surfergrl

white and pink

2009-06-11T10:09:00.001+01:00

three lil things

2009-06-10T09:50:00.003+01:00

Lovely morning on Fistral beach (though that Boxer was mad – why don't owners say sorry when their dog harrasses yours?). Found some sea glass.

These appeared from eBay, part of my Masked Ball outfit - the photo does not do them justice!

Got pooped on by a seagull, so it's my lucky day. (Er, no photo of this one.)

seal mama

2009-06-09T11:22:00.003+01:00

Wow, seems like it's been flat for ages, but really it's not that long at all. Had a perfect surf at Fistral last weekend despite a hangover. It was quite small, but sunny and peaky and I had loads of waves. A small seal (Baby? Female?) appeared out of the back of one wave and took a look at me, then dived and swam under my board. That's happened a few times now but never gets old! No-one else even noticed it. Yes I did pick my feet up, just in case.

Sunday was a beach day, cliff jumping and paddling about (finally in the 3/2), then sitting in the sun drinking far, far too much…

Having trouble concentrating today as a report just came in that Levy is working on this south swell. I have no chance of getting there but I won't be able to sit still all day now.

a few reasons i is quite happy today

2009-05-29T10:58:00.006+01:00

lovely perfect surf
sunshiiiiiine
fun last weekend down south
more to come this weekend, north and south
been paid
am the Country Life centrefold (not seen it, sure it's hilarious)
being left to work in peace
scored tons of freelancing work
going to a birthday party tonight with my girls
goin' dancin' tomorrow night (and maybe sign painting?)
think have scored a new 5/4/3

Divers in a RIB.

Pednvounder, mind the nudies

Masked Ball tickets

2009-05-27T10:25:00.003+01:00

Got some Masked Ball tickets for sale at the office or direct from me...excited already, perfect Glasto warmup!!

Lineup:
SIR VINYL OF THE FATTEST
GET WAXY/RESIDENTIAL DANCE HOME
SAMUEL J AND THE LIVING REVOLUTION feat 3CS BBOYS AND YML CREW
YOUR BOYFRIENDS ARE DJS
JAC THE DISCO
SOUTH CENTRAL

£25 inc. free camping, champagne, strawberries and so many possibilities…Levy clifftops. Might go for a surf the next morning...haha.

good day so far

2009-05-20T10:27:00.005+01:00

Sweet little couple of offshore feet at Fistral, 'Golf Terrace Peak' doing its thing... Made peace with the Resin8 (but it'll always be second best - just not lively enough) and had plenty of good waves. Feet cold though.

Then 'helped' with the board shoot, aka touching up about 10 lovely retro shapes from Down The Line. Would not be able to choose which to try first - it's between these two:

and there was a wicked purple one too…and the Byron Board…oh…

aw, fanks

2009-05-18T16:25:00.000+01:00

Best bit of spam ever received.

upping the game

2009-05-15T13:33:00.007+01:00

Surf picked up yesterday, from nothing to 3-4ft in the evening. Fistral was busy (always two guys for every wave) and it was a disorganised, lumpy, cow-shit smelling, cold new swell. A sudden roar quickly followed by wind which has ruined it today. I didn't get far but there were quite a lot of frustrated faces around.

I wish Mitch would hurry up fixing the levy-kisses in my quad. I just don't like the Resin8 toothpick, it's corky, and when I got a good right it just felt so slow in comparison (plus my feet were frozen, = painful cutback). It's too small for me, I like my boards 6ft plus and loose. Like men...!

Anyway I don't really mind, still happy I had a few more at Levy the weekend before last...one late takeoff steep right fast as. I felt like Layne haha. And only five of us in after the morning crowd had faded away — a touch of onshore sent them all to the north coast. Kelv lost his board to the rocks and I dinged myself and the S4, fook tis shallow, but makes me smile. And had a few at Hendra which blasted sand into my suit, ears, eyes... Have had some good times round that end of the world recently.

I'll take the blue house, thanks.

Explorin

can't surf :-(

2009-04-26T13:45:00.003+01:00

So one minute I'm getting loads of long rides, doing proper cutbacks, re-entries and even getting some spray off top turns and having a couple at Levy, the next minute I can't even take off properly. I know surfing goes in stages, but this one can fuck right off...hence lack of posting, as it would all say the same thing - 'getting to my feet with all the grace of a lumbering elephant with moon boots on'. Nor-appy.

