One for the surfers (Read 786818 times)

philo · July 26, 2011, 11:41:22 am

did they do fear of the dark? My end was quiet, had some nice surf sessions, Friday was super clean but shoulder high and closing out all of the time. Sat and sun were big, a bit messy but at low tide it was pretty good - only locals in. Think most people either went north or south and we rarely get visitors.
Though photos haven't escaped the seaweed. Here's one from Friday I think

granticus · July 26, 2011, 12:52:08 pm

Glad to hear you all got some summertime juice in the NE.. Shame it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. I guess the crowds and visitors are to be expected given that the summer hols just started and the chart was fairly obvious. Small and clean is about all we can manage down here at the moment.

Quote

Estimating the number of vans from cornwall and Devon (6), adding in the three from wales, one from Brighton, two from Leeds and five from newcastle i would guess well over 10000 miles worth of diesel was used for around an average of 10 good waves each just on the spot I surf. Round about £10 per wave.

Does seem a looooooooooooong way to drive from here to annoy the locals but I guess some folk have time and money to burn.

Summer season has kicked in with a vengance in N Devon... Estimating the number of vans from West Midlands/Yorkshire/everywhere bluddy else = twelvetybilliontee!

I have joined the short wide lots of volume revolution... Mr Bunt has shaped me what is essentially a copy/hybrid of the Rusty Dwart/JS Blak Box. 5''8 Double wing round tail which can be ridden as a quad or thruster. First impressions are that it paddles really well, goes very well in small waves and turns on a dime.. Lots of FUN!! Yet to be tested in bigger stuff but the longboard is firmly back on the shelf for the time being.

philo · July 26, 2011, 01:11:46 pm

sounds nice, lots of volume in the nose? how wide is it?

gme · July 26, 2011, 01:41:35 pm

Been on a CI dumpster diver 5` 9" x 19 3/4" x 2 1/2 since easter (other than yesterday) ridden it in everything from waist high onshore to head and half and clean.

Without doubt the best board i have ever owned. Its now my goto board for everything but the reefs where i tend to jump back on the rounded pins.

philo · July 26, 2011, 02:59:34 pm

same here, my main weapon is a 5'10 x 19 3/4, not much rocker but the squash tail meant the power through the turns was superb

granticus · July 26, 2011, 04:09:03 pm

Quote from: philo on July 26, 2011, 01:11:46 pm

sounds nice, lots of volume in the nose? how wide is it?

5''8 x 20.5'' x 2''5/8 Nose is pretty wide loadsa volume through the centre of the board, low rocker, I am riding it as a quad at the moment and it rips

Still have the rounded pin flexfire for those super hollow Croyde days though!

Idol eyes · July 26, 2011, 04:57:24 pm

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuP0h62oOSj0%26feature%3Dshare&h=NAQAguOSX

Falling Down · July 26, 2011, 06:50:09 pm

If we'd have gone back to the pre 1999 old skool method of using synoptic charts for forecasting without the internet we would have seen the last weekend's forecast as 50/50 at best.

MSW has a lot to answer for with the stars system and wave height & period calculations, especially for the East Coast with a narrow fetch and swell window. Other than a very rough indicator of 'waves/no-waves' or 'wind/no wind' my experience with MSW is pretty much total bollocks. Completely ignore it I reckon....

Surfline is somewhat better given the resources at their disposal and the subsription model but it's not great for the UK.

I still don't think you can go far wrong with looking at a pressure chart and taking it from there.

SA Chris · July 27, 2011, 10:03:11 am

I think the MSW forecast is actually OK, trouble is most people don't even bother learning to use it properly; as soon as they get stars in the eyes they rush around frothing at the mouth. The number of stars is only linked to the period, nothing else, and if they are light blue it means the wind is going to screw things up a bit unless you find a sheltered spot.

Also a lot of people seem to struggle with swell direction; a lot of northerly swell actually misses Aberdeen, unless it is 6 feet or more, but can produce stellar waves from Dunbar southwards. A guy I know once said to me in the water in Aberdeen "Is this really a 3 star day?". I didn't bother replying.

Surf Science by Tony Butt is a great book to get hold and digest cover to cover to understand forecasting a bit better.

gme · July 27, 2011, 10:37:35 am

MSW is a great tool to get a bit of an overview of what is potentially happening in the week ahead but being computer generated it is just an overview. I use it to get an indication then dig deeper to get the facts. Even then i can be very wrong just as the weather forecast can be.

