cornwall | Dom Moore's Surf Sanctuary Blog

Facebook button

Linkedin button

Stumbleupon button

Tag Archive: cornwall

Total Immersion: A Cornish kitesurfing holiday
May 8, 2013 10:56 am Leave a Comment
I am delighted announce the details of Total Immersion, a trip designed to take you away from it all so you can concentrate purely on your kitesurfing at the best locations around Cornwall.

Heading down a quiet peninsula in search of somewhere special…

30th-4th October

5 nights 5* self catering

5 days coaching and exploration

6 places

£295 per person based on twin room sharing (and kiting couples)

£350 per person based on single room occupancy

£25 per night supplement for non-kiting other halves who want a holiday

Early October is the pinnacle of the surfkiting calender in Cornwall. The first of the Autumnal long distance swells are ranging in across the Atlantic, steady tropical maritime winds are fanning the waves and the beaches are once again returning to the slow, mellow tempo that only kitesurfers and the wildlife will know.

Roam through the wilderness

Each day we will go to the best location for the conditions and ride till we get our fill. This is where the knowledge I have built up about the Cornish coastlines (we have two!) over the years comes into play; there are many rare jewels to discover but without an intimate understanding of the elements at play they can easily slip by unnoticed.

People discover that each swell has its own mood when they start tapping into the rhythm and flow. Being free to immerse in the quest of discovering waves with good people for a few days is one of the simplest joys in a kitesurfer’s life.

One of a kiter’s other great pleasures must be looking at a wind and swell forecast in the evening, pouring over a detailed local map and sharing the excitement of the next day on the water with new friends…

The accommodation

Our home base for Total Immersion is a 5 star self catering home designed from the ground up for the ultimate Cornish holiday experience. After a full day on the water, imagine coming home to a home to the comforts of a hot tub, the highest standards of furniture and homeware, bright open chillout areas, a kitchen with a huge banquet tale, and let’s not overlook the 3D TV with full Sky package, Wi-fi, state of the art audio and visual systems…

I think you will be delighted when you step through the door of our home base after your drive down to Cornwall and contemplate the coming days of Atlantic adventure.

Where we reconvene, relax and recharge…

The feasting table. Hooray!

A space to reflect on that epic 200m right hander…

Votre chambre

A ‘life in the day’ on Total Immersion

We stir at a sociable time for the tides are in our favour this week. Fresh coffee burbles and percolates in the kitchen, juice is poured and breakfast time sizzles into life with the day. Jazz FM bubbles away softly in the background and kitey chatter gently fills the air.

Fuelled up and feeling fresh, the day’s plans are unveiled in the lounge. Via charts and virtual tools, we take a closer look at the location we’ll be heading to; highlighting the conditions we’ll find when we get there, the subtle nuances to know about, how to get the best from the spot and what kit to take (all of it ) We also cover safety protocol so that everyone is briefed for all eventualities and can ride with more autonomy.

Then we zero in on a wave riding fundamental that can be applied to all our riding. This may be breaking down and visualising a core move that we can all put our own stamp on, or examining some of the essential theories of catching waves by the power of ripstop. These inclusive chats are augmented by excellent visual aids and accepted surfing knowledge.

We leave for the beach and have timed it perfectly with the tides, giving us a huge area to play in with no time constraints. All that’s left to do now is ride as you wish, come to the shore for chats about development if you like, or just revel in the freedom.

After our session we’ll get together for some lunch and a symposium about the day’s riding. What’s working well? How best to hit that section? After lunch, everyone is free to go for a second free ride session with me or to pursue the rest of the afternoon at their leisure and reconvene at the house later on.

Back at the house the glow of the sun and wind feels great on the skin. Refreshments are cracked open and lifted to thirsty mouths. Hot showers and a hot tub sooth muscles that have played hard. Facebook and Twitter updates are floated out into the ether; photos of sand dunes and cliffs and headlands and waters salted and green. Dinner is at home tonight, a team effort coordinated by the night’s ‘head chef’. Some nights we’ll be dining out at a local restaurant as we watch the sun slipping into Atlantic.

Parlour games, chit chat, kiting and surfing films, music, reading…these are the things that will take us through to a restful and well deserved sleep before we rise and do it all again…

Unravel the secrets of Cornwall’s most technical waves

An open canvass; what lines do you want to paint?

Perfectly formed peaks for the taking

A typical (but no less classic!) day in October.

Would you like some of that?