Do have a plan - don't stress it too much, do loads of dry-land popping up, get fitter (2 surfs a day should do it, plus am running, yoga etc.). And just wait for it to pass...

london

2009-04-17T10:58:00.001+01:00

04-09 London cultcha

What the Welsh can do with sheep

2009-03-20T10:17:00.002Z

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!

rippy rubbish

2009-02-19T11:59:00.003Z

Went for a surf this morning, it looked 3ftish quite clean, one out. 5 out when I got in, 3ft+ but SO SO weird… hopped in at usual spot, massive rip to north, would have been round Little by the time I paddled out, so I got out and walked further up to South. I paddled out not far shy of halfway to South and got ripped all the way there, so two great big currents running.

There was an inside line of waves breaking then calmness, totally, nothing breaking on the rip. Nice 3-4fters coming through, the crest breaking but no wave appearing, just fattened out. The longboarders were okay, and there were some lefts looking all right right dead on South, but the rest of it was bastarding awful, so frustrating. Not breaking or totally closing out. I hate sitting in a rip, but there was nowhere else to go.

I lasted about 40 minutes, caught nothing (5'11") and gave up — too much to do today to bother fighting it. I suppose it might be better at another state of tide. There's hardly any wind and the sun is actually out, so it should be nice but it just really isn't. And when you've got a new board to try and had someone ringing up at 8am going 'Where were ya attack, you'd'a loved it!' it's doubly frustrating. I want my van back!

Another gift day?

2009-02-14T15:03:00.003Z

Ahhh beautiful surf! Van dead so had to be Fistral, but it was lush so don't mind. 3ft clean peaks, so easy to surf it today. Had three really good waves and one too-frozen-to-pop-up one. Long rides, too. First one was a beauty, popped up perfect and did three sets of carving turns on my backhand, and everything happened exactly as I meant it. Some days I feel like I'm useless (Thursday), some I feel I can surf!

Now off to watch the rugby with friends and a good few beers. Wales are going to beat England so hard! Nothing better than watching that while the rest of the country stuffs down overpriced meals and tries to look happy to be there…hehehe cynic ;-) Love love love…

fistraly goodness, part 2

2009-02-12T10:04:00.003Z

I'm putting my best shots on the CARVE blog instead of here at the moment, trying to build up traffic with a daily surf shot. But it's actually nice for the first time in what seems like ages, so I've taken a few today. Hope to get in at lunchtime…maybe…a few things to sort out first, i.e. way too much work to do!

Snowy Newquay

2009-02-02T16:16:00.002Z

Today is Imbolc, traditionally 'the quickening of the year', when winter first begins to lose power – not so much in Cornwall today! There is surf…but I'm not getting in it. Maybe tomorrow…

Nine Maidens in a Row

2009-01-30T17:16:00.003Z

Just wrote an article about another little foray into the myths and legends of Cornwall…it's on the Matador travel site.

Best thing to do when the surf's not great!

Vic Pool

2009-01-30T17:09:00.003Z

Since building some new decking which leans further over the tram tracks, the Hotel Victoria has given the casual (trespassing?) surf-checker a better view of their (?) abandoned pool. Almost as big a waste of cliff-edge as the Aldi being built next door.

Doesn't it just make you dream of what you could do with it? Parties, training, and a fast-track to the waves…

new gloves - lovely

2009-01-28T15:23:00.002Z

Fistral this morning — looks all right, but it wasn't! Just lumpy as.

No wind, good swell, bet it's lush at Levy — Steve's gone for the second time today! I don't dare abuse the 'surf when you like' privilege quite that much. Deadline Friday…

Sunny as today too. Just went in the Bay, Towan — pretty awful. Tide too low, I knew it would be, but hey. Checked it — no-one out, got in, 12 out?!

Just closeouts, closeouts and more closeouts. It's a big drop then straighten out, and more often than not it sucks dry as well, or if not dry then very shallow and sandy enough to scour your eyes out. Ah well. I got (and stuck) three elevator drops, and it's all good practice for other places that have big steep drops. Other places that then peel…or even barrel. Sigh…maybe Monday.

Shralp

2009-01-27T16:58:00.003Z

Fistral this morning…

By lunchtime it was looking pretty rubbish though — all the waves of two sets bar one closed out. Didn't fancy the paddlefest but so keen to get in I went to Tolcarne. Had an inkling that an hour's push would leave it on some actual sandbanks for a change.

