[philo]

got a text from my mate at 8 saying the usual spot was going off.  Waited till 9 for work not to call me in, had 3 hours of perfect lefts and shallow barrels.  felt tropical too with air temps in double figures, getting changed was luxury.  Only me and my mate out all morning - tomorrows going to be gash up here so im off to check a new spot, dodgy area tho but potential to be a new perfect sheltered spot. 

[ben]

Hmmmm...  There is this place, well off the beaten track, not in any guidebooks,

is this a devonshire venue?   

[gme]

Philo

How big was it down there, it was small up here, so small in fact that i didnt even get in. There were a couple in on the main beach but it was only waist high maybe chest at best and they were not catching many waves. There was a nice clean swell but to small and too much water on the reefs due to the neap tides.

Mates in tynemouth said the same there. and it looks small on the cam.

You seem to have found a little swell magnet i must come down and check it out.

[philo]

just under head high and clean, steep wedges that barrel on low tide.  there are a few spots near me that work.  This was the pick today, works on small north swells, well worth checking out.
Here is a picture of the area, the wave usually breaks going left from the photo.  (this area doesnt like crowds)



got a few more spots that work for southern swells and now hopefully a spot that will work with high wind and shite blown out swells. 

[SA Chris]

x marks the spot



hopefully better. looks sweet

[granticus]

Hmmmm...  There is this place, well off the beaten track, not in any guidebooks,

is this a devonshire venue?

Nope.

[philo]

as sad as it is, a surf shop shutting down south, means a bit of a sale.

http://loose-fit.co.uk 


not sure what the craic would be with returns..

[granticus]

Well the swell wasn't quite what it was cracked upto be and nowhere near big enough for the spot to work.  Ended up surfing a windy but do-able and suprisingly not too busy point break that everyone including every beginner this side of the M4 seems to know about. 

as sad as it is, a surf shop shutting down south, means a bit of a sale.
http://loose-fit.co.uk 
not sure what the craic would be with returns..

Always felt like it was a bit too 'upmarket' and pricey with it to stand a chance of surviving in a little ole surf town (village!) like Braunton.  Apparently still gonna be an online loose-fit so returns shouldn't be a problem.  Would love to have a Choad as I have heard lots of good things from a friend who has Cotty's old one but gonna have to do better than £415 at a closing down sale to pursuade me to purchase one.  Might pop in and see what's left on the shelves tommorow...

[philo]

yeah indeed i thought the same, though some gifts and dvd's might be worth getting on the "cheap".  wouldn't mind a cheap set of glass quad fins.  Talking of new boards, thinking about getting a retro fish for the 3-4ft days when its wedge heaven so that I don't have to pump my regular ride to get speed, any other suggestions? a nice wide nose 6ft shortboard is my next purchase I think.

[granticus]

So this is what I was looking at for just such days..  The are nice and wide, easy to paddle, super fast but still have that shortboard feel..  Your supposed to ride them shorter than your regular board.  They are being rated for typical uk surf as opposed to those special days when things really come together..

5′ 10″ Diplock Choad
This is the team’s go to board for under shoulder high surf.  Super relaxed entry rocker and a wide planshape allowing ease of paddling and early wave entry,  coupled with a deep concave in back half this board generates immense speed in small waves.

Ride 4 – 6 inches shorter than normal shortboard

model: Choad
length: 5' 10"
width: 193/8"
thickness: 23/8"
tail: Squash Tail

[granticus]

This morning the swell was still here, the wind had gone and so had all the 'weekend warriors'.  Surfed the cobblestone point that every bugger knows about, is in all the guide books, attracts every sod who can stand on a board, that peels to the left but might have some rights, where there always seems to be a lot of folk sitting  there making up the numbers/getting in the way and has some good bouldering in the vicinity but I'm refusing to name..  Peeling perfectingly this morning, looooooooooooooooooooooooooong lefts, received some excellent 2nd hand advice on forehand snaps (which I'm shit at - backhand's a different story but this is a left and I be goofy) and had really good session chucking everything into turns the advice works so I will share... For forehand snaps, generate speed, bottom turn, head up to the lip, compress into the snap (bend your legs), straighten out of it, the important bit though is when you rotate, lead with your back arm and bring it across infront of your face pointing your hand to where you wish to go, everything just follows, thwack!  Good times. 

[Plattsy]

Myself and my better half took our first lesson at Manly Beach on Sunday. On the phone call to book the guy said there was a big swell due and it would be awesome. We were a little bit worried about the big swell. We got suited up and paired with our boards. I got a mammoth board and my girlfriend a tiny little thing. I was expecting to spend a lot of time on the beach practicing various bits of technique but was happily surprised that after three practices of catching a wave we were sent into the water.
Don't think I've felt waves like them and the pull and push of waves coming in sideways and off the beach made the hardest part just getting out still with your board. We were only catching white water waves obviously but really enjoyed it and was stood up after 2 or 3 attempts. Not sure I have time or the money for another hobby but I reckon I'll be having another go pretty soon. 

[gme]

I had the same good advice off someone this year, was doing my front side top turns (couldn't really call them snaps at the time) using my leading arm. Once i changed to focusing on really bringing the trailing arm around my body it generates a far greater force in your turn.

This works the otherway round when on your bottom turn (frontside) and your top turn (backside) where you want to use your leading arm to control the turn. Backside snaps always seem better as they are controlled by your lead arm and feel natural, also why backside cutbacks are much easier than frontside.

