Greg Norman - Surfer

Les Arcs.......

2012-02-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a quality few days in Les Arcs, France. Only one near death experience involving a large cliff on a sketchy black run. Mad keen to head back for another snow trip!

Here's a quick vid from part of mellow blue run.

SoCal went SoQuick!.......

2012-01-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

I'm now sat at home with a mug of tea, trying to work out what time of day it feels like. The clock reads 00:31 and I've been awake for over a day but strangely feel wide awake. In my wide eyed state I've taken the chance to browse through my photos from the past week and reminisce over my little adventure.........

After such a consistent run of surf, at the end of the trip we decided to pack up our boards and head up to LA a day early. A cheap Motel6 was booked just off Hollywood Blvd and we were there, proper tourists armed with cameras!

We saw the sites, Venice beach, Beverly Hills, Walk of fame, Chinese Theatre, the list goes on.....

Hollywood was buzzing at night. We did the done thing of hitting up Hooters for a meal and then on to the pubs and Club. After a quiet chat with a pretty sound promoter we boycotted the queue and gained access to a rad club called Supper Club. The sound in this place was off the scale, sick dubstep tunes and huge bass drops were being blasted out by the DJ. $1000 bottles of champagne were delivered by abseiling scantily clad women and you don't get that in the Venue!

It was an epic finale to such an all round perfect trip. Here's a couple shots to sum up the final couple days.

SoCal......

2012-01-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Epic trip so far, California has fully delivered.

We've had awesome weather, the hottest start of the year on record and pumping surf.
Rumours were flying around the line-up that we were due the swell of the year. TV news reports were warning everyone of a high surf forecast and to be careful. 12-14ft forecasted for the west facing exposed spots.

Here's Surfline's swell map.

The boys have all been frothing over this constant run of swell and we've been surfing our nuts off. I haven't even thought about taking photos, but today was a small day, so we took turns to take a few shots.

Loving this place so much, met some great people, surfed some epic waves, eaten ridiculous amounts of food and drank a fair bit off beer. In the water I've surfed with icons and legends, Joel Tudor, Taylor Jensen, Rob Machado, Alex Knost and John Peck.

Here's a few snaps so far.

Leaving on a jet plane.....

2011-12-29T12:39:00.000-08:00

That's it, my bags and boards are packed. The alarm is set for 3.30am and this time tomorrow I should be sat in my condo in Carlsbad, California. Super excited about this trip, California is the mecca of longboarding and after this run of howling westerlies at home, I am so glad to be escaping to warmer waves.

Below are a few shots that https://www.facebook.com/PaulBlackleyPhotography took at this years British inter club championships.

Happy New Year!

This year summed up........

2011-12-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

Another year is nearly past and what a great one.
Plenty of quality surfs, banter, great comps, stag do's, awesome weddings, travelled heaps and bought a house!

Here's this years comp results.

1st British Longboard club championships 2011
1st Paddle For Relief 2011
2nd Gold Coast Big Boy Paddle 2011
4th Overall in League, Open Division Hotdoggers 2011
5th Longboard Jesus Surf Classic 2011
9th Gold Coast Longboard Classic. 2011
13th in British rankings 2011

In the past year (or just over) I've been lucky enough to hit up Sri Lanka, Portugal, Spain x2, Moroccco x2 and California in a couple weeks time.

Big thank you to Tiki, Elusive, Black and White and Obsessive Disorder.

Tiki trip Moroc 11

2011-12-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

After walking through the hail and torrential rain today, last weeks trip to Morocco felt like a life time ago!

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to join the Tiki crew on a trip to the land of the right handers and camels that is Morocco. Armed with a huge quiver of the bamboo and carbon latest technology boards, we boarded the plane at Gatwick to leave the cold weather behind.

Arriving at Taghazout, I was amazed to rock up at the luxury La Source apartments, at the end of Killer point. This trip was far different to my normal Moroccan experiences, but I wasn't complaining one bit!

The swell forecast showed a smallish swell running all week, with super light winds, but with the large amount of North in the swell we knew we would be struggling to score the points epic. I think all travellers to Morocco thought the same about the points and we managed to surf Killers nearly everyday glassy and empty.

