So… Just back form a week riding the powder in Val Thoren. What a good week.
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 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.
December 24, 2009 1:29 pm | 
Subscribe