MSW site is really good if you get away from the summary pages and all the info you need is on there, people just need to learn how to use it.

The swell this weekend was a classic example where not enough consideration was given to the local winds and also the fact it was a neap tide massively effects the waves. MSW actually says this in there article on what the star system takes into account.

If people had actually taken off there rose tinted specs they would have seen that MSW actually got it pretty much spot on. They never gave anything more than three stars and even then they were not fully coloured in meaning that the quality will be effected by the local winds. If you actually read the description of the star system it describes 3 stars as a reasonably good day ie average, 2 stars as ok if your desperate and 1 star as just about surfable. I think the last weekend was 2 stars with Mon am being 3.

However as everyone is a bit wave starved at the minute ,they saw 6-8ft at 10 secs, cancelled work, the wife, the kids and the dogs vet appointment, text there mates, twittered there excitement,posted on a few chat rooms then jumped in there vans and joined the convoy to disappointment.

Falling Down · July 27, 2011, 11:17:49 am

Quote from: gme on July 27, 2011, 10:37:35 am

they saw 6-8ft at 10 secs, cancelled work, the wife, the kids and the dogs vet appointment, text there mates, twittered there excitement, posted on a few chat rooms then jumped in there vans and joined the convoy to disappointment.

you should have that as your signature!

Probes · July 27, 2011, 03:42:08 pm

You know when some photo's just give you a sharp intake of breath... and your balls hurt cause they are trying to migrate through your pelvis

SA Chris · July 27, 2011, 03:51:17 pm

I think you mean this

Ballsy!

As an aside, this looks quite cool

http://magicseaweed.com/video/flvplayer.php?id=3048

Hopefully better than the underwhelming Cold Rush.

Probes · July 27, 2011, 04:08:38 pm

Eh jez i fucked that up again.

Yeah.. it does, Brims is mega, as obviously is Thurso, Brims is just foreboding. Assume thats a vid to come out soon?

SA Chris · July 27, 2011, 04:14:43 pm

Yeah, they got a page on facebook. Hopefully it won't all be brims and TE. From the trailer it doesn't look like it.

Probes · July 27, 2011, 04:22:26 pm

Yeah i know what you mean, im not that down with many surf vids, its always been the big 2 in them in Scotland.

gme · August 01, 2011, 08:54:20 am

Great article on surfline about the connection between surfing and skating. In three parts with more to follow.

Part 1 - you can link the others from there.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/the-surf-skate-connection-chapter-one_56105/

philo · August 05, 2011, 04:15:04 am

and here we go again....

SA Chris · August 05, 2011, 08:23:56 am

"Wow look at all those stars!"

granticus · August 05, 2011, 02:07:32 pm

Quote from: SA Chris on August 05, 2011, 08:23:56 am

"Wow look at all those stars!"

Huh!? Oh I get it now, got some juice coming East side next week have you?

The atlantic hurricane season is starting, here's hoping that one of those low pressure systems tracks a little further south, so we can have something other than 1 to 2ft down here for a change. Not that I begrudge you folks getting some swell whilst the water/weather is a little warmer. Low tide Combesgate session on this arvo, warm and sunny 2ft ish light wind

Idol eyes · August 05, 2011, 02:28:34 pm

Its all about the Azores low? been a great summer for surf in the South West... back at work for the next couple of weeks!

SA Chris · August 05, 2011, 02:33:06 pm

Aye, but it's actually a reference to the conditions we had a few weeks ago where loads of people got giddy about the number of stars on MSW, but it was blown out to buggery in most places. Looks like this might be similar.

Even if it isn't as sod's law would have it I've got a ridiculously busy week next week, no chance of late starts or 3 hour lunch breaks.

Autumn is not far off though! Hurricane season is a coming; Emily didn't do much, but if a couple of them could track across the Atlantic, up past Iceland and hang around Norway, that would be fab.

dobbin · August 09, 2011, 12:50:22 pm

if you had the power, this evening/tomorrow morning on the north east looks to make the best of the current conditions.

SA Chris · August 09, 2011, 12:57:26 pm

Yup, if it aint a blown out mess up here and I can get out the office at decent hour.

Might even be enough juice to get my local break working; get to actually surf it for the first time since New Year 2007.

philo · August 09, 2011, 02:06:18 pm

this morning at the SE facing end of sland was super clean. waves were a bit close together but had a really nice shape - yesterday there was a little wave but went to check a more remote spot to find about 10 people on it - sour.
Getting back in this evening, the wind is forecast to drop woop