Blighty

Back in the UK for a week and true to form it is absolutely pissing it down. Grey, overcast, wet, cold. But the scenery is stunning. I'd forgotten how the patchwork quilt of greens divide the land into neat little parcels that somehow soften the hills and seem to accentuate a level of calm and wildness even though these divisions demonstrate about as much taming of the landscape as you can possibly get.

Plenty of surf tomorrow but strong onshore winds with it so it's fairly low quality wind swell. Needless to say, we'll still go in.

Spooked

Grey and overcast with leaden heavy skies that dipped down to the horizon. Brisk offshores that pulled a chunk off the top of the wave and created that characteristic long hiss after the wave had ominously rumbled past. Buckets of rain that turned the water a dark grey-green. A straight-in swell with lots of power driving strong rips and a light, rippling chop to an otherwise flawless ocean. And a dead calmness of manageable sets between sneakers that spun in at least twice the size of the in-betweeners.

This combination of conditions almost exactly matched an experience I had several years back (pushing 20 years back now) where I had the distinctly unpleasant experience of being held as an underwater hostage for two waves at a lesser known spot in North Wales. The only variation to the above was the water temperature which hung at a frigid 6 degrees C. It would be too dramatic to say I almost drowned but I was certainly seeing spots and clawing for an ocean's surface that never seemed to come.

This memory did it's own clawing in my psyche and conspired to leave me standing on the beach whilst Marcus went out to do battle with the hefty surf. Strange thing was that it was definitely much smaller than the swell of a couple of weeks ago but on that day the sun was shining, the water sparkled with a turquoise blue and everything seemed much friendlier. Such is the way of these strange fears we hold hidden away.

Three weeks ago. Sun's shining. In like a shot.

Last Saturday. Ominous. Watched from the beach.

Nemesis

Anyone who read the post Mexican Stand Off a few weeks back will have noted the somewhat creepy stare down from one of the beach locals. Seeing it once was just an interesting observation. Today he was back and stationed at the North end of the beach to try a new tactic, the low swoop into air brake and skate over the top of the head routine. Adding a perfectly pitched and timed screech on the upswing to maximise effect. I think diplomats would call this an escalation.

Artsy

Get a camera, buy some lenses, take a few photos. Eventually you're going to wonder what you might do in a less high definition, super saturated colour world. No apologies for these early attempts at a delve into the murky world of black and white. They're definitely not Ansel Adams - keep those expectations low.

Airbrushed

Great day for photos with a really flat light and plenty of waves. Not everyone got it right though; have a look at the wipe out photo and follow the leash. Yup, he's in there somewhere. And yes, he did get tumbled over the lip and enjoy that moment of weightlessness before being smashed about like a potato in a sack.

Today was even better than yesterday with the swell kicking up a notch to 3ft and with offshore winds adding a bit more shape and lip. Headed back to the same bank just South of the flags, dodging close out explosions on the inside to scoot to the line-up just in time for a few rights and lefts. The odd 4ft+ rouge set kept it interesting though generally they were one wave sneak ins that cleaned up the line up without causing too much damage.

Rain has settled in now though bringing onshore Sou-easters with it so a chance to take a few warm baths and soak out the knots after staying in far longer than was sensible both yesterday and today. New wetsuit is working perfectly (in case anyone was interested).

Am thinking about investing in some new lenses as pictures seem to be losing a bit of crispness on the longer end of the zoom. It is a 20 year old lens though so it's probably about time to think about an upgrade. Any suggestions let me know.

The rights were the pick today.	Knee boarder (they still exist), racing	Concentration
Follow the leash...	Claiming	It's all about timing
	Looked even bigger when the groms got into it

Laden

The huge swell on Wednesday managed to rip up most of the seaweed sitting off the rocks at the North end. It most likely borrowed quite a bit of it from coastal areas both North and South of here too. It left the right-handers rolling into the bay with a distinct cookies and cream look. Just a little bit heavier and probably more on the salty side of sweet.

Most people seemed to be giving these ones a miss or kicking out before the inside. Not surprising. When the Summer ends and the first Autumn storms roll through the seaweed sheds even heavier than this. Paddling through it turns your leash into some kind of purse seine net that grabs as much junk as it can. Either way, it leaves you in the distinctly uncomfortable unpleasantness of being stuck in a shore break with what feels like a hundred tentacles grabbing at your arms and legs (medium sized not giant tentacles but nevertheless) and what feels like the inert body of a 100kg wrestler attached to your leash. It takes a steely constitution to consider getting yourself stuck int his position more than once.

Looks inviting..	...until it turns into this. Cookies and cream look.
Another one rolls in through the seaweed	A tiny one laden with seaweed.

