Love/Hate Croyde

September 27th


A Day trip to Croyde, After some debate Dan And I decided to go on Monday rather than Sunday, the thinking was less people in the water and much better wind conditions and there was even talk that the sun may come out!


46/11
6am text came through... "on my way" 10 minutes later Dan and I were putting the 'world to rights' on religion, psychology and the fact too many people had too much money and didn't know what to do with it. We concluded that If they surfed they may have a better idea!
  
We decided to head straight for Woolacombe thinking the drive past Sauntan and Croyde would only lead to indecision. ( Indecision .. A trait bestowed to most surfers when searching for waves because of the belief that somewhere else maybe better). Luckily Woolacombe looked crap! sloppy unshapely small waves were making there way slowly to the shore, after 3 hours driving we didn't exactly feel inspired. Croyde was the ONLY option!


How different things can be on adjacent beaches, we parked in the National trust car park towards Baggy Point, looking out across Croyde Bay we could see glassy 3/4ft barrels. The tide was low and still dropping for the next hour or so. I grabbed my 6'2 quad and Dan spent about a minute deciding between his Bonzer short board or his Mini Mal, it wasn't the hardest decision as these waves looked tricky enough on a short board a Mini Mal could have been very hard work. 


As we paddled out we saw a guy pig dogging one of the deepest left hand barrels I've seen in years, he must have been 2-3 metres behind the lip and fully dry in an airy chasm, as I paddled over the shoulder I looked back and it seemed quite a wile and looked a long way down the line before the guy re-appeared, "surely he didn't get out of that" I thought, but speaking to Dan a few minutes later he confirmed the guy did get out! Dan had said something to the guy in passing congratulating him on a great wave.... you know sharing the stoke, being friendly, all out here in glassy amazing waves, nobody actually working like most other (normal) people.... Only to get a sneered response turned back and paddled back out!


Now I am, on most occasions, pretty happy go lucky and accepting of other surfers, I've been known to talk to Boogie Boarders, Goat Boaters, I can even accept Wave Hogs and Long Boarders (SUP boarders on anything other than small waves do worry me) and I actually have a good friend who rides a Wave Ski...... But.... attitude, unfriendliness, and generally being a bit 'too cool for school' really gets me annoyed, I think these guys (and girls) are seriously missing the point! It wasn't as if the Twat in question was a stand out surfer either, granted he got in and out of a better, deeper and suckier barrel than I have ever managed, but I saw him on another wave where he was flaring his arms all over the place, standing way to straight legged and about as stylish as... umm... err.... some one not that stylish. So Mister Cool next time you get a great wave or even a not so great one, a laugh, a grin, a smile, a joke, a  hand wave or even a nod of the head will go a long way to sharing the stoke and spreading a little happiness in this crazily addictive, beautiful, extremely fun and possible completely pointless sport well call surfing.


OK rant over... back to the the trip..


So the waves were good, steep heavy fast and barrelling, if it wasn't for the brown cold water and surrounding scenery I could have mistaken this place for France! The first part of this session was intense, it reminded me of some of the session I had in the summer at Bunkers. There were 2 distinct yet shifty peaks breaking slightly unpredictably coming from deep water and hitting a very shallow sand bar, I managed a couple of 'warm me up' waves to build some confidence then I found my self in the perfect position to take one of the bigger set waves, jumping to my feet the wave sucked steeper and steeper almost appearing to grow in size as I shot down the line, I could see sand and seaweed sucking up the wall and my thoughts were just gun for the shoulder, I went for a turn off the top as the wave seemed to slow, although this was a bad idea as the wave wrapped round the shoulder and quickly steepened up again and I found my self being catapulted forward into the pit. 


I paddled back to Dan and we decided to try the left hand end of the beach where there seemed to be less people. It was a very intense situation on the right hand part of the beach and Dan was yet to catch a wave, feeling uncomfortable on a board he hadn't ridden for a wile in a very crowded line up with heavy waves we thought the other side of the bay looked a little more mellow. This was a massive understatement the waves I would say were under half the size and I found myself hampering after my 5'10. We surfed here for the rest of the session mostly alone and eventually Dan started to catch some waves, he looked quality on a short board and I suggested to him that he should never really take a bigger board out, but his reply was "wave count" and he would often moan when a fatter wave went under him un-ridden saying "I would have got that on my Mini Mal".


