On one such howling stormy weekend day I ventured out for a wander with my £5 eBay bargain roid for a nose around a spring low. This got me thinking about how much of an effect the big tidal range we get in Cornwall has on wave form: massive. Different spots come into their own at different states of tide and some only work for an hour or two until they’re lost again for another 10 or 11 hours. Low-tide banks make for heavy closeouts; a pushing tide has better form; shifting sand banks on the mid tide can see a peak come and got in half an hour; pre-work surfs are often halted in their tracks by a wrong one, and so on. Big tides really are a mixed blessing, but variation is key – it keeps things interesting.

The beauty of the tides in this part of the world is that you often get to see the geography that creates the waves. Pictured here is the gnarly slab of knobbly rock that makes the basis for a local gem. In the summer, when the tide drops out, the reef is crawling with curious tourists – families hunting for sea-life in the rock pools and kids mucking around in an old swimming pool that was blasted out in the war by American servicemen. All good, but the fun really starts when the tide creeps in and occasionally – when the conditions are right with a pushing tide, a northwesterly swell and light offshores – the reef coupled with the harbour wall creates a cracking right-hander that’s supposedly jealously guarded by its locals. (Although once the national press starting reporting it, turns out the whole thing was all a bit of a piss take, but for a while it got pulses racing and the localism debate raging on). The fun doesn’t stop there: the bend in the harbour wall means the wave kinks around, heads for shore and hits a high tide bank creating a fat wedgey peak known as the Vortex. Good for bodyboarders, death-wish shortboarders and spectators.

[photo thanks to www.cornwalls.co.uk] So, in short, tides are good: they’re cleansing, they won’t be rushed, they consistently create inconsistency, they keep us on our toes and our minds active.

Shunning neoprene for vintage knitted bathers, favouring brogues over trainers, and understanding that every cup of tea deserves a decent piece of cake are the prerequisites for entry into this select gang. But those with a few English pound notes in their money clip can purchase a slice of the rebirth of cool at the Revolver shop in Newquay, and now also available to all on that damn fine new-fangled invention, the internet.

Mr Isaac – please introduce yourself…
Ermm… “Hi, I’m John!”

Whenever I see you, you seem to be accompanied by the vast Revolver retinue – who’s in your gang?
Every hanger-on in Cornwall it seems!
There’s Jimbo (aka Chief Grom) who’s been with us since he was 12 or so.
Kev Elphick (who at present is a housekeeper on a large estate).
Shakey Pete, the bearded tattooist.
Jimbo’s own groms (Devro, Rows of Teeth & Watty).
Brad, the good looking prone hellman from SA.
Christiaan (Bathe it Daily) Bailey.
Elsie Pinnafore, Adam @ Trim, Mark (rowotents) Leary.
And not forgetting Marky, Perry, Jimi Newitt, John Eldridge, Neill Erskine, Lionel Dufau, Little Rich from Bantham, Candice O’Donnell, Sally Parkin, Friend Of Mine, Dan Crockett, James Parry…
The list grows and shrinks depending on whether we have wax for scabbing or not!

Where did the Revolver concept spring from?
It was born of frustration, a lack of regard for the past and because I wanted to be able to get hold of more alternative boards for my quiver.

What’s in your quiver at the moment?
9’9 Junod Pignar
9’6 Hynson Red Fin
7’10 Skip Frye singlefin
10’ Bilbo
8’ Eaton Bonzer
8’ Balsa Vee Bottom
9’ Experimental Squire Spoon
7’ Wegener “Finley” Alaia
5’ Wegener “Peaches” Alaia
4’ Wegener Special
8’ Wegener Tuna
About 20 old ply bellyboards
airmat
various handplanes

What makes Revolver stand out from the crowd?
A complete disregard for making it a business rather than a real surf shop, a refusal to sell just for the sake of it and being ready to shut the shop on a Saturday (retail suicide) if certain spots are on.

What are you rocking in the shop right now?
Handlebar moustaches, American tan tights, soul glow hair products, tweed hunting suits for Adam and a few other treats… Andrew Crockett’s new book, ‘Switchfoot II’, is flying off the shelves. Those trad English bellyboards are a worthy addition to any quiver, but for surfers who prefer two feet to belly, we’ve got boards from the likes of Michel Junod, Bing, Weber, Yater, Andreini and Squire.
Now that we’re online, you can enjoy a selection of the Revolver bounty without having to travel.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
1950s Malibu on a solid south swell.