No wind? No worries…

I can’t guarantee you wind, but I can guarantee that no matter what the conditions, after this trip people will feel a greater sense of entitlement and belonging when kiting in surf, a deeper understanding of the swell and waves, and an increase in performance and a desire to do more.

To be in Cornwall in early Autumn on a calm day is a very good thing, for there is a strong likelihood of perfect, clean surf, just the right size if you know where to look, ready for the taking. Or surfing. Or SUPing.

As back up, I have surf and SUP sessions at the best spots on standby. We can score waves, paddle round headlands, up rivers, go exploring…

Ever been coasteering? Again on standby I have the most knowledgeable leader in the area ready to show us Cornwall from a perspective that only the sea bass and mermaids know…

Out of the water, Cornwall recently received 12km of prime mountain biking singletrack, and it’s free to use MAny of the local road biking population have sold up and crossed over to the dirt side so you know it must be good…

Freediving, hiking, bodysurfing, surfing, SUPing, mountain biking, coasteering, surf rafting, kayaking, fishing, exploring, beach BBQ, we’ve got a lot of options to get through if it doesn’t blow!

A light wind day in Cornwall; a good problem to have

Time to go for a paddle

Anything else?

That’s 1023 words you’ve read through so far so I won’t ask you to do much more, for bookings, all questions, enquiries, requests for further info, anything at all, please call me on 07540 155123, email dom@surfsanctuary.co.uk or leave a comment in the box below.

All the best and see you out back this Autumn!
Survival kitesurfing and the Ocean Rodeo Soul drysuit…
March 14, 2013 9:41 pm 1 Comment
You know those two really cold days earlier this week? The minus 7 one and the one after? The video below (keep reading, it’s at the end!) contains kitesurfing footage from both of those days. I’m wearing an Ocean Rodeo Soul drysuit and I’d bet that I was as warm then as you are, reading this now. Unless you’re sat on a train platform reading on your mobile device in which case I hope your train turns up soon.

Underneath this suit I am wearing my pyjamas Photo by www.neilwilkinsonphotography.co.uk

If you’ve never worn a drysuit before, it’s simply like wearing snowboarding outer layers over your thermal layer; or at least that’s how the Soul is. It’s a one piece suit designed to look like jacket and trousers so that you don’t look silly, and that is most important, for our entire Western Civilisation revolves around not wanting to look ridiculous.

As for mobility, it’s about as mobile as you’ll feel when you’re snowboarding…

The suit itself is totally waterproof; the Soul is built to the same specification as commercial and military diving suits. Cleverly though, it still breathes. So, although I’m toasty warm and building up heat through exertion, all sweat is wicked and evaporated away, meaning that when I stop for a breather, I don’t get cold from the chilled sweat (beware so called neoprene drysuits that are on the market, for they do not breathe). The Soul’s got pockets in it so I can carry around extra GoPro mounts and screwdrivers to fit them, and spare change if I need a cup of tea or a taxi, and I can put a phone in there, and some snacks, and layer up to cope with Arctic temperatures….so you can see it’s more than a suit for getting in the water, it is in fact a piece of survival equipment.

It’s about 2 degrees outside, we’re a mile offshore, and I don’t really mind what happens because I am warm and will get out alive

You can fit a Gath Helmet under the fitted hood (which cinches down to fend off hail storms) and fit an impact vest under the suit for extra buoyancy (the Soul has great residual buoyancy since it traps air anyway). With all that, I reckon your chances of surviving a night lost at sea slumped over your kite or washed up in a remote cove just got a whole lot better…

It’s always worth flirting with the rocks on the inside to give a bit of detail to the background

I am offering a guided downwinder service (point to point kitesurfing excursion) to certain clients as part of my Surf Sanctuary teaching operation. Clients have to meet certain criteria, and then I will recommend they wear the Soul during the downwinder for the reasons above. I have the Souls here in my kit locker; unlike wetsuits, a large Soul for example will fit a lot of different body types.

I could walk into the cafe at Watergate Bay from here, sit down, order a pint and not look overdressed compared to the technical clothing loving patrons in there

Preparing and executing a downwinder is similar to going for a big hike up a mountain. You need to plan the route, mark out escape routes, pack supplies, arrange contingency plans and communications. Set up a home base. For sure you need to know the weather patterns for that day too. I love all this type of stuff. It mixes elements of the outdoor exploration lifestyle with explosive stuff like surfing and of course kitesurfing.

