Definitely been a little slack on these blogs over the past few months. But it’s been a busy summer, and the surf has been plentiful so sitting in-front of a computer didn’t really take priority.
To start off, it’s pretty a pretty decent summer this year, obviously the weather wasn’t as good as predicted but did anyone really expect a sunny summer in Cornwall? I definitely didn’t. However, we did have consistent swell, which for me is what it’s all about.
The start of the summer started off pretty good and then bad for me, when I got home from Indo I had a couple of comps straight away. First up was the English, I was feeling fresh as I had just had a month away in Perfect waves. The conditions were solid ranging in the 6ft range on the first day of competition, and the final day was around 3-4ft, with light onshore for the whole weekend. My ideal sort of waves. I ended up 3rd in this one. The next weekend was the Bude Surf Classic, again with solid conditions, although they had to cancel the first day because a little out of control. The Sunday produced slightly smaller waves in the 3-5ft range, again onshore, which was ideal as far as I was concerned. I managed to win this event, so not a bad start to the year.
However after these two events I slowed down a little. I was having a bit of trouble with equipment, and my motivation had gone a bit so I surfed about once or twice in the next 6 weeks. This is very unlike me. My next event was in late June which was the Champion of Champions in Sri Lanka. I took away bad boards and had no confidence for the event especially as I hadn’t surfed in 6 weeks. I made the quarters somehow, which frustrated me, as if I was on good boards, I know I would have got further.
Once home from Sri Lanka I decided I needed to get sorted, so I spoke to Tunnel Vision and got 3 new boards shaped up. Whilst waiting for the boards, again I hardly surfed at all, twice in a months I think.
Once they arrived though it was a different story. I couldn’t keep out of the water. The boards went sick; however, one of them was a little more magic than the others. It was a 6’0” x 19 ½” x 2 ¼” shaped by Phil Hodge. Slightly shorter and wider than I would normally ride, but it made surfing exciting again. Especially for doing airs. The extra surface area in the board makes sticking airs so much easier than a standard board, also especially when riding in mushy English waves, the speed generated is immense. I recommend a shorted wider board to anyone.
So over the past few months I’ve pretty much just been working and surfing. The surf school at Holywell went really well this year, with lots of bookings which meant I could earn a few quid, but only to pay off debts. Once September came I had time of work to surf even more, and then a few comps came up. First up was the British, waves were tiny on the first day, but managed to squeak through, and luckily a little bigger the following day. I woke up with a bad back, which is a reoccurring injury for me, so thought I wouldn’t be able to surf. It eased up just enough though and I managed to get to the final, that’s where it ended though with a 4th Place.
I then had a trip to Jersey as I had been selected for the English team to compete in the Europeans. This week was kind of frustrating. I managed to get through a couple of heats, then came unstuck in the round before the quarters. The waves were ridiculous though. About knee high on the set, and this isn’t an exaggeration. I literally couldn’t do a turn, which isn’t what surfing’s about, especially when you’re trying to represent your country.
The next event was the Volcom Qualifying Series, again nice waves in the 2-3ft range, and reached another final but still only a 3rd place, but can’t complain because I drove home after my second round without checking my results as I was certain I got knocked out. Luckily a friend contacted me to let me know I was through. And finally my latest event was the BUCS British Student Nationals. There were 260 entrants to this event, perfect waves and perfect weather. I’d been surfing the whole week before and was feeling pretty confident. Six heats later I had made the final, although I hadn’t had one heat I felt I surfed well in. This kind of annoyed me especially as the surf was so good. I ended up 2nd to a French guy. He ripped though, but definitely frustrating for me, knowing I could have surfed better.
So all in all not a bad year for me, with 5 finals, just need to work on a few things and hopefully get a few more wins next year!
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