The tenuous surfing connections start right away, because our excellent waiter is also a surfer, who i’d first met at Compton a few months earlier, and its also one of only three restaurants i can think off where, if there is a good swell and the wind is in the right direction, you can hear the surf at Freshwater Bay (the others are the fat cat (at sandpipers) and the dandelion cafe).

At this stage I won’t try to pretend to be a food critic and waffle on like i really know what i’m talking about as they do on master chef (because i don’t) but I’m getting on a bit now, and I have eaten in my fair share of good restaurants all around the world (i’ve not always been confined to the western end of a small rock half way up the english channel) and i do know good food when i see and taste it. So I  can say  with some confidence, and some basis for comparison, that it was genuinely top quality food, and it was definitely a fantastic all round dining experience too. The service was first class, both waiters were friendly and knowledgable without being at all patronising (as I’ve found can be the case in some lesser establishments that were trying to be posh and mistook snobbery for class).

The food itself was not just delicious, but each dish was presented like a work of art, right down to the colour and textures of the plates, and each new course contained surprises, often a flavour combination that i hadn’t come across or even imagined before (raspberry and lemongrass soup for example!). As you might expect from a restaurant thats just been awarded two AA rosettes, It wasn’t the cheapest night out, and the bill was more than i could afford to do every week, but it was such a good meal that i left there thinking it was well worth the money to have food expertly prepared by someone at the top of their game and I will be going again as soon as i can and also recommending it to friends.

Finally, seeing as i’m a photographer and this is a photography blog as well as a surfing blog, i took some photos too, but very quickly and just with my iPhone hipstamatic, just to grab a bit of the colour and style in the dishes that were put before us.

I should also say that i’m not connected in any way to the restaurant, i’ve never met the chef, and they dont even have any of my photos on their walls!

Some of the dishes we enjoyed at ‘Justin Brown at Farringford’.

Play that Funky SUP – Stand up paddle surfing on the Isle of Wight, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

The Sweeper – Isle of Wight SUP, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

The bad news is the sheer amount of crap, the good news is that people are prepared to do something about it, so well done to all those that turned up on a cold and wet morning at Compton Fields on the Isle of Wight to give up a little of their time and get involved. This is not a one-off, beach cleans have been organised by the surf club, SAS, and eco-island already on the island this winter, and there’s more to come, which is good, because there’s no shortage of rubbish on our coast.

Paul Blackley got the ball rolling on this particular one a few weeks back by posting a few pics of the rubbish that had accumulated over the winter at Compton Fields,  and asking for volunteers to help clear it up, especially appealing to surfers and other local beach users to look after whats on their won doorstep. The Isle Of Wight surf club (in the shape of Matt and Olly) responded positively and chipped in and helped make a facebook event of it, as well as getting the National Trust and Biffa on board to donate resources (bags, gloves and bins).

So here’s a few pics of the beach earlier in the week on a sunnier day, and a few iphone shots from today showing some of the crap everyone collected.

And finally, here’s a shot of what it should look like without all that man made crap in the way!

©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

Isle of Wight Water Sports, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

The project was started back in January 2010 by Paul Blackley & Jason Swain, and Paul has carried on the research for the last few years, collecting the stories and photos and films and memorabilia that make up the exhibition. And if you can’t make it along to see the show, you can catch up with all the stories on the wight surf history website 

The following from the press release….

The exhibition will show how boards have changed through the decades, from Archie Tricket’s homemade wooden surfboard from the early 1960s, Bilbo longboards, the early shortboards and modern equipment, including surfboards from three-times Women’s English Champion Zoe Sheath and 2010 British Champion Johnny Fryer.

We also show how wetsuits have changed from the early ‘duck tail’ two-piece wetsuits to the warm winter wetsuits of today. Other items on display will include Trophies, leashes, wax, Isle of Wight Surf Club sweatshirts and magazines. The exhibition will also have photographs showing many of the characters who have influenced surfing on the Island over the last 50 years.

In the early 1960s, surfing was something a small number of friends had started to experiment with on the Isle of Wight. Many of these pioneers started out with belly boards, while some took to the water on homemade wooden surfboards.

There were small pockets of surfers scattered around the Island, all experimenting with surfing in their own ways, until Roger Backhouse and friends – Susan Ellis (Backhouse), Kevin Digweed, Geoff ‘Ned’ Gardner, John Ainsworth, Russell Long and Colin Burgess – decided to try and start an Isle of Wight Surf Club. An advert was put in the Isle of Wight County Press and this brought surfers together from around the Island, including Keith Williams, Glyn Kernick, Ben Kelly and Sid Pitman.

