CLOUDGAZING

Forsooth, methinks ye winds do bloweth offshore!

Like the majority of surfers, I don't live in sight of the waves. And although I do use the webcams nowadays to check conditions I've always been a keen watcher of the skies to help me decide where to head for the best surf.
I can't claim to know as much as these guys, but over the years I've become pretty good at working out what will be happening at my local beaches by gazing at the clouds.

THE PRICE OF $URFING

Nice little wave in Dubai - at a cost

An old friend of mine recently returned to Kernow after 15 years in the desert. We paddled out for a few reunion waves and I was impressed by how well he was surfing. He told me that he'd still managed to get waves in Dubai, but at the risk of being fined! Apparently 'sliding on the waves' is not acceptable and the police will fine you £80 if you are caught doing so.
Made me really appreciate the 2ft cross-shore slop we'd just shared for free.

ONLY ONE WAVE

The literary equivalent of a perfect wave

Imagine the perfect wave, imagine riding it perfectly, now imagine leaving the water and never paddling out again, ever.

This would be the surfing equivalent of Harper Lee's writing career, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. It was her debut novel, published in 1960 and an instant success. To date it has sold over 30 million copies, been translated into over 40 languages and has never been out of print. Widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of our time.

Try and imagine again riding a perfect wave, perfectly... Could you then turn your back on the chance to paddle out and do it again?

Harper Lee, has never published another word since her first and only novel nearly 50 years ago.

D

D - Apres surf at Droskyn with beer & blanket

What can I say about Darren Lago?
"He came, he saw, he surfed" would be one way of summarising his sojourn in Kernow.
Within just a few short years this man of many talents progressed from sketchy first rides to pretty good noserider. Along the way sampling most of the wavey delights of West Cornwall whenever they were breaking. As well as snagging a couple of trips downunder for some right hand point break action.
Always up for it, always keen to paddle out, always going for it whatever the conditions, he's been a great compadre both in and out of the water. It's been an honour to follow the path with him for the last couple of years and I wish him and his family well as the next stage of their journey takes them to France.
I look forward to sharing some sunset waves again one day...
Au revoir & bon voyage D.

SURF PUNX

Lester - Agent Orange - Upland

In danger of being branded an old hippy I thought I'd better reinforce my credentials as an old skate punk instead. Agent Orange weren't really 'surf' or 'punk', but they certainly nailed being a surf punk band and provided a soundtrack to a generation of 80s skaters. I still can't listen to Everything Turns Grey without also hearing trucks grinding coping (in my mind's ear anyway).

JOHN SINCLAIR

"We were serious political revolutionaries trying to overthrow the government... we were also on acid!"

John Sinclair; author, poet, activist, former manager of MC5 and founder of the White Panthers, the only American political party ever formed by a rock’n’roll band!

Not sure if he has ever had any connection with Kernow or surfing, but I think he'd fit right in and would be stylin on a longboard.

FIRST CROP

"We plant the seed, nature grows the seed, we eat the seed"

Mini harvest today. Our first foray into growing veggies - it actually does amaze me that all we did was stick some seeds in the ground and with the addition of some sunshine and H2O these appeared.

FRESH LEAVES

The Pilgrimage - 50 places to surf before you die

Just got The Pilgrimage through the post, I do love a fresh book, and I'm really looking forward to delving into this one. Edited by Sean Doherty, author of MP, (which is well worth reading if you get a chance, in my opinion it's one of the best written surf books out there).

Need to add another shelf to the mini-library

WE KEEP EM ROLLING

Pimp my tractor

The farmers in this part of the world don't worry about the cosmetics. If its still got four wheels and an engine they'll keep using it.

HAWAIIAN

Elvis, trying to be Hawaiian

I think I've become a little bit obsessed with Hawaii lately.

To the point of wondering if I could ever have a snowballs chance in hell of surfing like Rusty Keaulana at Makhaha, being able to afford some Heather Brown art and daydreaming of spending Christmas hanging out on the North Shore.

But in reality the closest I'll ever get will be wearing my "vacation" shirt at the weekends. Like Elvis.

SUBTLE

Surfing well is a lifetime's pursuit that's expressed in subtleties

This quote (above) from Patrick Trefz's Thread perfectly echoes the style and content of this DVD. Normally I'm just a sucker for Hawaiian longboarding movies, but this has a great feel and plenty of surprises and I find myself drawn back to it time and again.

And of-course there's some solid Pipeline in there too.

MULTI TALENTED

Board graphics for a World Champ

Recently came across Emil Kozak, a Dane living in Barcelona. This kid seems to be dripping with talent and just gets things done. Could he be any more creative/productive? Take some time to check his work...

ROYALTY

The Royalist

Met up with Royal last night who is currently on a shaping sabbatical in Kernow. He's a top bloke and working hard to carve out a place for himself in the precarious world of surfboard shaping. Keep up the good work and good luck Royal.

