Here's a nice Antipodean Perspective on Kernow. It's by Mick Jardine, an Australian who spent time in Cornwall a while ago.
I'm stoked to run such an upbeat, positive piece, especially since I'm bidding farewell to regular blogging about surfing. Things will appear here from time to time, but there might be a fair old gap between posts. Vaya con dios - and may you be as stoked as Mick Jardine, wherever you are, and whatever waves you're riding.
Swells move slower but lack nothing in
density. It’s colder, obviously. The light is softer, lacking the harshness of
home, and the landscape different. Greener and more verdant sure, but it’s the
other sights that stand out in my memory, sights foreign to me yet things
likely to melt into the everyday drumbeat of local life. The ancient track
marks of human habitation, the ceaseless sweep of eight metre tides, muddy paths,
a slate coloured ocean under a slate coloured sky.
And the waves? In a word, varied. From the
very bad to the, at times, very, very good.
It has now been three and a half years
since my Cornish excursion came to an end, and I returned home to Western
Australia with a Westcountry lass in tow, yet I think about the place all the
time. I check the surf cams, read Cornish news, find little pockets of the
coast I’d like to call home; such is the imprimatur it has left on me. This is
strange for two reasons. Firstly, not only was it not meant to happen this way
first time around until luck and good fortune intervened, but my continued love
affair with all things Cornish should probably have died out by now from my
perspective as a surfer. After all, WA is a blessed place to call home if you
surf; a massive and relatively empty coastline, temperate conditions and
abundant (and often huge) swells. People the world over pine to surf the very
breaks I have within my grasp as a WA local, yet I do often still wonder what Polzeath and any number of other Cornish breaks might be
like on any given day.
So why on earth did I fall so head over
heels for Cornwall? Let me count the ways. Firstly, the surf is actually quite
good a lot of the time, even more often than locals give it credit for I think.
Sure you’re probably not going to get stand up tubes in boardshorts too often,
feel warm and flexible any time between November and March or see someone from
the WCT out at your local break. But guess what? Nor do most surfers other than
committed travellers and lucky locals in a few parts of the world, and wave
quality is rarely the issue it’s made to be in the UK in terms of developing
proper technique and a professional surfing career. If you don’t believe me,
Kelly Slater’s home beach in Florida, Cocoa Beach, ain't no Superbank for the
uninformed. And Cornish surf, for the very same reasons that means the swell
lacks the punch of other coasts - a long Continental shelf, proximity to the
North Atlantic storm track (translating to lots of semi junky swells, from
small to large, as opposed to groomed groundswells Indo-style) – is highly
rippable. You can manhandle sections you’d probably avoid hitting elsewhere;
the lack of push forces you to generate your own speed and helps improve
technique when channelled properly; outside the summer holidays lineups are
reasonably chilled still so you can catch lots of waves; and wetsuits have now
improved to the point that the cold is not the performance limiter it used to
be. So, even for an Australian, I can honestly say I had a lot of great surfs
in Cornwall and that’s coming from a reasonably high base of expectation.
What else? The people, both proper third
generation locals and transplants, undoubtedly contributed immensely to making
the two years I spent there so enjoyable. There is enormous synergy between Western
Australia and Cornwall (and their peoples) in terms of attitudes to life
generally, and non locals in particular. We both reside as far away from the
rest of our country as is possible to be, spurring independence of thought and
action, and meaning we’re both looked upon as ‘outsiders’ within our own borders
at times. There is a shared disregard for what is valued elsewhere and life is
seen to move a little slower. And in Cornwall, much as in WA, this translates
into vibrant local communities (not withstanding the second home debate),
entrepreneurial thinkers and grounded people. In my case, I can credit the
local community around Polzeath and most notably Pete and Jane Craske, for
letting me into their world and I appreciate it immeasurably. To this day, I
consider many of the people I met during this time of my life to be true
friends.
There are other things I value about
Cornwall and Cornish life – the history, the way so much is tucked into such a
small place, the little villages - each of which add another layer to the
fabric of the place. A place I may yet call home still, and a place that if not
quite the lucky country, is definitely the lucky county.
Mick Jardine is a 3 times Western Australian State Surfing Champion based in Perth,
WA. His travels have taken him all around his home state and
Australia, plus numerous surf trips to Indonesia, South Africa, Hawaii, mainland
USA, Mexico, the UK, France, Spain and Portugal. Living in Cornwall for two years
in 2004/5, Mick was a surf coach at Polzeath beach but has since re-located
home. Now working in Marketing, Mick continues to spend as much time as possible
away from his desk, and in the water.