Following on from yesterdays post, where the camera lied a bit and made it all look very good with beautiful backlit waves and no close-outs or drop-ins, here’s the other side of the coin and a few wipeouts / bailouts and even one in the pouring rain!

Finally had a chance to shoot some surfing at Freshwater Bay again and test out the Sigma 50-500mm. I got the lens with surfing in mind almost a year ago a now and have barely had a chance to catch any waves with it till the last few days! The bay looked pretty bumpy and back-washy as the high tide pushed in, but a talented bunch of locals made the best of the conditions and it actually looks pretty good now that you cant see the close-outs and drop-ins

Surfing at Freshwater Bay, 1/11/2011 – Images by jason swain

The day after a lovely head-high groundswell hit freshwater bay, there were still a few leftovers to be had at the beach break of Compton Bay.

But whereas on Monday at the bay we had big clean lines breaking nicely along the point for some pretty decent length rides, Tuesday 18th at Compton was mostly a story of close-outs as the sand-banks, or angle, or something, just couldn’t handle the long wavelengths of this particular swell (even though the waves themselves were only chest to shoulder high).

Still the takeoffs were fun, and every now and again I managed to grab a fast little section and escape the close-outs so no complaints about a surf session in the sun with only two other people out!

Thanks again to Paul Blackley for these pics, you can see all his other shots from the day, including a few of Dave Downer and Joe Truman here…. and read why we were both late to make the line up and paul was equipped with camera but no surf board.

http://wightsurfhistory.co.uk/compton-18th-jan-2011/

Managed to catch a few decent swells over the christmas and new year break, boxing day was probably the pick of the bunch with lovely clean uncrowded waves at Compton Bay. The set waves were consistently head high and there wasn’t a breath of wind which is always a bonus in winter.

We had another nice clean day (pictured here below) on Sunday 3rd Jan 2011, the swell was a bit smaller, mostly waist to chest high, but with the very occasional head-high wave if you had the patience to sit our back and could bear the cold long enough.

It was also the day of the latest frost bite surfing comp organised by the Isle of Wight surf club, and my good friend Paul Blackley was taking pics after having a surf earlier that morning. You can see a set of Paul’s contest shots and read more about the contest here http://wightsurfhistory.co.uk/iow-surf-club-frost-bite-event-no-3/

I wasn’t in the comp, but Paul also grabbed a few of me on my big red longboard, including one of those choice set waves that made the whole thing worthwhile.

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)

I originally thought about writing this as a sort of nostalgic wetsuit review, comparing all the types of suit i’ve worn over the years, starting with a custom made second skin from the factory in Braunton, North Devon (i still remember how lovely that neoprene felt at the time), moving onto rip-curl from my local surf shop on the island (Offshore sports, Shanklin) and lately billabong & o’neill mostly brought online because its cheaper that way, and then casually leading up to the fact that i’ve got HAD an almost new o’neill psycho freak wetsuit for sale over on ebay.

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.

The ebay listing is WAS 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 HAVE SOLD 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 gotHAD to go.

Find the best triathlon wetsuit for your most awaited triathlon tournament.