Flat

Here is the surf forecast (screenshot ripped from Magic Seaweed) for here over the next week or so, 1 foot to flat until the end of the month.

This matches the depressingly foggy view from the dining room window. And, while I'm in the mood for a whinge, why do we get offshore winds only when there is no surf?!

On the bright side, I suppose it gives my hip another week to recover from the inflammation.

Surfing at the edge of the Sahara

I'd been putting it off, as I don't know what my work situation will be like then, but I caved in yesterday and contacted Errant Surf to book two weeks at a surf camp in Morocco at the end of January. I have some modest savings which came from selling a camera lens and receiving a tax rebate recently, so I decided to spend them on a trip instead and they'll more than cover this one.
I have travelled a lot over the years but never, for some reason, during winter (I have no idea why as I hate winter!) and, as my birthday is at the end of January and I usually spend it either sat in an office or factory or at home I thought that, for once, I'd spend it elsewhere, somewhere nice, warm and hopefully sunny. I have also never been on a foreign surf trip either!

I am going to the surf camp at Tamraght, which is near Agadir. There are direct flights from Gatwick with Thomson Air with arrival during the late morning. Of course that means a stupid o'clock (0700) departure from Gatwick but that's probably better than a stupid o'clock (midnight) arrival in Agadir, which the alternative is.
The trip includes 14 nights includes transfers from and to the airport, surf coaching sessions on each of the 14 days, equipment hire, meals and accommodation. Looking at the other info, the air temperatures should be an average 24° C during the day (which will be at least 20° warmer than here!) and the water temperature should be around 17°C, rather than the 7° it will be here, with the wave heights around 3 metres. So, with 14 days of surf coaching and plenty of waves in nice conditions - I hope! - I should progress sufficiently to at least be able to think of graduating to a smaller board.
I have never been to Africa before so this trip will mean that, by the time I return home, I will have visited all continents except Antarctica.

In the meantime, my back is on the mend. It's stiff but not that painful any more. Hopefully, I can take my board out next week.

Finally, in the new issue of Wavelength mag, there's an interview with a bloke who took up surfing at 55. He's now 59 and not doing too badly at all. He also seems to be the only Beach Boys fan who surfs! I'm 42, so it's always good to hear about older people surfing!

No surfing

...for at least a week, thanks to my lower back/hip injury sustained when I wiped out last Thursday and landed on my back. It wasn't too bad yesterday evening but by this morning it had got worse, so I went to the doctor who said it is definitely a sacroiliac joint injury which has caused an inflammation as well as irritation of the sciatic nerve.

It's annoying as I'd made good progress last week and, while the surf has been flat this week (and my back too painful), I was hoping to go out next Tuesday as the surf forecast looks promising but the doctor said no surfing for a week at least, take painkillers, put heat on the affected area and, if it hasn't cleared up by next Friday, I have to go back for physiotherapy. I hope that when I get back out there, I haven't gone back to 'square one' after all the great progress last week.

It's frustrating, to say the least. There's nothing worse than wanting to do something yet not being able to do it and surfing is an activity which requires a LOT of time putting into it in order to get anywhere.
I'm also feeling generally pissed off which is, I think, a combination of the onset of autumn after a really dismal summer (I know winter is the best time for surf but I can't bear the dark and cold days), being made redundant with not much prospect of anything new on the horizon, wanting - badly - to get out of the UK and not having the means to do so, plus the back pain.
I am seriously thinking of selling all my possessions and clearing off but, realistically, that isn't going to happen, certainly not for a while yet and probably not with the drastic measure of offloading all my worldly goods and chattels!

Neat trick

I took a bit of video while I was in Cornwall, most of it is pretty rubbish (and made me feel a bit seasick to watch, lol, not to mention that buying a video camera a few months ago sometimes makes me ask 'what on Earth did I buy that for?') but this guy caught my eye when filming; he paddled for the wave then took off with his board - a surf school or rental foam board, by the look of it - the wrong way round before spinning it round 180°. A very neat trick. I wish I was that good!

Photos

A few more surfing photos from Cornwall last week, all taken from Towan Beach. None feature me, which is probably just as well.

Someone 'tombstoning':

A stand-up paddleboarder. If this is the same guy one of the instructors said it was, he is a former European SUP Champion. It *looks* easier than straight surfing but I don't for one minute think it is, it must be hell on the knees.

