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Tag Archive: Newquay

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…
Gandalf and The Hobbit
January 23, 2013 1:11 am Leave a Comment
Take a look at this photo. Click on it, then once more, you can make it fill your screen and then you can pan around it. Look at Tony Plant’s gestures as he describes God knows what to Smiler. Sure Big-T is talking about waves, but who can say what aspect?

T-Rex (right) looks like Gandalf to Smiler’s Hobbit as he regales him with tales of witchcraft and sorcery at The Cribbar.

These are two boys who surf, but I wouldn’t call them ‘surfers’ for if you met either of them and didn’t actually see them going surfing, it could be quite some time before either of them told you that they rode surfboards. I’d bet neither of them own a scrap of branded surf wear between them, and I’m sure as shinola that neither of them used any surf-speak whatsoever. The conversation was probably peppered with words like ‘lovely, feisty, tickle, lively, heart-racer, grin-expander…’, all pretty much straight out of a Noel Coward script.

So what are they actually like once they’re in the water then? Well, T-Pain amongst other things, has an illustrious CV in water-based surf photography, meaning he swims around with a waterproof casing over his camera to take shots of surfers. Tone-Loc (still the same bloke, just got quite a few pseudonyms) is the only person I know who has laughed, cried and been sick in the sea on the same day, and that day was at Aileens, that mental big-wave monster in Ireland. On that day, Tone was on hand to take shots from the water of what was to be a seminal tow-surfing session at the spot that had only recently come to the fore. In all the excitement, the BBC had somehow turned up, and crowded out the RIB that would have taken Tone out to the break. The BBC crew crowed that it was too full, leaving T-Rex on land, or so they thought. The-Plant pulled on his fins and SWAM his way out to meet the 30ft leviathan so he could take photos with only the buoyancy of his wetsuit for comfort. At this point, no one had shot Aileens from the water, much less swam out there when it was going off…

And what of Smiler? I’m convinced that there’s something going on with this bloke that doesn’t entirely add up. I’ve actually given him a second nick-name: Right Spot, on account of the fact that he always seems to be in the right spot to catch a wave. I’ve never seen anyone read an ocean like him – he just has an instinct for what’s happening and where he needs to be. I realised this early on, I don’t know how he does it, (it could be witchcraft) but I know enough to just let him call the shots regarding where or when we might surf. On one hand this gets me into more quality sessions than I would do, on the other hand it gets me into more scrapes…nah, let’s just keep focussed on the positives here, it’s really, really good fun going wave hunting with that miscreant.

There you have it, two blokes who look a bit like hobos and were it not for their gorgeous families, probably wouldn’t mind living like hobos either, but should you ever get to see them at full tilt in their secret lives, I think you’d do more than look twice (I’ve just re-read that, it sounds like they are gay – they are NOT gay! OK carry on). I could paste a hundred links and photos on this page to detail their heroics, but I think instead I’ll just keep a close eye on them and report any moments of brilliance as and when they occur. I won’t have to wait long.
With your cold bare hands
October 22, 2012 11:10 pm 1 Comment
Yesterday, the Cribbar was very much awake.

Opening my batting with a fast late drop.

Swell conditions were perfect: 1.8m at 16 seconds which combined with 18 degrees of sunshine meant the Towan Headland was packed with hundreds spectators waiting to see a bunch of surfers drop into some of the best waves of the year. This is good because you know that amongst all that lot there is bound to be someone with a rather fantastic camera and an eye for sports, and this day, none other than the legendary Geoff Tydeman himself was on the cliffs with what is probably the best camera set up in UK surfing. Or at least one of them. So thanks to Geoff Tydeman for these stunning photos, I’m already planning where to put the blown-up versions around the home.

I paddled out from the lifeboat slipway on the Towan side; I saw the clean up sets coming in at Little Fistral had turned the usual paddle out channel into a dangerous place to be. After about twenty minutes of flat water paddling, I had skirted right around the back of the break and took my position using the same line up spots that I always use. I take a transit line between buildings and structures that can only line up when you’re in the right spot. I triangulate this with certain patters on the water that betray the exact position of the reef below. So really you’re looking for a take-off spot the size of a dustbin lid while currents are trying to move you around an area the size of a football field.

Oh hey, did you get behind me on that one? Somewhere in the foam ball is another surfer.

All that I had to do now was stare the waves down and go for the ones that looked good. I got out of the blocks with a nice big drop, paddled back out and was soon into my second wave. However I didn’t see that Tom Butler was already up and riding on it till I was gunning down the face of it myself. Once I spied him, I carried on. Normally you would kick out and let the other guy finish the ride but that would mean me going up and over the lip – there was a chance that the lip would catch my board and throw it down on to Tom, probably not something he would have been very grateful for. And since the wave faces were so open and large that you could have held a charity five-a-side football match on there and still had room for parking, I figured there was enough space for two surfers.

