News

Training for Wave Project Volunteers

You might think it’s all restocking the shop, repainting the walls or surfing winter bombs while we’re in the low season. True, but did you know we’re an Academy of Surf Instructors (ASI) training centre of excellence? So, during the off season we run training courses for ASI Surf Instructors and an induction course for the Wave Project Charity.

The Wave Project
Is a registered charity that runs therapeutic surf courses for young people aged between 8-21 years old who are socially isolated. This can be through mental health issues, isolation, family problems, disability or traumatic experiences. The surf projects are designed to help improve self-confidence, resilience and motivation. What’s not to like?

Working together
For the last 4 years Gwithian Academy of Surfing has worked with the Wave Project to provide training to the their volunteer surf mentors – the guys and girls who help them run surf therapy sessions throughout the season. We are also happy to continue this year as one of their surf providers running the surf sessions and a surf club for their clients.

Induction Course
The volunteer induction course ran on Saturday 25^th March and was a great success. There were 12 volunteers who all coped extremely well in challenging surf conditions and they did remarkably well considering.

Key Skills
They learned skills such as: Handling equipment safely with the Wave Project clients, surf safety hazards, emergency signals, how a surf session with clients normally operates and correct technique for assisting clients to catch waves, some of which are disabled. They learned how to identify and overcome specific challenges when working with clients; from coping with extremely anxious young adults to keeping others calm and happy whilst they wait to go surfing.

Manager at GAS, Ian Gabbitas says: “The volunteers did brilliantly considering the windy conditions out there. The Wave Project is such a great cause, we have lots of kids come here who are anxious and withdrawn and really benefit from getting in the water and learning to surf. It’s great to see their beaming faces after each session, that’s what it’s all about!”

Joe Taylor, CEO of The Wave Project says: “We’ve been working with GAS for the last four years and have a really great working relationship with them. The training course is invaluable to our volunteer surf mentors because of the knowledge and skills they gain from it.”

Gwithian Academy of Surfing is running surf courses for The Wave Project each Sunday 11-1pm and 2-4pm from 23 April-28^th May 2017.

We also run surf clinics, ASI Surf Instructor courses, daily surf lessons – private or group lessons, surf tours, junior surf club, board hire, Stand Up Paddle lessons and hire, Surf Yoga breaks and more.

Storm Doris – A sherry soaked hell woman or a good-time girl?

Tyson Greenaway

Cornwall has been taking a hell of beating with storm Doris unleashing sideways rain, high winds and huge storm waves. You’d think with an old ladies name she couldn’t cause too much harm. Wrong, she’s an old lady who’s had too much sherry and is on a mission to cause trouble.

30ft waves smash into Cornwall

Doris has whipped up rough seas that are lashing the lighthouses and boats with 30ft waves hitting Penzance. These are the biggest waves of the year so far. It’s exhilarating to watch from the safety of a cliff top or a warm café with a cuppa.

30ft waves have been smashing into trains going out of Penzance (must be like being in a very dodgy car wash.) Flooding, fallen trees and broken power lines all scaring the living daylights out of us. All in all, a pretty nasty havoc-wreaking storm thank you Doris.

Real time Storm tracker here.

According to Magic Seaweed, this particular storm will peak in Cornwall on Friday 3rd of January. With swell up to 39.5ft at 18 seconds forecast and 65mph winds resulting in huge waves throughout the weekend and into next week. Good for those nutters who like it big.

If you fancy having a go at some of what Doris has to offer, the sheltered spots will be firing. If you can manage to find somewhere out of the wind that is. We can’t tell you where exactly without having our fingernails pulled off. But check out this blog on surf spots in St Ives bay for a general idea.

Are we getting more storms?

According to the weather forecasters, there will be a succession of storms like Doris to hit the UK over the next few months. Storm Ewan, Fleur and Gabriel are queuing up in the next few months to give us another pounding.

Stormy weather is not unusual in the winter. The winter of 2013-14 was a very stormy winter with 12 major storms, the worst weather in the UK for 20 years according to the met office. And some of the best surf we’ve ever had!

With Ewan, Fleur and Gabriel on the way, we will be watching these bad guys and girls with interest and keeping it all crossed that the wind blows off shore. Time to dust off the big gun and get amped with some Point Break on DVD.

We’re Open! What’s on in 2016.

Tyson Greenaway

That felt like a very long winter.

But now, thankfully, spring is in the air, the sun is shining and the march into summer begins.