I had some nice rights where I felt I really turned well off the top in a way I was unable to do on my front side, later Dan suggested this maybe because I was quite front footed on my forehand which wasn't so conducive to a quad set up but on my back side I was more back footed and pushed much harder through the heal. So maybe a thruster set up would work better for me.                                     


47/12


A large batch of sandwiches and home made flapjacks were consumed before a half an hour chill out and phone calls were made. Looking out, the waves seemed to have mellowed and dropped in size, it was mid tide and pushing, I suggested to Dan he took his Mini Mal and he took my advice, quite frankly I couldn't face the "I would have got that on my Mini Mal" moan and with tired arms and mellower looking waves it seemed the obvious choice. I took my 5'10 fish. As we entered the water the scene of of 3 or 4 rows of white water filled us both with dread of a hard paddle out and we weren't wrong, for some reason I was wearing my 5/3 wetsuit and by the time I eventually got out back I felt extremely hot. The waves were a lot bigger and more powerful than they looked from land and I quickly assessed I was on the wrong board. A lovely looking wave came through and I called Dan on. He took it, dropped in, top turn and then popped off, paddled back to me and complained he was "mid wee!" Haha... Why is it when somebody calls you into a wave you feel strangely compelled to go, forgetting all your own judgement? We surfed for over two and half hours I didn't have any outstanding moments, I found I was hanging on a bit on the bigger drops, early on in the session the waves were showing and then backing off before doubling up or suddenly steepening up and then often closing out, This made it hard to know where to sit, sitting deep and you couldn't get on the waves, sitting inside and the waves jacked up quickly which made me feel uncomfortable taking late big drops on my 5'10.  As the tide moved on this stopped happening but by this point my arms and shoulders were shot to pieces. I saw Dan get plenty of waves, pumping his 8ft Mini Mal extremely well making lots of sections and producing a surprising amount of speed. 


The drive home seemed long and we broke my most basic rule by stopping at McDonalds... but hey after 5 hours of surfing and feeling extremely hungry and fatigued, surely a moment of weakness can be forgiven?      


Croyde Love/Hate?


There is no doubting the quality of Croyde, especially at low tide. I don't know many places in the UK where you truly get that 'French Beach Break' experience (without the warmth, blue water and boobs! Actually I could go on but I wont...). Croyde is one of the best beach breaks in the country but coupled with this is dirty/smelly water, crowds and attitude. Also the waves can be short and sometimes a bit closey. But I will be back and hopefully next time that left hand Barrel can be mine, When it is, I will definitely be sharing the stoke! :-) 

iphone pic not the best but you get the idea

Van with a View!

Unexpected surfs always bring joy....

18th September


45/10


I got to the beach at about about 12pm with my kids, brother in-law his wife and Char. The rain was unpleasant but I kept telling everyone that any minute now the rain would stop, it took about an hour but we all had fun eating our lunch in the beach hut wile waiting for the sun to come out. The amazing and surprising thing was the super clean 2ft waves which would come in sets of 3 or 4 every 5 minutes. I wasn't expecting to see any swell let alone what looked like super clean ground swell, I text Gary to see if he had heard if K might be on, he said the buoys were only reading 5sec wave period so it looked like the waves may have been some kind of cleaned up wind swell, making K a very risky call. 


So about an hour later Char's brother and wife drove home, I dropped kids and wife home, I borrowed a spongy longboard from Gary and had an amazing amount of fun surfing with Gary my brother Matt and the Brazilian dude, don't know his name but he surfs the green quad fish and he is in some of those pics from the 6th of September shown on this blog.


Sun out, warm, super clean and great shapely waves. I Came away feeling extremely stoked!

Good Bye Katia...............

15th September


A text came through late yesterday from Dan "Woolacombe tomorrow?" I Checked the report and MS was calling it at 5ft 11sec with no wind and sunny. "Char is there any good reason I can't go surfing tomorrow" I asked the reply came... "Well the garden is a mess and I need to tidy the house as the health visitor is coming tomorrow"..... An hour later and a tidy garden I was getting my gear ready!   


It was the last opportunity to surf the swell produced from Hurricane Katia and with perfect conditions predicted I wasn't going to let these last few waves fade without a fight


Surf 43/8


We arrived to see super clean corduroy lines flowing into Saunton Sands as we rounded the corner looking towards Croyde Bay a large pack of surfers were caught inside by a lovely over head set of 4 waves. Dan and I sat in the van and watched for a wile but decided the tide was a little too high and the crowds looked annoying. Dan was calling Putts! I was pretty sceptical but he was convinced on a westerly swell at high tide the waves would be a similar size, virtually no one would be out, and a nice left hander would break off the rocks.