Among the surfers and the lone SUP-er, there were a few bodyboarders in the line up. I like bodyboarding, although I prefer stand-up surfing and, despite what a few surfers may say, it is no less a valid form of wave-riding.

And an older guy on a longboard

That's it for the pics, the rest are rubbish! I did take some video of surfing, too, which I may post at some point.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My injured back/hip is on the mend although it is still very stiff it is not as painful as it was.

The surf here is flat this week, although next week's forecasts look promising. I haven't been able to put into practice the stuff I did last week but I wouldn't have been able to in any case with flat surf! I'm itching to get back out again, although I have been swimming regularly and can easily swim 1 kilometre (40 lengths of a 25 metre pool).

It's nearly mid-October and, while winter is the best time for surf in this country, the thought of another UK winter is depressing. I don't do dark, damp and cold and we have nearly five months of dark, damp and cold to 'look forward' to. The thought of a UK winter with no work is even more depressing, but I have the outside chance of some temporary work for a few weeks, from early November, although this depends on whether the company involved actually decide to hire people or not. Unfortunately, despite having enough saved, I can't book a foreign trip without knowing if I am going to have a job or not; simply because there's no point being away for two or three weeks during a contract that will last, at best, a few weeks. Not only that, if I say I'll be away for a while during the contract, I won't get hired. Should nothing come of it, and nothing else turns up, I will book the trip instead. I am thinking of Tamraght in Morocco, which looks very tempting.

Back home

I am now back home after an excellent few days at Newquay, I got home yesterday afternoon after a 4.5 hour drive, which included traffic queues at the M5/A30 junction at Exeter and at Ferndown and an argument with Red Funnel ferries at Southampton after the gits wanted to fleece me over and above what I'd already paid for the return crossing for going on a slightly earlier sailing than booked.

I had a further 1 to 1 session on Thursday, again at Towan, and made further progress. I am getting up faster and more consistently. One of my problems was my stance not being wide enough, i.e. my feet too close together. With that sorted I was making great progress. My balance is also improving. Now all I need is time in the water, surf permitting.
The tide was going down (mid tide and low tide are the best times for surfing there, high tide is no good) and, when the tide is low, you can practically walk to the line out. That way, I got longer rides without resorting to paddling. The downside was that the shallow water made for often painful wipeouts. One such wipeout resulted in my left lower back/hip area hitting the sea bed so hard that, two days later, I have severe pain in my sacroiliac joint on the left side and can barely sit for long or move! I don't think the 4.5 hour drive helped, either, but it should improve over the next few days, with plenty of ice and pain killers.
My favourite wipeout, though, came at the end of a good ride with a perfect stance. Unfortunately, I slipped and fell across my board, banging my nose and twisting my ankle. No harm done and it was pretty funny; I wish I had a photo of it. I also got tumbled, along with my board, several times. Funnily enough, I quite enjoy being tumbled...but, that said, I doubt I'd enjoy it much in huge surf!

My aims are now to get consistent, and better, on the big NSP board and then graduate to something smaller. As I've said before I don't see myself charging on a very short board but I'd like to eventually get something in the 7 ft to 7' 6" range.

I'm not one to advertise, usually, but if any UK-based beginners or improvers are reading and want instruction, then you can do no better than the Rip Curl ESF Surf School at Newquay Activity Centre. There were friendly, helpful and brilliant instructors (Shaun and Dale - I had Shaun on Tuesday and Thursday and Dale on Wednesday) and they were also kind enough to look after my board for me until I picked it up yesterday morning, which saved me keeping it in my car or wrestling it in and out of the B&B's board store. Thanks to Rob Barber and his colleagues there. :-) I am now planning to go to one of their surf 'boot camp' weekends, maybe in spring. I also still have plans to go to a surf camp somewhere warm in the winter (never did catch up with Errant Surf as I never got round to it, although I still plan to book something with them).

Looking north-east along Great Western and Tolcarne Beaches.

Fistral Beach in the evening. It was largely blown out when I was there, so I went to Towan instead

Towan Beach at high tide.

While I was there, I also spent an hour taking photos of other surfers at Towan on Thursday afternoon. Photography is another interest of mine and I'd taken my Canon 7D and 100-400 mm lens with me for that reason. I am a better photographer than surfer!

