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Here's last Saturday's column from the Times. I haven't linked to many of them given that not all have a surfing content, but this one, about Surfers Against Sewage, Broadbench and The Gathering, certainly does. Look out for more on the Access Broadbench campaign - it looks as if a head of steam is building.
My mate Steve Lynton, from whom I bought an excellent 9"1' K-Bay longboard last year, sends me news of the Olo Surfboard Tour. I'm hoping one of the boards will come down Sennen way but meanwhile, here's the press release sent to me by Steve.
A loose collective of surfers and wooden surfboard enthusiasts are attempting to bring the first OLO (FP12) surfboard to the UK to ride our unique British waves. Following the Hawaiian tradition of sharing everything and spreading "aloha," we plan to pass this wooden surfboard from guardian surfer to guardian surfer in key surfing areas around the UK - allowing it be ridden in a variety of waves by a wide group of surfers from beginners and groms through to some of the top UK professional watermen and women.
For the
last 20 years underground artisan craftsman Roy
Stewart, based in New Zealand, has been recreating
boards of this style from Paulownia wood and combining traditional board shapes
with more modern design concepts taken from the fields of aerodynamics, fluid
mechanics and hull design.
These surfboards have historically divided the
surfing community; however not many surfers have actually ever ridden one; those
that have all agreed that these are indeed special boards that offer a
completely unique way of surfing waves. It's a lifetime surfing opportunity not
to be missed!
We are hoping that this surfboard will visit the numerous and diverse breaks on all coasts of the UK, spend some time in Ireland and surf the bore up the river Severn over the next 18 months.
This project is being funded through donations by supporters, most of whom will ride the board; we have a target of £1200 to cover the materials and import of the board and with the amazing response we have had already, are already over 75% of the way towards reaching this. We hope to be able to ship the board from New Zealand to the UK in June or July in time for some balmy Summer surfing.
There are opportunities for amateur and professional photographers, artists, film makers as well as surfers to be involved in this project.
To find out more please check out the magicseaweed community, visit our website www.woodensurfboard.co.uk or join our facebook page "olo surfboard tour".
Check out this barrel. Would you be pleased to be in it?
Some people would say that a barrel's a barrel, but many others would agree with Surfers Against Sewage that this sort of pollution in our seas isn't acceptable.
As Andy Cummins, SAS's Campaigns Director, says: "The 11.6 million surfers, waveriders and water users in the UK are potentially great guardians for the UK’s waves and beaches. We are all literally immersing ourselves in the environment we love so much, so we are the first affected by pollution incidents."
The good news, if you agree with Andy (and you should do), is that SAS has just made it easier to report pollution incidents. There's now a Guide to Reporting Pollution Incidents on the SAS site. Check it out and remember it next time you encounter filth on our coastline.
Tom Lowe is rumoured to have suffered a second dislocation of his left shoulder at Teahupoo.
The St Ives-bred ripper, big wave charger and all round decent bloke is said to have been surfing Chopes at size when a stand-up paddle board being ridden by Laird Hamilton somehow hit him in the shoulder. Cue intense pain as the shoulder was torn from its socket. Hamilton reportedly did his best to help Lowe put the shoulder back in while in the water. Now, though, Lowe is on a plane back to the UK, where it looks as if an operation awaits him.
At this stage, this news is hearsay, and there's no suggestion that Hamilton, Lowe or anyone else was culpable. But if it's true that the shoulder has again been dislocated, here's hoping that Lowey makes a swift recovery.
Image of Tom Lowe with kind permission of Mickey Smith.
Those of us who've suffered from Surfer's Ear know just how disorientating, depressing and downright painful it is. I had hideous ear pain in Mexico about five years ago. Since then, I've been mostly OK, but one man who wasn't so lucky is Olly Daglish, who invented the Ollypop. Click here to check out Olly's informative and well-written blog on what it's like to have an op for Surfer's Ear. And maybe, as I am now going to try and do, wear those ear plugs.
Image of Carlos Burle on an Ollypop towel courtesy of Ollypop.
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.
