[john horscroft]

I hear the biking on Exmoor is pretty special and for the most part unknown...  So if you are down this way, there maybe little point in heading back so far as Quantocks.. 

[/quote]
Not a big fan of Exmoor biking, but maybe I just haven't found the best trails.  Quantocks, on the other hand, are bloody brilliant and covered in great trails, worth the trip.....

....back on topic.  Thanks for all the advice Granticus.  I need to spend much more time in the water, it's as simple as that!  Beginning to spot the sets but putting myself where the wave is breaking, that's a work in progress....

[SA Chris]

Thinking of opting for a longer board next time in the hope I can catch waves earlier and stand more chance of staying in green water...

Well yes and no. If the waves are small and not breaking particularly steeply on a mellow beach break a longer board will mean earlier entry and longer "green" rides, but if the waves are bigger you will find it harder to get the board out, and if it is breaking steeply a longer board may be a bit slow unless you are getting it up to speed really early (are fit enough?) and will be harder to get into positon and will struggle with a steeper wave.

If i was you (personally) I would stick with the board you have in anything but small waves.

[Falling Down]

I'm about to pick up my first shortboard - Super Evo 6'6''x20''x2 3/4 from Adrian at Fluid Juice; £380!

http://www.fluidjuice.co.uk/pages/boardsbydesign.htm

Great guys. Super helpful and friendly.

Nice - Adrian made my Widowmaker (6'9") that I use for bigger days, great surfboards, great guy.

[gme]

For anyone interested Slater just won again in Portugal which pretty much ties up this years world champs. Only injury or act of god could stop him now.

I love the comps and watch them all on the Web, much more exciting than any climbing comp.

Cant think of a sport where someone has dominated for so long, he has been winning titles since 1992 and pretty much holds the record for everything, youngest, oldest, most, highest score etc etc.

[Baron]

Psyched. It's kinda like getting a POD sack from Pete when his workshop was still on Osberton Place or a jacket from Rab pre-retirement.

Amazing products from guys who know what they're on about and you can have a nice chat with.

[SA Chris]

Cant think of a sport where someone has dominated for so long, he has been winning titles since 1992 and pretty much holds the record for everything, youngest, oldest, most, highest score etc etc.

No-one really compares. Just unbelievable.

[gme]

And he can count pamela Anderson and gisele amongst his many conquests.

Lucky lucky bastard

[philo]

along the lines of the board shaping industry, i was in your neck of the woods on saturday chris, well edinburgh but close enough.  Picked up a board from jason who makes them.  Its a 6'3 x 18 pin tail which seems much stronger than my old piece of shit spyder board. 
been shite all surf wise up here, bring on tuesday eve and wednesday?

[SA Chris]

Jason Burnett? Have had a look at a couple of his boards and they look like great quality. Will definitely get my next from him. Not the best at promoting himself though, only web setup he has is on Facebook.

This week could prove interesting, need to be mornings or lunchtime for me.

[granticus]

Looks like it's your turn again east coasters, the whole week is looking interesting... enjoy.
Flatness has now resumed in the SW, this combined with small tides/good weather has meant that boulders at the tops of beaches have been in excellent condition

[philo]

yep looks "interesting" on the reports.

http://magicseaweed.com/Sunderland-Surf-Report/25/

wednesday im hoping to be off work so that i can spend all day getting amongst it.

Certainly a quality board chris, its thicker than my old one (in terms of strength) so hopefully wont snap.  I would defo recommend a board from him and he is a nice chap aswell, spent an hour in his shed looking at all the other boards he has been making/made and getting some history about the board and how it performs. 

[SA Chris]

I promised the missus a Flying Carpet from him last xmas and she hasn't been able to commit to colours etc yet, so order is currently on hold.

Where exactly is he based?

Shame Royal has moved down to the SW, his boards look great too, and he was based in the NE for a while.



Time for a board pron thread?

[philo]

want to see the beaut i picked up?

he is based just south of edinburgh, better for me coming from the south.  it was like 2 miles from the centre.


ill get some pictures up and your correct - i dont know a shaper in le nord est.  :[

[SA Chris]

want to see the beaut i picked up?

Yes please!

[InsanityWolf]

......no idea how to imbed....


ah, never mind.

[philo]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55012374@N04/5100117117/#

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55012374@N04/5100714020/#

beautiful board.

Today in sunderland was incredible.  Only bad thing was the fucking northern current washing everything down the beach at an alarming rate.

Heres a pic i took when i got out, the black things near the left of the middle,  inbetween the two waves are surfers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55012374@N04/5100719734/#

[SA Chris]

It is lovely, he does great resin tints. Did you get it custom made for you?

Aberdeen was nothing like that, not that I had any time to get in anyway. Maybe weekend.

[gme]

Two days of great surf on east coast this week. Big and a bit rangey yesterday but spent a good 6 hours in the water.

Bit of an epic surfing a new slab we found when in our excitement we neglected to check out how we intended to exit the water at the end of the session. This ended up with me not getting it all quite right whilst trying to paddle against a rip to get to a gap in the rocks 10ft wide. This didnt happen and i ended up ditching my board and getting pounded into the rocks before managing to grab onto something and crawl out. Board is now minus two fins and has a big hole in the bottom. It got to the point where my normally piss taking mates (who hadnt had the balls to try in the first place) stopped laughing and started to look concerned.

Got up early this morning to find swell has dropped to 2-3 ft but still had shoulder high barrels on my favorite lump of rock. (despite changing sports i still fine myself infatuated with lumps of rock). Got a good couple of hours in before i had to get back to work.

A friend had a camera in the water and took this shot of me. I dont know how to paste it on here (despite reading the "how to put pics " post) but heres a link.
Only wish she had taken it a second latter for the full effect. (good 3 sec barrel but unfortunatley clipped on exit)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/55020227@N03/5101564913/#

[SA Chris]

Good arrows! really annoys me that the same swell and the same coast you get nice barrels we get dribbly piss.

Another wierdo cack footer.

[gme]

Only foot to have at the front of your board when you live on the east coast.

I am a complete spazz going right as the only time i do is TE a few times a winter. There are a few rights around here but they all work on the same swells as the real waves so i never ride them.

I do keep questioning why every boat trip i go on we go to the only bit of Indo where its predominately rights.

[philo]

Just got in from some amazing steep waves that were pristine. Wind off the land ruined any barrels and I was the only one in the water all day.  Getting used to the new board but still feel that every wave I fall off/ miss/ clumsy feet frustrates me in this sea of endless beauties.  Tomorrow with less wind should have 6-7 ft with clean barrels. 
I know where I'll be all day tomo.

And no chris it was one of his own boards - it was only 150£ and I wouldn't have change the dimensions if I was to get it custom to me.

GME that sounds like a right nightmare, I'll try find a video of what it reminds me of

[philo]

Found it,



id be shit scared. 
And todays surf made me question some of my technique/ability.  Paddle strength on a short board and fatigue mixed with shit duck diving left me feeling so weak yesterday.  Today i was starting to feel the same when i was drifting in a rip and the offshore winds.
My pop up is no where near good enough, most of the time im like stevie wonder. 
at least my wave selection seems to be fine tho

[gme]

Kinda similar but yesterday was a lot worse. Had it been filmed it would have been a you tube classic.

And thank god for wetsuits or i would have died from blood loss.

[gme]

Few more pics from wednesday.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55020227@N03/with/5105219384/

[gme]

Forgot to mention that the jerry in the pics is the Jerry of climbing yore.