I got a couple of nice sequences. This bloke gets up and wipes out almost straight away, which is what I did a lot of!

And a guy on a nice green board, which I like very much.

And then he's gone.

I have some more photos of other surfers and I'll put those in a post sometime over the next few days.

Progress

Another session down at Towan (Fistral was closed out and big, thanks to the strong winds that had been blowing all night). Towan is a nice spot and probably my favourite, except for the flights of steps to get down to the beach and get back up again!

I made a lot of progress today. My big epoxy board has finer lines than a foamie and is made to be manoeuvrable and, due to this, it is less stable, mainly because the tail is narrower. I had also been too far back on the board and not on the widest, most stable point. Common sense of course when you think about it, but it hadn't occurred to me as I'd been concentrating on not nosediving! Once that was sorted, I could stand up easier and faster and I was neither stalling, going off-balance or nose-diving although my feet are still a little too close together, which is something to work on. My final few waves of the day weren't hugely successful but that was due to tiredness setting in, and I had succumbed to the 'one more wave' syndrome. I am pretty pleased with today and feel more like a surfer than I had in a long time.
The waves got more powerful and dumpy, just like the ones at home (only those lack power, with the English Channel draining them of energy) and more closed out, due to a large swell arriving, which was predicted to get to over 10 feet later.

I have another session with ESF booked tomorrow, that was a last-minute decision, and I hope that I can pick up where I left off today. Conditions permitting, I will try and get out to Compton next week. I'm now in the ranks of the unemployed (temporarily I hope), so I'll have some time, if not money, on my hands.
By the way, thanks to Rob Barber and the others at ESF/Newquay Activity Centre for looking after my board for me. I can also leave it there tomorrow night, before taking my car along there to pick it up Friday morning.

I still intend to book a foreign surf trip for late January/early February. Two weeks somewhere warm, where I don't have to wear a wetsuit, and with consistent waves will do wonders for my surfing, with the added bonus I escape a couple of weeks of one of our epically dismal winters. Maybe then, I can have another few  days down here in the spring.

I've taken a few pictures with my DSLR, I'll upload them when I get home because I didn't bring my CF card reader with me.

Lines

Great Western beach, Newquay, taken with my mobile. On a hot sunny day, which this wasn't, you could probably imagine you were somewhere exotic, rather than a windswept seaside town in England! Look at those lovely lines! I was in there, slightly further to the west at Towan, not long before...

Anyway, after a boring but thankfully incident-free drive, I arrived yesterday. I'm staying in a nice surf hostel, Goofys, on Headland Road, which is a nice hostel, comfortable, clean and not horribly expensive (the digital tv in the room could do with a new remote as the existing one is knackered, meaning I have to endure the ads, rather than pressing mute) but they could do with having a bit more parking; my car is parked in another road and I am hoping it won't get bashed or broken into. Headland Rd has changed a lot since I was here last. Gone are some of the surf hostels, such as Fistral Backpackers, not just the businesses but the entire buildings have been demolished and in their place are posh apartments, no doubt only affordable to rich bastards looking for a second home (coming from the Isle of Wight, second homes are a sore topic!) because there's no way these are affordable homes.

The wind has been strengthening and, as I type, it sounds like a full gale out there, but this didn't affect the surfing. Fistral was too big and closed out, as the wind was onshore, but we went to Towan Beach by the harbour. Due to the angle of this location,the wind was cross-shore/offshore.

The instructor from ESF was a South African, named Shaun, who was a nice guy. We went though where I was going wrong which, after 14 years, amounts to two things: not being fast enough and, paradoxically, rushing things. I either got to my feet and promptly wiped out as I was rushing things or, when I slowed down, the wave was over. My balance is also questionable but that will come.
Shaun did also say that I had a good standard of fitness, which is rare among beginners/returnees my age and over, good upper body strength and determination and, with practise, I will be quite good. I am on the right track with swimming sessions two or three time a week and doing exercises at home.

Out again tomorrow, hopefully. As I said, it's blowing a gale at the moment so I am hoping that's died down by morning. It should do, according to the forecast.