A long trip 200km south one day saw us score pretty epic right handers. And allowed the Tiki guys to fully test the new boards and suits. Everyone was raving about the new Zepha suits and so far I'm bloody stoked with mine!

At this right hander, Tim Heyland (Mr Tiki) was sitting out back waiting for the bombs and dare I say it for an 'old' boy he was charging. Plenty of rum was drunk and epic stories were exchanged which kept everyone entertained, the week flew by and everyone is eager to head back.

JH Artwork

2011-11-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

How sick is this art work by my good friend Johnny Hentley. The lad's got heaps of talent and he painted this little beauty for my new house. Thanks fella.

Trophies.........

2011-11-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

This weekend saw the British Longboard Club Championships return to Saunton. Teams from as far away as Scarborough turned up to compete for the title, each team fielded there strongest 6 surfers and individual heat scores were combined to give a team total. With fun 3ft cleanish waves on offer, the Hotdoggers 'A' team (Myself, Ben Haworth, Ashley Braunton, Angus Murray, Greg Robinson and Phil Hill) won the event and kept the trophy at the club!

That evening was the end of summer party, a cracking mix of beer, carvery, music, raffle videos and presentations. Everyone had a great time and I was pleased to hear I had finished 4th overall for the season against some very talented surfers. The night got even better when in the raffle I won a free VW car of my choice for a weekend.................stoked.

Local Lowdown

2011-11-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

Local surf community Eyeball HQ have recently started a new section on their site, "The Local Lowdown". This blog style format keeps everyone updated with the news, events and shenanigans from each of the North Devon Beaches.

I've been tasked with the Saunton updates and with 2 of our lads Ben Haworth and Zak Lawton recently making the cut for the World Tour event in Italy, there has been plenty to write about!

Check out the blog here.......
http://www.eyeballhq.tv/2011/11/02/saunton-lowdown-oct-2011/

7 Surf Sri Lanka

2011-10-19T00:32:00.000-07:00

The time has come to start thinking of where to head for some warmer waves this winter. Super tempted to head back out to Sri Lanka again after such a sick trip last year, awesome waves, delicious food, lovely people, amazing weather and dirt cheap. What more could you ask for?

Here's the vid of our trip in 2010. Enjoy.

Jesus Surf Classic

2011-10-18T04:37:00.001-07:00

Last weekend saw the return of the annual Jesus Longboard Classic at Polzeath. The smooth flowing, well run event always attracts a fair few big names and then the free breakfast usually draws in the numbers!

With a £1000 prize pot the event was well contested with all categories maxed out and people being turned away. With a fun 2-3ft glassy swell running the 2day event looked like it would be a good one.

I progressed through the contest to the semi finals, where I drew French Senior Champion Nico Kerruzac and 2 of my best mates British Champion Ben Haworth and NDA's Dave Hutchings. The semi went well with some good waves and decent noserides, but Ben and Nico were fully killing it, thus ending my time in the competition. I ended up 5th overall in the comp, for the 2nd year running.

Final result -
1. Ben Haworth
2. Nico Kerruzac
3. Angus Murray
4. Ben Skinner

All in all a cracking event with great surf, plenty of banter, awesome company and we were blessed with sun in October. Big thanks to http://www.christiansurfers.co.uk/

Paddle for Refief 2011

2011-08-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend saw the return of The Paddle for Relief. The event is organised annually by Tim Tanton who regularly heads out to Sri Lanka to help victims of the 2004 tsunami. Due to my recent trip to Lanka and the friendly people I met, I was super keen to help raise some money for the charity.

I raised sponsorship to compete in the Saunton to Croyde and back paddle race. I've been enjoying my long distant paddles recently, so thought I'd have a go at this one again. The paddle went well even though there was an awful S wind chop, I finished 1st and won myself some quality prizes from the Board Barn and a meal for two at The Thatch (so the Mrs was happy!)

OD

2011-08-18T09:27:00.001-07:00

Stoked to be riding for UK tail pad company - Obsessive Disorder!

Zac Gibson

2011-05-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Young photographer Zac Gibson is starting to make a name for himself. He's a top bloke, a great photog and super keen. He's recently had a few shots published in the mags and fingers crossed a lot more to follow.

Here's a few shots of me that Zac's snapped recently.....

Facebook....