Probably the nicest looking wave I’ve had this year

Things had gone well and without taking any hidings, I was preparing to paddle home. I had been getting cramp in the backs of my arms from all the paddling; I’d surfed the night before, and already that day at Watergate Bay which due to the size of the surf and the relentless currents, was quite a workout. I had to keep stretching the muscles so that they didn’t lock up when I most needed a burst of acceleration to paddle into a wave, or to escape disaster. I moved a little further inside and seconds later a perfect peak popped up so I got my head down and paddled into it. This was the cleanest of my three waves and I think makes the best photo. Here’s another one of it below.

One of those days when on reflection you realise you have been in the right place at the right time

A friend asked me what it is like to paddle into a wave at the Cribbar, and I suppose all I can really say is that it’s bloody brilliant. It’s definitely the thing I like most in surfing. Some might prefer to seek out a perfect barrel or a wave that allows radical manoeuvres but I really like walking to the end of the street (and a little bit further), jumping off into the sea and getting stuck right into the big peak at Newquay’s only reef break. I like the fact that you can get world class thrills in your own town.
57 channels and nothing on
June 12, 2012 11:21 am Leave a Comment
Here is a blog post for no other reason that as the internet expands and more people contribute to it, you get about 50 people Tweeting the same thing, 150 people Facebook sharing the same thing, millions of news sites pointing to the same story, live-bloggers dissecting an event as it happens and then running a post-mortem and marketing specialists offering to sell you ways to maximise all of the above, but there doesn’t seem to be much of anything new. That could be (most likely is) an exaggeration but if you’d like to take a break from the noise 0f the information superhighway (haha, remember when it was called that?) then here are some photos from under and around the sea taken last week. In them are my friends Alex, Rou, Mary and me having a whale of a time in the sea around Watergate Bay.

If a wave breaks and there is no one to ride it, is it still surf?

Bass eye view

No one minds a drop in when you're body surfing. In fact it's better with two.

If a wave breaks and you're there to hear it, it's pretty noisy

Like two mirrors facing each other, I'm shooting as Rou shoots us. Where does it end?

You need to swim to get here, or have a very good head for heights.

We took the route down through the gulley in the foreground

Mary enjoys the hydrotherapy of the natural swirl pool

That's Alex on the left, slipping down the green stuff and into the sea.

Going underwater once more before we go home

Victory dance at the end of a day with no 3g!
What happens when you wipeout in a drysuit?
December 15, 2011 11:31 pm 7 Comments
*Scroll down for videos*

Good question isn’t it? And I bet some of you are even thinking ‘what happens when you surf in a drysuit?’.

Well today I had my first experience of both. Ocean Rodeo make this suit, it’s called the Surf Dry, and it’s designed specifically for surfing, kiting and standup paddle in waves. Traditional drysuits are OK for flat water kiting or standup, but because they trap so much air they stop you from being about to duck dive or swim underwater, and their flapiness creates drag when you are swimming. The Surf Dry gets round this with a specially designed micro-thin wetsuit that slips over the top, squeezing all the air out so you can get underwater, and keeps it all snug to your skin so it performs more like a regular wetsuit when you’re moving through the water.

Freedom of movement in the Surf Dry

Anyway I had my reservations as to whether the Surf Dry would be a good suit for the sort of adventures we get up to around here, so on this most ragged and rough of days, I donned one and went for a dip. I went to Towan with its typically questionable wave quality but the swell was humping in and closing out on a shallow sandbar, resulting in a perfect stunt wave for plenty of tumbles and several drillings down to the sea floor.

Surviving wipeouts
After the first one, any thoughts of water ingress, the suit damaging (I actually landed on my fins at one point, got tangled in my leash at another) or coming undone were dispelled. I’d go as far as to say today the Surf Dry felt more secure than my regular wetsuit, because when I’m getting drilled in my regular wetsuit it lets water in, or ‘flushes’ and that’s rather unpleasant in the depths of winter. At the end of the sesh, I peeled off the two outer layers and the only trace of moisture on my thermals was against the wrist and neck seals where the seals prevented the suit from breathing – it was a touch of sweat. The rest of the thermals and of course me, were bone dry. If you take a really bad tumble or go really deep, any residual air in the suit compresses and forces against any water trying to creep into the seals, but really, once you see those seals for yourself, you’ll understand why they keep you so dry.

Surviving damage

The drysuit core itself (the middle, baggy layer) is practically industrial or military looking in its construction. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to suppose that it would be more durable than a super stretch winter wetty. Any cut or abrasion that goes through this suit will do the same at least to a regular wetsuit. The Surfdry won’t fill up with water any more than a wetsuit would either thanks to its outer layer keeping things tight. I think really though the day something goes through this suit is the day you’re going to get some good stitches in your own skin.