I had been looking for a decent pair of casual shoes, the sort that are like soft deck shoes, only more substantial (like Vans) while I was here, and the surf shops are good places as any to look. Unfortunately I was having trouble finding a decent pair that fit. I am a size 6 and while this is a common size in women's shoes why do we get no choice other than purple, baby blue or pink, ffs?! I HATE girly colours and had to resort to looking among the men's shoes only to find that their sizes began at 7. Jeez, how annoying. The companies should take note as I know I am not the only one who feels like this, quite a lot of other women hate the lack of choice in colours and styles - not only to we have to endure pastel colours in the pink to purple range, a lot of clothes for women are too figure-hugging or revealing, as well. No, I don't 'bat for the other side', I am just fed up with stereotyping. The surf mags are just as bad for stereotyping, showing women, usually the blonde, long-haired, svelte type, in nothing but bikinis.
Anyway, back on topic, and off my soap-box, I eventually found a nice pair at Quiksilver's Fistral Beach shop, in my size, a nice sober colour, with no revolting pinks, purples or baby blues to be found and, even better, reduced in the sale to £29! Stoked. :-)

Going (south) west

I'm off to Cornwall first thing tomorrow morning. I have put my boards (the 9'2" NSP and my bodyboard, as well, for a bit of 'sponging' should the occasion arise) and ancillary items in the car, and will be catching the ferry to Southampton at the unearthly hour of 0545. The ferry arrives in Southampton at 0645 and, as I am avoiding the worst of the Monday 'rush hour' when even more idiots than usual are on the roads, I should take just over four hours to get there, with a stop for petrol if necessary, although I can't say I'm looking forward to the drive, no idea why I'm dreading it, as it is a drive I did many, many times during the 90s - but I guess that comes from seven years of living back on the Isle of Wight, where it is easy to develop a small-area mentality ('oh my god, I have to go to Freshwater? That's 18 miles away!'). I can't help thinking that if it was motorway all the way, rather than A-roads, it'd take no more than two or three hours but, all being well, I should arrive by 1100 or thereabouts, provided nothing happens. At least there are no roadworks. I sometimes wish for Star Trek-style 'beaming'!

I have two one-to-one sessions booked for Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, with ESF, although the weather forecast looks a bit crap, with blustery showers and 21 mph winds. I don't mind the rain, because I am going to get wet anyway, but could do without the surf being blown to bits by howling onshore and cross-shore winds. I contacted ESF on Friday asking what happens if Fistral beach is too windy and blown out and they told me that we'd move to the more sheltered bay; by this I assume they mean Towan, by the harbour and opposite the Reef Aquarium. If Fistral is blown out, Towan is usually surfable.

While I'm down there I am going to go and see Errant Surf about a trip abroad, as I am planning to go on a trip to Morocco or the Canary Islands, maybe in late January to avoid school holidays and half terms. They arrange trips to surf camps and offer tuition to all surfers, no matter what the level of ability. I fancy a couple of weeks away from a shitty UK winter and have never been away at this time (surprisingly for someone who hates gloomy skies and cold weather!), and good surf, warm water and good weather can improve one's surfing ability considerably. Being away during the most depressing time of year is also a bonus. Errant can also arrange flights, which is handy for lazy people like me.
Errant also do 'longboard coaching weekends' down in Newquay, run by ex-Isle of Wight resident Chris Thomson (who, like me, escaped the place but, unlike me, managed to stay away), who also owns Errant Surf; once I get good enough again to ride that tanker of mine properly, I might go on one of those.

New board but not a good sesh

I am no longer board-less! Aaran from our local surf shop, Earth, Wind and Water, phoned me yesterday to say that he'd received a couple of second-hand longboards, a 9ft 2inch and a 10 ft as he knew I was looking for a second-hand board, so I went along to the shop after work this morning (I work part time, very part time) to see them. I ideally wanted something that would fit inside my Renault estate, both for security and fuel consumption (laws of physics: stuff on the roof=drag=increased fuel consumption+the laws of common sense: stuff on the roof=potentially nicked) but thought anything more than 9ft would be too long. As it happened, the 9' 2" fit perfectly with an inch or two to spare, so I didn't even bother looking at the 10 footer.
The new board is an NSP epoxy longboard, exactly what I was looking for. Some people turn their noses up at epoxy, a.k.a. 'pop out', boards but, frankly, as I am just getting back into this lark after 14 years out of it, a fibreglass board is going to get smashed up in no time and, for now, I'd rather have a durable pop-out than ding the fuck out of a custom job and there's nothing wrong with them anyway, save being a tad on the heavy side.
Anyway, it cost the princely sum of £250, which I've raided from my savings.

