Returning to a familiar theme for this blog, and probably for most surfers too, the old ‘you should have been here yesterday’ routine.

Over the last 20 years I’ve built my life next to the sea and the West Wight in particular, with the simple (and now not so secret) aim of leading a quiet life and surfing whenever possible,  as well as trying to avoid hearing that dreaded sentence ‘you should have been here yesterday’ as much as possible too.

But sometimes life has other plans for you, and after a few weeks of niggling broadband complications and lots of support calls and emails (involving a long boring story of telephone exchanges being upgraded to ADSL+, a ten year old router not being able to keep up with the change, and then a mystery line fault that pretty much seemed to me to have lots to do with a very windy and rainy night)  i couldn’t really be out when the engineer was finally scheduled to come and test the line and put me out of my misery.  I wanted to but couldn’t really hang a ‘gone surfing‘ note on the door and hope he would come back later (why don’t BT introduce that as an option when you sign up?)

Of course the only time-slot available on the morning of Friday 16th December, coincided with the biggest swell in weeks, and of course it was also the only day the wind blew offshore after endless days of howling onshores.

So, the day after triple overhead clean sets were reported as being ridden at my local break (from reliable local sources, who wouldn’t exaggerate the conditions) Saturday morning found me at Freshwater bay bright and early, full of hope and excitement for what i might find. Inevitably the classic conditions from the day before were long gone, and to be honest what was left looked pretty unappealing out there with the wind now blowing cross-shore and the swell not really doing it with the sets barely head high.

BUT… remembering my last blog and how i ended up kicking myself for passing up what turned out to be the last waves for a few weeks, this time i didn’t hang around in two minds and encouraged by a couple of hungover locals, pacey & sam, who turned up for a look too, decided to get in there and blow away a few cobwebs anyway.

The good news is that the swell picked up a bit and although it certainly wasn’t anything like the classic conditions of the day before, we had a few overhead sets, and a few bumpy but fun rides, and of course, its always better to have been in than sat around thinking about it.

After a quick surf and to make the most of the morning, i grabbed my camera and headed up onto the cliffs and got a few shots from a different point of view (away from my old favourites of the cabbage patch or right in front of the albion hotel) Whilst Andrew Court, Matt Harwood, Ian Pacey and James Ranson made the most of what was left before it really did get a bit windy. Even managed to get a few shots of some local birds and a random fishing boat in the line-up.

Sitting here today, on a miserable grey December day, looking out the window at howling on-shores blowing out any chance of getting any decent waves, and i’m looking back over a few pics from a surf session that i voluntarily missed out on a few weeks back. I wasn’t too busy, i didn’t have to be somewhere else, I wasn’t feeling poorly, or even lazy, and i didn’t even have a hangover as the title suggests… it’s just that I had recently had too much of a good thing, and for some reason (that seems insane now) I decided the little clean waves weren’t worth the effort and spent half an hour not making my mind up on the beach instead of just getting suited up and going in for a bit of fun. What a knob-head.

My reasons seemed sound enough at the time, I’d surfed some amazing waves the night before (so only about 12 hours previously) and for most of the previous week (November was an epic month for surf this year on the South Coast), and as the swell had dropped off so much, i didn’t want to erase and replace the great waves i still had in my mind, with the little tiddlers on offer in front of me.

In my defence, i didn’t completely waste my time, at least i took a few photos, managing to catch a few rare photos of Paul Blackley surfing, the even more rare sight of Pacey on a longboard, the quite common sight of chris court falling off a SUP and  few nice ones of a puppy playing fetch on the beach, but looking back at the pics now…. just stop thinking about it and get wet and have some fun, you never know when the winds gonna turn, and its been blowing onshore pretty much ever since.

Some great GoPro HD footage from Compton Bay on Sunday the 20th of February 2011. Thanks to Nigel Bulloch for his camera, editing patience and skills.

I missed this whole week of swell with the arrival of my son William, but its great to be able to experience it via this footage and some of the other great photos and videos that have been shared on wightsurfhistory.co.uk

Compton Sun 20-2-11 from Nigel Bulloch on Vimeo.

Dreaming of an Endless Summer, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

i’m just about to head out into a freezing fog looking for surf this morning, and my mind wandered back to my last trip to Cornwall and surfing under these beautiful skies at Gwithian. The idea of an Endless Summer really is just a dream for most of us surfing here in the UK.

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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

Hipsta Holidays, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

Finally remembered to upload some photos from my iphone, here’s a SOOC hipstamatic view of the lighthouse and beach at Godrevy with little fluffy clouds and surfers.
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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

Godrevy Surf School, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

Empty cornish waves, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

Fragments from a beautiful day at Porthcurno.
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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

The thing about having a surfing blog / website, is that every now and again you feel obliged to write something to justify all the trouble you went to in building the thing in the first place and all the other time you’ve spent filling it with content in the past. You’ve got to have something to accompany all the surf photos you’re taking, and the search engine robots want to see regular updates and they’re not very good at indexing images alone, so for all those reasons, here’s another dose of my aimless soulsurfer ramblings.

