A couple of photographs from last Saturday taken with my iPhone 3GS. Sometimes it is difficult to see the results of the photo just taken, so I was quite pleased with these once I could see them on a computer screen.
Newquay Bay early Saturday morning 3 March 2012.
For the weekend warrior living in the South West, this weekend gave us an opportunity to sample the swell that surfers had been frothing about during the week. Saturday morning revealed corduroy to the horizon…
On Wednesday we tweeted about the big surf being forecast for the weekend.
The swell duly arrived on Saturday and then built over the weekend. Having not been able to watch previous tow in sessions at the Cribbar reef, it was a joy to spend some time this afternoon watching the tow in teams do their stuff. At the time the photographs below were taken, magicseaweed.com had forecast 13’ waves at 13 seconds with the breaking wave estimated at 15’ double overhead.
Mahalo to the tow teams.
In support of a good cause on Saturday 6 August we drove down to the village of Sennen in west Cornwall to the Surf Action Surf Fayre. Surf Action is a charity which through surfing helps rehabilitate traumatised and injured Armed Forces and civilian emergency service personal. The charity also helps families of the veterans.
The fayre showcased some wonderful local arts, crafts and surfing products including surfboards, clothing and accessories. It was good to meet the guys from Surf Action and catch up with our friend James Otter who had a stand showcasing his beautiful wooden surfboards and hand planes.
The event was well organised; excellent coffee was being served outside, the hall was busy with stalls and visitors, while up in the mezzanine surf films were being screened. With the sun shinning and the happy vibe around the event a good day was had.
Surf Action – http://www.surfaction.co.uk/
Sunday 26 June was a beautiful day in our bit of Cornwall, a warm sun shone down from a blue sky and a clean swell fanned by light off shores lit up the beaches. So after surfing in the morning a visit to the Vintage Surf Meet added to my surf stoke. There were many familiar Newquay faces and a few friends in attendance. Here are a few pictures of the event and of surfboard logos…
The view from above Lusty Glaze beach looking across Newquay Bay
More on the event can be read here –
http://www.facebook.com/notes/museum-of-british-surfing/the-vintage-surf-meet/10150300940189460
http://vintagesurfboardcollectoruk.blogspot.com/2011/06/yesterdays-meet.html
While dining at a local beach restaurant recently we were drawn to the art work of Kevin Cooper hanging on display. We were struck by the way he uses and composes images to visually communicate the surfing experience. In fact we were so impressed we got in touch with Kevin and now have one of his stunning prints on our wall. In addition to his art work and illustrations, Kevin is a photographer and a surfboard graphic artist.
We are very proud to have a number of Kevin’s photographs on our website’s home page.
Kevin’s work can be seen at;
http://sleeplessink.blogspot.com/
http://boardgraphics.blogspot.com/
http://www.outerink.blogspot.com/
I was very interested to learn recently of a unique surfing event run by the National Trust; the Boarder Series junior surf competitions. The events are for the environmentally aware surf grom with Under 16 and Under 14 divisions for both boys and girls.
The series starts with the South of the Boarder event in Cornwall on Saturday 16 April at Poldhu Cove (near Helston). The North of the Boarder event is on Saturday 14 May at Crantock Beach, Newquay.
Our responsibility to pick up beach litter is a key theme of the events and is reflected in the competitions unique scoring system, in addition to scoring waves surfed, the amount of litter collected is also scored; one carrier bag of beach litter is worth a point. The litter picking points are added to the surfing points of the first heat.
More on the events, surfing and the NT can be found at the following links;
Surf Competitions in Devon and Cornwall – http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-devoncornwall/w-devoncornwall-surf-competitions/
Surfing and the NT – http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-activities/w-activities-surfing.htm
The NT’s Surf Ambassadors – http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-news/w-news-further_news/w-news-bestbeaches.htm
We met the artist Ben Cook in January of this year at the Cornwall Surfing Style exhibition at the Trelissick Gallery (located in the grounds of Trelissick Gardens), where he was exhibiting a small selection of his work. Ben’s unique take and representation of the surfing experience is really impressive. His work includes pencil drawings of surfing landscapes, multimedia pieces comprised of everyday surfing equipment and printed textiles.
The Dance (after Matisse)
An exhibition of Ben’s work can currently be seen at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University. The solo show is titled, Ben Cook: Littoral Drifter, and the exhibition runs through March to the 21 May 2011 – http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/hatton/thingstoseeanddo/exhibition/2011/03/03/ben-cook-littoral-drifter/.
From the Hatton Gallery; “Ben Cook is a prolific artist at the forefront of the surf art movement; creating multi-media artworks using materials associated with surfing (such as surf wax and fibreglass) he challenges stereotypes and provides an alternative view of coastal landscapes.
Ben Cook: Littoral Drifter is a solo show which includes newly commissioned pencil drawings of approaches to North East surf spots, part of the artist’s ongoing Surfing Landscapes project.”
Website: http://www.bencookartist.co.uk/
Blog: http://bencookartist.tumblr.com/
Buy: http://www.bencooksurfart.co.uk
The Toxic paradox
Yesterday saw the fifth Fistral Beach clean organised by Keep Britain Tidy. After the initial look over the beach there didn’t appear to be much litter for the twenty odd volunteers to pick up. The past week has seen very high tides combined with big surf and the beach and sand dunes were given a bit a beating so much of the litter was taken out to sea.
A closer inspection of the beach revealed insidious plastic (particularly at the high tide line); thousands of very small pieces. So much so that it is almost an overwhelming task to remove. Picking up the bigger pieces of litter is obvious but the benefit of removing the small plastic items is that they are prevented from entering the food chain.
The bulk of the tiny plastic pieces were polystyrene and other types of plastic foam, difficult to effectively remove from the beach without the use of something like a sieve.
I could not help but think ‘how do we stop plastic such as foam ending up on the beaches in the first place’? I was asked by some people out walking what we were doing. They acknowledged that the beach cleaning was a good idea but it was their thoughts on where did the litter come from that made me make take notice. Ships out at sea, seagulls and beach visitors were given as the main culprits for beach litter.
Ships and gulls? I’m not too sure about that. There is no doubt that visitors to the beach are responsible for a lot of the litter found on beaches. The wind carries litter down to the shore and daily tides deposit the remainder. So how does litter enter the ocean?
Evidence shows that ocean plastic is entering the food chain. As much as there is a need for people to pick up and remove beach litter we all need to think of and be aware of the consequences of our actions with all that we buy and ultimately dispose of. Thankfully there are people and organisations like Harry (from Saco, Maine), Surfers Against Sewage, Keep Britain Tidy and The Surfrider Foundation who care and are taking action. More on Harry and his sterling efforts can be read about on his blog http://theflotsamdiaries.blogspot.com/.
From the ‘things we like’ department comes the art of Mel McDonald. Mel’s paintings of surfers and of Cornwall evoke memories of experiences, familiar sights and summers past. They remind us that spring and summer sunshine follow on from a cold grey winter. There is also the intrigue of places to be visited and surfed… a semi secret spot on the North Cornwall coast.
Many of her surf paintings radiate sunshine and remind me of the heat of summer, a warmer ocean and the view of the beach and sea through sunglasses; paintings that make you feel good and for a surfer the desire to grab your board and get in the water
You can check out Mel’s art and website here - http://www.melaniemcdonald.co.uk/. Enjoy.
Breakers and Surfers, Constantine Bay, Cornwall. Oil & acrylic on contemporary block canvas.
Surf Scene, Polzeath, Cornwall. Oil and Acrylic on Block Canvas.
Surf, Cornwall. Oil and Acrylic on Block Canvas.