I’ll talk more about my downwinder guided tours later, but for now, and at long last, here’s the video…
Big Wave Boot Camp #BWBC
January 18, 2013 5:30 pm Leave a Comment
I am delighted to announce the surfer’s Big Wave Boot Camp, a practical approach to surfing big (or bigger) waves with a European focus. This course combines ocean based and indoor training to help you ‘step up’ to meet the challenges of bigger surf. If you have a surf trip booked that you want to prepare for, have your eye on larger waves at home, or just want to learn about the world of larger surf, then this is the course for you!

I have teamed up with UK big wave luminary Rob Small to run the Big Wave Boot Camp. Here’s Smally showing that proper drills clear the way for big thrills! La Santa, Lanzarote.

SUP surfers are welcome on the Big Wave Boot Camp. Here’s Smally demonstrating some versatility under an Atlantic overhang

Location: Crantock, nr Newquay, Cornwall

Date: 13th / 14th April 2013

Duration: 13th – 9.00am – 5pm. 14th – 9.00am – 1pm.

Cost: £160 per person

Crantock Beach and the surrounding area are the perfect bigger wave training ground. Because of the versatility of the beach and the River Gannel flowing out to sea, you can safely recreate all the key elements of a big wave surf zone. Surf coaching from Crantock Beach is exclusive to Rob Small (owner of Crantock Bay Surf School) whom I have teamed up with to run this course – more on Rob in a bit. The theoretical elements of the course will be run in the warm sanctuary of the Cornishman pub, close by in Crantock Village.

Big wave guns are commonplace in many parts of the world. We’ll get you paddling and handling these magnificent boards

This course is for:

Big Wave Boot Camp is for surfers who want a totally involving introduction to larger surf. If you have some water time under your belt and would like to punch through to the next level, you should get a lot out of this. Similarly, if you would like to fast-track your understanding and ability in waves larger than you have tackled before, I would encourage you to get in touch.

A note on what we mean by big waves: Big surf is relative to the individual, if the biggest surf you have experienced is 3ft, then 6ft will seem big! You don’t need to be charging huge waves already, just be able to surf green waves comfortably and have a strong desire to learn. Any questions about suitability, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

You’ve got off the plane and are greeted with this sight…what now skipper?

Course breakdown:

There will be two thorough ocean based elements to the course – one each day, plus beach drills and classroom modules. We will optimise your experience in the water according to the weekend’s conditions:

- Big wave board handling and paddling (all big wave boards are supplied by us, but feel free to bring your own if you have one)

- Big wave mechanics

- Deciphering charts and forecasts: how to know if spot X will turn on!

- Moving around and thriving in the larger surf zone

- Techniques for surfing larger waves

- Mapping out a big wave spot

- Big wave equipment considerations

- Emergency scenarios: what to do when it all comes down!

- Big wave training preparation: stuff you can do at home, in and out of the water, to prepare

- Solidarity with your fellow bigger wave surfers

- Having lots of fun and laughs with like minded people on the UK’s first big wave training course

We’ll show you how to use rip currents and water flow to move safely around the surf area

Intensity:

There are physical elements to this course such as board skills and on land training exercises specific to larger surf, and of course surfing if the waves are there, but you will never be coerced into a situation you are uncomfortable with, and will be able to ‘tap out’ at any time. Being able to comfortably paddle a surf board is a pre-requisite.

In the classroom, we’ll be covering oceanography, meteorology, and examining various larger surf emergency scenarios. All this is done in layman’s terms in an informal way with plenty of time for Q&A.

Not going travelling? The UK coast is alive with bigger surf breaks; we’ll show you how to mount a campaign to tackle them

A word on Smally:

For the Big Wave Boot Camp I am stoked¹⁰ to be teaming up one of the seminal UK big wave surfers, Rob Small. Over the years I’ve taken plenty of mentoring and advice from Rob and can say he is he most influential surfer I’ve met.

Behind every motivated waterman is a flaming gallah of a dog. Rob Small will be co-presenting the course with me over the weekend.

Renowned surfer, paddler, and tow surfer, Rob started surfing in the ‘70s in his native Cornwall. For kids like Rob and his mates, surfing to them was like skiing to the Scandinavians; a natural part of living life and it’s that ingrained, instinctive knowledge of the ocean mixed with his professional, technical approach to surfing that Rob brings to this course.