A movie is to be made about your surfing life; who would play you and which other actors would play your friends?
Bruce Forsyth, Benny Hill & Alan Partridge.

Are there any songs that would have to be on the soundtrack?
My Boomerang Won’t Come Back!

What three things would you save if your house was on fire?
My family, my surfboards & my cameras.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
Special biscuits.

What will you be doing 10 years from now?
Smoking a pipe.

Pet hates?
Big swell with big winds.

Of what are you proudest?
My family.

If you had to have a motto, what would it be?
Let them eat cake!

What is Seed Surf Company??
Seed is a culmination of everything I love doing really. It was born out of my passion for quality and uniqueness, and it grew (excuse the pun) out of my hobby: making boards for me and my friends.
Each board is 100% hand-shaped then glassed and finished in-house; same goes for the skates and the organic, art-driven clothing. Everything is produced on the premises. When I got the chance to open the shop I wanted it to be a friendly place. Somewhere people could check out boards, order a custom, pick up a tee, check out the art. I wanted the shop front to represent what was going on out the back in the factory.

How did you get into shaping and who was/is your inspiration?
That’s a big question! I started making skates when I was 12 after seeing guys surfing on trips to Barbados and Florida. Because I was landlocked I decided I was gonna surf the streets. It sounds pretty corny now, but I think I called the first board I made a skurf board!
My first experience of surfboard shaping was watching Jools at Gulfstream – it focussed me on what I really wanted to do. Shortly after that I moved to Cornwall and got a workshop opposite shaper Matt Bevis, who was shaping for Revolver at the time. I did a bit of spray work and pinstriping for him and got to sit in and watch him shape and his glasser Rob do the tint work. So they were a big influence on me. From that I started mowing a bit of foam, playing round with different shapes and learning about different shapers.
I was 19 when I finished my first singlefin; I carried on making boards for myself and my friends, and I also started glassing my skates playing around with different lay ups.
My influences in shaping terms have definitely changed over the years, but the quality and craftsmanship I learnt when restoring cars with my pa has always been a constant. Nowadays the people I respect and who influence me are kinda split into two categories: the older guys like Skip Frye and Malcolm Campbell, and the younger guys like Dain Thomas of Sea Surfboards, Robbie Kegel of Gato Haroi, Josh Hall and Ryan Lovelace. Manny Caro of Mandala and Michael Miller are currently my biggest influences. Mandala for the beautifully finished boards and Michael Miller for going the whole nine yards – shaping, glassing, fins and finishing. The younger guys are bringing some fresh ideas, and they’re all extremely talented craftsmen, but I particularly admire the Campbell brothers for sticking to their guns: for 30 years they pioneered and championed the Bonzer, and it’s only in the last few years that they have received any credit for it.

Tell me about the skate decks…?
The skate decks are where it all started really; they’ve gone through so many different incarnations over the years. I was testing my first boards on the hills where I grew up, showing off how amazingly flexy they were and how you could just bounce on them… and snapped one clean in half! They’re a bit different nowadays!
We lay up, glue and press seven different shapes by hand – we can change the way they ride depending on what we use in the lay-up, which makes them pretty unique. Then we tint and polish them, so they really are one-offs.
The ply and fibreglass give them a real nice feel underfoot and a pop between carves. We’ve used different materials in the past, even building a superlight downhill gun for the Bude downhill classic in 2007. We used high-density foam that McLaren F1 use in their front wings for the core, covered it in carbon fibre and used up-mounted Holey trucks with 86mm wheels. Our team rider Tommo Clinton was up in first place on his first run at Bude before breaking his elbow on the second run! I think there’s still a clip up on YouTube of that one!

You have a pretty unique set-up, because all your boards are produced in-house – do you still find time to surf??
I do spend a lot of my time overseeing the print shop or in the shaping room, but I manage to sneak some waves in. When I’ve made a board I still get a thrill from getting it in the water, and if I’ve made boards for friends I really want to know how they go. There’s nothing quite like seeing something through from start to finish and being in control of every process. Running your own business does come with its advantages – I probably surf more good days now than I used to cos I can get a dawny and not worry about being late to work!

