SummerTime [video]

As I flick through Howard's Fisher Viking blog, set on the North Somerset and Devon coast, wind chill rising and the darkest part of Winter approaching, it felt like the right time to finally sit down for a few hours to edit the footage from last Summer. This is around the same time I caught up with Jonny, Aggro, and Kath and got some great surf down the SW. When it's good, there's not many places I'd rather be surfing with mates. Moreover, and more importantly, at a time when things were incredibly hard, it was a real boost. This one's for you guys. Summer will be back. In the meantime, enjoy those long, long lines and epic Winter days.

Blackened

Dark skies and a flat ocean is all that greets us today. The recent rain means shredded seaweed lines the shorebreak with a heavy brown, sucking at your legs as you wade out. Only good for a swim today though even that brings its own refreshment.

Selfie

Seagull, waddling in from stage left. Pauses, waits for the surf cam. to finish its rotation. Looks squarely at the lens. Snap! Not certain how it intended to retrieve the image. If this is you, drop me a DM and I'll mail it to you.

Yoyos

Filming today felt like four sessions in one. Comfortable two footers intersected with 4-5ft bombs. Click through to see the video.

Poker Face

Long lulls between the sets. Ocean looks manageable. Tricky shore break methinks. North or South of the flags? More crowded North, not quite such a good peak to the South. Opt for the smaller crowd. Take a running jump at the shore break. Get stuffed. Sand politely shoved into the wetsuit from both directions, down the neck and up the legs. That’s going to feel like a free exfoliation later. Make it past the churning inside and there’s half a football pitch of flatness between the inside and pack. They seem a long way out. Paddle on through the ocean; a crisp turquoise blue, light offshore.

Out the back, floating in what feels like a no mans land. There’s a high proportion of blue and yellows; foam boards without the fibreglass, the long lulls and smooth ocean inciting them out. Many look a little steely faced. Tight lipped for the most part. A twitch on the horizon, the pack’s spooked and starts to paddle. Hold ground and wait, can’t see anything yet.

A set rolls through. Not pitching but a good size, the top end of 4ft. A huddle gets washed through, duck dive and re-surface. I feel like Luke in the trash compacter, surrounded by spluttering and unidentified objects. Sitting further out makes more sense now. Float in a spot beyond the crowd and wait for the bigger ones. Smooth, long lefts. Faster, glassy walled rights. A two hour session, rinse and repeat until the tide fills it up and its time to race through the foam and get reacquainted with the shore break. It goes much more smoothly second time around.

 

 

 

 

Dusk

With the recent run of shark attacks along the coast I probably won't be doing this for a while.