Glad I did. It was small but peeling, hardly anyone out (well, it is 9.6 degrees C in there).

I got a few and felt much better for it.

“The cure for anything is salt water; sweat, tears, or the sea.” -- Isak Dinesen

Doesn't quite cure the let-me-out-of-here winter blues, but it helps! Had a eureka moment with an article (always get ideas in the sea), and caught a really nice left. I did a top turn and threw actual spray! Okay, not miles, but…a little bit of shralp, as my friend Louis would say…

I still have two hours of yoga to do tonight…I think I will sleep well, and dream of water.

Back to Oz?

2009-01-20T11:51:00.003Z

I think I'm an absolute shoe-in for this job, but then so do all the rest of the 2,000+ applicants…

One of my only regrets about my year in Oz was that I just didn't have the money to do the Whitsundays. I hoped to earn enough to go back up there and do a full-on skipper's course, but it never happened. Maybe this is my chance!!

Being as it's currently hailing outside the office window and I haven't been in the water since I was in Wales (howling winds, not lack of keenness!), I think I mught just give it a go…

tidy, boi

2009-01-06T11:46:00.004Z

I have been told I have been writing 'gobbledegook' (cheek!), so you just get a nice picture today.

These two intertwined trees right at the top of the woods are to become the centre of Tŷ Twt, my writing cabin.

staying home a bit longer

2009-01-05T11:19:00.003Z

what to do…

2008-12-23T11:13:00.007Z

Hard to know what to do on the last day before Xmas when there're only three people in the office, and none of them making any pretence at actually doing any work…so here's the list of the things I have done…

Surf check (8am).
Stole toast from housemate.
Poured Malteser fudge into a tub. Didn't set. Brother won't care.
Surfed 2-3ft clean South Fistral. Three nice waves, a few rubbish ones. Paddlefest - can't bear all the neoprene. Love the earplugs – can't hear shit but the sound of my own breathing Vader-magnified, they're uncomfortable under a hood and they're yet another thing to remember, but as I no longer have to shake my head like an inbred puppy to dislodge water every time I surface, 'tis all good.
Entered work approx. 1 hour late and dripping. Good going.
Popped enough pills to keep me vertical for next few hours.
Chatted with Steve about surf.
Swiped pair of boardies out of eBay pile.
Refused to take part in office cleaning rampage.
Reset tide watch.
Checked Facebook.
Texted Laura re: missing her in the surf and her new Adams. Not jealous. Could not stand a boyfriend who bought me a surfboard for Xmas…
Read +1, an odd but good skate/music/stuff mag. Pinched a few ideas.
Went to charity shop for trashy novel.
Went to Subway for trashy food. A Veggie Delight is apparently one of the lowest fat ones they do – no shit, it's got nothing in it. Then they ask if you want any salad. Better had, hadn't I? (Serves me right for going there.)
Updated my about page – wrong text been on there for ages.
Checked my balance. (Jesus' birthday is expensive. As are ale fests.)
Listened to Jason Feast rave about his new fisheye.
Listened to Rob talk about sharks in Cape Verde.
Brushed teeth. Subway is yuk.
Created a page for SurfGirl website. Think am turning into a hippy.
Wondered if the boss would let us off even five minutes early :-(
Made a few stars.

I am the master of frittering time away.

Porthleven Realm Comp

2008-12-17T15:47:00.003Z

They held the Realm comp (after a three year wait!) on Sunday 14th. I guess it was about six foot - pretty much on the borderline of what I'd surf in, anyway (maybe, if I was feeling pretty brave).

Sam Lamiroy won with two good barrels in the final, but there were loads of awesome surfers and it was a privilege to watch despite the drizzle and cold. Who knows who would have won had the surf club dinner and dance (and debauch) not been on the night before?!

Didn't get in myself, which was frustrating, but it was a good day anyway. Can learn a lot just from being around great surfers…and the fire in the Ship was lovely too!

The peak at the end of the wall was really good too, with loads of spongers on it. The small boat is apparently being piloted by 'Bodger' (I think that's what my friend said). The big one - more of a mystery, but it's been enjoying a view of Levy for about a week now.

little mermaid

2008-12-17T13:42:00.001Z

A print a day: Little Mermaid

This is beautiful...