What’s in your quiver?
It’s kind of ever-changing, but at the moment:
9’6 rounded-pin singlefin log
9’6 singlefin log
9’1 rounded-pin big blue
8’6 pig
7’6 rounded-pin egg
7’2 Jethro! 1970s singlefin
6’7 1970s Bilbo
6’4 mini log/egg
5’10 hull

Can you imagine your life without surfing? What would you be doing instead??
Not really, no! I would have to be doing something hands-on, probably restoring old cars. I’ve always had a love for 1960s and pre-1960s cars. I bought my first car when I was 15 – it was a 1965 beetle, which my dad and I restored in time for my driving test. Then there’s the Seed van – it’s definitely been passed down from the old man! There’s something about the 60s – I love pretty much everything that came out of that era, be it surfing, cars or music.

What are you rocking in the Seed shop right now??
We’ve got a fair bit kicking about this little shop really… There are a few off-the-rack boards, some skates, all our own clothing for guys and girls and a few pieces from White and Nerdy.
We’re the first guys in the country to sell hats from Krochet Kids, a US company that’s fighting for change in Africa: all their hats are handmade out there and each is signed by its maker.
We’ve got handmade boardsocks from Odd Socks in Bude, which are made on a 1920s Singer sewing machine, fins from True Ames, a few dvds, and some bits from our friends at the Tea Appreciation Society.
Up on the walls there’s work from a couple of different artists and photographers. The shop has given us the opportunity to work with some real talented people and we hosted a couple of art shows over the summer for people like Keiron ‘Seamouse’ Lewis, Dan Crockett and Caroline Pedler.

How can people find you & get in touch??
They can come up to Wadebridge and check out the shop/factory (15 Dunveth BP, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7FE), have a cuppa and a chat. Or jump on the tinterweb and check the blog to find out what we’ve been up to recently, the Seed Surf Co official site or join us on the myface.

Looking to the future, what’s next?
I want to keep learning and progressing – experimentation and knowledge is the reason I make boards. I’m sure this is the same for a lot of shapers and I look forward to working with a few guys to further my skills.
We’ve got some things lined up for next summer at Seed – we’re gonna re-launch the shop with a couple of new surfboard models, some new skate shapes and fresh tee designs. Hopefully we’ll get some artwork/photos from Friend of Mine and have a bit of a party!
Apart from that we’re gonna have demo boards in the shop, collaborate with a couple of artists on a few board designs, and we’re working on a small snippet video. And, if I’ve got the time, we might create Seed boardies and hand-foiled hardwood and ply fins.

Any shout outs, props, name drops & last words?
?Best start with the most important: my lady Charlie for putting up with me, and my mum and dad for their support and guidance, especially when it comes to the business side of things!
Jimbo at Dream Sessions in Newquay for stocking some boards, Zaid, Ben and Woody of the People’s String Foundation for the music, El at White and Nerdy for his help over the years, Alysha for her fine paintings, Ben for helping build the shop, our kid JC and our lass Ali, Rich at Friend of Mine, Shayne at the TeaAppreciation Society for helping with promo, Seamouse and Crockett for helping with the shop opening…
The crew at Krochet Kids for supplying us with some quality hats/beanies and the guys and girls representing over in Oz: Tommo and Dougy, Millie my travel photographer and Steve, Mandi, Chris and the girls.
Seed hasn’t ever just been me: over the years it’s been all the people that have helped out or inspired me so I’d like to thank them and everyone who has been involved or supported us.

Most recently, thanks to the superbly monikered illustrator/designer Diggy Smerdon, I’ve been introduced to the work of Ollie Howe. I’ll let Ollie do the talking…

“I’m thankful to have grown up in and around the sea in South Devon. When I was about 14, I got hooked on bodyboarding. I had a great pack of friends to surf and hang out with locally down here and up in North Cornwall, but as soon as I was able, I began travelling in search of the images I had spent my youth staring at in magazines. Many great waves and cultures later, I’m now pretty happy riding any kind of board in any kind of wave – I still love bodyboarding, but I’m equally happy hopping on a fish, shortboard or log, whatever suits the wave.

I’d always been pretty amazed by skate, snow and surf photography, but growing up I was too busy actually doing one of those three things to take time out to document them. In the last couple of years, though, I’ve grown to love capturing moves on film just as much.