The surf school will be opening from 10am to 5pm, seven days a week from Good Friday so you’ll be able to get surfing lessons and surf hire everyday until November.

New surf clobber is arriving every day for the shop including a brand new batch of 4/3mm hire wetsuits so no matter how cold the air temperature is you will be as warm as toast in the sea.

This year we will be stocking leashes and assessories from Ocean & Earth, wetsuits from Quiksilver, Roxy and Gul, as well as our own line of surfboards that have been specifically designed with Cornwall waves in mind – more on these later but they arrive in June and suffice it to say we are delighted with the results.

Become a Surf Coach

We have A.S.I Level 1 Surf coach courses and 1 Level 2 course running over the next few months so there has never been a better time to jump on one, get qualified as a surf instructor and spend the rest of your summer on the beach.

And get paid for it.

International Surfing Day

Put June 21st in your diary now. This year we will be celebrating International Surfing Day by offering surfing lessons with all the proceeds going to a surfing inspired charity called Waves4Water.

These guys deliver filtration systems that are portable, easy to use, easy to pack, and effective to areas that are in desperate need of clean water. One filter can provide 100 people with clean water for up to 5 years and they’ve managed to distribute over 100,000 filters in dozens of countries around the world.

Help us to get a few more water filters where they are needed.

It’s shaping up to be a fantastic 2016 at our surf school, we hope you can join us.

How to improve your surfing – the easiest way (probably)!

Tyson Greenaway

Well, I say ‘easiest way’. It kind of is.

It just requires hours of time, patience, petrol and cash.

Y’see I could give you thousands of tips on how to stand on your surfboard, catch waves and improve your technique and they would all help to a greater or lesser degree.

But what’s the best way to improve your surfing?

In a word – travel.

And I write this from the balcony of a rental apartment in the south of France so you can’t deny that I don’t practise what I preach!

Put simply, just get out and surf somewhere different.

You don’t have to throw yourself into some below sea-level grinders in Hawaii or Tahiti; you will improve your surfing just as much in the beach breaks of the USA and Europe.

And if you’re not lucky enough or have too many responsibilities to get the time to spend a couple of weeks or months surveying a pristine surf break from your hammock while a waiter hands you a post-surf mojito then all is not lost.

In fact you don’t even need to leave the country. Why not try the beach break just around the corner from your local surf spot or the point an hour up the road?

The key thing is to sample new waves and learn how to react to them. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only just started cutting across the green waves, you’re a seasoned pro or a whitewater warrior: nothing will help you to improve your surfing like stepping out of your comfort zone and surfing a different wave.

Even whitewater waves offer new challenges at a different surf spot and will require new skills and techniques to overcome them.

So next time you load your surfboard and wetsuit into the car and hit the road, try somewhere different – it’s the best, and most enjoyable, way to improve your surfing.

And if you do go abroad and still have a rubbish surf?

That mojito will still taste good.

The Bay of Plenty (part 2 of a 2-part guide to surfing in St Ives Bay)

Tyson Greenaway

The Bay of Plenty

St Ives Bay offers loads of options for the surfer. If one spot’s not working there’s a fair chance another one will be (and failing that, we’re lucky enough to have the south coast only 20 mins away). Allow us to take you on a quick tour of St Ives Bay’s surfing terrain…

Godrevy

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”]
[/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]99% of the time Godrevy has the most swell in the Bay, but, for reasons covered in last week’s surf tip (about swell direction), not always…and quite often not as much as beaches further up the coast. It’s a pretty regular North Coast beach-break; very often do-able and occasionally pretty darn good.

Red River snakes over it with ever changing implications, keeping the sand-bars on their toes – not to mention creating a handy channel for high-tide paddle-outs.[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

Generally rights will be better than lefts, with the waves tending to be fairly slow and almondy, especially at higher tides (the other side of this coin being the potential for some really long rides).

While there’s usually plenty of space at low tide, things can get a bit cramped as the water moves in and around the rocks/cliffs. Another drawback on really high tides is the pebbles, which make wiping out in the shore-break hazardous for board and body!

Gwithian

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”][/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]Heading SW down the beach towards Hayle, somewhere around Gillick Rock Godrevy becomes Gwithian and the waves will generally start to get a little smaller.

