Present From a Stranger....Thank you!

Saturday November 1st was a cold (5C) but lovely day for surfing. It was one of those occasions when it was warmer in the water than it was on the beach. I spent 3 hours surfing from just before high tide to midway during the drop and had a real sweet time. The surf was waist to shoulder high and consistently clean. I surfed my 7'3 mini-mal and felt that my recent experiences with the Fish and Longboard where improving my overall surfing ability.

As I was getting changed in the car-park, I was approached by a lady and her daughter who had been walking on the beach, and she told me that she had been taking some photos, at least one of which had captured me on the water. The resulting photo is shown here!

Thanks Zoe (www.smiledesign.co.uk) for taking the trouble to come and chat.

Longboard Sequence

I managed to talk my lovely wife into coming to the beach to take some photos of me. I think they came out pretty well and with the aid of Photoshop, montaged them to create a sequence. It wasn't a classic day by any means (it was pretty flat really) but I managed to make the most of what was on offer.

Dawnie

This morning for the first time in what feels like forever, me and the Green Fish were able to go surfing. Don't know why it has been so long since I last surfed this board - a combination of poor local conditions and not enough time at home. Now I have a new job hopefully this will change.

Today was great, a beautiful morning sitting in the lineup just as the sun rose. I managed a few good waves, it was only small, but I am suffering from lack of time in the water. My first observations about this board remain true, and if I am going to surf it well, I need to maximise my time in the water.

Please can we have some consistent swell...

Look What I've won !!

Back in March of this year I entered a competition with FatFace to design a deck for a Lush longboard. Well, to cut a long story short, 1 month later I learned I was one of 10 winners who would each receive a prize of their design produced on a one off board.





Little did I know it would take another 5 months for the board to be finished ( I built my surfboard in under a week, and that was way more complicated !)






Anyway, here is my winning board design...

When no-one is looking I will take it out and try it!

A New Arrival

As part of my resettlement process for leaving the RAF, I was fortunate to be able to attend Falmouth Marine School where I completed a surfboard construction course. My hope is to be able to start a small business offering repairs, and possibly some shaping in addition to my main job.










Before the course starts, students are asked to choose the type of board they wish to shape. There re no real boundaries and staff at the school will do their best to ensure everyone is happy. Blanks are then rough shaped from Biofoam at Homeblown.











I had elected to build a longboard based loosely on the Nineplus Trim King. On starting the course (which only had 4 students!) I was greeted by a beautifully profiled blank. During that first day, we were able to finish all of the foam shaping; completing desired rail and hull profiles, before moving on to the first application of glass and resin.









I have always loved resin tints, and especially the fancy swirls and drags that you see. I asked whether it would be an option, and as you can see it was! If truth be told, apparently no boards built at the college had been finished in this manner before, so it would be an experiment. A quick search on the internet yielded some technique advice, and after a quick trial run, I went for it. The result was stunning ( well, I think so).











The rest of the week was spent sanding (or so it seemed) punctuated by short periods of glassing. Because I had elected for the tinted hull, it meant that the deck would require a bit of extra work too, masking and creating a pinline. Again, the result of a bit of extra effort really paid off.













Towards the end of the course there was a need to start cutting holes in my creation, and although I know they have to be there, it is still something I would prefer not doing! The thought of wasting all the effort certainly concentrates the mind when you start wielding the spinny, cutty, whirry machines!










The final day was spent .....you guessed it sanding mainly. Working through the grades of wet and dry until a satisfactory finish was achieved prior to polishing.















I am ecstatic about the result of my efforts. The board certainly looks as if it will be everything I wanted it to be. It measures 9'2" x 22.5" x 3" and weighs in the region of 21lbs. It has a pin tail, 50/50 rails and a 2 + 1 fin setup. It hasn't seen the ocean yet, but when it does, I hope I will be able to feature it here on a regular basis.

My thanks go to Simon Clark and Simon Coombes at Falmouth Marine School for their advice, patience and vision.

RAFWRA Course

I left the Airforce this summer, but before I did I managed to attend one more Royal Air Force Waveriders Association (RAFWRA) event at St Mawgan, near Newquay. I spent the week supporting a beginners and novices coaching course acting as a beach-hand. It was a great week, and really busy too. There is a fair bit of thought that needs to go into the logistics of moving upto 40 people and equipment 4 times a day between the base and various local beaches. Everything turned out fine, and the beginners had a great week, confirmed by how much money they spent on new boards on the last day!

The staff (I include myself in that) had a week of early rises to catch the dawn surfs and some pretty late nights on the water too. It was worth the pain with clean breaks and empty lineups. My surfing improved in leaps and bounds - continuity really is the key, surfing 2 or 3 times a day for 7 days really paid off.

Twice in a Day

After what feels like an age without any surf, I manage to get into the sea twice today, an early morning (not quite a dawnie) and a sunset sesh too. Weather was really nice, warm - for Scotland with a slight crosswind. Although I'm not managing to surf as regularly as i would like at the moment, I am starting to connect with my board. Already I am moving faster and more smoothly, allowing me to make the most of the speed generated before the wave peters out. I think it will be quite interesting when I ride my mini-mal again, I hope I will find that I surf a lot better on it.

Anyway, below are 4 pictures that I took during the day...







My local may not have the biggest waves in the country, but they are pretty at times.















Not mine unfortunately, but nice to see one this far north!!
















The Green Fish and a bit of Photoshop.












A peaceful end to a beautiful day.