Half of surfing is waiting. No-one ever tells you that. There’s the waiting when you’re at home for your local break to go off, there’s the pre-trip waiting when all you do is dream about the waves you’ll hopefully be scoring when you get to your destination. Then there’s days like to day. I’ve been sat with a view of the break for about the past hour and a half, hoping the conditions will improve, but it’s not looking likely. I’ll give it a bash at high tide because then the sea rushes in and fills the little bay area which is nicely shielded on both sides picturesque outcroppings.
I’ve also been doing some thinking this morning. I believe this will be my last trip away by myself. Yes, there’s a certain appeal, almost romantic, in loading up the car with Tent, Boards and Wet suits and heading off to places unknown. This has always appealed to me, to my solitary nature, but days like today when frankly I’m a bit sore (muscle ache and my ribs hurt from where I got whacked yesterday), a bit of a headache and the surf has crapped out, when it would be awesome to have someone here with me. Instead of moping around, we would share the stoke, head off to find breaks that are working or just saying “sod it, to the pub!”. Plus it’s always better surfing with a mate, especially when you’ve just had the ride of your life and someone else saw it. It’s even good when you’ve been hammered by a wave and you get the piss taken out of you for it.
So from now on, if I can’t persuade anyone to come along, I doubt I’ll be going.
I feel this is the perfect moment to start talking about something that’s been rattling around in this noggin of mine for a while now. It’s called “the better surf project”.
Basically it boils down to this: As surfers, we have a responsibility, no a DUTY to do what we can to limit the damage caused by surfing. What damage? Well, have a think about this. Say there are three surfers at my local break of The Witterings and the surf is it’s usual crap, so each of these guys leaps on the computer and sees that it’s going to be 5-8 foot with a off-shore wind at Fistral. If their lives will permit it, those three guys are going to leap in their cars and head off to Cornwall. What’s wrong with that? Well that’s an accumulated mileage of around 1500 miles, not to mention wear and tear to three engines, 12 tires and the emission from 3 seperate cars. If those three guys went together, the net mileage would be cut buy two thirds, plus three guys having a laugh along the way and sharing the costs. It’s a win-win if you ask me.
Also consider the costs involved of getting new equipment. Say you really want a new board, but you haven’t used that 6-2 that you bought on a whim and its sitting unused in your garage. How about swapping it instead of going through the hassle of selling it? By swapping boards (and wetsuits – anything surf related really), we can limit the environmental damage caused in the manufacturing process.
So there we are! The locals are telling me that the surf should be better by the end of the week, so here’s me crossing my fingers!
