Then i thought i shouldn’t do it at all, as the site should remain pure and only deal with surfing and waves (i’ve never taken any ads or promos on the site, despite requests)

But in the end i thought it best just to come out with it, make it a shameless plug, its my site why not good wetsuits are a vital part of surfing in the UK, and the changes over the last 10-15 years mean you can probably have twice as much time in the water on a winters day, and thats when the best waves are here, so maybe a little discussion about suits wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

And this blog has another angle too, vanity, and perhaps its an angle a few people can relate to, pretending that the advancing years are having no effect and i can still fit into the same size suit as i did 15 years ago. I got seduced by all the hi-tec jargon for the new ‘pyschofreak’ winter suits, and i let my desire blind me to the fact that the one i was looking at was a size medium, and i’ve really been too big for a medium for a few years now.

So here’s the listing if you’re interested,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190379542179

It’s an O’NEILL ‘PSYCHOFREAK’ WETSUIT 4.5mm/3.5mm. Size Medium, i’ve genuinely only worn it a couple of times and it will probably sell for a fair bit less that half the price of a new suit.

The ebay listing is full of all that technical gumpf that worked on me, describing the ’state of the art’ technology making it the warmest suit ever made etc.. And the fact is, it is the warmest suit i’ve ever tried, i actually felt warm out there in it, and i tried it on two of the coldest days this winter, so i’m genuinely disappointed to be selling it, but i need to wear a large and wearing a suit thats too small isnt good for your back or you’re surfing so its got to go, hopefully to someone who’s really a medium

BIRTHRIGHT from Sean Mullens on Vimeo.

and a bonus sequence of pacey making the most of a little one that same day, the 12 shots took place over 13 seconds, but somehow its become 30 seconds long in iMovie because i messed about with the ‘ken burns’ settings and i dont really know what i’m doing

Time for a bit of blatant self promotion and cheesy sentiment, so if you’re offended by either of those, look away now.

Thank you Flickr.com ….

I’d like to say thanks to all the people who follow my s0ulsurfing account on Flickr and who having seen my pictures from around the island over the last few years said that i should be working for the tourist board. People mostly say nice stuff to each other on Flickr (its like the opposite of magicseaweed), so i don’t like to get carried away with any praise, for many its a social network first and serious photographic appreciation second, but many of my contacts on there are awesome photographers, and i do value their judgment, and their words. So without getting carried away, i also know that sometimes i can produce decent work, and the feedback I get is genuine.

So encouraged by those words, I eventually wrote to all the various parties responsible for isle of wight tourism, mentioned the comments and suggested that they might like to use some of my photos to help promote the island. And to cut a long story short, the good people at the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce (who are now responsible for publishing the islands tourist guides) responded positively,  and a few meetings later, here it is, my photos are in this years official 2010 ISLE OF WIGHT accommodation guide.

60 of my images have been used in total, including the two on the front cover, and you can take a look yourself at the interactive brochure here http://www.gowight.com/brochure/

I’ve followed the debate about the merits of the brochure design over on the ventnorblog website (http://ventnorblog.com/2010/01/18/interest-in-tourism-guide-strong/), some islanders have liked it but its not been universally well received here, some dont like the colours and feel of the cover, but personally i think its a great piece of design by the talented local designer Aaron Rudd, and the IWCC report that its creating lots of interest and orders are strong (which is what really counts).

Not all of the images are mine, but i think there are 60 from me, 3 from my good friend Paul Blackley and the remaining 26 are from either Steve Thearle or Tom Stroud. I’m talking about the ‘editorial’ images here, the ones used to illustrate island locations, not those of the hotels etc.

So thanks again flickr, this wouldn’t have happened without you, and i’m writing about it here on soul-surfing because following on from the positive coverage that island surfing got during the ‘wight surf history‘ exhibition, its a surfing image that’s made the front cover, and some people reading might recognise Andrew Swinton posing on his longboard on a lovely summers evening at Compton Fields last year.

Summer longboarding

http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/blogs/news/441924/weekend-surf-gallery.html

Click here for part one of ‘You should have been here yesterday’

Click here for part two of ‘You should have been here yesterday’

Click here for part three of ‘You should have been here yesterday’

Click here for part one of ‘You should have been here yesterday’

Click here for part two of ‘You should have been here yesterday’

The shot was taken during the good swell on the 6th Feb 2010, you can see more from that day in the ‘You should’ve been here yesterday…’ blog

Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. Retro surf style

Click here for part one of ‘You should have been here yesterday’

There were quite a few eye witness’s to Al Reed’s full on barrel ride, but sadly i dont think anyone manged to get a shot of it, there is one included here of him going into one another one, but he didnt make it out this time.

Read part one here

The 14 images shown here, are taken from a sequence of 32 shots that took place over a period of 16 seconds (which was co-incidentally the same time that what was quoted as the wave-period for the swell that day).

I think like all sites it’s best considered a ‘work in progress’ and the look and feel may evolve as the content grows (its week one of a two year project) but i’m reasonably happy with this first stab at it, and I would love to hear your feedback on the design, technology or content, good or bad.

screengrab of wightsurfhistory.co.uk