As far as inspiration goes, I’m always stoked by the people I hang out with at home. Everyone’s into everything, and they all respect each other’s different styles and chosen ways to ride. Heaps of my friends cross over from skateboarding to snowboarding, longboarding to shortboarding, riding bodyboards to fish.

I think that my photography is influenced by people like Alex Williams, a great local photographer who etched the path for most of the newer guys – guys like Mickey Smith, who’s capturing incredible images that just keep getting better. Appreciating other genres also helps keep things fresh, and I try to incorporate ideas from skate and snowboard photographers like Newsome, Brittain, Kosick, Barash and Blotto.”

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[Rick Kenyon: South Devon point] This is one of Rick’s favourite surf spots; problem is, it's a bag of crap more often than not. But on those rare days when it does what it’s meant to, he's always on it, riding whatever suits, from Bonzers to 9'6 planks, always the deepest and always loving it.

The last three weeks has seen some epic sessions go down. From tow-in barrel-seeking sessions in giant waves at Fistral to shoulder-high peelers perfect for longboarding, there has been something for everyone. Many classic spots that lie dormant for much of the year have been working – they’re packed with the mandatory crowd, of course, but if you keep your eyes open, quiet sessions can be found.

After three weeks of great waves, usual transmission has resumed. Howling westerly gales are forecast for the next week, the balmy late-autumn temps are fading fast and the dark nights have drawn in. So it looks like it’s time to batten down the hatches for winter.

Embracing the changing seasons helps you bond with your surroundings. It’s not hard: winter comes with many bonuses… The opportunity to surf spots that don’t work the rest of the year; stormy days spent seeking out that elusive spot you always heard about, followed by a pint in front of an open fire; the lower crowd pressure and open space, on land as well as in the water; expanding your quiver to surf winter’s more powerful swells; long, dark nights that give you more time to work on projects and, when it all gets a bit much, plan trips to far-flung places in search of sunshine.

I can’t deny we’ve had it pretty good of late. Living in the UK, it’s not often you get a solid few weeks of good waves, sunshine and offshore winds. The water’s still just about warm enough to brave it without boots and the air is unseasonably temperate.

Yep, when everything is on form, autumn here is great. More waves, less crowds, mind blowing sunsets – and of course less chance of ending up hobbling out of the sea on your heels after being stung by some critter with a vendetta for human soles. Or so I thought. Last week, the day before I was due to travel up to Winchester to run 10k of the hilliest stretch of Longleat Country Park for Cancer Research, I shuffled my schedule and, feeling mighty pleased with my freelance lifestyle, hopped in the car to the North Coast. There was no-one about. The sets were rolling in head high and the sun was out.

I hurried into my damp wetsuit and rushed down to the water’s edge, zipping myself in as I skipped across the stones. With what I now recognise as a reckless abandon, I thudded through the shallows to pick up speed for my paddle out when a searing pain rocketed through the sole of my left foot.

Now I’m pretty unlucky when it comes to surfing. I’ve broken my nose, cracked my ribs, been attacked by jelly fish three times and been somewhat sliced up by reef, but there is no immediate pain as intense and shooting as the skin-piercing sting you get when you stamp down on a weever fish lurking in the sand. It momentarily feels like you’ve rammed a knife in between your toes, then subsides a little to lull you into a false sense of security, before it kicks in with the full force of its agonising venom for the grand finale, which unless you get to a bucket of scolding hot water within 20 minutes, stays with you all day, no matter how many parecetemol you pop.

So I’d been got. In autumn. With the surf firing. I didn’t even think the bastards haunted our shores outside of the summer months – although since the incident I have been reliably informed that they are here all year round, it’s just in winter the majority of us have neoprene protection. However I knew the drill, I knew about the half hour gap before the real pain kicked in. I knew that while submerged in the salt water, if you were hardy enough, you could ward off the agony for at least a few waves worth of water time. And it looked so nice. And there was hardly anyone out. What would you have done?

So I stuck it out. I pushed on through. I sucked it up. I paddled like crazy for every wave because I was against the clock, I had a ticking time bomb in my foot just waiting to explode so I took every chance I got. It was half an hour of frantic, full-on, fantastic surf. For which I paid the price.