RIDING THE MAGIC CARPET

Never judge a book by its cover

It took me a while to sit down and read this book for two reasons.

The first being simply that I find the cover so unappealing. Clunky typography and boring image. But as the old saying goes; you should never judge a book by its cover and in this case that’s absolutely true.

The second is that I’d previously read two other surf books by British authors (Andy Martin – Stealing the Wave & Alex Wade – Surf Nation) and they were both so poor I just couldn’t face trying to work my way through yet another… But finding myself without something to read, I borrowed this from my local library. Despite my prejudices I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book is.

Probably what defines this narrative is that Tom Anderson lived and breathed surfing from an early age and then went on to follow a dream that saw him travel the globe enabling him to give us first hand accounts of his experiences along the way. Although treading a path that many have taken before, Anderson manages to give his unique take on the journey. Unlike the previously mentioned books by Martin and Wade which amount to little more than professional journalists attempting to piggy back onto a scene and culture they have discovered in middle age. You get the feeling all the way through Andersons adventure that he is totally authentic.

The descriptions will chime with anyone who has loaded a board bag in search of waves. While the insights and characters discovered along the way are refreshing and unique. A great little book about riding the wave of your dreams, but at its heart is really all about the stoke riding any wave with the right attitude can give you.

Thumbs up.

DUCK DIVE

Dive! Dive!

I've been riding a heavy, trad single-fin log almost exclusively for the past few years, rarely taking a shortboard out these days.

Warm summer sun, clear water, clean waves and a light wetsuit all add up to great fun on the mal, but I realised the other day that there's also another aspect that is often overlooked, not easy to master and an essential part of surfing - the duck-dive.

I really miss a good deep duck-dive.

5 BASIC LONGBOARD RULES

Sharing waves back in the day

Summer's here, a great time for paddling out on the longboard to catch a few waves. BUT there are still a limited amount of surfable waves breaking at a limited amount of accessible places around our coast. So to make it enjoyable and fun for yourself as well as those around you consider these 5 Basic Longboard Rules.

1. Don't hog the sets. Don't take all the best waves. Spare a thought for those not advantaged by nine-foot-plus of paddling power. People moan about bad vibes in the surf these days, but remember tension in the water is a direct result of actions taken by those actually in the surf. So be cool and let a set or two roll through for the guys on the inside between rides. You'll get your fair share and you can feel good about keeping it sweet.

2. Don't bail at the sign of an approaching set. Never let go of your board. That's nine-foot-plus of uncontrolled hardware bouncing around, add another nine-foot-plus of leash at the end of your leg. And you have just carelessly endangered anybody unfortunate enough to be within 20 feet of you. If you can't duck dive your mal, learn to roll it or stay in the whitewater where you can hold onto it. As a last resort if you do have to bail or let go of your board, make sure there's no-one behind you (you should always be aware of where others are) grab the 'rail saver' part of your leash at the tail of your board and keep hold of that sucka.

3. Do learn to turn. Longboards can get you up and riding decent waves relatively quickly. Which means there is even more of an obligation for you to be in control of what you are doing. A thick, fat board with a huge fin means you are a liability in the lineup if you aren't able to turn it.

4. Don't shuffle instead of walking. If you want to get on the nose you've got to learn to cross step. Walking the board allows the smoothest possible weight transition as you move from tail to tip. Throwing shapes while standing 'near' the front, does not make you a nose-rider. Put simply, if you can't cross step you won't get those toes on the nose. It's essential for surfing longboards well and is literally the only way forward if you wanna glide with style.

5. Don't ride a longboard just to get more waves. Go for quality NOT quantity of waves. Longboarding isn't all about catching waves earlier than shortboarders. It's about soul, spirit and style. Get into it... and have fun.

KERNOW - SOME STATS

Ye olde mappe of Kernowe

• Cornwall is approx 132 miles from end to end, yet has over 400 miles of coastline.
• Permanent population of around half a million (and growing) which swells to accommodate over 5 million tourists during just a few short months of summer.
• Cornwall is actually one of the poorest areas of the UK, with only Conwy in Wales and Moray in Scotland faring worse in earnings compared to the rest of the country. Yet house prices are in the top ten per cent countrywide.
• Cornwall is officially a Duchy, and not a county. The first born son of the ruling monarchy automatically inherits the title Duke of Cornwall along with the associated revenue of over £16 million.
• 90% of Cornish place names are of Celtic origin and derived from the Kernewek language. A language closely related to that of Wales and Brittany.
• The Cornish flag is an exact reverse of the former Breton national flag (black cross on a white field) and is known by the same name "Gwynn ha Du" - white and black.
• Dolly Pentreath (died December 1777) of Mousehole, is often considered to have been the last native speaker (ie: not being able to speak any English) of the Cornish language.

Now please wash your hands

Every time - don't forget