—- Winter’s here, I should have been here yesterday! —-

Seems like every week since that first september swell arrived here on the isle of wight that we’ve been blessed with decent waves, and I think i’ve been spoilt this autumn by an unusually high number of days with good surfing conditions. The right size swell (not too big or too small), at the right angle (not just closing out), combined with the right tides and obliging winds blowing gently offshore. It’s been an amazing run, and i’ve enjoyed every wave, but it’s made me complacent and fooled me into thinking that there will always be another good day along soon.

But this week has reminded me that winter surfing here is different, the window of opportunity is smaller, and you need to be patient as well as alert to make sure you’re on it when everything comes together, and sometimes you just got to get in even when conditions aren’t right, because that’s what its all about here, getting in and enjoying it no matter what. And you have to put the work in on the hard days, because its the days getting battered by big pounding close-outs that make those good days all the sweeter when they do come.

Everyone knows the expression ‘you should have been here yesterday’ when you turn up to the beach and all the talk is about how good it was the day before (when you were working, or sick, or stuck somewhere you couldn’t escape from) but whats the expression for those times when you were here yesterday, and you didn’t go in because you were fussy and the conditions weren’t quite right and you thought it would better later or the next day? and then of course you woke to find that it wasn’t.

Whatever it is, I’ve been kicking myself for the last few days, I can sort of blame the dentist for missing out, but really i’ve only myself to blame. I drove past the bay early Tuesday morning to see it absolutely firing, big hollow waves being held up by the strong offshore’s and the lines seeming to come marching in in an endless procession. I knew it wouldn’t be too long before the big spring tide would be making bouncy backwash from the sea defences, and the vision of heaven would become a frustrating mess, but i really couldn’t blow off the dentist as i’ve still got a great big hole where my wisdom tooth extraction became a dry socket, and i really needed to hear that was getting better (the pain of exposed nerves and an infection in your jaw bone can focus the mind)

So two hours later, after driving through torrential rain along the military road, and getting the all clear from my dentist, i’m back at the bay after seeing every point along the coast doing its thing on my return trip to Ventnor. And thats when i first got it wrong, I stood around and watched for a while but spoilt by remembering all those lovely clean peeling sunlit autumn waves in my mind, i turned down the chance to join the few brave souls out there in the big challenging semi-close-outs in a freezing cold howling north-easterly and went home for something to eat and get a bit of work done while the wind and tide sorted itself out.

But as the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man, and this isn’t a story with a happy ending, i’d waited to long (4hrs) and by the time i got back there, the swell had left the bay completely, the waves that a few hours earlier had been breaking boards, were nowhere to be seen and all that was left was the cold wind and puddles from earlier. I drove on to Compton hoping for a few leftovers, and there was still a few out there, but i let my disappointment at what i missed cloud my judgment, and i didnt even go in there, telling myself that the best plan was to wait for the pushing tide in the morning with the promise of sunshine and lighter winds. I took these pictures whilst hanging around debating whether to go in or not, and now i’m here looking at them i cant help wondering wtf i was thinking and why didnt i just get wet whilst there was still a wave at least

So Wednesday morning came, and the sun did shine, but inevitably my early start wasn’t rewarded and i had plenty of time sitting around in weak messy cross-shore 1ft surf to think about the real waves i’d let pass me by just 24hrs before, and now i’m looking back at them on my camera and monitor it seems really dumb as there was clearly still the odd nice wave coming through.

Still, its early in the winter swell season and another big swell is probably already brewing somewhere in the North Atlantic, and i’ve re-learnt the valuable lesson of south coast surfing…. I should have been here yesterday, and he who hesitates is lost… (rodney)

The perfect wave!, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

One for the surfers today….

OK, maybe its not THE perfect wave but its definitely a really nice one coming through at Godrevy, Cornwall.

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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved

This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

Godrevy Surf School Twist and Shout., originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

“Well, shake it up, baby, now, (shake it up, baby)
Twist and shout. (twist and shout)
Cmon cmon, cmon, cmon, baby, now, (come on baby)
Come on and work it on out. (work it on out)”

Welcome to the weekend, have fun doing whatever you do.
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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

This Saturday sees the start of the IOW Surf Club Frost Bite Series!

• Essentially it is a winter league.
• 1 Comp a Month.
• Oct-March
• 6 events
• Your best three results to count.

How will it work? First Saturday of the month that has contestable waves means the contest is on. i.e it is a rolling waiting period.

• Open Division (shortboards and longboards)
• Womens Division
• Groms (U18 Boys & Girls)

This sat is the first event. 8am meet at Hanover with hopefully 8.30 start. £10 to join club and then £2.50 for every comp after or £5 entry for non members.
See you all there!

Frost Bite surf comp!

****Update****
****Results and report from the first comp!*****

Report courtesy of Oliver Harvey & The Isle of Wight Surf Club

The first ‘Frost bite’ competition of six being held this winter, sponsored kindly by the boys at Rapanui was a great success.