2011-05-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

Love it or hate it, Facebook affects most peoples lives. I admit I do enjoy having a good nose around at times, it's a useful tool for keeping in touch with mates. My Iphone beeped earlier to say I had been tagged in a new photo. When I saw the shot, I was cast straight back to Sri Lanka......what a trip, I have to go back!

2011-03-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

Morocco....

Another year, another trip to Morocco, It's like my second home over there now. The warm water, great breaks, short flight and cheapness all draw me back each year.

Haworth, Cal and myself decided to book up the trip and get out of dark and gloomy England for a week back in January. We were joined by 2 friends and photogs Si Enyon-Williams and Adrian Lincoln, below are a few shots from the talented Adrian.

A great trip was had, we lucked out a bit with the swell, but managed to score a few fun days. One thing is for certain, I'll be heading back out there again in the near future!

Elusive - Winter Sale

2011-01-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Elusive - Winter Sale

Just received a nice big Xmas present from Elusive, a nice package of clothes which should see me through well.

Loving the designs and quality of the gear, plus they've got a big sale on at the moment 40% off a whole heap of stuff.

So head to http://www.elusivesurf.com/ and check it out!

6,5,4

2010-12-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

It's baltic out side!

But luckily I have my trusty new Prodigy to keep me warm when this forecasted swell arrives over Xmas. Tracked down a couple swells over the last few weeks, which meant venturing to the depths of Kernow and to the S coast, but the trips were worth it and we managed to score some fun surf.

So far the suit has been epic, really warm and super flexible. Definitely gonna be having the hood up for the next surf though!

Elusive spono

2010-12-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

Stoked to now be riding for Elusive!

North Devon longboard supremo Greg Norman has joined the Elusive surf team. Fresh back from Sri Lanka, Greg ranked #10 on the 2010 BLU tour will be hitting the contests once again in 2011.

Home sweet home

2010-11-26T18:49:00.000-08:00

Finally I walked through my front door, 26hours later after embarking on my mammoth trip home from Sri Lanka.

The first thing I noticed was the huge temperature difference, crisp air and presence of snow. But then I took chance to take in my homely surroundings for a minute to realise the huge contrast from where I have come from. The street stood still, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, there was no hustle and bustle, beeping of horns or crashing waves from the ocean. I sat and thought of the people I have had pleasure to meet this trip, in particular:

Janeka and his brother Dipti (Leina) - the legendary tuk-tuk drivers who chauffeured us perfectly every day, which personally made the trip. Janeka also invited us back to his home one night, where his wife prepared an elaborate meal, including octopus curry and ceylon tea. We met the whole family which was amazing and eye opening to see the way in which others live. Janeka lives in a new property that has been built with Aid money, as his old house was destroyed in the catastrophic disaster of the Tsunami in 2004.

Harris - the Easybeach waiter who would laugh at everything. He was a saviour, not only did he bring us an abundance of toast in the morning, but he would also laugh at my jokes when nobody else in the group did (he probably didn't understand to be honest).

Sanul - a local ripper that I first met at Lazy Lefts. He would pull 360's at the drop of a hat and stick vert snaps, all on a board that you'd find hard to give away. We chatted a fair bit in the water over the trip, he'd hoot me into set waves and welcomed me to his home break Rams when I paddled out. He mentioned to me how he'd placed 6th in Sri Lanka this year, he stated how he'd lost a left fin and had been surfing this year with a centre fin there instead.

I decided to rally the boys together, where we club together a bag of goodies for him, new fins, solarez, fcs key, a T-shirt, a few mags and some bars of wax. Janeka took us to Sanul's so we could hand the bag over, I have never seen such a smile. The local ripper was beaming from ear to ear, we all felt good for it and I would like to think we've helped him out and put a good image across for us Devon surfers.

Now back at home, I'm strangely wide awake. Unsure whether it's the jet lag or the can of Relentless I downed on the way home to stay awake. Either way it was an epic trip and I'd love to go back, below are a few shots I got on the last day.

Not long left in Lanka

2010-11-23T03:26:00.000-08:00

Not long left now of our time in Lanka. It's been a quality trip, with great banter, fun surfs, heaps of food and plenty of Scrabble!

