UPSIDE DOWN-ING

We're heading down-under for Xmas.

Decided the 'vacation' shirt needs an airing, so we're off to Sydney for the rest of December. Looking forward to warm waves and fun in the sun. I may post some stuff while we're away, but if not, I'll be back and weilding the digital pen in twentyTEN.
Peace.

SLO-MO XPLO

Boom!

If you like; the sounds of UNKLE, the visuals of Spike Jonze & Ty Evans, the simple beauty of a phat ollie and pyromania in general, then take a look...

ROOM WITH A VIEW

Surf check anyone?

The Pole House in Fairhaven by architect and engineer Frank Dixon is an iconic landmark on the Victorian coast and is now available for holiday rental should you ever find yourself looking for a pad by the beach down-under.

Great Ocean Road, Australia

BOB

Until the colour of a man's skin Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes Me say war

Lyrics from the song War by Bob Marley, adapted from an excerpt of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie’s address to the United Nations in October 1963.

PLUS CA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MEME CHOSE

The song remains the same - R in a timeless moment

It's easy to believe that everything about surfing has changed beyond all recognition in the last 20 years.
Wetsuits are now as flexible as a t-shirt yet warmer than a duvet. Internet forecasts and webcams beamed direct to your i-phone. Surf schools on virtually every beach - all year round. Hordes of people in the water, crowding the breaks, not knowing what they're doing, clogging up the car parks and local roads. Secret spots gone forever. Mainstream companys jumping onto the surfing bandwagon. Lifeguards trying to insist leashes become mandatory. Airlines charging more to carry the boards than the passengers. The list is endless.
But there are some things that stay the same. When you manage to get a few free hours to go and surf, paddling out to catch a few, nothing else seems to matter. Once in the sea it's timeless; just you, on your board, amongst the waves. And that will never change.

MUDHONEY

Touch me I'm sick

Actually I feel a lot better today, but this tune came to mind in my delirious state yesterday. The first single from Mudhoney released in 1988 the same year as their debut EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff.

PEOPLES

It takes every kind of people, to make what life's about. Every kind of people, to make the world go 'round...

Reminds me of the local line-up in the surf these days
Guest kaller - Tyde, aged 9

REPETITION

Decided to spend a night on the tiles

STUFFAGE

Going for a surf in the summer is a lot simpler...

SUPERSTITIOUS?

Be lucky

Hope you have a good weekend.

RUBBISH

I just can't stop myself from using this font – BLACKOUT – at the moment. Here's a nifty little bin we bought for our kitchen compost.

THISISWHY

SOUTHERN HEMI WELCOME

Looking up, down and all around NSW

It's with great pleasure that I welcome a fellow blogger from downunder lookingupdownallaround (he's a Kernow boy too, born and bred).

HAWAII

I would really, really love to go to Hawaii, surely it's every surfers default duty to at least think about making the pilgrimage.

I'd like to be hanging out here...

I'd be happy to surf anywhere in the islands; Kauai, Maui, and of course Oahu. Waikiki, Makhaha, Haleiwa, just saying the names makes me feel good (although I'm under no illusions about actually being able to surf at any of these fabled spots) I'd at least like to go, pay my respects, soak up the history and try and paddle out somewhere along the North Shore...

Hope I don't end up like this...

WHAT THE ...?!

Our friend Jenny enjoying one of the recent clean days we had down here.

Until this guy decided he wanted the same wave.

Thanks for nothing! Shame on you.

Photos by Andrew Garner

BLOCKS

céad míle fáilte

BIG BLUE

I wish...

... I could fly.

Then I could see more views of the big blue like this

SORRY

8.6 Diamond Tail, wide, low rockered glider.

The first law of new-board-stokage states that the surf will be shite for the first weekend after taking delivery...

VERTIGO

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SURF IS WHERE YOU FIND IT

One of the most stylish surfers ever, produced a simple yet profound book.
Gerry Lopez is a genuine legend, yet with this book he also reveals himself to be very down-to-earth with a clear and simple approach to life that he says comes from his years of surfing experience.
The book is in essence a chronological series of stories, that as well as being autobiographical, also share Lopez’s philosophies and outlook neatly presented through his intriguing surf anecdotes.
And if there’s anyone on the planet that’s going to have a lot of interesting stories to tell it’s gonna be Gerry Lopez!
A simple pleasure…

ICONIC SURFSPOTS

Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

The first in an occasional series of fantasy surf destinations around the globe where I've always wanted to paddle out and try and catch a few.

photo courtesy richbrenner

GUEST KALLER

Cealan, aged 9

BLUE VIEW

It's the last Friday before the clocks go back - one more chance for an end-of-the-working-week tipple at my favourite venue with a sunset view.