When I started to feel the dull ache creep up my calf I knew it was time to get out. This was it.  Soon, ignoring it would not be an option. Soon, I would be writhing in a bowl of boiling water, my foot turning pinker and pinker. Soon, I would be cursing myself for being so careless. If only I had trodden more gently, stopped to think, had stayed at home. But I didn’t and I hadn’t so I deserved what I got.

I deserved what I got, I kept reminding myself, the next day as I winced my way up vertical inclines in a pack of 1000 other runners who hadn’t had spiny stings rammed into their feet the day before. I deserved what I got. I deserved what I got. Because really, what I got for my pain, was half an hour of headhigh glass on a quiet, autumn Friday afternoon.

But then I always was a glass half full kind of girl.

Images courtesy of www.sun.co.uk and www.venncreative.co.uk

How did you end up taking this path through life?
Growing up, we were lucky to have a mum that wanted us to try different things and pushed us to be active and try lots of sports. I remember always doing something, climbing, swimming… I think I could swim before I could walk!
At 17, I decided the education system wasn’t for me and bought a ticket to Australia. I get bored quite easily, so surfing seemed like the thing to keep my active and restless side at bay. After buying a crappy 6’0, I was getting a little frustrated with the lack of progression, as you can imagine! I figured I was rubbish at surfing, so didn’t try very hard to master it while I was in Oz.
When I came back to England, I worked as a beachguard in Cornwall. I started surfing heaps more at that point – being at the beach all day, every day, it’s hard (and stupid) not to. I spent the next five years working the summers lifeguarding and teaching surfing here in Cornwall, and surfing the winters away in nice places. Working on the beach is great and I had heaps of fun but eventually I needed a change, to do new things, so the next few years I worked on building skills in other areas of interest.

It’s a bit of leap from surfing to sewing… or is it?
Sewing’s a funny one… I’ve always done it because mum is a really talented dressmaker and she used to make our clothes (SO not cool when you’re 10!). When I wanted a change from working on the beach I took a job as a soft-furnisher for a few years, which was really good for my design and manufacturing skills.
Then I ran a restaurant (I told you I had a restless side). I’d been a waitress on and off in the evenings since I was 13 so knew the trade and got offered the job so figured I may as well give it a go. It was good to do the business thing, but not really my cup of tea for too long.

How did Neon come about?
Well it wasn’t planned it just kinda happened – I wanted a long arm. very short leg wetsuit, but couldn’t find one anywhere so I drew a design and got Paul at Bodyline to make it up for me. I loved it, it was just what I wanted and heaps of people commented on it in the sea. I had a couple more made for friends that wanted them and they were stoked too. I can’t really remember where the name came from; I’d been surfing with my friend Nina and we were in the carpark talking shit and it came out of that somehow!
I spent a while working with Paul – he showed me how to make wetsuits and I helped him with his repair work. It was a nice little trade off and we still help each other out like that now – Paul’s ace!
I was offered an awesome studio space, so I took the opportunity and decided I may as well try it and see what happens. At the moment Neon is slowly developing its style, which is super fun. I’m messing about with colour and patterns – there’s so many possibilities!
I also do a small women’s clothing range – I started making the things I wanted to wear and got heaps of positive feedback, so Neon branched out.
I’m happy at the moment taking it slow and really enjoying what I’m doing. There’s so much to think about when you start a business like this, it would be great to do more research into using new environmentally conscious materials, for instance, but hopefully it won’t take long to find my feet.

It takes some balls to start your own business…
It feels good at the moment to be here, there’s a lot of very creative and talented people around me doing the things they love and making it work. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than a person who takes risks – not stupid risks like putting their house on a horse! – but, you know, people who aren’t scared to believe in what they want to do and go get it. I’ve wanted to do something by myself since I was about 16; I was too scared for ages but I guess I just wasn’t there until now. Trying things is what’s important; if they don’t work, it’s not the end of the world.
It does make a difference having people around you who inspire you to push on, and I’m super lucky for that. I have great friends to surf with and also to run ideas past. Loads of people are really passionate about surfing and the creative culture that runs alongside it; it’s a great scene to be inspired by. Mostly because it’s passion and belief that is the driving force, not money. Hopefully that’s where you find happiness.