Today has been a highlight of the trip for me with some cracking waves at both the Rock and Plantations.

I'm now sat here thinking about how I'm going to miss this place and how strange it will be back home having to drive my van rather than just hopping in a Tuk-Tuk.

After checking the weather back home and seeing freezing conditions, I think I'm going to really enjoy this tropical sun set tonight.

Here's a couple shots.

Slice..........

2010-11-15T01:51:00.000-08:00

After a really great surf on Saturday afternoon, the lads were pretty stoked and keen to sink some beers and local rum - I happily joined in.

Once we'd had dinner, we decided to head to a party down in Welligama. With a local DJ, bar and plenty of like minded travellers, times were good............ but then Callum and I did the most annoying thing ever - stepped on glass!

Being intoxicated at the time it all seemed ok, the cut was disinfected and I didn't think much of it until I stood up in the morning - OUCH

Above show's the cut a day or so later and it seems to be healing well. Fingers crossed I should be in the water pretty soon.

Also on the plus side, the Mo is coming along nicely.

Loving life in Lanka

2010-11-12T00:58:00.000-08:00

Whilst sipping a cold coke at Easy Beach, I've been trying to figure out what I've had more of here in Lanka - Curry or surf.

It's a close call and so far they have both been bloody good!

We haven't had any epic points yet as a cyclone has recently passed by heading towards India, this has directly affected the quality of the swell in a bad way and produced less favourable winds. Due to this we've been heading for shelter from the wind to a place called Welligama. This horse-shoe shaped bay has dished up some super fun waves with long walling lefts and a few hollow rights.

I'm sat here in the sun with a big smile on my face, about to head off for another nail biting tuk tuk ride to surf again.

Here's something you don't see on the way for a surf at home!

End of the season........

2010-10-31T12:56:00.001-07:00

Contest season in the UK is over for another year. Below are my results, pretty hapy with how the year went, as I achieved the goals that I set.

2010
1st Bristol Open contest
1st British Longboard Club Champs
2nd Woolacombe Open
3rd Overall Hotdoggers League
3rd Porthcawl Classic
5th Jesus Longboard Open
5th Redbull Break 5's Event
5th British Shortboard Club Champs
9th Atlantic Games (European) Northern Spain
10th Overall British Rankings (BLU)

1st Paddle 4 Relief race
3rd Gold Coast Ocean Fest Paddle race

(A few shots from the year.)

Elusive........

2010-10-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

The boys at Elusive have been kind enough to send me some boardies and T's ready for my trip to Sri Lanka. Elusive is an independent surf and lifestyle clothing brand from Wales. They actively support surfing by sponsoring riders and contests.

Big thanks!

There's 6 0f us heading out to "Lanka" in less than 2 weeks time. It's gonna be great to get some warm waves, we're all psyched to go. Yeeew!

Top ten

2010-10-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

So the British Longboar Tour (BLU) is over for another year. As always, it was great to be surfing against some quality surfers, many laughs were shared and as per usual the final event at Gwithian was no exception. The event turned out to be a cracking weekend even though the surf was pretty poor, with many people putting in some sterling efforts on the kareoke, especially Greg "bum muff" Robinson!

At the start of the season I set myself a target of finishing in the top ten. After a few events I was unsure whether this was attainable after being knocked out in 1/4's by less than a point twice in a row. In the end it was all pretty tight, but stoked to scrape the top ten and bring on next season!

To be honest with me ripping like the shot below shows, I don't know how I wasn't top of the rankings!
Cheers to Adrian Lincoln of SurfTalk for getting this shot of me at my best!

2010-09-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hurricane season is here, with some meaty looking lows out in the Atlantic.
The south west of England has been blessed with some long period quality ground swell last week, which has been greeted with awesome weather and offshore winds thanks to that high pressure sitting there.
Good old MSW gave it plenty of “dark stars”, so the star chasing crowds were out in force on most of the beaches. After some really good surfs throughout the week, most of the local longboarders were setting there sights on the weekend, the final Hotdoggers league of the year.

We all new the offshores would be pretty strong, but as I rocked up at the beach and stepped out the van I nearly got blown to Lundy! Still there was a strong turnout and everyone was pretty stoked as there was actually a decent swell for a contest.