[SA Chris]

Nice one Plattsy. Surfing's the source etc

[ben]

For forehand snaps, generate speed, bottom turn, head up to the lip, compress into the snap (bend your legs), straighten out of it, the important bit though is when you rotate, lead with your back arm and bring it across infront of your face pointing your hand to where you wish to go, everything just follows, thwack!  Good times. 

Further west was also nice yesterday lunchtime :-)
Have been trying to understand yours/gme's advice here. Can I have a description for a natural footer involved right/left arm descriptions?    so if I'm on a right and snapping off the top (ie facing out to sea for the top turn) then my right arm should swing right across my face to lead back the wave, right?!

[Falling Down]

Yes.  The key thing is that it's actually the shoulder position that's driving the body position so the arm is really just an indicator that the shoulder and upperbody is twisted.

[granticus]

..................................So you kinda end up with your trailing arm, (the one at the back) if you are a smegular foot that'd be your right arm, in front of your face, the inside of your elbow joint by your nose.  Start the rotation with your trail arm, your head, your shoulders and your feet will follow on.  Using your trail arm in this way seems to increase the energy going through your back foot as your do your turn and thus ..... THWACK! 

Particularly the earlier turns in this tutorial... 

[Idol eyes]

My Ex Baird broke her neck on a forehand smash... pure power!!! Longboarding this manoeuvre requires a slight variation on this, have been practising this and can perform it better when surfing switch (goofy),.
It has been really good down here, and have started to nail loads of manoeuvres on demand... cross stepped a fin first 180 for the first time yesterday!!! BOOM! fugging well stoked!
 

[philo]

this is my source of weakness now, outrunning the wave and cutting back up the top of the wave.  To me i think the key is the slight crouch out of the end to get the power back down the wave - many times my arm flailing and pointing back down the wave leaves me over the top of it when I don't get the power back with a good lean on the forward knee.  (i cant fully snap but its more of a pivot)

Im also focusing on going over the top of sectioned out waves rather than going around them - smashing the lip of the wave/broken white water to go over it as my local beach break seems to section quite often. 

On a bit of a NNFN i was so blind on a rocky hidden pocket spot the other day I managed to mangle the nose of my mal that I rarely surf.  Its pretty much a 7'2 log and fun to play around with on 3ft waves etc.  Hit a rock and went head over heels.  GME et al, what do you surf in the sub 5ft (If you go out at all)  as mentioned before I still want a old fish

[Falling Down]

5ft swell or 5ft 'faces'?? A 5ft swell is quite big.... overhead 8-15 ft faces in my experience.

5ft faces (1-2ft swell?) - It depends. If it's long period and lined up nicely then I'll ride my fishy quad, I also have a massive trad 9ft6" noserider longboard (bought from LooseFit funnily enough) that I ride when its small and clean.

[Falling Down]

Let me qualify my last post with the fact that I've only been in the water once or twice since May 2010.

[philo]

aye i meant face, 5 ft wedges we get up here messy beach breaks usually

[SA Chris]

It's the hundred year storm. I knew you wouldn't miss the hundred year storm.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110118/tsc-scientists-warn-of-superstorm-headin-98fda55.html

[gme]

I am a standard thruster rider. Have loads of boards ( eight at the minute) but they are all slight variations on a theme.

The east coast gets some of the best waves in the country when it works, usually 20 times a year or so, and when its like that you get good oerhead waves (3foot+) on the reefs. For these waves i ride rounded pins of various lengths from 6` 3" to 7` 4" although i haven't ridden the big one yet it was bought for thurso but is yet to be used in anger. All of these are around 18 3/4" x 2 3/8".

I find that up here the beaches don't like a good clean swell and tend to close out over 2 ft, luckily this is when the reefs start working. So i only really surf the beaches on the sloppy windswell you describe. This can form little wedges but they are usually short in length, have a steep take off then go fat. I ride either a 5`9" or 6`0" squash on these flat ish rocker and wider and thicker than my rounded pins.
I don't think fish are good on this type of wave as they are more for down the line carving. Yes you can go on youtube and find loads of video of the pros ripping on fish but they could do the same on a barn door. I also tried a quad fish for a while but found it just to tracky, it was as if you were stuck on rails. Gave it up after maybe 10 sessions and sold it.
I generally don't surf when its under shoulder high as find it a bit boring and tough to surf on my boards, tend to spend most of the time tic tacing along the wave whilst swinging my arms up and down. If i wanted to surf in smaller waves i would avoid all the retro boards and, like FD, get a long board as the longborders around here seem to be the ones having fun when its small.
Re swell hight i agree with FD you here wild estimates of wave heights in the uk, the biggest i have surfed would probably equate to around 6ft on a generally accepted scale around the world. This would equate to double overhead + ie 12-15ft faces.

[philo]

i agree with most of that but I still feel that if my 6'3 pintail was a 5'10 fish (23 wide instead of 18) I could still work the wave and cut it up into suppression on sub shoulder high waves.  at the moment i only have 2 and half boards, long, short and one that snapped in half. 

Am I being thick in saying a 3ft wave is the 3ft of the wave ABOVE the water lvl?  rather than the swell height.

My local consists of beach breaks and pitiful short reefs


Might get jason to make me a wee nip too: