Loch Seaforth Wave

March 2, 2009 on 10:51 pm | In Whitewater Kayaking, Surfing, Sea Kayaking | No Comments

Sunday afternoons when the forecast is not great but when there is four metres of tidal difference provide only one source of amusement. The wave at Loch Seaforth on the border of Lewis and Harris. With the tide falling through a narrow gap and over a shelf it creates a wave which can be surfed in a river kayak. The perfectly positioned island provides the ‘tripod’ for the camera and the tea breaks. With the rest of the island getting rain and hail we seem to strick lucky and it missed. I will let the pictures tell the story:

Tim Pickering
http://www.canoehebrides.com
Living in the world's biggest adventure playground - The Outer Hebrides CanoeHebrides.com - Sea kayaking Expeditions BikeHebrides.com -Quality Mountain Bike Hire

Discounted Adventure in Scotland

September 8, 2008 on 1:52 pm | In Sea Kayaking, Surfing, Whitewater Rafting, Canoeing, River Bugging, Open Canoeing, Canyoning, Cliff Jumping, Coasteering, Kayak Surfing, Body Boarding | No Comments

The new VisitScotland Adventure Pass offers some fantastic savings on adventure sports and activities in Scotland.

Offers include buy one get one free so why not try surfing in East Lothian, canoeing near Inverness, white water rafting in Perthshire or sea kayaking in Shetland to name a few.

To claim your vouchers log on to www.visitscotland.com/adventurepass

Gillian Thompson
http://www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Works with adventure sports in Scotland and has a keen interest in keeping fit and walking and a new passion for surfing.

EVEREST FOR EVERYONE

January 8, 2008 on 6:49 pm | In Surfing, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

OK, this has absolutely nothing to do with surfing or watersports, but I couldn’t help but comment on the following…

French outdoor gear manufacturers Millet are running a competition with the first prize being the chance to summit Everest.There will be requirements of the winner that they do possess the potential to get to the top of the world (one wonders what these may be - getting to the top of your stairs without a tea break, perhaps?) but egad, how the mighty have fallen (by which I mean Everest).

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.

HERE COMES THE SUN

January 8, 2008 on 3:06 pm | In Surfing | No Comments

It may not feel like it, but right now we’re heading away from dark and dismal mid-winter to the more cheering days of summer – and for those of us who spend our leisure time up to our necks (and frequently more) in the water, that can only be good news. 

Scotland in particular gets a raw deal in the cold season, for not only are the air and water temperatures the lowest in Britain, the good citizens of Cornwall also enjoy almost two hours more daylight in mid-winter than those equally fine individuals residing in the north of Scotland. 

The sun in Penzance shows its head above the horizon at 8.21am on midwinter day, whilst you’ll be gazing east for another 43 minutes before you see those warming rays lighten up the sky if you’re in Wick. Likewise, sunset down south was at 4.20pm on December 21, but up in Wick it had already been dark for an hour by then. 

This is probably even worse news for surfers than the cold temperatures. After all, a good wettie will see you through pretty much anything, but if its pitch black you’re scuppered – and worst of all is when you surf a break that only really works at a particular stage of the tide… 

Let’s say your favourite break goes off at high tide, and high tide on an especially good mid-winter swell in northern Scotland happens to occur at 3.15pm that day. Well, you’d better have your waterproof headtorch ready if you want to make the most of it since you have two minutes of daylight left and you won’t be catching it the following morning either unless you’re a total lunatic (perhaps literally…). 

But were you in, say, Sennen, you’d still have over an hour of daylight left for that afternnon session. Not fair is it…? 

However, let’s zoom forward six months. On those same tide times you could catch that 3.15pm session no problem in Caithness, and unlike Cornwall, you could even surf the morning high tide in twilight too. 

And that’s where Scotland truly comes into it’s own for surfers (and anyone else who likes to play outdoors for that matter). There are very few places in the world, after all, where you can (if you have the stamina) surf for over eighteen hours a day. 

Indeed, in some ways you don’t have any choice. I remember once staying in a caravan outside Thurso in June when the threadbare curtains were allowing daylight to stream through the windows almost before I’d even gone to bed. By 4.30am it was pointless trying to get any sleep so what better to do than go surfing? 

And if money is tight – as it was on that occasion – we saved our beer tokens by being out in the waves when last orders were called. And I know which I’d rather be doing… 

So, surfers of Scotland, be not of faint heart, for summer is acoming. By my calculations you’re getting an extra 122.5 minutes of daylight per month between now and mid-June, which is 30.6 minutes a week or 4.37 minutes a day. 

And those extra 4.37 daily minutes should be enough for at least one more wave per session… 

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.

STOKED in North of Scotland

December 27, 2007 on 1:06 pm | In Surfing | 1 Comment

I’ve recently been chatting to two surfers from very different backgrounds who, coincidentally, I met a few years ago in Ireland at the World Masters Surfing Championships.

One is UK surf leg end – sorry, legend - Gabe Davies, a friend of many years and as nice a bloke as you could find. The other is Dutch surfer and photographer Ray Max (cool name or what?) whose work you can see at his fascinating website www.ongetemd.com.

What they have in common is, at first glance, hard to see. Gabe had just surfed some truly titanic waves off Mullaghmore Head (see more at surf photographer Mickey Smith’s superb website www.mickeysmith.co.uk), whilst I’d bumped into Ray whilst he was travelling through Wales with some friends to write a piece for the Dutch surf press on the wonder that is Welsh surfing.

In their own way these two guys are living the life. Gabe is a sponsored pro, gets to surf the world’s best (and scariest) waves and is paid for it; Ray also gets to travel to some of the world’s best surf spots (what, Wales?) and is paid for doing so. Not bad hey…?

They also share in common the fact that they’re thoroughly nice guys with a great sense of humour and with whom it’s a pleasure to enjoy a beer or a wave. And yet it would be so easy to be totally up yourself when the world is, from a surfing point of view, at your feet.

I have come across the occasional unfortunate specimen like this (a Californian pro and an Australian ego maniac, wouldn’t you know…), but it seems to me that the majority of people making a living from surfing in one way or another are top characters who have an enthusiasm that, I’m sure, is a manifestation of the stoke that surfing puts into life.

I was out of the water with an injury when I was chatting to both Gabe and Ray, and in such circumstances am usually like a bear with a burnt arse, but once you get into some banter with fellow surfers it invariably puts you in a good mood and fires up the enthusiasm to get fit and get back out there again.

And (finally getting to the point…) there are few places in the world where the stoke is as high as Scotland. As I write air temperatures are well below zero, water temperatures are approaching single digit and the north coast is enjoying/enduring less than seven hours of daylight in every 24, which, let’s face it, is not what most people would call surf paradise.

But to those who ride Scottish waves it’ll more than do nicely, thank you. And it’ll more than adequately fire up the stoke. So here’s to a New Year with lots of stoke, lots of waves and lots of laughs for everyone. What more could you need…?

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.

SANTA DON’T SURF

December 27, 2007 on 12:58 pm | In Surfing | No Comments

SANTA DON’T SURF

Now is quite obviously the time of year when all good surfers send their Christmas wish list to Santa and hope for the best on Dec 25.

Here’s my own Christmas list, one that I figure wouldn’t too far off those of most average British surfers.

1. A year of clean, glassy surf of the size of my own choosing – some days big, some days small, some days in between but NO days flat.

2. A board to suit all the conditions that might occur during the above year, and even better, one that doesn’t use petrochemicals in its construction, is ding proof and also has a nice spray job (just as an aside – whatever happened to surfboard art? These days of Surftech and the rest it seems to be a dying skill…)

3. A new wetsuit that works in all conditions, is super stretchy, warm and comfy and never stinks of p**s. Although I would hope a good proportion of my summer sessions required little more than boardies to be honest.

4. A surf vehicle to carry me to the waves. Ideally something that does at least 50 to the gallon thus being both cheap(ish) to run and environmentally friendly, also has plenty of room to install double bed, shower, fridge and cooker and does 0-60 in less than eight seconds.

5. A marked acceleration in global warming since this will, apparently, bring warmer waters and bigger waves to the
UK’s shores.

6. And finally, enough wax to see me through the year.

Having re-read that list, one thing stands out – that Santa clearly don’t surf. Now I guess this should be pretty obvious of a guy who is the same shape as a pool ball, well over a hundred years old and lives at the North Pole, but there are a few other things that give the game away too.

Namely that of all six items on my Christmas list, he’s only ever likely to leave one in the sock at the end of my bed on Christmas morning – the wax.

Because let’s face it, the perfect do-it-all board, wetsuit and surf vehicle don’t exist and never will, and I really don’t imagine that there’s anywhere in the world where you will find quality waves 365 days of the year (although Scotland will at least provide three figure sums in terms of wave consistency as long as you don’t mind travelling for your surf fix).

As for the wish for yet more global warming – well, that’s just daft (not like the rest of my list then…).

So if all Santa can bring me this Christmas is a year’s supply of surf wax it’s quite clear that here is a man who is not in touch with the world of surf. There again, a sock full of wax isn’t to be sniffed at, so mustn’t complain.

And who knows, if we’re really lucky we might just get a good swell on December 25 – which is about as good a Christmas pressie as you could have really.