Dan was right! After paying the extortionate putts parking fee £6.50 we both felt a little sick but the waves were looking good. The waves were in 3/4ft range and super clean glassy, mellow long walls gave a lot of pleasure. we gave each wave a value against the cost of the parking fee 50p was a really good wave 25p a bit average. I had one fantastic "75p" wave where I managed to race a steep closey section and then managed to wip across the lip at the end of the wave with such speed I felt like I was flying. Dan said it looked amazing from behind as he saw my board rip through the lip producing a massive amount of spray. Paddling back to the line up I couldn't stop yourself from smiling. My 5'10 fish felt like a rocket.


I think we just about managed to pay off the price of the parking although the long wait between sets was frustrating but at least we pretty much had the waves to ourselves.    


Surf 44/9


Combes was the call, we couldn't face the crowds at Croyde and there are very few places where you can chill out on the grass above a break with such beautiful scenery around and easy access to the beach. We had a very good session surfed for well over 2 hours in 3/4ft mellow waves, I got out of the water a good half hour before Dan as I was completely shot to pieces. We both had some fantastic long rides, I didn't ever recreate my super fast turn from the first session. Dan pulled off some beautiful full round house cutbacks with real style.


Good Bye Katia you were fun, I hope you have a brother or sister I could meet in the next month!

I couldn't wait.....

14th September


Happy Birthday Gary 


Surf 42/7


I was itching early in the morning to get out to K but I new the winds would ease as the day went on, by 10.30am my patience had ran out and I was unable to concentrate on my work so I left. As I drove out of sunny Bournemouth I was greeted with torrential rain and was seriously wondering if I had made a bad move. At the top of the hill looking towards K Bay it was hard to see the swell through the rain on my side window but what I could see looked onshore and disappointingly small. After a short debate with myself I decided to pay the extortionate £5 fee to use the road to the bay. 


About 5 guys out on the ledges surfing 3/4ft messy waves, when the sets came there looked to be enough power for a bit of fun so I got myself in. I actually had quite a lot of fun considering how bad things looked, the bigger sets gave some fun longish lefthanders with the odd walled up section. The tide dropped very low and things deteriorated around 1pm, by this time my arms were pretty tired and I was feeling cold. Driving back home I saw van after van making the pilgrimage, although the wind was still strongish but maybe later it would improve and the tide should become more favourable.  


I feel like I am struggling in my 3/2 and today I decided to ware boots, the water does feel cold and the buoys are saying around the 16C mark. I'm sure last year I wore my 3/2 until the water was around the 13C mark although this time last year I was over a stone (14 pounds or 6 Kilograms) heavier, maybe my weight is making the difference. It is surely way too early to pull out the 5/3?  


Surfed my 6'2 quad felt good to catch waves but sometimes a little to buoyant. I can't make my mind up on this board.  

Pier fun and a little secret right

12th September


Surf 40/5


Got into some lovely 3/4ft chunky clean waves at the pier on my 5'10 fish although it all started off a bit embarrassing sitting furthest out with Dan and Guy the first wave I took shocked me a little with its speed and power and my slippy fish felt hmm well a little too slippy! Getting to my feet and looking up only to see a wall of very afraid looking surfers I panicked and slipped off, my board then nearly took a few people out, I apologised and paddled back. A few minutes later an even bigger wave started to taper and I thought I was perfect for it, as I went, the thing broke on my back and I went careering through a mass of bodies and ended up somewhere near the beach, this was now officially embarrassing. Sheepishly paddling back out trying to make as little eye contact as possible when I got back Dan was laughing at me "bit of white water rafting today is it?" he said. Guy suggested that Bournemouth was one of the few places where after taking a wave out back you could be a serial killer by the time you got to the beach and "are you related to Fred West?" and "you are not going to do that again are you?"
I said "I'll try not to" 
Thankfully I did manage to get to my feet on a few occasions but I struggled to redeem myself, the crowds were still thick and dangerous and it wasn't the best surf I have ever had!


13th September 


Surf 41/6


I surfed a semi secret spot today, well I say semi as I am sure a lot of people know where it is but probably don't know the best times/tides and conditions to go. I didn't but I got taken and told. I am not even going to say who took me! For fear of pissing too many people off! And giving away clues 


Lets just say I had fun, the wind was a bit too strong but it was a quality wave with power and punch and I felt at home (after 5 weeks in France) On it's day this wave must be as good as anywhere.


Lucky I appear to be able to surf again! Unlike yesterday!


Looking forward to tomorrow!  

Wedding!