Rob’s professional competitive career kicked off in ’85 during the boom of UK surfing, before he transitioned to professional freesurfing in ’95, which he still pursues to this day. Highlights along the way include being the first European surfer to be invited to an International big wave even at Big Wave Africa, Cape Town in ’02, stunt-doubling for Ewan McGregor in ’94′s Blue Juice, first surfer of the modern age to charge the Cribbar in the early ’90′s, and continually pioneering big wave surfing in the Canary Islands. Although Rob performs in all surf conditions it’s when most of the other guys don’t want to go in the water that he comes into his own…

Smally dropping into another Atlantic lunker…we can help you prepare for when it’s your turn to go!

Hopefully from reading this blog you’ll have an idea of my background, but just to prove my heritage, here’s a picture of me with my complete wally of a dog…

Me and Reb (right) during a daily eyeball surf check at Fistral Beach

Here’s me, Dom, giving it a bash and hopefully suggesting to you that I don’t just type but surf too

You will need to bring:

Clothing suitable for a spring day in the UK (anything can happen!)

Towel

Appropriate wetsuit, boots and hood if you wear them in April

Surfboard

Any recording equipment such as waterproof POV cameras, DSLRs and so on

We will provide any safety equipment if required

Got questions?:

Call Dom on 07540 155123, email dom@surfsanctuary.co.uk or leave a comment below. Cheers!
The clear seas of Newquay
May 22, 2012 1:21 pm Leave a Comment
We’re only now emerging from one of the longest periods of nada surf in memory for this time of year. It’s been around six weeks, which would actually beat most summer flat spells hands down. With the persistent light northerly winds giving clear skies and no rain, and a pacified Atlantic allowing the sand to settle, the sea around Newquay is as clear as I’ve ever seen it. It’s not a complete consolation for having no decent surf, but Fistral Beach doing an impersonation of the South Pacific is certainly is easy on the eye whether you are strolling around the headlands and looking down or swimming around in it as my neighbour Jackie and I are in the video below.
A photo a day till the surf starts pumping #2: How it often is
February 23, 2012 11:32 am Leave a Comment

Backlit at the Lizard

Here’s a shot taken by Mike Newman* on a typical day for us on the South Coast.

Winds and weather systems arrive to Cornwall from four main sources. Imagine looking at a map of Great Britain with the Atlantic on one side and Europe on the other. From the top right comes polar continental weather, usually cold and dry. From the lower right comes tropical continental, this is often warm and dry. Next, the lower left brings the prevailing tropical maritime weather, often quite wet since the warm air has picked up moisture from the sea. Last up, from the top left comes polar maritime. This cold airstream often gives us sunny conditions. Maybe that’s because all the rain has fallen in Ireland, or perhaps it’s too cold to pick up moisture from the sea, or a bit of both, but this photo typifies the Lizard coast kitesurfing experience as we head there on this wind direction.

This happens about twelve times a year, just like payday. And like payday any overtime you put in will expand the grin, and unlike payday you don’t always get taxed (although this can happen, see post below). Reckon if we learned to cook every type of shellfish in Cornwall we could just swap work for surf?

*http:www.ocean-image.com take a look at Mike’s site, living around Penzance he gets some incredible seascape shots.
GoPro HD2 camera arrived today
November 18, 2011 7:00 pm Leave a Comment
**Scroll down for video**

You may have noticed that many of the posts on this blog contain images and videos captured by my trusty GoPro HD camera. It’s a wonderful bit of kit and has never let me down, GoPro are often pushing out software (they call it firmware) updates and all sorts of mounts and LCD screens to ensure your camera is future proof.

This month, GoPro released the HD2. It’s basically the same unit, it uses all the same mounts and housings as before, but it shoots 11 megapixal images instead of the old 5, you can set the lens to 170degree wide angle or 120degree not so wide angle, it takes photos every 0.5 seconds in time-lapse mode and now shoots HD video at 1920×1080 pixels. It is basically bloody brilliant.

Here’s a quick vid I shot today in poor light. On the control bar at the bottom of the video, make sure you click the 360p button and set it to 1080p, then you’ll see the full HD power of this little camera. Ignore the surfing, I’m about a bus length in front of where I ought to be Plenty more shots and videos from this cracking camera coming this winter, can’t wait.

Link for mobile devices: http://youtu.be/Yz4-4WF4238?hd=1
Over powered on a 10m kite (video)
September 13, 2011 9:13 pm 4 Comments
I’m lucky to be running a pre-production quiver of Ocean Rodeo kites, I’ve got the 9m Cypher, 10m Rise, 10m Razor and 17.5m Flite. This is just swell though of course it means it has to be 9m or 10m weather whether it really is or not!