Here's the new-to-me board in its new home

It was a nice day today and Magic Seaweed indicated some decent surf at Compton, it'd have been rude not to, really, so off I went, via a detour home to get my wetsuit and other bits.
Things didn't get off to a great start, firstly the wind meant that the thing was hard to carry, even the smallest breezes can turn a longboard into a sail. I've decided I want to get good enough to ride something short so I can trot down the steps like the guys with shortboards...! Ain't gonna happen though...
Secondly, my right knee which has a touch of osteoarthritis in it, decided it wasn't going to play nice when I descended down the first flight of steps, locking up and with the pain indicating something was catching on something else, meaning I had to sit at the top and rub it for a while and wait for it to unlock. I felt I was being watched from the car park, they probably thought I was hesitating because of the steps so, with an Oscar-worthy performance, I made a few overly pained faces and exaggerated rubbing my knee. I hate getting old! >:o(
Got there in the end though, attached leash to leg and into the water.

Aaran said the board would catch everything, even little waves and he wasn't wrong. It does. Anything over 9ft does catch all the waves, even slow 1ft slop, which this wasn't. The surf was 2-4ft, messy, at intervals of  6 seconds and the stiff breeze was cross-shore.
The board was surprisingly easy to paddle and I caught everything I went for. Unfortunately I found it harder to get up on this board than on the foam ones I rode on the previous couple of occasions I got out, back last month. I have no idea why. It was more stable than those and I had put plenty of wax on but, for some reason (possibly not wanting to aggravate the pain in my right knee), I was too slow and just couldn't get up, and on the couple of occasions I did, I stalled and fell off. I must have looked a right prat from the beach and car park! Decidedly unstoked and feeling more than slightly kooky, I packed it in after an hour. However, practice makes perfect and I'll be out again as soon as possible; I also put it down to not having done pop-up practice for about a week. Wish those effing steps weren't so steep, though, my poor knees and not easy carrying a longboard down - I am sure those steps have got steeper over the years and they probably have, I think these are replacements of replacements of ones which periodically get destroyed when coastal erosion takes down yet another section of cliff.

Half a kilometre

Our local council-run pool in Sandown closed in January for refurbishment and was supposed to reopen this summer. However, as these things often seem to do, the refurbishment overran badly and now it is scheduled to reopen on October 15th. In the interim I've been lazy and not been swimming since February/March time when I went to a small independently-run pool in Ryde which, as it turned out, wasn't that good. More often than not, the advertised time for public swimming turned out not to be, with private hire instead and the place was infested with small children and I got tired of turning up only to find a kids' party in full swing, despite having checked beforehand and told 'no there is no private function today'!

Another council-run pool is in Newport and it's a pain to get to from here because of the traffic, but I decided that, if I am serious about getting back into surfing and needing to get fitter before my trip to Cornwall in three weeks, I'll need to start swimming again. I am already a lot fitter than before, my job involves a lot of fetching, carrying and wheeling sack trucks of heavy boxes up steep slopes onto ferries and I do press-ups, sit-ups and pop-up practice and have been doing so for the past month, with encouraging results.
My spare tyre, a result of beer, overeating and little exercise, has diminished quite a lot and I have shed more than half a stone (11lbs to be exact or 5kg for those who prefer metric) in the past three weeks. I have never been grossly fat and, being tall I can carry a bit of extra weight and get away with not looking too hideous, but being overweight is not desirable and can lead to problems. My father died of a heart attack, and this is at the back of my mind plus I fear getting diabetes. At the start of last year I had a brush with the Big C, with a tumour discovered in my liver. This turned out to be a benign, possibly fatty, lump fortunately, but it did make me think of mortality, being fitter and not wasting time when I wanted to do something. I had initially wanted to get back into surfing last year but various bits of bad luck interfered, not least a torn knee cartilage, followed a couple of months later by a broken ankle!

I went to the other council pool this afternoon and managed 20 lengths of the 25 metre pool which equates to half a kilometre - sounds better for some reason than saying 500 metres! I am not even tired so I could have done even more but didn't want to overdo it.