Happy Christmas!

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.

WINTER WARMER…

November 21, 2007 on 1:19 pm | In Surfing | No Comments

WINTER WONDERLAND

Well, what a load of old bollocks…

The clocks have gone back, the bitter blasts of winter are whipping beneath my towel as I change on the beach and the birds are all gone south (well, those with any sense are).

For winter is here.

And that’s rubbish.

Or is it?

Let’s think about this a bit. It certainly was rubbish a few years ago once the leaves had departed their branches and the woolly hat had taken up residence on the car dashboard.

I’m thinking about the time when a winter ‘steamer’ lived up to its name about as effectively as Timberland’s ‘waterproof’ boots do – i.e. expect the opposite of what the term implies and you won’t be disappointed.

These days, winter wetties are a different prospect altogether, which for Scottish surfers in particular is very good news.

Get the right kit and you really can get in one or even two decent sessions a day without the need of reporting to the local A&E department at the end of the day to have your extremities defrosted.

And, of course, winter means bigger and more consistent swells. Which can only be a GOOD THING. If you’re made from the same mould as the likes of Chris Noble of Thurso it means you can feed your cravings for big drops and long, cold hold downs; and if you’re a weed like me it means you can surf smaller, lesser-known breaks that never work on the lacklustre swells of summer.

The cold blasts of winter will also reduce the numbers in the water, whilst with more waves to choose from thanks to bigger swells everyone gets spread out amongst the breaks, the result of which is more waves for one and all. Which yet again can only be a GOOD THING.

In fact when I think about it I’ve had plenty of short one- or two-hour winter sessions in which I’ve surfed more quality waves than any all day session in mid-summer.

I’m not saying winter is the best season to be a surfer because at the end of the day it’s still cold in the water once we’re on the wrong side of the autumn equinox, but it could be a lot worse.

Indeed, Scottish surfers probably have the best deal of any
UK surfers once winter arrives. They get consistent, empty waves, it’s not actually that much colder than Pastieland (Cornwall) and should it all get just that bit too frigid – well that probably means it’s snowing so you can head to the hills and surf some snow instead.

Try doing that on Dartmoor – its rubbish. I know. I’ve tried…

PS If anyone can give me a logical and justified reason for putting the clocks back I’ll be eternally grateful. Someone tells me it’s so farmers can get up earlier to milk the cows and builders can do likewise to lay the bricks. Well I’m not sure about bricks but I do know that cows can’t tell the time so it’s all a huge mystery to me…

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.

November Waves at Sand End

November 15, 2007 on 10:53 am | In Surfing | No Comments

It is always great to feel that all opportunities for outdoor fun are being exploited, especially when it comes to catching a wave. Although the nearer the winter gets the less inviting the water seems, in reality it is actually warmer now than it was in May. Bearing this in mind as we woke up to snowy hills in Aviemore on Saturday morning, we tentatively decided to get ourselves to the Moray coast for a November wave. Fully kitted up in our 5mm wetsuits, boots, gloves and hoods we were sure we would be fine against the chill wind and North Sea.

We arrived at Sand End, just along the coast from Cullen and Buckie in the pouring rain and a howling gale. We did have second thoughts but we knew we did not have much time as it is early dark these November nights and it was already nearly 3pm. A swift glace at the waves told us it would be worth it and off we went, out into the wild storm. We had a great time. In fact it seemed to be a lot warmer and calmer in the water than on the shore. We got a good quota of waves and before we knew it were surfing in the near dark, pretty hard core if I do say so myself!

I love the fact that in Scotland you can easily come face to face with the native wildlife on your way to the beach or the hills or wherever you are headed. This majestic stag lives on the road from Helmsdale to the North coast. It is rutting season so he was out strutting his stuff. We were not sure if he had been impressing the ladies but we were certainly impressed.

Lesley McKenna
http://www.chunkyknit.com
Professional snowboarder, film maker and ambassador for Visitscotland. All sorts of outdoor sports from skiing to mountain biking and now mixes her time on the Snowboard World Cup Tour with time in Scotland doing these sports.

Crowded House

November 7, 2007 on 4:37 pm | In Surfing | 1 Comment

 As it should be - one man and his board

CROWDED HOUSE

Alf Alderson offers a few tips on how to deal with crowded breaks. 

It was half term last week, which means my local break was almost summer-busy – yes, the surfer’s pet hate, the crowd, was back in town.

How to deal with this scourge of the waves that is the question…

Well, I’ll happily admit to dealing with it a few years ago by being a right grumpy not-so-old man, glowering and scowling at anyone I didn’t recognise, yelling “My wave!” far too loudly whenever I took off, and giving any miscreant who was foolish enough to drop in a loud and sweary piece of my mind (all this was at my local break, I hasten to add – I’d never have done this anywhere else for the quite justifiable fear of getting a thorough drubbing from angry locals…).