Two days ago, today looked like it would be 10m weather. Then today came, and it turned out to be 7m weather. Not usually a problem on your average beach break but of course ‘today’ we were off to the special reef break with its tight rocky launch, looming harbour wall, dreaded finger of rock just inside the break and of course the actual reef to get dragged over. These are some of the reasons I prefer to be adequately powered here rather than totally ‘lit up’, but the main reason is because it’s a focussed little wave that needs some precise positioning and tight turns to make the most of it.

On one or two of the waves here you can see that I’m a little too far ahead of the steep part where I need to be, but I reckon for the most part my positioning isn’t bad considering I was 3 kite sizes up on my mates who were comfortably blasting about on 7m’s. This is where your equipment comes into its own. I’ve ridden here before overpowered on kites that become too unresponsive and swing about when they are depowered to compensate for the stronger wind. This is simply because the more you depower a kite, the longer your steering lines become and thus the less control you have over it. What happens then is that the kite pulls a nasty swinging turn and then rockets off to the other side of the window, dragging you way forward of where you need to be.

Now look at my 10m Razor in this vid, still turning on a six-pence. I found myself at one point looking at it, seeing the considerable slack in the rear lines owing to the amount of depower I had trimmed in, and realised the windage on the rear lines was enough to keep tension on them to then get those big wingtips cranking out powered turns just as if the kite was trimmed right into its sweet spot. Pretty remarkable, and if you’ve ever paid attention to any of my reviews of kites in Kitesurf Magazine, you’ll know I find this to be a very rare and desired characteristic indeed. Unlike those few kites that had this, the Razor sacrifices nothing in low end – so if you think this it’s all about top end, please wait till I post some light wind performance videos up here to see what the range on the Razor is really about.

I know it sounds like I’m crowing a little bit here, but it’s my kitey and I’ll crow if I want to, crow if I want to etc…You would crow too if it happened to you.
Right, now for a quick video. I like the soundtrack in this one, the sound of Southend.
Alternative ways of doing surf spot research
May 22, 2011 12:06 am Leave a Comment
Taking a break from the Cornwall Spot Guide for today, we’ll be back on it tomorrow with Penhale, but I thought you might like something a bit different, so here are a couple of ideas for getting extra intel about a new spot you want to surf or kite.

Usually, when we want to learn about a spot we haven’t kited or surfed before, we just need to ask someone who has already ridden there. But if we are interested in a new, or ‘mysto’ spot, about which information is scarce, then we might want to turn to other more established water user groups for help.

Sea chart for Crantock. Depth in metres at spring low is shown by the numbers.

Here’s a snap shot of a sea chart that I have. It covers the area you can see here in Newquay plus several other spots up and down the coast in good detail. The advantage of a sea chart over Google Maps is that not only can you instantly see what angle a beach faces in relation to incoming wind and swell, but you can also see the bathymetry of the location. In this snap shot for example, you can clearly see the abrupt depth change around the area marked as ‘Cribbar Rocks’. So even before we’ve checked the place out, we know that there’s a fairly abrupt reef down there, which at less than 4m deep at low tide, could have potential for creating a wave. Obviously we know that the Cribbar produces waves, but it’s interesting to get a bit more info on what’s going on under the water.

Sea charts show you the depth at astronomical low tide, that’s the moment of the lowest tide you’ll ever see. Google Maps on the other hand is a mish-mash of satelite images taken willy-nilly, paying no attention to where the tide is. If you wanted, you could cross-referrence a sea chart with an almanac and then you would be able to predict the depth of water over your reef at any given time of the day. You’ll know how much beach will be left for that late launch. You’ll also have a better understanding of the ocean currents at work in your area.

Divers know stuff about what we want to know.

The UK has a large, active diving community and these people are naturally experts in what’s going on under our seas. Today I scoured my sea charts for obscure wrecks, reefs and shoals and punched their names into Bing, I’ve had enough of Google. The results that came back were all from dive sites. As I clicked through, I saw the divers were posting photos of the things they’d seen whilst diving these places. Sure, I’ve yet to see the grand panorama that lays bare the secrets of Spot X, but the point is these guys and girls have been down there. So I’ve started to make contact with the people that have dived some areas around here, asking for their descriptions of what’s down there.