What are you scared of?
I’ve never been a fan of wolves! There’s a mental guest house in Newquay called the De Wolf – the owners are obsessed with them. Weird! I’m not super-scared, but I used to dream about them a lot… They were trying to eat me.

What’s rocking your world right now?
I’m super-loving my surfing at the moment, trying lots of different boards, loving my Jacobs log, and excited to be getting a pig from Squire Surfboards.
It just takes a weekend away from Cornwall to remember how special it is. I love it here, and I know how lucky I am to live and work and surf here (a few more points would be good though). There have been some fun summer waves here recently, and the odd proper ground swell which is nice in the summer. I’m looking forward to doing some travels this winter though – it’s important to have a change of scene and get some winter sun and fun.

If you could be anywhere, where would you be?
I’d be eating a picnic on top of a hill in some warm but not too hot sunshine, looking at the sea but surfed out so not botherd to rush back in, with some lovely company… and ginger beer!

You’re a Howies teamrider too…
I’m super lucky to have such an inspirational company as a sponsor. I’m not too sure how I came to be part of the Howies surf team, but I’m stoked and I’m proud to be able to represent them. I don’t think there are many brands I could say that about. Good companies are few and far between, and the surf industry is lucky to have a few of the best ones in the world among them.

A movie is to be made about your life; who would play you and which other actors would play your friends?
Whoopi Goldberg would play me. My friends would play themselves – no-one else could do them justice.

Are there any songs that would have to be on the soundtrack?
Anything by Elvis or Bon Jovi. James Taylor ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ (a bit gushy but important); Marvin Gaye ‘Sexual Healing’; MC Hammer ‘Can’t Touch This’; Ryan Adams ‘La Cienega Just Smiled’; Prince ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, Bill Withers…

Which fictional character would you most like to be?
Mama Flump – remember them? They just wobbled around picking up rubbish wearing really cool hats!

What is your most guilty pleasure?
Bon Jovi!

What’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about you?
“You’re alright for a chick”.

If you had to have a motto, what would it be?
Eat well, sleep if needed, be nice.

It’s Tuesday morning and I am still in shock from the weekend’s series of events. Fortunately I am relaxing in the Brea Vean Surf House and have time to decompress.

I have been promoting wood surfboards for many years and for the most part it has been a long, uphill battle and, overall, the alaia has actually been the hardest board to sell. So imagine my excitement when I arrived at the beach to find more wood bellyboards than I could shake a stick at, and almost all of them far older than me. It was a like a dream!

The wood bodyboard was enormously popular in Cornwall and Devon for the first half of the 20th century. Many hardcore surfers would pack up the family and head to the beach for the summer to get as many waves as they could. The wood bodyboard was in its heyday.

Oral tradition says that the boards started out literally as coffin lids that stoked surfers would wade out into the surf and ride in on their belly. Then the boards evolved into the modern wood bodyboard, about 14in wide, thin enough to flex in the wave, with a slightly turned up nose.

Although foam surfboards and boogie boards became far more popular than the wooden ones, the core old guard never faded away completely. They kept the fire of their stoke burning, loving the surf every summer. Six years ago, some called for a gathering of the last few as a memorial surf for an old friend. Since then, the gathering has grown every year to become a fantastic contest with 200 competitors

It is most impressive celebration of surfing I have every experienced. It seems that it’s first about the respect for the elders that have been surfing for so very long – it’s a party for them. Second it’s a great day for the local surfers to let their hair down and enjoy the primal stoke of beach culture. Third, it’s an introduction to the world of wood bellyboarding for the curious. There is an elegance to the surfing; there’s a style not only to riding the wave, but to the dress, the attitude, the camaraderie on the beach. It is old school, and it hasn’t changed for well over two generations.

I was sooooo impressed with the old fashioned bathers that were coming out. My wife looked hot in a new cozzie made from the old patterns and fabrics. Many people have caught the concept and have been running with the stoke, and nobody has done so more than Sally Parkin. She has ordered numerous alaia from an original bodyboard maker, and is selling them under her own label, The Original Surfboard Company. I think we be hearing a lot more from Sally. (Thank you for setting Margie up with that bathing suit…)

Here’s me posing with John Isaac from Revolver. Some of the crew went a bit hard with the dress ups, but it really added to the atmosphere. It’s all about fun.