Greeted with pretty grim onshore head-high waves at Compton, first up we saw the groms test the water. Both Robin & Dylan snagged plenty of waves each but Robin gradually took control with a couple of good waves to take the first event. The waves continue to prove challenging for the mens Open, as the pool of 16 riders entered the water in 4 man, 20 min heats.
Julie Tortajada, in the first quarter final, took the Ladies title getting several fun waves. From the first round the following progressed into the semis:

Heat 1:

1.Richard Gray

2. Jamie Whittle

Heat 2:

1. Nick Whittle

2. Foz Heat

Heat 3:

1. Jo Truman

2. Al Reed

Heat 4:

1. Doug Richards

2. Matt Harwood

Semi One saw Douglas Richards start to show his quality, making some nice aggressive turns , and following him after a somewhat slow start, Jo’s local knowledge paid dividends, hooking into some good little rights, his smooth style saw him up his wave count and into second place only 0.5 points behind Dougie & just ahead of Rich who surfed well in both his heats.

In Semi Two, Matt, keen to progress, started with a bang – getting several scores on the board in quick succession. Al also posted some scores whilst Jamie & Nick, who both showed good form earlier on, were quiet until the last quarter, when Nick started to make a come-back, but too little, too late saw Al & Matt progress into the final

The Final was closely fought battle , the waves failed to improve, which saw the judges favourite going into the final, Doug, making a subdued start. We did see glimmers of his solid style, but the waves just didn’t go his way. Matt, with a great high scoring first wave, continued to post some respectable scores, streaking ahead on wave count alone, Al found a solid right all the way into the inside, showing some style with cross-steps & smooth cutbacks. Jo’s consistency and nack for finding those fun inside walls, meant he edged ahead of Al into second and Matt taking the top spot with skill & tenacity.

Final Scores:

1.Matt Harwood 11.83

2. Jo Truman 11.53

3. Al Reed 10.16

4. Doug Richards 9.63

The IOW Surf Club would like to say a big thank you for all turning up to make it a great little event. Hopefully we’ll see even bigger competitor numbers, in the next round in the IOW Surf Club Frost Bite series, as what seems like a 1/3 of the IOW surfers return from their Indonesian adventures! Boys, you missed out today !

A big shout out for all girls & groms wanting to get involved. I’m sure Julie, Robin & Dylan would love to beat you in heat & there’s hoodies, t-shirts & other prizes to be won !

It costs £2.50 per comp for existing members

£10 for non-members, which gives your Isle of Wight Surf Club Membership also including your BSA Membership www.britsurf.co.uk/bsa-membership

And that brings me to a last big thank you to Rapanui , who are very generously sponsoring every event of the Frost Bite Series.

For those who haven’t heard of them, Rapanui are an award winning Eco-Fashion company based/born’n’bred on the Isle of Wight.

They make some damm tasty ethical clothing using natural organic fabrics and manufactured using renewable energy in a Fair Wear Foundation audited, wind powered factory. Check them out:

www.rapanuiclothing.com/about

I’m having a bit of enforced time out of the water this week with an extra hole in my head following some dental surgery, feel like crap and loaded with painkillers, but the surf gods are on my side and its coincided with a flat spell.

And after a pretty good run of waves at the end of September and early October, both here on the Isle of Wight and away in Cornwall, my boards are in need of a bit of attention, i’ve got a few dings to fix up, and both could do with a fresh coat of wax as the old stuff is half inch think and the colour of an old dog turd.

So, i’m finally getting round to trying out the ‘wax buddy’ sent to me to review earlier this year by the people at http://www.extremehorizon.com/

I’ve done this job a few million times before, and lets not pretend, its not rocket science, and its not the hardest work you’ll ever have to do, but with a couple of caked up longboards it can still be a bit of a pain in the arse using your normal wax comb, and i nearly always end up with old wax jammed under my fingernails from the inevitable slip-ups scraping it off the hard way.

So i was genuinely really surprised and pleased to find how easy it came off with the wax buddy. I left both boards out in the sun for 15 minutes (thats october sun in the UK, probably equates to about 30 seconds in Hawaii) to soften it up a bit first, and once i got going with the wax buddy, the old wax fell away like i was carving a cheap donner kebab. Both boards completely stripped in about 10 minutes! and it had gone from being an annoying chore to almost fun to do, there was something really pleasing about the way it cut through the dirty old stuff and revealed the shiny surfboards below.

I took a few pics along the way, was thinking i might create a ‘how to clean your surfboard’ guide, but its really not necessary as i’m pretty sure a chimp would work out how to use it without much prompting.

So with nothing to gain (except hopefully they might send me more stuff) I’m giving it a thumbs up, i think you can buy a wax buddy for around four quid and it would be money well spent if you’re a surfer or thinking of a little christmas gift for the surfer in your life.

Well, thats my first ‘equipment review’ done then, I look forward to the surfboard manufacturers of the world all rushing to sending me their latest secret shapes, and wetsuit companies queuing up to give me their heated winter wetsuits to try out next