Throughout the first few rounds the swell did well against the wind, providing some tricky, but fun right handers. In between some of the windy close outs, I managed to find some reelers that I could put in a few 5’s and 10’s. I surfed well through the contest and took some decent scalps on the way. But as the comp progressed to the final the swell diminished, and it proved hard to find a decent set wave with good scoring potential.

Ben Haworth and Ashley Braunton managed to find these waves and grabbed 1st and 2nd respectively, with myself 3rd and Zak Lawton 4th.
It was good end to the Hotdoggers season with a BBQ on the beach to finish, cheers to Norman Wright.

Below are a couple shots that Mike Stevens manged to get of me in my Semi final.

My Mrs.......

2010-08-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

A cracking summers evening was forecasted, with a small but fun glassy swell on offer. But throughout the day at work, I tried not to think about it as I was sure I had to spend the evening under the thumb as the whole of the day before I was with mates surfing my tits off.
Much to my delight I had a text from the Mrs, saying "lets got to the beach and I'll take photos of you surfing".
I knew this was to good to be true as once i'd surfed, got changed and checked the camera, 99% of the photos looked like the one below.
But bless her, out of the 3 photos she took of me she did managed to get this one.......

Cheers Kel!!!

Atlantic Games, Spain - Rob Tibbles

2010-08-25T10:22:00.001-07:00

Rob Tibbles, North Devon surf photographer, writer for The Journal and all round nice bloke headed out to Spain with us for the Atlantic Games.

Surf photos are always hard to get hold of and to have a photog with us finally meant we might be able to get some shots, that was the plan any way. But as the Atlantic wasn't really playing ball, with a couple foot of swell the biggest it got, conditions didn't really prove for epic shots. Rob did well though and snapped the whole team, see below a couple of the shots he got of me.

Check out Rob's website here........................ http://www.robtibbles.com

Viva La Espana

2010-08-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Cantabria in Northern Spain were hosts of this years Atlantic Games. The team had been looking forward to this for a while, I was glad to have a week off work and hopefully score some sick Spanish waves.

The 24hour ferry journey over was very calm, the beers went down well and the boat barely rocked. This for us was bad news, a lack of swell!
We arrrived at our accomodation, a sports complex and were immediately greeted with plates full of food. The hospitality and food was great all trip, with a dangerous free bar at the athletes village.
The surf apparently had been pumping all summer up until the point at which we arrived, just our luck. So we had to head west to the local swell magnet beach Le Increas to score a surfable wave. Everyone was stoked to be surfing in warm water with the sun out.

Time seemed to fly by, and before long it was the opening ceremony of the comp, where Devon did themselves proud, with the awesome team spirit we had.

The contest was due to start on the Monday but a lay day was called. So it was a day of football an grockle beach activities. Come Tuesday everyone was ready for the comp. Day 1 was a mixed bag, with some team members bowing out, despite putting in decent performances. The standard was very high. I progressed through to the 1/4s, but got beat by Pazza (who won the comp), so that meant joint 9th overall for me. My good mate Greg Robinson, showed everyone what a good surfer he is (even if he doesn't believe it himself some times) by battling through to the finals, doing Devon proud and getting 3rd overall.
Things didn't end up quite so good for the fizzer - Zak Lawton, after smashing everyone in the first round of the juniors, the little tit only went and dislocated his knee!

Overall a great trip. Surf wasn't ideal, we may not have won the event, but we had the best team spirit and everyone supported one another the whole time. Had an awesome time and honored to be part of the team.

Big thanks to Isabelle, Cotty and Tundish.

It's been a while.....

2010-07-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

What a busy couple of months!.

Work's going mental, surf comps most weekends, heaps of long evening surfs and a fair bit od cider!

A month or so ago, i went to go for a leisurely surf at high tide saunton, only to be hounded by Mr Tim Tanton (P4R) to enter the Saunton to Croyde Paddle Race. I tried every excuse under the sun not to compete, but old geez didn't give up and even lent me his 9'10 to paddle (cheers mate). It was a great paddle, all for a good cause, with the sun out and the board I was on flew. I managed to win the paddle and bagged £25 voucher for The Thatch and a holiday in France. A good morning all round!

