3 Before Lunch.

3 Before Lunch..

Id of preferred '112 Allday' but my battery died after the first 3 so '3 Before Lunch' it is.

12 Months Deep.. 2012..

Late in 2011 i thought id have a crack at documenting all the Windsurfing and Surf that me and the rest of the Southwest Wales crew were getting done. A year in and 15 or so posts latter and im pretty happy with where its at. So cheers for taking the time to look through it.

The original plan was to keep track of sessions but i lost count by May.. So as a rough guess id say its up around 130 days sailing and 120 or so surfing. From those days i thought id choose some that have stuck in my mind as some form of end of year round up.

1. Mid Wales Reefs.. November..

This place went mental mid November. As good as wavesailing gets. Its a fickle beast but the 1 in 20 ratio i seem to get at this spot gets paid off ten fold when it works. As the crowd thinned out and the tide pulled back the waves got longer and longer till exhaustion was the only limiting factor.

2. Freshwater West.. All year...

I moved to the village next to this beach for one reason. The surf has been good all year but 3 days in October were probably the high light. This day and the days either side served up the best 3 days surf ive ever had. Light offshore 7 foot at 18 seconds and wall to wall sun.. It was the end to an incredible run of conditions.

Have that..

3. British Wave Tour.. 

The standard on the British Tour is crazy these days. Half the fleet are World Cup regulars so 12th overall for the first year in the Pro division is more than i was expecting. Wales, Ireland and Cornwall all offered up something different but the Ireland leg was a standout. 6 days from 6 in the water either surfing or on the windsurf. Love the place.

Alf getting the overall in Ams 2012.

Proffit flying high.

Ireland Surf.

Thanks to Stenna for the trip and tour around the ship.

4. Surfers Ear Op.. June..

Ive suffered with bad ears for the last 12 years. It got to a point where deafness was starting to be an issue so i finally got them drilled out before my wife killed me. 

5. Aquatic Allies.

A huge thanks to Jim and Tanya at Puravida Boardriders, Simmer, No Limitz Masts, K4 fins and Patagonia.

Stenna also deserve a huge pat on the back for supporting the Tour and for hooking me Alf and Captain Cox up.. Thanks..

A good year.. 

Ive got something a little different planned for the blog in 2013 so should be an interesting one i hope.

Good As It Gets...

4 points of interest....

1.. You know its good when you pull a muscle claiming a wave. That's how good it was the other day.


The Puravida band wagon was rolling west on what I thought was a dubious forecast for this particular spot as its incredibly swell sensitive. Turns out that captain Brookes nailed this one spot on.

Probably the best day ive had there since i first stumbled across it 8 years back. Logo to mast and breaking from the out side bombie to the main point. The last one I had went all the way through to the beach. That's along way and a long time to be making turns. The longest wave I've ever had. I'd tell you how long it was but it would sound like bullshit so I won't.

Dej Serra is quickly becoming a standout. Fully committed under any size section. Some big hits out there fella. The whole crew were on fire all morning Jim Brookes, Jony Price, Pete Bird all had some screamers, it was like a conveyer belt of perfect walls. Classic watching every one ripping as you sailed back out the channel.

Epic day.

2..

Ross Williams at Whitesands.

Last week this man took a pretty average day at Whitesands and smashed it to pieces. One of the most impressive shows of waveriding I've ever seen.

3..

Simmer windsurf boards.

Every now and then a board comes out that takes the imagination of the windsurfing public, the first Mistral twinzers, Starboard evo 74 etc.

It took me 3 months to wrestle the Simmers boards out of Jim Puravida's hands. I can see why.

The Quantum 95l performs like no other 95 l wave board of any manufactures 2012/13 line up. Fact, I've used them all. I sailed it in the British Champs down in Cornwall a few weeks back in pretty dire conditions. It holds speed and hooks off the top harder than you could believe for a board of this size. I sailed it against what thought were the top performing 90 ish wave boards at Whitesands last week too, it's in a different class.

Stand-out, classic in the making.


4..

K4 Asymmetric Ezzy Line..

They just work better. I don't know why the board manufactures don't put more toe in as standard, it seems crazy after using these pre offset K4's. Noticeably better in a quad and essential for the majority of the tri fins I've used..

Top job..

6 Hours Of That...

Unbelievable spell of conditions died out with this...

Pic . Billy Webber.

Hands down the best waves I've had all year... Incredible day...

Consumed By An Ocean..

Funny old autumn so far.

The only true standout was this little session below..

That eventually turned into a touch off 20 foot.. 20 foot a 9 seconds = 20 foot chop. The entire Fresh bay was a close out but the odd gap was there so I sailed it anyhow.

60 minutes of chicken gybes, out running sections and frustration delivered me to a gap. Sets were breaking so far out it was pretty unsailable so I thought better of it. Still being a mile out and still feeling like its the inside is a pretty strange feeling at this spot. It felt like sailing in valleys of liquid.

The quality of riding these days isn't what it's about for me, it's just being the feeling of being enveloped by an ocean. Sadly I came a little too enveloped by it an ended up with a epic swim and a trashed rig. 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Modern Day Pirate..

This lives at the bottom of my road....

Hello Autumn..

Aquatic Allies.. K4 Fins...

Ive had sessions on these K4 fins the last few weeks that have blown me away. Its not often that ill try a piece of equpment and it work as i pictured it too. Ive driven these things into mast size and some, scored perfect down the line, i don't think i've ever felt something hook up quite like it.

Ive long surfed with a G10 alternative and often mused over the pros of their attributes. I could preach their performance all day, quad and twin but thats not what this blog is all about so ill keep it brief.

Stored energy?

Ability to over power them at will?

A few ideas ive heard talked about.

I dont know. Just feel right works for me.

Surfboard set up..

Longboard K4 Flex rear.

Twin K4 Stubbies.

Happy cat..

Sunset mist..

Cheers K4.

Top job.