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.

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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.