I am gutted because April will never be the same again. It was that good.
The best run of swell, sandbanks and good weather and all at the beginning of the season when the place is still relatively quiet. So much so that I am now pretty much surfed out and when I check the waves they have to be pretty good for me to bother! A very rare feeling.
The surf went off the boil for a couple of days over the Easter weekend but the wind has swung offshore again and it looks like it will stay that way for the rest of the week at least. More sunshine is predicted but they reckon it may be a bit cooler. Thats just the way it goes with Easterly winds normally but if thats the sacrifice I have to make for good surf then I guess I’ll have to take it.
Meanwhile Gabbi (surf school manager and my right hand man – its short for Ian Gabbitas) and I have to go up to Padstow in the week to do a course that will allow us to teach the new Academy of Surfing Instructors surf coach awards. They are a super high standard award so it will be a hard day I reckon but totally worth it. We have always prided ourselves on keeping the standards high with our surf coaches and the ASI is the gold standard of surf coaching in Australia – as good as it gets to my mind. The Australians certainly take surfing seriously and the surf coach awards are properly backed up by quality infrastructure and a decent support network. It can only benefit us to work more closely with them.
In other news my wife (and by association, me also) has re-homed a tortoise called Ged. It broke out of his pen in 2 minutes so we had to strengthen that straight away. Apparently he was too aggressive for its previous owner. I’m not too sure how this aggression manifests itself but I’ll keep you posted. Ged already hates the cat, perhaps recognising that he is a fat, lazy, feckless (though loveable) gadabout and hisses at him whenever he come nearby. If nothing else at least he is a good judge of character.
Tips & Info
Open
I know we’ve been open for a while now but I’ve just got around to sorting out the accompanying video. Check it out.
Easter Surf
Yeah, I know. A week has passed and I haven’t updated. But look outside – its sunny, the sunniest April ever perhaps – and the surf has been un-be-lievable. Basically we have had almost two weeks of perfect surf which for the first time ever has coincided with the Easter holidays so we have been super busy. Best of all the sandbanks (or swell direction, whatever) have been as good as it gets. I have run out of superlatives to describe it.
As you can see.
The Easter weekend is now almost upon us and my good mate Dave has come back from his new home in London to share some of the waves again. Despite not surfing for the last three months he was out at 7am this morning and ripping it up like he used to when we were growing up (he lived two doors up from me as a kid). He’s had three surfs today and every land based minute was spent sunbathing so I’m guessing that the pint we are about to have in the Red River Inn will floor him. At least it will be a cheap night.
In other news we are sponsoring the Godrevy Pro Junior again. Its on in a fortnights time (7th and 8th of May) and should be good to watch. You won’t be able to catch this one online so get down the beach and watch the best juniors in Britain surfing in the flesh.
The Boy’s Done Good
An amazing day of surf in Thurso for the O’Neill Coldwater Classic. Big waves, offshore winds and one of the best waves in the world (and its on this humble island of ours) have made this the best start to the Coldwater Classic ever.
The really pleasing thing for me is that two local lads who I have been lucky enough to work with over the years and in the event and one has made it to the next round (St Ives lad Jayce Robinson) and the other is in a heat tomorrow morning. Patrick Daniel is in heat 23 and is well worth keeping an eye on for the future. He hasn’t even done his GCSE’s yet so give him support online at http://www.oneill.com/cwc/Live.html.
Failing that, ask him how he got on when he takes you for a lesson this summer! He was a coaching assistant for us last year and he’s going to fit in a few lessons for us this year when he’s not on the road launching his fledgling career.
Go son!
Paddy Daniel in action at Gwithian last summer.
PE
Y’know, when I were a lad a PE session was something to be feared. It inevitably involved a very long walk to the school field, getting smashed in a scrum by recalcitrant sixth formers or 8 laps around the school with a victorian gym teacher screaming abuse at you.
Woe betide you if you ‘forgot’ your kit. Then you could pretty much guarantee doing the above in ‘skins’ and a grey pleated skirt. Barefoot.
And if you thought you could do the 8 laps at a walking pace and got busted you’d have to do it again but at break time.
Things have changed now I tell thee.
Check out this vid of how they get assessed for GCSE PE which now includes surfing and not just sports that are thinly disguised acts of random violence.
Why wasn’t it like this back in the late 80’s?