The contest started with 20-minute expression sessions. One for the men and one for the women, and the number of surfers in the water were about the same for each. The water is very cold, so that is a very long heat. Did I mention that there are no wetsuits allowed? Only wool bathers if you have them. Then the heats are five minutes and you try to get three waves. Again, the water is so cold that you kind of freak out when you step in, that is unless you are over 70 – they don’t seem to mind. There were a lot of long-time bellyboarders there; they just seem to keep coming out of the woodwork (ha ha!). The age divisions are under 16, 17 to 60, and over 60.

Entry to the contest is free, and you get a free cup of tea as well as endless Skinners Ale for a token donation to the local life savers. There are numerous competitions on the day including awards for the most stylish wave, best dressed, and a cake-baking contest.  My family and I won the furthest travelled, and Finley won the boys under-16 division. This is a big deal to Finley, and now he has a world title and I don’t, which he reminds of more often than I care to mention.

There is something really nice about the pulled-up nose on these wood bodyboards, because you can hold on to it and steer the board as you zip towards shore. I surfed one and really enjoyed it! Most of the riders waded out into waist-deep water and turned towards shore, pushing themselves into waves. They were having a blast, and this style of surfing is really quite enough to keep a hardcore surfer stoked up for a lifetime. There were plenty of examples of people that proved the point. I was most impressed with Charmian – she was in great form in the water and I was shocked to find she was celebrating her 86th birthday on the day of the contest. I kept taking photos of her and she asked my why. I said, “I think you are the most inspirational surfer I have ever met.”

At the end of this blog is a photo of John Heath and his old surfing mate. The coffin lid on the left rode great – I saw him do a great cutback. John told me he used to crawl through barbed wire and brave the mines on the beach to grab a surf during World War II.  He was recently most surprised to read in the mainstream press that surfing was celebrating 50 years in the UK. He and his friends have been surfing for far longer than that!

I now have a few UK bodyboards, and I can’t wait to go to the beach with my non-surfer friends and show them this way of riding waves. It’s really easy and super fun! The thin wood gives you such a good feeling when riding the wave; it is far better than a foam boogieboard in small waves and it is super easy to do. This day influenced me a lot – I’m now looking forward to having a cup of tea on the beach, looking stylish, and then riding a few waves from waist-deep and trimming to shore.

Thanks for checking this out.

They’re in Truro, Padstow and Newquay, and there’s even a Devon outpost in Ilfracombe. Timeless classics by the dons of surf art like Albe Falzon, John Severson and George Greenough nestle alongside contemporary pieces by Thomas Campbell and Harry Daily. Local talent isn’t overlooked either, with Sam Walsh, Andy Pearce and Robert Reader among the artists represented on Driftwood’s walls.

We recently stumbled across Robert Reader’s Polaroid photo project – his prints are on show at the Newquay Driftwood gallery. From the man himself: “Much of my personal work utilises polaroid film, capturing surf life and culture on instant film before Polaroid disappears forever. I’m drawn to its unique colour values and washed-out hues – the almost sun-bleached photographs have an instant patina. I shoot mainly with an early 70s Polaroid sx-70 folding camera, which causes interest wherever I am, especially going through the airport security! The film that most of the images appear on is now extinct, so each shot becomes even more nerve-racking as I wait for the chemicals to work their magic. Polaroid photography has a commonality with surfing, like each wave it is a one off, idiosyncratic and unrepeatable.”

Check out more of Robert’s work at www.robertreader.com, where you can also purchased beautifully framed prints direct from the artist himself.

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After three weeks of solid rain the charts for this weekend are looking good, though it’s not waves I’m hoping for. It’s sunshine and plenty of it.  Because I don’t want to be wading through mud as I listen to Dominic West talk about life as Jimmy McNulty on The Wire, sway nostalgically to Evan Dando strumming, bounce around to rockabilly records and laugh as the best spoken word poets and comedians including Luke Wright, Joe Dunthorne and Simon Munnery make magic with words at this year’s Port Eliot Festival.

And on top of that I’m hoping to pick Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s brain about cloud formations over the ocean, chat to Jamie Brisick about marrying writing and surfing and hear extracts of Dan Crockett’s creative fiction.

Who said surfing and culture don’t mix? I’ll let you know how I get on…