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It’s fast approaching Christmas so why not give the gift of surfing? Let us take the strain out of the festive season and free yourself to sort out the lunch/booze/annoying relatives.
 Our surfing gift vouchers can be purchased online and then all you have to do is sit back and wait for the grateful recipients to send their thank you letters!
Remember to order before the Post Office’s last delivery date and we will get it out by first class post free of charge.

Some epic waves have been smashing into the South Coast today and due to the angle of the swell it has caught a lot of people cold. While most have been gazing out at ankle high waves at Gwithian and other West facing beach breaks on the North Coast those in the know, and those who had a tip off such as myself, have been presented with overhead waves the likes of which only break during a once in a lifetime swell.

Actually thats a huge exaggeration but they don’t break very often. Optimists might refer to these breaks as secret spots but glass half empty types, a sub-category that I definitely fall into, think of them more as infrequent spots. Everyone knows about them but they are so rare that unless you are right on the ball the first you here about them they are prefixed with ‘You shoulda been here yesterday’.
The top picture you should be able to work out where it is but the bottom one…. well, it’s a secret isn’t it? You’d never believe me if I told you anyway.

The Autumn swells are continuing to roll in and, frankly, this year is one of the best I can remember. I’ve spent most of the last week surfing all the out of the way breaks that hardly ever get swell and even the big British newspapers (Telegraph, Express and Mail) have featured the colossal swell that came through last Sunday. I just hope that it can continue right through winter.
This crazy week of swell actually started on the Saturday which happily coincided with the British Nationals that were taking place at Newquay.

Congratulations to local lad Harry De Roth who caught some double overhead (not that hard when you’re only 4’6 tall) waves and surfed them to a well deserved victory in the under 14’s category. GAS employee Paddy Daniel also managed a creditable 3rd in the under 18’s category.
Good on you both.
Meanwhile back at Gwithian we are continuing with our Junior Surf Club for as long as conditions allow. The surf has dropped of a little this weekend but there is still plenty of quality surf to be had. Better yet the forecast for next week is a beauty – offshore winds and reasonable swell.
And the weather?
Who cares, I’m gonna get wet anyway.

The nights are drawing in and the Indian summer seems to have drawn to a close but the surf is continuing nicely. The quality might not be quite as good as you’d expect for this time of year but at least the water is still fairly warm and with a little bit of local knowledge you can get a quiet, clean wave to yourself.

This and May/June is also the best time to learn to surf and you can do it in the knowledge that you will probably be the only people on the beach. It may seem lonely but you will have loads of space to stretch out in and the waves to yourself.
I have added a video of the Open final from the Europeans last month in Ireland for you to look at. Our chap in white, Newquay’s Alan Stokes, didn’t have a lot of luck with waves in the final but he got a 6.6 out of 10 for one manoeuvre – pretty impressive when the other surfers were getting 5’s and 6’s for performing four manoeuvres on a wave.
It was one hell of a manoeuvre.
Its a crying shame that he didn’t get a solid back up wave or he might have been England’s first European in the Open division for decades. He is still young has plenty more goes left though – who know’s, maybe he come through in 2013. I really hope so as Stokesy is one of the nicest blokes you could possibly meet and I can’t think of anyone who’s surfing deserves it more.
Meanwhile, back at home the British Nationals are coming up at the end of the month. There is an old farts division (over 35’s) so I’ll probably have a crack at that. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for good waves!

Still no sign of the promised Indian summer  but at least the waves (accompanied by howling wind) are with us.
This is proving to be good from a training point of view allowing me to get at least two surfs a day and because the surf is so lousy I can pretty much guarantee I’m the only one in the sea.

The wave where the competition is due to take place is a beautiful reef in County Donegal called Bundoran Peak. I’ve managed to surf there on previous trips to Ireland and it has always been well worth a visit. There are no waves in this area of Cornwall that offer the same kind of ride so finding something to practise on has been tricky but I have at least managed a few surfs at Porthleven. ‘Lev is also a peaky reef break but that is where any similarity ends – it tends to be short and sweet but at least the bottom surface is the same. Reefs tend to be more powerful than the beach breaks that Cornish surfers are used to and by my reasoning anything that is even vaguely similar has got to be helpful. I’ll keep my fingers crossed there!
The other more humdrum aspects of preparation for the comp involve filling out indemnity forms and letting the relevant authorities know that any asthma medication I take is not performance enhancing! It certainly doesn’t help me breathe underwater.
Five days to go.