Totally unrelated but something I want to mention although I don't normally get involved in politics. The UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said that he is trying to 'woo' women voters, with 'women-friendly' policies. Sounds good eh?  Actually, no, it's doesn't because these 'policies' are all aimed at mothers. As a child-free woman, I would love the media and politicians to get it into their thick heads that woman does NOT equal mother. Yes, all mothers are women (barring a scientific 'miracle') but not all women are mothers. Single people and couples without kids seem to be marginalised anyway, as society is geared towards parents and children, and this kind of pandering bullshit from one of the worst PMs this country has ever had makes you feel more disenfranchised and alienated than ever.
Not that I'd vote for the Conservatives anyway. I loathe Labour and have no respect for the Liberal Democrats either but the Conservatives really are the Nasty Party.

Fat guy rips it up

For those of us who are slightly unfit or who could do with losing a few more pounds, this guy should give us some encouragement. Surfing is viewed as a healthy lifestyle - which, of course, it is - and surfers of both sexes shown in videos and photos are generally of the fit, slim and young variety. It's rare that you see a surfer of, shall we say, a fuller figure, especially one who rips it up. I found this vid on the net, which features Jimbo Pellegrine, a very big guy and an excellent surfer (he does drop in at 0:40 in the vid, tho') and it shows you don't need to be skinny, or even that fit, to surf.



Three weeks to my trip to Cornwall. I am unlikely to be able to go surfing before then, hence the lack of anything really meaningful to say or show.

Pop-ups

If, like me, your pop-up isn't the best (since getting back into surfing and having been surfing the grand total of two times in the past month, I clumsily and slowly lunge to my feet, often wiping out) there are some videos on YouTube which show how to do pop-ups. Watching these and doing land practice if you can't get into the water as much as you'd like will help a lot. I am watching loads of surfing videos, not kids ripping it up on shortboards - yes it looks good but my shortboard days are long past now and, even then, I didn't exactly rip it up - just Joe and Jane Average Surfer, and my land-based practice (pop-ups) is getting better and better.

Here are some of the pop-up vids. This Holly Beck one is, I think the best.
 

This one, from the Online Surf School, has three methods. When you go to a surf school, they don't advise using your knees (or a lot of them do) and using your knees can be a bad habit to break. The 'Aussie sprint' pop up is interesting, I've not seen that one before and, I think if I tried it, I'd wipe out more than actually get to my feet (even more than I already do). But, whatever works.
 

Ben's Surf Clinic shows, again, a method of using your knees. That's always something I tried to avoid but, again, if it works for you it works.

New blog

I decided 'Stand Up Fall Off' was a pretty lame title and I wanted a stand-alone profile for this blog (SUFO is connected with other blogs), so here it is.

The green green glass of home

There were some nice glassy little 1 ft waves at Sandown this morning. I doubt they were rideable, even with a longboard as they were short lived, formed too close to the beach and were slow, but they looked nice.
I only had my phone with me, so had to take pictures with that, hence the poorish quality.

4od - Surfing Special, The Endless Winter

Three programmes about the history of surfing here in Britain have been aired on Channel 4 recently. You can find these on their website, at 4od.
I've not seen these yet so, as there's bugger all on the TV this evening, I am going to watch.

Surfing Special, The Endless Winter.

Grovelling in the white mush

It was a last-minute decision but I texted Chris and managed to arrange another session this afternoon. The waves were smaller, 2-3ft at 5s, and not as powerful as they were 12 days ago; the wind was a light onshore breeze. Consequently, I wasn't as shattered as I had been last time but, that said, this could be as much to do with exercises here at home, press ups and similar.

The session was pretty successful in that I caught most of the waves I went for and stood up on about 50% of them; I'm getting faster at getting to my feet. However, I was having a bit of a problem with nose-diving and losing my balance, unlike last time. I also found that I was dragging my front (left) foot quite a few times which is probably connected to losing my balance.

I have a couple of injuries, I jarred my neck and bent my left fingers back the wrong way, suspected dislocated (they're now painful, swollen and have had the ice treatment) but, on the bright side, that's better than jarring my fingers and bending my neck the wrong way!
I did remember my surf boots, which made things much easier. No cut feet this time.

