Update: 5 July 2008 – 12 September 2008
Well it’s been a pretty good couple of months ‘water-wise’. Mark (recently married!!! What? Really? Yeah!) made his transition over to the beautiful sport of Ocean Kayaking (a.k.a Goat-Boating), Rob Joslin met up for Mark’s stag do in North Devon and we all grabbed some fun waves at Putsborough (and some man-on-girl arm wrestling in The Thatch!)….great to be out back with the boys once again. :-) “Hangover Sunday” was heavy as hell at Puts with Rob and I clawing our way up, over, and under a couple of massive sets before accepting that the amount of booze in our bloodstream didn’t mix well with macking surf :-) …. we still caught a few bombs though.
John Romanoski has been as stoked as ever and we’ve enjoyed some fun sessions in North Devon – if it wasn’t for adult responsibilities keeping him out of the water (no a criticism at all) I reckon he’d be on the WCT tour by now! Nice one! Alex Ford has been AWOL for far too long (where the hell are you Mr Ford? – fight your way out of ‘The City’ and lets grab some waves soon yeah?). Roz has been surfing every now and then but seems to have developed an unhealthy addiction to 1ft waves and has even recently been spotted looking at a ‘lake’ and toying with the idea of paddling out……….a few weeks in intensive “3ft Rehab” may be required at this rate. Ha Ha.
Sandy Bay was 3ft and clean over the ‘reef’ on Saturday 6th September ….. I managed to fluke a really fun local surf. “Tidders” (local surf shop owner) was in the water with the digital-camera shooting the action which was a laugh. Only down side was taking off on a set and crashing straight into him…… another ding to the 6’0” Quad (3rd ding so far) and Tidders’ Paddle-Board with one less fin (snapped off!). Sorry ...Doh. Oh well, always worth it to get some good waves. And he didn’t even get the shot! ;-) Did a grand job on the ding repair though – thanks (enjoy the red wine).
Magic Seaweed has been conjuring up some very odd ‘Phantom Surf Reports’ recently ….. today was a classic example – “5 Star rating!”, “14 second period!” and certain epic local conditions were forecast. IT WAS FLAT! ……….
………but a 1hr, last-option drive to Bantham paid off with surprisingly good 3ft and clean waves. (Shame you missed it Roz - wld have been fun) A great few hours catching long rides from the middle of the bay, back into the rip to be transported back out back for more.
I have to mention the Mark Venn “Kayaking” incident here …sorry Mark but it was very very funny wasn’t it. The “flat” conditions turned out to be far less than flat (Yep – Magic Seaweed again!) and we spent an hour or so battling through 2ft+ chop in the wind and over the rocks at Budleigh before deciding to "abort-abort-abort" the 5 mile Ladram Bay trip and head back to ‘dry land’. “Ever-equipped Mark" had to, lets say, "improvise" with his kayaking footwear and was sporting a lovely pair of Size 6 white-LADIES-Levis flip flops!! As he was dragging the kayak down the steep grassy bank to the car park the flip flops gave up the fight and snapped sending Mark into what can only be described as the most spectacular ‘Terra Ferma Wipe-Out’ ever witnessed by man or beast…. “Arms flying one way, legs flying in opposite directions, full back flip into triple salko manouver” (with the kayak following him down the slope too!). I (and we) laughed so much that bodily functions were very nearly lost !!!! (I actually may have wee’d a little bit!!) Classic moment Mark – “thanks for the memories” :-)
In the world of ‘people who are way better than us at surfing’ (the WCT Tour) Kelly Slater has just won at Trestles and is on for number “9”! Amazing. The Quicksilver Pro France is highly likely to secure the title for him so “I’m off” ……. http://www.easyjet.com/ , click, click, and all done. 5 days in beautiful SW France to watch the comp and grab some waves myself at Hossegor (if it’s small) and my favourite spot in the world (Cote de Basque). Watch this space for a WCT blog-update……………….
John Romanoski has been as stoked as ever and we’ve enjoyed some fun sessions in North Devon – if it wasn’t for adult responsibilities keeping him out of the water (no a criticism at all) I reckon he’d be on the WCT tour by now! Nice one! Alex Ford has been AWOL for far too long (where the hell are you Mr Ford? – fight your way out of ‘The City’ and lets grab some waves soon yeah?). Roz has been surfing every now and then but seems to have developed an unhealthy addiction to 1ft waves and has even recently been spotted looking at a ‘lake’ and toying with the idea of paddling out……….a few weeks in intensive “3ft Rehab” may be required at this rate. Ha Ha.
Sandy Bay was 3ft and clean over the ‘reef’ on Saturday 6th September ….. I managed to fluke a really fun local surf. “Tidders” (local surf shop owner) was in the water with the digital-camera shooting the action which was a laugh. Only down side was taking off on a set and crashing straight into him…… another ding to the 6’0” Quad (3rd ding so far) and Tidders’ Paddle-Board with one less fin (snapped off!). Sorry ...Doh. Oh well, always worth it to get some good waves. And he didn’t even get the shot! ;-) Did a grand job on the ding repair though – thanks (enjoy the red wine).
Magic Seaweed has been conjuring up some very odd ‘Phantom Surf Reports’ recently ….. today was a classic example – “5 Star rating!”, “14 second period!” and certain epic local conditions were forecast. IT WAS FLAT! ……….
………but a 1hr, last-option drive to Bantham paid off with surprisingly good 3ft and clean waves. (Shame you missed it Roz - wld have been fun) A great few hours catching long rides from the middle of the bay, back into the rip to be transported back out back for more.
I have to mention the Mark Venn “Kayaking” incident here …sorry Mark but it was very very funny wasn’t it. The “flat” conditions turned out to be far less than flat (Yep – Magic Seaweed again!) and we spent an hour or so battling through 2ft+ chop in the wind and over the rocks at Budleigh before deciding to "abort-abort-abort" the 5 mile Ladram Bay trip and head back to ‘dry land’. “Ever-equipped Mark" had to, lets say, "improvise" with his kayaking footwear and was sporting a lovely pair of Size 6 white-LADIES-Levis flip flops!! As he was dragging the kayak down the steep grassy bank to the car park the flip flops gave up the fight and snapped sending Mark into what can only be described as the most spectacular ‘Terra Ferma Wipe-Out’ ever witnessed by man or beast…. “Arms flying one way, legs flying in opposite directions, full back flip into triple salko manouver” (with the kayak following him down the slope too!). I (and we) laughed so much that bodily functions were very nearly lost !!!! (I actually may have wee’d a little bit!!) Classic moment Mark – “thanks for the memories” :-)
In the world of ‘people who are way better than us at surfing’ (the WCT Tour) Kelly Slater has just won at Trestles and is on for number “9”! Amazing. The Quicksilver Pro France is highly likely to secure the title for him so “I’m off” ……. http://www.easyjet.com/ , click, click, and all done. 5 days in beautiful SW France to watch the comp and grab some waves myself at Hossegor (if it’s small) and my favourite spot in the world (Cote de Basque). Watch this space for a WCT blog-update……………….
posted by Hellman at 7:08 PM
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