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.

Signs of Life

Yes, I'm still here, but unfortunately there has been very little to write about. I was hoping to make the journey up to Thurso for the O'neill Highland Open, but a bad weather forecast and the fuel strike put me off using 350 miles worth of petrol when I didn't really need to. I know now obviously that the weather was great and the fuel strike never really had that much of an impact.....

It has been really flat here since my last surf, either that or I have been away. I have just checked the forecasts now and there are no swell predictions for at least another week. The isobar charts show a possible low pressure moving towards Norway so that might help. I am away working all next week, far from the coast, so some waves anytime after the 17th May will be fine.

Hopefully my next post will be filled with phots and tell of great surfing !!

Our Dog Bailey...

...is a 4 1/2 year old Springer Spaniel who, unfortunately has just ruptured both of his cruciate ligaments. The options for treatment were tablets for the rest of his life to manage the pain or surgery. Well, tablets aren't really my thing, so we decided to have him operated on. The downside, apart from the obvious discomfort is the fact that he is now confined to the house for the next 4 weeks while leg one heals. Once that is sorted, the second leg will need the same treatment. Bailey is going to be one frustrated dog!!
The photos show him just as I brought him home from the vet, still very much drugged.
The operation involved cutting and re-routing existing knee ligament to replace the damaged material. Thank god for pet insurance.

The Blood Donor

I am pleased to say that after 15 years of not being allowed to give blood due to my profession (aircrew), I have given my first pint of blood. I can't recommend it enough. It doesn't hurt, and only takes about an hour of your time once every 3 months. Get in touch with your nearest health centre now, or check out the national blood transfusion websites:

http://www.blood.co.uk/ or http://www.scotblood.co.uk/.

Good conditions at last....

Yesterday was a real beauty. Sometimes good conditions seem to come out of nowhere. After a week or more of really strong, cold northerlies, the wind swung to the SSW. The swell continued and I guess it was a clean 3 - 4 foot with gentle offshores. The air temperature was still pretty low - only 5C. I travelled with my father in law to this little beach down the road from me and had a real blast of a session leading upto and just beyond HW. I was the only surfer in the water for 75% of the time - no real suprise, joined by a longboarder just I was thinking about leaving to collect my daughter from school.
Thanks to Dave for the portrait!

First Surf - Photo

Well, the pictures I took weren't that good as it turned out, but here is the best of them. As you can see the conditions weren't the best, although it did improve with the rising tide.

First Surf

Well, today I managed to get out into the water. The conditions were not ideal by any means, but I certainly managed to give the board a good runout. Here is what I learned:

This board is fast.
My popup is too lazy from riding a mini-mal.
This board is fast.
I can sit quite a bit deeper than I am used to.
This board is fast.
It will take off on almost anything.
This board is fast.
I need to be more disciplined with my foot positioning (front foot far enough forward)
This board is fast.
There is a big chunk of board missing at the rear!
I love it.

(Did I mention this board is fast).

I cannot wait to get out again in more consistent conditions and start to really learn what I can achieve with this board.

I took some photos at the beach this morning, but haven't had time to sort them out yet.

First Pictures

Here are some photographs of the new board as it makes it's way from South Wales to the north of Scotland

Lovingly covered in bubble wrap to try and protect it
from the airport baggage staff.

Once home, greenFish was revealed to the weak scottish sunshine for the first time.

Detail of the minimalist logo.

Two tone underbelly.

Beautiful curves.

Lokbox tailfeathers.

Overview of the fine lines.

Nubbins... by Sticky Bumps

Nose and fin detail.

Waxed and ready to go. Now I just have to wait for the right conditions...

A New Surfboard

Last year I decided to treat myself to a new surfboard. After a long time researching both the internet and visiting shops and shapers around the country, I discovered a series of boards shaped by Sam Homfray, under the company name of Saltwatersoul. It didn't take me long to realise that here was the man who would be responsible for my new addition!
To cut a long story short, I opted for a board that Sam had already shaped as it was exact in almost every way to my custom requirements. It meant I wouldn't be getting a brand new board, but I forced my head to rule my heart...

My classic shape fish is 5'10" x 22" x 3", is fitted with Lokbox fins and is green!

Welcome to my blog, and follow my surfing journey with the green fish.