Warmth

I got hot today. If you were around in Cornwall today you’ll know it was cold, the weather was absolutely shit house. Getting into the water, being in the water, getting out of it and walking home or driving home in your bone dry thermals, the wetsuit experience is just not comparable to a drysuit. Add to the fact that you WILL be climbing into a wet wetsuit this winter, and that can’t happen with the Surf Dry since it’s always dry on the inside. Put it like this: you’re going into a freezing environment. To keep you warm, do you choose to trap against your body a) a layer of cold water that you need to heat up or b) some nice warm air from your house / van? It’s like central heating vs crappy night storage my friend.

Would you like to go surfing in your toasty jim-jams?

Mobility

It’s like surfing in your pyjamas. Loose, free, noticebly less restriction around the shoulders, everything flexes as though you are in soft clothing.Very comfortable.

Getting it on and off

I can claw into my westuit in about 35 seconds. Currently I’m running about ten minutes getting into the Surf Dry, though I’m told this will come down to about three minutes after a few goes. There’s a video of a guy on the Ocean Rodeo site making it look very easy indeed; it’s more a case of getting familiar with the process rather than it being difficult to don. Taking it off is a piece of cake though.

Any downers?

I don’t think an extra few minutes putting a suit on a problem, it’s no worse than pumping up a kite. Considering I’ve covered what were my reservations in this post, all that I would expect to hear from people who have not tried a Surf Dry is that…well, I dunno, that it maybe looks a bit bulky compared to a regular wetsuit? And fair enough, that may be a concern if your body is so incredibly chiselled that the general public demand it be on show all the time, but I think the rest of us (especially those kiters who choose to wear shorts over their wetsuits!) might welcome a little more anatomical ambiguity.

Here then is my video. Typical back-of-a-cigarette-packet storyboarding, awful editing skills, Windows Movie Maker, it’s all here! But I think it gets the important information across. I did choose a really good song though, Soundtrack Of Our Lives. Swedish band, sniff ‘em out.

And here is the official Ocean Rodeo Surf Dry vid, featuring the Erik Hanson, the man behind the whole thing. Watch this one first if you want decent production values, good surfing and stunning scenery!
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
I don’t mean to impose, but I am the Ocean
October 1, 2011 11:21 pm Leave a Comment
On Thursday just gone (29th September), 2m of swell with an 11 second period and a SW direction rolled in.

Fistral was about head and a half high, and in such warm weather, very well subscribed. So there was only one thing for it: Fluffers!

A view you wouldn't want from in front of those rocks

Smiler and I predicted Fluffers would be breaking with the tide being so low at 0.1m. We paddled out into the wide and not so deep blue using the usual rip as a conveyer belt, and sure enough Fluffers was humping in at double overhead height.

For those who aren’t familiar, this extra size is due to the steep ramping effect of the reef down there which goes from about 30ft to 10ft in quite a short distance. The water gets piled up and up and then it pushes over an even shallower part and then the wave explodes with always surprising force.

James 'Smiler' Waters steps into an empty lift shaft

Double overhead waves at Fistral can give you quite a slap, but the wipeout soon subsides. Fluffers at that size is just breaking but as Smiler discovered when he received what was in his own words ‘the biggest hammering I’ve had all year’ (and there have been some!) it is just a completely different animal.

This day, our good friend Céline Collaud (check out her webby at www.eventjam-ltd.com and give her a holler if you want a kick ass event sorting) came and grabbed some photos and so recorded Smiler’s wipeout. We had a few waves under our belts before Céline arrived, but no photos of them so you’ll have to take me at my word!

And finally hits the ground. Ah, surface tension, my old friend!

What is interesting is not the size of the wave, but the intensity of Smiler’s wipeout. He explained that he got drilled down, it went dark, started to go light again as he came up, then before he broke the surface, he was sucked down again. When Smiler finally came back up, it was just in time to get another one on the head. So just a second or two away from a two wave hold down on what you would call a 6ft day. Crikey!

Fortunately Smiler has lungs like blast furnace bellows and the experience required to remain calm and conserve the energy required for a sprint paddle away from the rocks of doom on the inside and was back out to snag another wave to redress the balance.

One proper hiding later, the real work begins.

I’m just so surprised that this place can deal out such a kicking when it looks relatively innocent.

Key learning points then?

1. Never goad the waves during the lulls – the ocean will hear and you will be smoten!
2. Pick your battles carefully when Fluffers gets bigger.
3. Look after your lungs kids!

