And look at it now – its like Spring – blue skies, sunshine, double figure temperatures… and since im still here, I have been making the most of it with some long walks along the coast.

All these shots are taken with my iPhone, and far from being high-grade, yet still capture the coast in its glorious autumn light… :)

Im off to Indonesia for a month… more at Christmas…

Its February now. Autumn feels like a long time ago. The water is SO cold now. I spent 5 weeks in Indonesia, and then went straight to Texas for Christmas for two weeks. In effect, I managed to miss all the snow chaos here in the UK and plonked myself on a nice warm beach instead. January has been pretty mild, and there has been so little swell of any significance that Ive all but given-up surfing. Almost.

Instead we have been making a couple of trips to Glenshee to slide around on the ice, and doing long cycle rides and hikes. The weather has been truly balmy by standards. Only a few days under zero, and Ive seen a few days in double figures..  in January… better get ready for Easter… ;)

And a quick video from the top of Hedgehope;

Untitled from swinhoe on Vimeo.

Im going to try and make more effort here and post more fragments and quick snapshots from the villages and area, and in that vein find below some snaps from the 4 hours hike at the weekend – Langleeford car park – up Hedgehope – around to Cheviot – top of Cheviot and back to the car park. 10 miles and a 850m vertical climb. Lots of snow and ice. Such a good day. :)

Note; All the photos and the video were taken with my iPhone – and im so impressed with its quality ! More frequent posting via the iPhone to follow.. :)

Two jellies at Bamburgh

In the last two weeks we have seen the start of the Jellyfish season on the beaches. Normally, we dont see so many until September, when the weather livens-up, but with a strong Northerly/Easterly wind, they get blown inshore from sea and stranded on the beaches.

I think I’m becoming a bit obsessed with them. They are such interesting creatures. (last night I found myself trawling through the many pages on Wikipedia about the species).

Yesterday I was diving on a boat at the Farnes and Paul, and the Divers and I got chatting about the Portuguese Man ‘o War. Apparently they are occasionally spotted around the Farnes and St Abbs.

The Portuguese Man ‘o War, the Box Jellyfish and the Lions Mane are the biggest and most dangerous kinds, but are RARELY found in waters of the North Sea.

The Portuguese Man 'o War - not local to the area.

Now, LOTS of Jellyfish get washed-up along the beaches here, but rarely are any of them any real danger. Even the most dangerous Jellyfish are rarely fatal, and 99.9% of the time the worst case scenario will be severe pain until treatment is administered. Any deaths from Jellyfish stings are unlucky and are associated with people who many be allergic or be especially susceptible.

There are thousands of different species of Jellyfish, but along the beaches of the North East, you will see a regular collection of about a

Brain-like tissue and textures...

dozen, ranging in size from a centimeter to about 2-3 feet across. They come in clear, white, blue, pink, purple, red and deep red colours.

Generally the smaller pink/blue types are harmless and can be handed without injury, the darker they are the more likely they are to sting. If you are stung, the best treatment is vinegar. Take a cloth of bandage and soak it with vinegar, removing any excess, then apply to the affected area. In the rare event of  having been stung by a Portuguese Man ‘o War, don’t use vinegar – this can make the sting worse and spread it (the The Portuguese Man ‘o War is not actually a Jellyfish, but a close relative).

Foot used as scale

Remember that the stings – or nematocysts – can remain active long after the jellyfish has died or dried-up, so be careful when handling if you choose to do so. Local fishermen laugh heartily when old stored fishing gear is taken out of storage and handled months after being on the sea only to sting the new lad on the harbour not wearing his gloves.

The weeks of snow, ice and cold weather were only a mild distraction from short days and dark nights.

But its now mid-march, and the weather is breaking. The snow drops are pushing through the grass, the caravan sites are re-opening and the village has some people in it once again.

I’ll have some more Spring-like shots later this week to put up, but just quickly, a look back at the winter gone.

Crew

VT

The village has slipped into dormancy, happily, after a busy summer. The weather is cold, the days are dark and short. There is snow on the ground as I write this post.

The surf has been pretty average for autumn, a few clean swells but mostly junky cross-shore, small period mediocrity. Ive still been getting in, but more out of desperation than desire.

December was a massive month for surf news, with Hawaii firing with epic huge swells. The ASP tour was won by Mick Fanning after Parko stumbled in the Pipe event which was eventually won by Taj, for the first time, with Kelly coming second. Parko, although pipped at the post for the world title, took the Triple Crown Title for a second year, after Sunset and Haleiwa both produced quality entertainment.

And finally, the Eddie ran. 5 years in the waiting, with 30ft+ swell, it went off, massively, with Greg Long winning in the last heat to steal 1st place form Slater. Epic.
I watched all 8 hours straight on the web, one of the best live streams ive ever seen.

I was doing some tidying-up the other day and found these shots from the end of summer, and so thought I should share them.

Hope you like the flash-back to a warmer, sunnier Beadnell.

So, back to reality. at least the winter solstice has now passed, and its officially getting warmer and lighter everyday.

The New Year will bring new swell.

See you out there. :)

b

Not much in the way of notable swell, but still getting in every few days.