(Piece taken from the P4R Website - http://www.paddle4relief.co.uk/ )

Back the days events and the first ever race held by the P4R Team was won by the talented young, local longboarder, Greg Norman. Greg needed a little persuasion to enter as he had just come out the water from surfing and was without a big longboard fit for racing! It was a 9' 10” log from P4R Founder, Tim Tanton, that swayed his decision, and he never looked back as he blitzed the opposition to win a weeks holiday in France, courtesy of Errant Surf. Enjoy your holiday Greg – many congratulations. Chris Barraclough and Chris Dyer came in 2nd and 3rd respectively, followed by Welsh entry Tim Aylett in 4th.

Wooly Longboard Club

2010-05-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last week saw the start of the season for the Wooly longboard club's league.
MSW had predicted a fairly decent swell with moderate NE's, which looked ideal for comp at Combesgate. The morning came too, and the weather was attrocious, but due to the tide the sign was delayed to 11.30 am, by this time the skies were blue.
The forecasted swell never really appeared, which left us with a small but clean wave up for grabs.
A great day was had, with everyone enjoying some great peelers. Plenty of noserides going down and a great atmosphere.

The final result ended up.
1st. Greg Robinson
2nd. Me
3rd. Keeno
4th. Andy D
Fair play to everyone that entered.

A few shots I got.

Quiver

2010-04-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

Over the past 2 years or so, I have been working closely with Paul at Black and White surfboards to find the right boards for me. Below is my current "working" quiver.

Really stoked with how they ride, these current boards are slightly tweaked versions of previous boards I've had and so far they're are flying.

2010-03-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Facebook kindly announced to me this morning that the new issue of Corduroy Lines has gone live. Si Mitchell (the editor) promised me at the weekend that it was a 'goodun' and sure enough he was right.

Our recent trip to Moroc featured, spread over 4 pages, with numerous shots. A nice little reminder of a quality trip. My mate Phil Hill also has an article in the mag on Sri Lanka which has got me even more psyched to get out there at the end of this year.

Check it out - http://issue11.corduroylines.com/CL11_DPS.pdf

Summer........

2010-03-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

After what must have been one of the coldest winters I can remember, these recent southerly winds have definitely blown a little bit of warmth back into the country. With a spate of recent after work surfs and the sun making a few appearances, I'm almost getting carried away with myself and thinking about removing the gloves!

Any way, I was sat flicking through my pictures and found this one from last summer.

After a heavy night at the Goldcoat Oceanfest (see photo for evidence!)
Zak "The Jizzer" Lawton and I decided to do the Saunton to Croyde paddle race. Why we thought of doing it i'll never know. Both nursing mild hangovers, we arrived at the beach, to see the usual suspects, Cotty, Tim Tanton etc and a load of surf life savers. The criteria stated that you must race on a surfboard 10ft or under, so I arrived with a heavy 9'6 single fin, borrowed from the one and only JL.

There were 30 of us in total, ready for the race, the sea was like a pond (which made it 10x easier!). Both Zak and I thought we'd get destroyed, but much to out surprise as we turned the point we were tieing for first place with Cotty. Maybe we got a little over excited, because as we turned for Croyde, Cotty powered off like Greyhound after a hare. It left Zak and I to battle it out, I got lazy and tired and let him slip away to beat me to the beach by about 10m. Then as i hit the sand and looked at the sprint finish to the top of beach, I remembered "I used to be a runner!", sprinted past a gutted Lawton and took 2nd.

Both of us were stoked in the end, as I won £100 and Zak got £50. So there all those years of training for athletics paid off!

The question is, will I do the race again this year?

What a weekend!

2010-02-11T06:06:00.000-08:00

Last week everyone was starting to get a little excited about the prospect of pumping surf at the weekend. With a 950 dartboard like low building it was clear that it was going to be big.

The forecast held true and with a bit of north in the wind, it ruled out many more sheltered spots. There were plenty of excuses why people couldn't surf, injury this, gotta paint that, cor it's a bit cold etc.

Anyway, Ramon and I had some solid, fun and very long waves at Saunton, whilst Robinson and Ash, scored the point firing. Below Croyde much heavier and bigger than it looks in the photo, one taker and 45mins of paddling later he was still only chest deep.Later that evening, we sunk a few pints in the Aggi. All was going well pool wise until Ash 8 balled me. Gutted!