To Succeed You Must First Fail

Seemed to be a bit of success and failure happening in the line up today. Get a good one. Get smacked in the head by the lip. Do a nice off the top. Get eaten by the foam monster. Didn't seem to be any way to avoid it. Well, almost no way. Pictures of those that made at the bottom.

Succeed	Fail
Getting air	Face-plant floater
Sliding under the lip	Crushed
Bottom turn	Ocean limbo
Cover-up	Axed

There were some successes.

Getting the fins right out	Off the top	Sliding
The rights in the corner keep on coming	Another off the top	Waving goodbye to the crowd

Grimy

Small, a tad murky - looking under your feet for that dark shadow - slightly on the small side but still fun when you got the right one. Shots are all a bit on the dark and moody side as the waves were matched with an unusually leaden sky.

A small, lumpy one in the corner

There were barrels if you looked

Nicely formed rights

Lucky Dip

Lucky enough to sneak a trip to the Maldives on the way back from Europe in July; the place really is amazing. Headed to South Atoll as been hearing increasing reports of over-crowding and increasing problems in the North Atoll way.

It isn't a first visit here (most definitely not the last) and was blessed with good waves at Yin Yang, a right hander that's on the edge of Laamu Atoll in the South. More details on the spots below the photos.

The island also ended up being the final resting place of the much loved, and much used Nev. I bought this board back in 2003 on our initial trip to Australia and it's done well; multiple trips to Bali, Europe, and the US. Left if for the locals to use and enjoy.

Lots of mysto spots on the flight down	Transport on the island	View from the breakfast table
One of the real locals	Island hideaway	Sunset sky
Simply unbelievable out there	Thunderstorm	Nev's final spot (at the top). Next to the windsurfers (sorry about that)
Another thunderstorm. Short lived but impressive.	Filtered sunlight.	Yin Yangs
The inside section. It's a bit shallow.	Tucked low, running the inside bowl.	Off the top

Quick guide on the spot in case you end up coming here.

Yin Yang

• Summary; this is by far the most consistent spot in the local area. It's a right0hander with a football pitch sized take-off zone, a relatively flat reef pointing out into open ocean so the quality of the wave is really dependant on the swell direction. Which, since swells come in from a really wide range, from dead South through to more East, the peak shifts around a lot. This is not one of those spots where you'll be able to line up, sit and wait. You're going to be doing a fair bit of paddling around to find the right one. It also means the size can bounce up and down really quickly. In one session it ranged from 2-3ft up to 4-5ft in short spurts. It's a bit like a better version of Sultans in the North Atoll for those that know it.
• Access; unless your Laird Hamilton the only way you're going to get to it is by boat.
• Peaks; there are three peaks which generally connect when there's a bit more South in the wave. First peak is the outside; it needs to be a bit bigger to work (over 3ft). A lined up wall that's not that steep but is long. It looks like it's going to close out but if you stick with it, it generally holds up. Peak two is the inside bowl. A steeper, shallower bowl section that can throw out a hefty lip. Peak three is right on the inside. It's really shallow but very fast and the section you're most likely going to get a barrel. On bigger swells the first two peaks connect to give you a long wall followed by a very fast and steep inside section.
• Lining Up; it's a bit of a way offshore so lining up is tough though there's a bit of an eddy on the inside peak that you can sit just outside of. You can kind of line up off a radio aerial on an island inside the atoll but it's a bit far away to be useful. Just watch your position relatively to the peak is the best way and watch for that tell-tale sloping downwards along the reef that marks a more Southerly lined wave that will run better along the reef.
• Tides; works on pretty much any tide though low tide will give you less of a shifting peak and better quality wave.

Jetty C

• Summary; this is a left hander straight off Jetty C on the island. It's a very fast walled left with very long rides. The quality of the peak is completely dependant on the wave direction as the reef is quite flat.
• Access; walk / cycle round to Jetty C, walk and then paddle straight out. It's a bit of a slog.
• Peaks; the biggest trick is to avoid the creeping temptation to keep moving up the reef as it always looks like there's a better peak up the reef. It's a myth. Find a spot where the sets break and stick to it.
• Lining Up; although it's kind of hard to tell there are two main peaks. One that's pretty much right in front of the edge of Jetty C (there's a pole that sticks up out of the reef that's a good marker), and a second one that's a little further round the reef. As per Ying Yangs it can be tough lining up.
• Tides; low appears to be better but then it seemed to work fine on high tide too.

House Reef

• Summary; I saw this break a couple of times but the swell wasn't really big so it wasn't perfect. It's right inside the channel so needs a big swell to get going. Great for beginners and longboarders. It's another left.