkon. “The board lived down at the lifeguard hut and pretty much everyone has had their first waves on it.” Harkon cites contemporary charger Tom Lowe as a Big M rider, along with Rip Curl ripper Jayce Robinson. “It’s more difficult to think of who hasn’t ridden The Big M,” says Harkon. He reckons that from former St Ives surfer, now part New Zealand, part Sennen Cove based Charles Williams to a young super-grom like Harry de Roth, via another big wave charger in the form of Gwenver lifeguard Matt Smith (not to mention the likes of Tim Whitfield, Tim Simons and Dane Hall), just about every St Ives surfer worth his name has ridden The Big M.

The board takes its name from a big letter M on its underside, but why, and where did it come from? Former St Ives surfer, 42-year-old Darren Moran has the answers. “The board was bought about 25 years ago by Martin Haag, a rugby player who went on to play for Bath and England,” says Moran. “He wanted to get into surfing but at about 6”8’ he was so huge that we needed to find a big board for him. One day we went to Newquay and saw this yellow Vitamin Sea board in North Shore. It had a big M on it which was perfectly suited to big Martin. He paid about £60 for it.”

Moran says that The Big M went on surf trips all over Cornwall and doubled up, post surf, as a table for beers and food. As Haag’s rugby career progressed he found that he was frequently away from St Ives, and so asked Moran to look after the board. Then Moran himself went off on a Sri Lanka surf trip and settled in Jersey, and so someone else had to look after The Big M. John Navin was that man – his daughter Brooke is also among those to have caught waves on the board – but The Big M’s principal place of residence has always been the Porthmeor lifeguard hut.

Harkon and Navin both say that, over the years, The Big M has caused its fair share of havoc. “It’s rock hard and weights a ton,” says Navin. “It’s careered into people and been responsible for a few mamings.” Harkon himself has been on the receiving end of The Big M dispensing pain rather than pleasure: “I had to have a stitch in the top of my head thanks to The Big M,” he says.

Navin says that The Big M will take to the waves again this soon, though he can’t help but recall the words of Airborne Surf Division’s Paul Boufler, the last man to fix The Big M. “He said ‘Don’t bring it back again’,” says Navin.

The chances are that The Big M will live to see another Porthmoer session, and that Boufler may once again have to try and give it another lease of life. But meanwhile, one question remains. Exactly who now owns The Big M?

For Darren Moran, it’s simple. “Porthmeor owns The Big M,” he says.

Comments

[Graham Shephard]

Do any 'old Hakies' remember the "Harp Lager Board..

It was a St Ives legend but disappeared in the early 80's. Hard to miss, I think it was 12' long with Harp Lager written on it....and weighed a ton

I think it became an early PDC Rescue Board but may have even been before Steph's time

[Nick Marshall]

In the late 60s and maybe earlier the lifeguards on Porthmeor were part of the SSLC (St Ives Surf Life Saving Club) if my memory serves me well. At that time they had some form of sponsorship from Harp Lager and along with windbreaks and clothing I think that the rescue boards they used were also emblazoned with the Harp logo. Does anybody have any pics of the lifegaurds and associated stuff from that era?

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