Sunday rolled on, with the next pulse of swell forecast just as the tide dropped nicely. Epic waves had by all, uncrowded and super fun. See below!

Moroc'n'Roll

2010-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

Xmas this year was spent out in Africa. Morocco was the country of choice. With EasyJet now flying direct to Agadir, there were plenty of familar faces out in the line up over there.
It was my third trip to Tagazhout, a great place with countless epic right hand points.
Keep your eyes peeled for some words about the trip in the next issue of Corduroy Lines magazine - http://www.corduroylines.com/

2009-12-15T02:20:00.000-08:00

Contest season is over......... here's my results for the year.

Final position on the British Longboard Tour - 12th.
British Longboard Club Championships, winning team.
British Club Shortboard Championships, 5th place team.
Woolacombe Boardriders Comp - Putsborough - 1st.
HotDoggers Event 1 - 5th
HotDoggers Event 2 - 5th
HotDoggers Event 3 - 3rd
HotDoggers Event 4 - 2nd
Hotdoggers League overall position - 3rd

Tiki

2009-12-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

At the start of the summer I got sponsored by Tiki and joined their team riders by wearing Tiki wetsuits. I have been using the new Tiki Prodigy suit, which is awesome, I was wearing my 3/2 up until a week ago and after 4hours in the water on a solid day up the coast, i still wasn't even remotely cold. A big thumbs up about the Prodigy suit. Stoked.
www.tikisurf.co.uk

NDA

2009-12-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

NEW DEVON ARMY............. www.newdevonarmy.co.uk

Check out these guys, a great company that support all things good about Devon.
Run gigs, promote bands, support local extreme sports (Mtb, surf etc).
Keep your eyes peeled for the NDA flag Cow.
I've been luky enough to get sponsorship from these guys and join the team.
Come on Devon! (far better than Kernow)!

2009-12-09T11:17:00.001-08:00

So the 5/3 wetsuit is on, it's dark before you've finished work, the solid swells begin to pulse and the weekend warrior title is restored. Winter is here!
The fun evening surfs are a distant memory, below are a few shots I managed to get from this Autumn. Cheers to Jamie Bott, Chris Stamper and a random guy who put a couple on MSW.

Fingers crossed for some cranking sessions this Winter!

2009-06-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago............. when there actually were waves.
I went down for little logging sesh at Saunton, with my mate Ben Haworth.
We met local snapper, Jamie Bott and he said he'd pop in and get a few shots.
The swell was small and really week, but at least it was clean.

Here's a few shots we got.

Black + White

2009-06-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Just over a year ago now, I was lucky enough to be added to the team down at Black + White.
Paul Waters is a top guy who shapes amazing boards.
Check out the site - http://www.blackandwhitesurfcoltd.co.uk/

Down End Point - Jan 09

2009-06-08T13:13:00.001-07:00

A chilly day with some great waves. I'd surfed the beaches all day and decide to go for a few fun waves on the point on a little twinny. The offshores were pretty strong and here's a couple waves that Karma got on film......

BLU Saunton - May 2009

2009-06-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

The British Longboard Tour hit Saunton, North Devon on the 9th and 10th of May 2009.

I had been looking forward to this contest as it gave me the chance to compete against the top the Longboarders in Britain, at my homebreak.

We were met with typical contest conditions. 2ft onshore with a dropping tide for the 1st round heats. I successfuly made it through this round and by the time the 1/4 finals were on, the surf picked up with the push, to good 3ft. This heat went well for me and so it was on to the semi's. The surf was now cooking with 4-5 foot sets pulsing through, but the contest had to be postponed to the sunday due to the setting sun blinding the judges.

I awoke the next morning to blue sky and a gentle offshore breeze. Straight to the beach, to see the swell from yesterday had dropped off. However a fun glassy 2 foot remained. The semi was a toughly fought affair, with everyone getting good waves. I finished 3rd in it, which halted my proceedings in the comp, but gave me a 5th place finish overall.

The final was 1. Ben Skinner 2. Ben Howarth 3. Elliot Dudley 4.Ben Howey

I received the Shane Hickman Memorial Trophy, for being the highest Hotdogger in the contest.

A good weekend!