I am hoping to get one or two more sessions before my trip to Cornwall in October. Having done 95% of my surfing in Cornwall throughout the 1990s, I know that the waves are better than here. They are less mushy and more longer-lived and, as a result, are easier to surf on. I don't like to appear disloyal to my home county but the IoW waves are not exactly world class and they're hard to surf on and Chris said as much.

'Don't rent out space in your head'

I.e. Don't let people get to you', is an excellent saying. But, while it works well during the day, I wish it worked out as well in dreams. I am sick of people, often relatives, in my dreams telling me that I am useless and everyone hates me...although it is not them, I think it's me telling myself that in the guise of other people. It's the whole self-esteem thing again and another reason I am taking up surfing again.

Anyway, have another vid. This is bodyboarding, rather than stand up surfing, at Teahupo'o, Taihiti featuring some pretty huge waves - this is one of the most dangerous surf spots in the world, even the world's best surfers are scared of it. Better yet, the soundtrack is provided by Metallica. Interesting comment from someone below the vid, though "super gay to bodyboard ant (sic) not surf that shit" - I wonder if the commenter has actually surfed waves like that, if I was a betting person I'd guess not, they'd probably crap themselves. Posters of YouTube comments are invariably full of shit. Anyway, why is there always some schism about one thing being better than another? Stand up surfers v bodyboarders v SUPs, Canon v Nikon, Metallica fans v Megadeth fans, and so on and so forth? It's stupid, there's room for everyone, why can't we all respect each other and get along?

Grockles

I know we need them and all that (as there's eff-all other real employment prospects here) but I'll be glad when the summer holidays finish and the grockles go home. As I work in the tourist industry here I should feel treacherous saying this, like biting the hand that feeds - not to mention the fact that I'll take a massive drop in my income until next year if I can't get any other work during winter - but I don't really as the roads are crowded, the beaches - weather permitting and even when it's not permitting - are crowded and the ferry companies charge a scandalous amount to cross the Solent between July and September.
No surfing opportunities until after the bank holiday, probably later next week if I can arrange something.
Can't wait until October and my trip to Cornwall, when I'll be a grockle myself...we're all grockles somewhere else.

In the meantime, here's a surfy sort of tune from Green Day.

 

Standing up a little bit and falling off a lot

Finally! I got back on a surfboard - albeit a 9ft Alder foam longboard - for the first time in 14 years. I'd arrived at Compton a little early, having finished work a bit quicker than I thought I would, but that was no big deal because I had work phone calls to make and also have something to eat.

The surf was around 4 or 5 ft high, with 11 second intervals and there were plenty of surfers, including bodyboarders, out. I grabbed a couple of photos from the car park.

To cut a long story and one or two kooky errors (kook ups?) short, it was harder than I remembered but, after being knocked down by deceptively powerful waves a few times, it all came back to me, especially how hard paddling for a wave is, and how hard it is to get out beyond the white water. I didn't paddle out today, I was just shattered wading out to chest height and catching waves from there - I still missed loads - and my feet got battered by the rocks (I have surf boots which I will dig out for next time). You may think you are reasonably fit - I can do 40 lengths of a 25m pool - but you have to be even fitter to surf properly. There's only one way to get fit to surf and that is to surf more. I got caught inside and rolled over by larger waves a few times, but I don't mind that.

The main thing is though...I CAN STILL STAND UP! I can't pop up as easily as I could 14 years ago but that is because of being out of practice for that amount of time, and it will come, but I can get to my feet although I fell off rather more quickly than I'd like. I also need more practice with balance but, again, that will come. It will be easier on a hard surfboard, rather than a foam one, as hard boards are more stable and I found the foamie rocked from side-to-side too easily. But today was about getting back onto a board, any board, and getting the feel of it again.

I really need a day where the surf is nice smallish summer waves, rather than the largish swell of today. It was mushy but powerful, not clean and all over the place. Even Chris, the instructor, described the surf as 'challenging' and he'd initially been afraid it was too large but, even so, it was great to get out there again. I am bloody knackered and my left shoulder, knees and back muscles hurt, my feet are sore from the rocks and my eyes are sore from the salt water (but I am pleased not to have stepped on a weaver fish) but it was worth it.

Where did I leave that stoke 14 years ago? Ah right there, there it is! I am hoping to go again next week, if conditions coincide with being able to dump work for a few hours.

Thursday...

