News

Summer is well and truly over but the waves are making a welcome appearance. We have had a load of swell in the last week or so and the weather seams to have settled down a little bit. The odd shower here and there but by and large dry.

We managed to run the No pro on Saturday 10th (full right up here) and young Adam Bayfield, 15, from St Ives  won the junior and open categories – a first in the 17 years that we have been running it.
We also ran a Masters (over 35’s) for the first time and local boy (not really a boy at 36 but whatever) Pete Williams was the victor. Meanwhile Maisie Marshall took out the womens. One massive talking point was the prizes generously provided by Hurley. Oh my God, they were unbelievable. Wetsuits, clobber the lot. Better yet is that they are keen to sponsor the event again next year. Can’t wait.

Staying with the theme of competition surfing I have been invited to surf in the European Surfing Champs in Ireland. Im in the Seniors (over 28’s) so I could well be up against some comparatively young guys (sadly I am 37!) but I can’t wait to get amongst it. I’ve been training pretty hard since I got the invite so who knows. I managed to get 3rd last time around so I’d be delighted to get around that mark again. My goal is to get the final – if I do that I’ll be stoked.
If other fat-bloke related news I snagged a quick surf with Gwithian surf school pioneer (among a million other things) Graeme Bailey down at Hayle. He had the first surf school in this area in 1995 but stopped to run some phenomenally popular flats. Good on ‘im!

It’s not often that a little bit of surfing history turns up at the surf school but I guess if it was going to happen it would be this week.

The surf and weather have been stupendous for the last week so naturally we have been fairy busy. In theory this week is the busiest of the year – something of a hangover when factories used to close the doors for their two week summer holidays 100 or so years ago.
Anyway, yesterday a chap brings in a 30 year old board that by the looks of it has spent the last 29 &3/4 years in his attic. Better yet it was shaped by British surfing legend Bill Bailey, now sadly deceased. Bilbo, as he was known, was Britain’s first surfboard manufacturer and had the original surf shop in the UK and while the board doesn’t really cut the mustard in terms of todays high performance surfboards as a token of British surfing history it is almost unique.
After a bit of haggling the board is now mine but what to do? Do I surf it as was always intended? Or do I put it up on the wall as a bit of art?
If the board was a battered old dog I reckon I’d be straight out on her but now I’m not so sure. Its looking like she will never see saltwater again.
Am I wrong? Does a board deserve to be used?

The schools have released their prisoners and they are all heading for a beach near you!
It doesn’t seem like it was only 20 years ago that I too was released onto the streets with barely a GCSE to my name.

Luckily surfing has been good to me. After a brief foray with John Major’s Surf Team I was fortunate to work in the surf industry in some capacity. Tragically it’s just as unglamorous as working in any other industry – loads or paperwork, emails etc – but at least no one gives you a second glance when you turn up to work in bare feet and smelling of dried seaweed.
After the school activity weeks it now feels like its gone quiet but this is, of course, our busiest period. Last week we had one of the local schools in for a whole week of surfing and while it does get stressful dealing with 40 kids fuelled on nothing but energy drinks and crisps its great to see the improvement  that you get with an intensive surf course.
From now on it will be mainly families who will be surfing with us which is far more relaxing!
The school holidays have certainly started well – its beautiful weather today and looks like the surf should be around waisthigh for the next week or so.
Perfect for surf school.

There were some big, big waves hoofing through at Gwithian today. Way too big to run a safe surfing lesson so we decamped down to Praa Sands on Cornwall’s south coast. There it was an oasis of calm amongst what was, for Cornwall in summer anyway, a hefty storm.

The beauty of Praa is that is a great bolt-hole for surfers. While the North coast is raging during winter storms and howling NW winds you can be reasonably sure that Praa will offer up some small, clean and manageable surf. While the waves aren’t perfect for learners – the beach is quite steep causing waves to break suddenly and powerfully – they are whole lot better than not surfing at all. More experienced surfers, however, love it here. Those grunty waves that might smother a beginner provide a perfect launchpad for good surfers out there.
There was quite a crew out – it’s always busy here when there are waves – but there were plenty of waves if you were sat in the right spot.
The waves and weather are due to calm down a bit tomorrow so it’s all systems go at Gwithers again. Home, sweet, home!