Gillack Rock itself can be a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, interesting sandbars will occasionally form around it, kinda like they might build up around a groin. This can improve the way waves break at high tide. And when it’s covered by enough water, with the swell in the region of 2-4ft, it becomes one of the shortest reef-breaks known to man (a.k.a. Suck Rock), providing the opportunity to practice late drops and very little else (apart from pumping/weaving like crazy through the ensuing dead-section in a bid to make it to the shore-break).[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns][themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”]

[/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]But beware! At 1/2 to 3/4 tide the area around Gillack Rock can be rife with rip-currents, while the barnacle encrusted rock itself has been known to take some skin of the odd hapless surfer!

One of the most popular spots to surf in the area is a specific part of Gwithian Beach known as Sheep Dip (yes they used to wash sheep there – in a pool just below the lifeguard hut). And it’s not because it’s the closest part of the beach to the large car-park! The reason the waves tend to break slightly better here is due to a patch of offshore rocks (of which Bessack Rock is the only one that breaks the surface) which cause the waves to refract into themselves, creating ‘A-frame’ peaks which have been known to peel very nicely indeed (especially the lefts). Sheep Dip is best at mid-tide, with low tide often very rippy (all aboard the Bessack express!!!) and high-tide a non-starter due to the rocks.
[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

Peter’s Point

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”][/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]Named after a dog who loved bounding around the dunes here – and is buried on the cliff-top – Peter’s Point is located about ¾ of a mile down the beach from the main car-park at Gwithian. And yes we agree that is a weird name for a dog! Peter’s Point is the stretch of beach between Mussel Rock and Site (no prizes for guessing what can be found on Mussel Rock – some of the best mussels in Cornwall, but only accessible on Spring Low Tides or in a wetsuit). To be honest, in terms of surf quality, this is the worst section of beach in the Bay, with the waves generally really gutless and tending to close out. But it never gets crowded so if you’re just learning the basics then it’s not a bad option. And as the picture testifies, it does have its moments![/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

Site/Mexico

The stretch of beach in front of St Ives Bay and Beachside holiday parks. This is a good spot to head for if Gwithian/Godrevy is too big and/or too messy because of some west creeping into the wind. Generally better rights than lefts…and usually best at mid to three-quarter tide.

Hayle Rivermouth

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”][/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]People head to Rivermouth at low tide to get barrelled – and not necessarily make it out again. And while it packs a punch at low-tide (due to the river carving out a trench which preserves wave energy), high tide is a different story, with waves tending to wobble in without much power or organisation (although you do sometimes find some decent rights peeling into the river).[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

Hawke’s Point

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”][/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]If the swell’s massive and the wind from the S or SW you might be lucky enough to catch firing Hawke’s Point. At high tide waves bounce back off the cliff and into the next one, causing a super-fun left-hand ‘wedge’ that adds extra height and power to the waves. The super-easy, dry hair paddle out off the rocks is an added bonus (so long as you time it right), although getting back in again isn’t so much fun. Getting in/out is more straight-forward at lower tides, when the wedge disappears and right-handers take precedence.[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

Carbis Bay

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”][/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]Tucked away as it is, Carbis Bay only has waves when the swell is either MASSIVE (i.e. big enough to wrap pretty much 180 degrees) or of the short-range northerly variety. In either case Carbis Bay can offer fun, punchy waves at high-tide or mellower, longer rides at lower tides.[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

St Ives Breakwater

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”]Photo by top banana Greg Martin

[/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]As with Carbis Bay, Breakwater can be surfable in a northerly windswell; but proper Breakwater, which is the stuff of legend, only breaks once in a blue moon during monster swells. When it does work it offers 100 meter long, freight-train lefts, wrapping from Porthgwidden Beach all the way around to the harbour entrance. But when it’s on it’s usually the only place in a large area that’s surfable, and therefore gets very crowded.[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]

Porthmeor

[themedy_columns structure=”50|50″][themedy_col position=”a”][/themedy_col][themedy_col position=”b”]Sitting below the Tate Gallery, Porthmeor is a semi-sheltered beach that offers good protection from S, SW and, to a lesser extent, W winds. It’s therefore a good spot to check when things start to get a bit sizey/stormy. As with much of the bay, rights tend to be better than lefts. And the further towards the western end of the beach you go the punchier the waves are. Oh yeah and for reasons unknown, Porthmeor breaks better on an outgoing tide. But… being a small-ish beach next to a large town (by Cornish standards) it does tend to get crowded. Although more exposed, with waves therefore usually more ragged, Site/Mexico, back over on the other side of Hayle River, is often, on balance, a better option.[/themedy_col][/themedy_columns]