Below, find a photo set taken recently whilst watching the water.

We hope more decent swell rolls in before Christmas, but the snow is falling in the alps, and before long the winter will bring adventures sliding sideways of another kind.

We’ll look forward to it all.

Grey Abyss

Autumn is usually a decent period for swells, and although its not been flat, we’ve not had it epic yet either.
A few decent glassy afternoon’s at Bamburgh have been rewarding, but we want more.

With the dark and cold becoming ever-more ominous, the villages have shut-down for winter the last few tourists will be here for the schools half-term, and then at the end of October the caravan sites will close for winter, and that’s it for another year.

The shortboards and thrusters are being cleaned-off for the big winter swells, the fat fish, eggs and mals are put away.

I had better find those gloves…

In the meantime with the surf and water locally providing little inspiration, there are a few distractions to look forward to. The end of October means Halloween, and the village of Beadnell takes this very seriously, with competition, prizes and a grand night to be had. Some locals have been making their costumes for a month already… no names mentioned.

Halloween Lantern

Check out the Craster Arms on the 31st for all the fun.

To help pass the time, there has also been the European leg of the ASP Tour, France and Spain just finished, the boys are in Portugal awaiting the event to start.

With only two events left, there are ten potentials aiming for the title. Parko has slipped in the last two events and Mick Fanning has had two wins, with the Mundaka event being won by Adriano. Bede, Taj, CJ and Bobby are all in the running.

Slater is in 5th, and you know he’s still a threat, with Pipe to come. Check the rating here.

Some highlights from the last events below. Not exactly perfect conditions at either location… but worth a look.

See you in the water.

But, before it fully arrives, September and October should deliver the sweet gems of bliss we all love. – September traditionally brings superb swell, with warm water and light winds.

Silver Glass - Photo by www.CapturetheAdventure.co.uk

We’ve had very little swell of any size recently, which is to be expected up here on the east coast, the picture above was taken on a freak occasion a week or two ago, the guy taking-off was actually just out paddling about for some exercise  when this slab hit. This was the only wave of the day…. nothing came before or after it…  *sigh*.

So, to get you in the mood for the what-we-hope-is coming September Sessions, we have three bits if video to share with you;

The first was a little edit I chopped together whilst out diving with the seals on the bank holiday weekend with Farne Island Divers. – Not especially surf-related, but hey, no-ones perfect.

Farne Islands Divers – Diving with Seals – August 2009 from swinhoe on Vimeo.

The second is, “Yeah Boy “- shot on location in the Mentawai’s – a wet-dream that arrives via our cohorts at If 6 Was 9 in Noosa, Queensland.

Yeah Boy from if6was9 on Vimeo.

The third is….  well, it something a bit more grounding after the Indo sequence…  – Arctic Surf Film Part 1 – via some very brave boys from California. – Good on ya…

See you in the water..

Clean swell on monday

The previous post outlined and the predicted swell, and some early snaps indicated that it was going to be good, but really we have much more to talk about than just the waves.

Marching swell

A few highlights from the week just ended.

• Early morning session in huge overhead conditions in the middle of the Bay – including creating a new hole in my knee
• The new and highly questionable smell coming from my car
• Jumping-off Stag Rock to paddle out in huge waves with Steve, James and Murds in a classic old-school session
• Getting a luscious Sunday evening session with light off-shores and gorgeous golden light
• Covering god-knows how many miles and spending £70 on fuel chasing waves around the coast (not exactly sure this is a highlight…)
• Making ‘The Sacrifice’ successfully, twice, and scoring as a direct result… its as guaranteed as paying taxes
• Meeting and surfing with lots of new faces from up and down the coast – great to see more people in the area

Big and onshore

All things considered, we have had a sensational week, lots of swell, mixed weather including plenty of sunshine, new faces, new boards and shapes to eye-up and plenty of spots visited and surfed.

Of course there are downsides, I appear to have developed a nasty chest-hack, and my head is a bit full -hopefully with just a summer-cold and not anything to do with swine-flu ;), and of course there are always the odd gripes over who should be surfing where and what photos get taken.

Beadnell Point reeling

Racing the wall

Big hack...

The happy place

There really are not many surfers up here, and of course this is one of the attractions of living here. But once you’ve lived and surfed in genuinely busy spots such as Croyde, Bude, Newquay – all of Cornwall actually – Australia, New Zealand et-all, you can realise just how good we have it. With that in mind im never going to subscribe to the narrow-minded, selfish and generally childish mentalities of some people. Life is too good and too short to hold these sort of feelings.

The long paddle-out

So with the swell gone and a return to normality lying ahead, im sitting here watching Occy and Tom Curren tear-apart perfect JBay…  I had better hold onto these memories, they will probably have to last until the next decent swell sometime in November….  :).

Peaking...

Big out-east

Seahouses harbour taking the brunt

Screaming right

Big screaming left

Sunday evening slash

Lining-up...

Tucking-in

Sunset shimmer

It does look like there might be some nice waves at Thurso next week mind… maybe a trip is in-order.

See you in the water.

Aloha.

This good weather and flat sea’s inspired a few toys to come out.

Water Toys at Beadnell Bay from swinhoe on Vimeo.