TXT-FACE

Three blockheads

I never use smileys or do winks etc with brackets and semi-colons in email, but maybe I'll start doing these little portraits instead...

Six lines of punctuation

BELIEVE

Just a dream I had last night...

SOFTLY SOFTLY

Porthtowan, 17th October

Last Saturday delivered a small, sweet swell. Hardly a breath of wind, long lulls and occasional 2ft sets under sunny blue skies.

SURFREADERS

I really like surfing and I really like reading - and you can't start doing either too early...

UNAMBIGUOUS

"going in?" "yeah, see you out there..."

"getting out?" "yeah, I'll catch one in..."

I love ambiguity, especially in surfing, for example:
When you're first getting in, you're also paddling out and then when it's time to be getting out, you're trying to get the last one in...

THE ARTFUL DODGA

Rodga Harvey, tailblock edger in 1978

Had a brief but fun sk8 sesh with Rodga Harvey on Saturday, he's been ripping for three decades, that's right people, skateboarding really well for over 30 years!

Rodga in 2009, still going strong!

Spex was also there (a legend in his own right)

Spex, Planet Rock ollie, mid 80s

JOHN PEEL

"This one starts a bit quietly"

John Peel will be celebrated in various ways at various places at various times this weekend - surely there should be an official John Peel Day.

DOGS

"Great view from up here"

We don't have a cat on a hot tin roof in this part of the world - we have a couple of collies near the chimney.

STICKY

Bring back stickers!

When I used to spend all my time skateboarding, stickers were a small but fun part of the whole scene. Everybody had 'em, companies produced them in abundance and they were usually cool designs too. We'd slap 'em everywhere, not just on our decks, but on car windows, ramps, fridges etc, etc. I always liked the little ones, they were particularly good for covert slappage.

They became almost a form of tagging; I can remember being stranded at Gordano services while hitch-hiking on the M5 and feeling heartened by the sight of Thrasher and Kryptonics stickers on the road side sign.

I uncovered an old cache of stickers in the attic last night. Somewhere in there are; Blender's Coffee Break, Zorlac - SUAS, Blockhead - Nothing is Cool, Gator, Bod, Lance, Jim Philips - Screaming Hand and I particularly like the Steve Claar rabbit.

Click pic for a closer look

COMING SOON

The shape of things to come

Something's cooking in Jolly Roger's shack…

NEW OLDIE

Kool Kar

My bro-in-law stopped by for a visit this weekend on his way back to Ireland with his new wheels, a 1965 Volvo Amazon. What a beauty!

SCENE IN THE DISTANCE

Looking south from Porthtowan to St Ives with Godrevy lighthouse on the horizon.

Clicky piccy to go large…

A to X

The Generation gap

In 1991 Douglas Coupland wrote Generation X and captured the zeitgeist perfectly, and now 18 years later he delivers Generation A.

As well as looking forward to having a good read, it's interesting comparing the two covers designed almost two decades apart.

K IS FOR...

Killer!

Went for a run this evening - it nearly killed me.

ps: note to self - don't run with mouth open. I inhaled a small cloud of midges and that nearly killed me too!

RHCB

Now that's what I call a Roundhouse Cutback

Sequence of Mick Fanning clearly demonstrating a full-bore frontside roundhouse cutback, I reckon Curren probably does 'em with even more style, but this birds-eye-view shows that Fanning certainly knows how to bleed some speed.

TRIG POINTS

Get your line ups sorted...

As the September swells start to roll through and Autumn brings more motion to the ocean remember to triangulate out there.

SURF MUSIC

Never heard of 'em, but I think I'd like this album

Old record covers are great - there's a wealth of visual gold out there. 1950s group The Surfers got nicely co-ordinated for this one above.

There was also another band in 1998 calling themselves The Surfers, (below) the guys in this combo were also quite good at actually surfing (Slater, Machado, PK...)

This one looks interesting...