Really though, a 2m swell and a 9ft board, it does seem a touch bigger doesn't it?
Cornwall Kitesurf Guide No. 5: Fistral Beach
May 19, 2011 10:50 am 4 Comments
Tight waveriding arena

Wave rating: 5/5

Flat water rating: 2/5

I think Fistral is one of the most dangerous beaches in Cornwall you could reasonably kite at. This is because in a South West or West wind, you are automatically pulled downwind towards the rocks at Little Fistral, or worse, the Cribbar reef. On a large swell, it would be too easy to get overwhelmed and smashed up, so I could only recommend sailing here if you are confident in your abilities in surf.

Bennet fades into a vague bowl

This beach is naturally popular with just about everyone, and kiters are at the bottom of the list when it comes to priority – don’t be surprised if you are loudly reminded of that fact by paddle in surfers. I only ride here when it’s wind-blown, miserable and no one else is around, I absolutely could not recommend trying to kite here when the wind is marginal and there are people around. Kiting is forbidden during lifeguarded hours.

Fistral Beach, filling up with tide on an offshore day

If you get it right, I think Fistral is a superb beach break for waveriding in Cornwall, though I think it’s twin tip appeal is limited because it doesn’t get those big flat sheets of water that Watergate or Crantock get. The peak stays well defined and the waves have got some real punch. If the wind backs off a couple of knots (as it does in the evening after the lifeguards have gone), it’s definitely worth landing your kite and going out for a paddle.

Looking North towards Towan Headland

Launching

You can launch at high tide, there is space, but your escape route will be non-existent. Mid to low (dropping tide) is best.

Winds

South West and West are good for left handers and upwind riding on rights. Works on a NW but there’s not much joy when it’s bang onshore.

Restrictions

No kiting during lifeguarded hours. Be sensitive to the large surfing population, if more than ten paddlers are out, it could be wise to try somewhere else.

The Cribbar breaking about 1.5km away from where we were stood. Click this photo twice to enlarge.

Fistral Beach faces WNW, catches and shapes a lot of swell.

NEXT GUIDE: The River Gannel
Photos of kiters in Newquay riding TWIN TIPS!
May 4, 2011 1:51 am Leave a Comment
Been a bit quiet on the bloggins of late, other than the typical (for this year anyway) clean, offshore surf, there’s not been a lot of action going on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy with clean, offshore surf, but I don’t know how many more times I can GoPro the same turn without it becoming rather dull. So I’m keeping the GoPro stowed away until we create something special with it, and we have a few ideas…

But for now, let’s go KITESURFING!

You really could see this rooster from the car park. Josh Coombes.

Yes, good old honest blue kitesurfing. Flat water, big winds, small boards, big airs, big spray, big dreams! Just as it was intended to be. Why you may ask, do I care so much about the plight of blue colar kitesurfing? Alright I’ll tell you: because I used to be a blue collar kitesurfer.

I don't know any more words for it other than 'boosting' or 'jumping'. Craig Smith

I can remember those days, the unceasing quest for ‘going big’; kitesurfers rightly enough never say they’re ‘going large’, though I think I’d like to see a resurgence of people ‘larging it’. Anyway, I haven’t ‘gone big’ on a twin tip for a long time, and to be honest, I had more fun taking the photos than I would have had I been out there.

Craig Smith fwangs his way into a clorophyl backdrop kiteloop

I know what it’s like when you’re boosting loads of airs (oh I did know another word for it) and you really wish someone had a camera there. There’s a lot of joy that can be spread around via photography, I think I’m looking forward to taking a lot more piccies of mates this summer.

The water in this photo is 1ft deep. Careful now!

The lure of ‘shooting the curl’ (getting close at times anyway) and to a lesser degree, the lack of suitable terrain for progressing comfortably on a twin tip meant I hung mine up for good sometime 18 months ago. I enjoyed those days, but for me, as I near the grand age of 34, I now see a broader spectrum of experiences ahead of me in the waves.

Whippersnappers love twin tips, Wham! Bars, XBOX360.

Craig and Josh here have got their kiteboarding youth ahead of them and are rightly so throwing themselves around like rag dolls whilst they’re young enough to not know any better. Good luck to them I say, I’ll keep taking the photos.

Captioned Kiteboat, just to see how that works in Google searches in months to come.

If you’re wondering about this location, yep, it is rather special for twin tippery. It works in a rather specific set of wind n tide conditions, but if you can figure out what the wind direction was today, and then look at the angle of the sun in relation to that, you’ll have a rough idae of the time that we were there. Then you can cross referrence that with a tide chart to see the state of tide required.

I’ll give you another clue: I walked home from this spot and was back in time for tea. So that should give you an idea of distance from my house. I think it’s pretty obvious where it is to anyone that’s ever driven to Newquay, but if you’re wondering about the conditions required, well I hope you have a little bit of fun finding out. Cheers!

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