I didn’t tell Pacey he was on the cover till this morning, i think he might have been getting a bit of stick for it

Having said it was cool, and of course being thankful for the exposure it will give to the exhibition and the www.wightsurfhistory.co.uk project,  I do have a gripe. The whole artistic intention of the shot has been lost in translation and the tighter crop used on the cover. It was meant to be about capturing the surfer in, and celebrating his natural environment, and to me (and most people who see the original) its the dynamic cirrus clouds and foreground details of the waves on the beach that make it work as an idea. I’m not usually very precious about stuff like that, and of course you could say that it all goes out the window the moment it has the ‘weekender’ branding splashed across it too.

On a different note, its also ironic to see Pacey there with the word ‘weekender’ above his head, because he is about as far removed from the idea of a  ‘weekend warrior’ surfer as it is possible to be. He lives and breathes surfing, and is out in all conditions and weathers, all year round, i dont think i’ve heard him say no to a a surf session yet, snow on the ground, big gnarly waves, he’s always there.

As for the picture of Me & Paul, the first one to mention ‘right said fred’ tribute act is in trouble

IWCP weekender cover

The shot was taken at a secret spot on the south coast of Cornwall. There was a big swell running on the north coast that day, but the strong northerlies made south coast shelter the only viable option for a clean wave. It was nice but didn’t look that exciting at low tide as maybe 3ft of swell wrapped round, but as the day went on and the tide pushed up a wave would reflect sideways off the cliffs and meet the next one in the set creating a fantastic wedge that broke into very shallow water. There were about half a dozen local bodyboarders (no stand ups, it was a definite board breaker) all charging right into the mouth of this thing and having a great time and I have to say that to this day its still some of the most fun I’ve ever had behind the camera (I didn’t fancy taking my longboard into that!)

Bodyboarding at Porthcurno