The first meetings of the Isle of Wight Surf Club were held in a tent on the cliff tops at Ventnor. They later moved to Mrs Backhouse’s (Roger’s Mum!) Bed & Breakfast in Ventnor. During the summer Pat Morrell and a ‘Woodwork Teacher’ Mike ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson would join them with their homemade wooden boards.

Once some club members had acquired wheels, it wasn’t long before trips to Cornwall were arranged and wages and savings were spent on the new fibreglass surfboards that were available. Rob Ward had come back to the Island after being in the Royal Navy and had learnt to surf in South Africa and South America. Rob’s surfing was more advanced than many of the island surfers, and in the 1970s, he travelled much of the globe in search of waves. Ex-British Surfing Champion Roger Mansfield and author of The Surfing Tribe once said ‘Rob is the most buccaneering, big wave-riding surf export of IOW’.

During the late ‘60s and ‘70s, Tad Ciastula and Roger Cooper had started shaping boards on the Island and both went on to become renowned surfboard shapers. Meanwhile, Derek Thompson started making the famous Cosmic leashes.

In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, a young Dave Gray had started to dominate the Isle of Wight Surf Competitions and went on to compete in the English Nationals. Many of today’s top Island surfers will say that Dave was a major influence on them and they aspired to be as good as this Island legend. The Isle of Wight Surf Club started its own surf magazine in the late 1970s and many articles joked about other surfers not bothering to enter competitions if Dave turned up, as he only needed to wax down his surfboard to win an event!

In the early ‘90s, Stu Jones took over the mantle of best surfer on the Island, pushing the limits and starting a new generation of surfers who wanted to do aerials and the other latest tricks. In 1994, a young Craig Sharp took the South Coast Champion crown from Stu Jones and was one of many Islanders who took off in search of waves and adventure abroad. At the same time, 10-year-old Johnny Fryer was just making his mark by winning the Under-14 or ‘cadet’ category in the 1994 South Coast Championship.

Johnny dominated the Island surf scene until he moved to Cornwall, and he went on to become British Surfing Champion in 2010.

Into the Noughties, and young Zoe Sheath, daughter of Gail (an early member of the Isle of Wight Surf club, who started surfing in the ‘70s), began to shine. Zoe went on to become English Women’s Surfing Champion in 2007.

Many others have made a big contribution to Island surfing, including Barney Barnes, Ceri Williams, Keith and Steve Williams, Clive Richardson, Dave Phillips, Rog Powley, Xav Baker, Joe Truman and many, many more.

More recently, with the help of the Island-based Rapanui clothing company, the IOW Surf Club has been reborn, with Matt Harwood taking the helm alongside Oliver Harvey, as they successfully ran the Frost Bite Series of competitions in 2011 as well as the South Coast Surfing Championships.

Using the sigma 50-500mm telephoto lens and deliberately shot into the sun for a silhouette and maximum shimmering sea. It was then edited up into a Vertorama (vertical panorama), and finished off using some flypaper textures to complete the painterly style i had first imagined when I saw them out there and visualised the image.

One man and his gull – Stand up Paddle Surfing., originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

Deliberately shot into the sun for a silhouette and maximum shimmering sea, and then edited up into a Vertical panorama, and finished off using some flypaper textures to complete the style i was looking for when I first visualised the finished result.

We are sailing – well stand up paddle boarding actually, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

Using the Sigma 50-500mm I deliberately shot it into the sun for a silhouette and maximum shimmering sea effect. I then edited up into a Vertorama, and finally used some flypaper textures to complete the style i was looking for when I visualised the image.

On golden pond – SUP on the Isle of Wight, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved

This and the other photos on the site are all ©Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

Only had time for a really quick surf at lunchtime, and no photos either, but i did get back in the evening to shoot a few SUP’s enjoying some low tide sunset action, and Paul has also shared a few more from sunday so i though i’d do a part two for this blog!

So, first of all, a few more of me from sunday..

Date: Sunday 25th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfer: Me (Jason Swain)
Photographer: Paul Blackley

Then a few more taken by me of the Monday…

Date: Monday 26th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfers: Paul Blackley, Dave and Elliot Gray
Photographer: Me (Jason Swain)

Although unfortunately i didn’t get any photos myself, as I was too busy surfing on the Sunday. I was lucky that my good friend and excellent photographer Paul Blackley was there with his big lens to catch a few for me. And I was able to return the favour the next day by shooting a few of him nabbing a few fun sized ones on the Monday

Date: Sunday 25th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfer: Me (Jason Swain)
Photographer: Paul Blackley

Date: Monday 26th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfers: Paul Blackley, Dave and Elliot Gray
Photographer: Me (Jason Swain)

Lego man adventure – short stop motion surfing clip of a lego man getting barrelled

And dont forget to check out http://ripslix.co.uk/ for more quality video productions…