Surprisingly I never got beaten up at home either, but in the end I realised that getting wound up about the hordes in the water would achieve nothing other than raising my blood pressure, so now that I actually have become a grumpy old man ironically enough I take a much more mellow approach.

Here’s why…

I’m down at Whitesands as a half-decent autumn swell rolls in, wind offshore (ish), sun shining and too many people in the surf. But look at them – 80 per cent don’t have a clue what they’re doing and can’t even get out past the white water so good luck to ‘em, the only way they’re gonna get in my way is if I have to slalom around them towards the end of a ride (and thereby impress them with my supreme wave riding skills – erm, yes…).

Indeed, it’s quite a laugh watching their bumblings and fumblings in the surf and reminding myself that, yes, I too was once a beginner…

So that leaves the other twenty per cent who do know what they’re doing to worry about, which is about ten surfers in total. Most of these I know, and we tend to show each other a bit of respect (not in all cases though, Ashley the Julian Cleary lookalike of Fishguard, hey, mate…? Sorry, getting grumpy again…). We take our turn and most sets provide enough waves for everyone to get a decent ride, so what’s to worry about?

Sure, a beach packed with surfers will never be as appealing as one with a total population of you and couple of mates, but if you actually take time to assess the situation it’s often nowhere near as bad as it first looks.

Especially in
Scotland, where with a few exceptions crowds in the surf are still quite scarce. In fact maybe that’s the obvious answer for those surfers allergic to the huddled masses of humanity – move to
Scotland.

Or there again, maybe not. Cos then it will be crowded in
Scotland too…

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.

RUBBISH SURF…

October 26, 2007 on 3:42 pm | In Surfing | 1 Comment

Top ten surf spot here, top ten surf spot there – enough already. Here’s five of the worst surf spots in
Britain.

WHITESANDS, PEMBROKESHIRE
Whitesands - the most over-rated break in Wales. Here’s why: Most surfers would agree that you need a good swell, right swell direction, right stage of the tide, good banks and an offshore wind to create good surf. Whitesands will and often does have four of these variables in perfect conjunction, but the fifth will always be missing. So the waves are always rubbish. Like tonight, even though the swell was head high.

What’s worse is it’s my local break. Pah!

BOURNEMOUTH
Bournemouth has pretty mediocre surf at present along with huge crowds every time there’s a wave. But next year it will have a new, million-pound artificial reef, creating…mediocre surf with huge crowds every time there’s a wave.The council’s head of leisure services begs to differ, saying the ‘pioneering reef project’…’will make Bournemouth one of the prime surfing destinations in the UK’. What, like Thurso East, Porthleven or the Yorkshire reefs?I think not, because unlike
Bournemouth the above spots receive regular clean, powerful swells.

Bournemouth does so only on months with a Я in them, and no end of expensive reefs will produce quality waves if there ain’t any swell in the first place.I will be happy to eat my hat about these remarks, but I believe my hat has little to fear.

BENBECULA, OUTER HEBRIDES
For all I’m aware Benbecula may have absolutely bitchin’ waves on 358 days of the year, but I know for a fact that for the other seven its rubbish, cos that’s how long I was there once, during which I didn’t see a single decent wave.And for a man who lives in Pembrokeshire, Benbecula is just too far to travel for flat conditions – if it’s flat when I’m there that makes it a rubbish surf spot as far as I’m concerned. And all the bars close on Sunday too…

FISTRAL, CORNWALL
Like most surfers I am a wave rider of average ability. And for ‘average’ surfers Fistral is liquid hell, because when there are waves it’s always as crowded as Paddington Station, and an average surfer will rarely get a decent wave in these conditions because they’ll either be dropped in on by a beginner or beaten to it by a local hotshot.Of course the hotshots think it’s great, cos Fistral does indeed get quality waves and those buggers ride most of them; and the beginners couldn’t care less cos they’re beginners and owt will do. But for the rest of us surfing Fistral is an exercise in utter frustration. Great place if you like beer, curry and a punch up though…

HOLKHAM, NORFOLK
Holkham is one of the most gorgeous beaches in Britain, about four miles long and, it seems, almost as wide, with jade green water, golden sands, pine backed dunes – and not a wave in sight. Ever. And that’s rubbish – what’s a beach as lovely as this doing having no surf? It should be made to audition for the X-Factor as punishment…

Alf Alderson
http://www.alfalderson.co.uk
Multi-award-winning freelance journalist and author of Surf UK - the definitive guide to surfing in Britain.