11th Septamber

Surf 39/4

I had to go to a wedding today! Gutted! Missed out on the better waves at the pier which were around in the middle of the day, got in at 7pm for an hour of slop 1/2ft. Had a few little fun runners towards the pier with that nice sucky wedgy left thats working well. Waves were at least clean and not many out.

Chunky Pier Fun.... Not so bad to be home...

6th September 


Surf 37/2


What a session! Chunky 3/4ft waves not the cleanest but with some great power on the inside, The lefts were piling through towards the pier and if you had the skill or desire big moves were possible. Every local in town was out. Guy Penwarden was sitting the furthest out beyond the pier on a huge purple Bonzer Gun wile the yonger new kids on the block were mixing it with the boogie boarders on the heavy inside lefts. Even Terry Crump showed up for a rare appearance, with his classy powerful style showing most of us how good surfers do it! 


A couple of pics from the session taken by 'Ricky' I got these off Magic Seaweed sadly for my ego I couldn't find any of me! a Link to Ricky's website if you were surfing that day and want a photo http://bournemouthjetwashing.com/ 

    
7th September.... My Birthday...


Surf 38/3


I have to get in the water on my birthday it is a rule! Ok the surf was crap but I got a few waves and still felt the birthday stoke Boscombe pier is always a bit drab and 1/2ft of weak slop doesn't help things.

Sloppy Pier..... first surf back

1st September


Woho September is here....


Surf 36/1 (surf 1 for the new season!)


I surfed (the word surf in this case is to be used in the loses possible terms)1/2ft of painfully weak east swell, there were far too many enthusiastic surfers than there should have been considering how crap the waves were. I found myself thinking a longboard would be a good idea and did feel slightly green at the fun the longboarders and SUP boarders seemed to be having. I did get along the line on a few occasions so my 5'10 Fish did pass my just about surfable bench mark, but did I have fun? I think fun would be overstating my feelings regarding this session. At least the sun was out but I was surprised by the coldness of the water and even more surprised to see people surfing in only board shots! This isn't the south of France you crazy fools! This so isn't the south of France! 


Master plan needed... Must some how make some money, buy villa in Hossegor, spend more time there!  


Quite simple really...     


Today, the 5th September, we are getting battered by sw gales but annoyingly the surf still looks painfully small, maybe a surf might happen this evening. The outlook for the week may bring some potential. 

The End Of Summer..... Bring It On Autumn!!!

24th August 


Surf 35


A bit of an anticlimax 3ft of shifty unpredictable waves, clean but disorganised and unsatisfactory. The last few years my last couple of surfs of the trip have been classics but this was definitely not classic and probably below average for the trip. Andy and I bumped into Dan on the way out and I think his surf was equally as disappointing. 



The rest if the day was spent surfing with the kids and chilling at the pool also de-camping.


25th August


I got up early and went up north to meet Dan we sat on the sand and chatted wile watching super clean 1/2ft waves but the tide was a bit low and the will to surf was lacking. Driving away I though VVF would be showing a lovely wave but I had ran out of steam and with 12 hours of driving ahead of me the surf would have had to be pretty special to bother.


The drive home was smooth and easy, the kids and even Char were no trouble and we took Dan's advice and got a cabin on the ferry which was the best £25 I have ever spent!


The welcome home was cold and fresh, I had some bloke shouting abuse at me from his car as I had to manoeuvre some tricky reversing with the caravan as a lorry was threatening to take me out along a narrow bridge. The angry bloke had to wait nearly 2 minutes and seemed quite upset about it, maybe he had something against caravans? 


So good to be home? Not really, reality (home) is cold, wet and flat, although there looks to be some swell potential on the horizon an east swell about 1/2ft is hitting today 1st September, which I may have to check out later and there is a quality bit of ground swell hitting the west at the weekend. 


So 35 surfs in a total of 37 days although 4 of those days I was travelling! So that is more than 1 surf a day for the days I was near the sea. We had some absolute classics and lots of general good quality sessions and even the sloppy, smaller and not so perfect days still gave me a lot of fun. The kids had the best holiday ever and even Char who is now very heavily pregnant thought it was fantastic, and considering she couldn't run, drink coffee, drink wine and had to watch her diet as she was borderline gestational diabetic it is quite impressive she had any fun at all! We are now talking about going back at Easter but that depends on money and right now we are feeling very skint!


I am going to continue writing about my surfs and tracking how many I am having. So my next surf will be number 36 and I will zero again when I go back to France next summer. It will be interesting to see how many surfs I have and how they rate.


So what is it 45 weeks until France? Unless I go at Easter!