I can't wait as long as October, it's fucking 7 weeks away, so I have booked a lesson for Thursday afternoon. It's a group session, with at least 3 others but should be no more than 10, but I'll also do a 1 to 1 sesh in September, when things aren't so busy. At £20 for 90 minutes it sounds good value and iSurf have a good reputation here on the Isle of Wight. It's a mobile surf school, and I have seen the van out and about - mostly at Compton, our most consistent break - so they can go wherever there's a swell. Hopefully the conditions will be good, with plenty of waves.

I have been doing a few press ups and practising pop-ups at home, as well. It was hard at first but getting easier and will make life a lot easier once I get back on a board properly. At least, I hope so.
I've also asked the surf shop in Shanklin, Earth Wind and Water, whether they often get second-hand longboards or mini-mals in. They do and cost around £250-ish but also to look on Wightbay. I might look when I get to Cornwall in October, there'll be a greater choice and, dare I say it, probably better prices, too.  I'm looking for something in the 8 to 9-ft range, as it will fit into my Renault estate. I'm not in too much of a hurry to get a board for the next month or so, especially as I have that car tax and MOT to pay for. Also a friend has talked me into going on a 4-night booze cruise on the Queen Mary 2 in November, which I now rather regret having said I'd go on...

I have discovered a number of videos on You Tube, one of which is 'Learn to Surf, The Fundamentals', in which the late, great Andy Irons shows you what is necessary to learn - or re-learn - surfing, which is in 2 parts. There are tons of videos on YouTube, though, some better than others.

Part 1

Part 2

Rediscovering the stoke

...42 years old, not exactly fit but wanting to rediscover the 'stoke'...that's me. I surfed - not great, but I surfed - throughout the 90s on longboards, but I have not been on a surfboard since 1998, when a combination of things meant I packed it in. Even without a family (I am single) demands on time and - particularly - money meant I never got round to replacing the 8'6" longboard I sold, although I do have a bodyboard. Bodyboarding, however, is not the same. Good fun, but not the same so I want to get back into stand-up, dare I say 'proper', surfing.

I've been assured that 42 is not to old to rediscover surfing, with people getting into it for the first time even into their 60s and 70s and with arthritis, which is reassuring! My relatives, however, probably think I am crazy and should act my age - well, bollocks to that! Who says surfing is a kids game?

Why, exactly, do I want to get back into surfing? Well, it's not to look 'cool', as I look like a prat, rather than cool, because I fall off a lot and get wiped out, not that I give a toss about that. No, I want to have fun, maybe get to know some new people, get fit again and remain that way. Added to which, it is great for self esteem, particularly helpful when yours is currently at about the same level as the Earth's core. Also I like being in water and, above all, I love the feeling that surfing brings - that all-important 'stoke'.

I have booked myself a few days down in Newquay in the first week of October and have also arranged a couple of days one-to-one tuition at Newquay Activity Centre to get back into the hang of things. Unfortunately that is still 7 weeks away...working in tourism here on the Isle of Wight, and wanting to avoid the worst crowds means I have to leave it till then. Can't afford a surfboard yet, as my car tax and MOT are due over the next month, so I'll have to content myself with the body board in the meantime, plus swimming, practising pop ups on dry land, etc...also, if I can find a day to do it, when surf is available and I don't have a lot of work on, I'll pop down the road to Dunroamin Beach and Wight Water, it's only five minutes from here but needs a good swell.

I have decided to do a blog about my efforts to rejoin the surfing community, just for a bit of fun. It's called 'Stand Up, Fall Off', because I expect know I'll be doing a lot of that...falling off, that is. Especially falling off.

This TV programme by comedian Justin Lee Collins, who is nearly my age and about as fit, has given me hope - and he's a total beginner! Btw, you can find the rest of the programme (it's in 5 parts) by clicking on the 'Watch on YouTube' link.

So has 'Silver Surf Dude' who is in his 60s. And 'Surfers Over 50'. And this thread, 'Later in life beginners', on Surfing Waves forum is great, everyone either starting surfing for the first time or getting back in the water after an absence.

I have no photos of myself surfing but here is a photo I took of a bloke surfing at Ventnor, in front of the Spyglass Inn, back in January.

Wish me luck - and if you see me in the line up at Compton or Hope Beach please don't give me a hard time! Cheers!