Walkers know the coast path - and it's secrets - as well as anyone

Walkers, of which the UK has millions, have amassed a wealth of images and info about beaches and coves all around the UK, and like most things these days, it’s all up on the internet for free. Via a searches and leaps and bounds, I arrived at this stunning vista of a beach tucked up off the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall. Actually we have kited here before, but all we had to go on then was a road map and we had no idea what to expect. But with this photo as a cross referrence, we can see that it’s certainly going to be worth a go at low tide. This image is from a Flickr stream; if you tap into the right gallery of photos relating to the area you’re interested in, it can be like stumbling upon a goldmine.
Fluffers No.#2 a.k.a. The Cribbar
April 15, 2011 11:34 am Leave a Comment
First off, massive thanks to Tony Plant for taking these shots. Over the years, Tony has become an ally, a compadre if you like, in our struggle against real work and striving for spending as much time as we can doing creative things that we like.

That’s Smiler over on the shoulder, regarding my take-off with detached coolness.

This is a place I’ve wanted to surf for years, I even got the board I used shaped up around six years ago. But other than paddling out there once or twice on half hearted days, I never truly felt ready to give it a proper crack until this year. There’s a heck of a lot of stuff going on out there that you need to watch out for and simply put, the fear factor, foot for foot, is greater here than any other wave I’ve surfed or kited before.

‘Something’ down there makes this wave jack up tall

Certainly there are blokes out there that have paddled into this place at much bigger size, and there are the tow-teams that take it on when it’s simply massive, but at the risk of sounding pretentious, surfing is a personal journey, and if the biggest face you’ve dropped into before is 12ft, then an 18ft face seems pretty big!

Really like the shape of the falling lip on this one

What leaves me quite surprised is that waves of this size can be breaking at this spot when it would be probably half the size at Fistral or Watergate. The first people to ride here did so in the 60′s, but it’s fantastic to think that we have a spot like this within walking distance that goes largely unridden. I suppose people have their sites set on new, exciting waves further afield in Scotland and Ireland.

9’1 of board goes flying like a match stick

Kitesurfing at various places around Cornwall in larger swells is definitely a good preparation for paddling into bigger waves. When you’re kiting amongst large, moving peaks of water, there’s no let up or pause, and this makes you focus and make precise observations about the way larger waves behave. But more so, it prepares you for the speed and chop that you will encounter.

Right, well that’s it, till next time we get out there! Certainly the biggest waves I’ve paddled into anywhere, and I think that only the big waves we kited at Watergate in January 2009 (I’ll have to dig out the photos and put ‘em up here later) matches it for size, but they didn’t come close to the power or the schocking noise that the waves at Fluffers have.
Kitesurfing on a Cornish reef break.
February 26, 2011 8:08 pm 4 Comments
The wind came back today, and so did the sun. We had a 20knot north westerly blowing, so that meant a jolly to the south coast to a favourite spot of ours, a reef-break that was created when the sea bed was dynamited to make a channel into a harbour. Technically a man made wave!

A couple of tell-tale landmarks in this photo...

This place has one of the worst launch (and landing) beaches I’ve ever known. The wind is very inconsistent on the beach and there is a nasty shore break and rocks to body drag past on your way out. Once you’re out there, it’s an upwind tack to the granite slab or reef that the wave breaks over.

Hugging the wall!

From time to time you can see the reef sucking dry if you flirt to closely with the inside section. Smiler actually went over the falls today and experienced a little cheek-to-cheek brush with the reef, he was fortunate (as only Smiler can be) that the encounter wasn’t any closer.

An over-cooked floater - and a handy escape route

This is probably the best place I’ve kitesurfed, the wave isn’t long at all, and with any more than four people out it gets over crowded. But there is so much power and shape to the wave, it really gets the ticker pounding like nowhere else.

Flirting with the inside section

A great start to the weekend, or a great wrapping up of a lovely week which included a visit from mother dear who did some DIY magic on the house. Tomorrow is looking very promising for a Watergate Bay down the line session, although it won’t match the intensity of the spot we kited today, we should be safer to take some more risks with the waves. Ah, almost forgot, this was my 27th session in a row

Contorting one's body to better fit the pocket of the wave

A bottom turn

Kite is redundant at this point, it's all about the push of the wave

A later re-entry

Good old GoPro / Kitehero combo, where would I be without you!

Washed up at the end of the session, intact

Final note about the camera mount: I was asked recently if the Kitehero line mount for the GoPro camera will work with an RRD bar. I was using the RRD Vision kite today, so you can see the angle that you get. Definitely one of the better bars, nice high perspective and the clutter free bar doesn’t have any objects obscuring the view.

Switch to our mobile site