Tag Archives: surfing

Surf Speak or What I really mean…

A few observations I’ve picked up over the years.

“Its two foot” – its not two foot…. its bigger. but I want to impress my friends by underestimating the size of the wave.

“Its three foot” – see above

‘Its three and a half foot’ – I’m a nob…

“Its four foot” – OK, its quite big now and I’ve just sent my mate off to be crucified at his local break because he actually thinks its four foot.

“ITS FOUR FOOT!“ – dont confuse this with the statement above. It sounds the same but really it means its f###ing huge. Hard to differentiate the two but when you paddle out and drown you’ll realise which one I meant.

“Its over four foot!!” – I’m lying. There’s no such thing as over four foot?

“Its a bit choppy but ridable” – its sh#t but I need to justify why I paddled out when it was so crappy.

“It could do with another foot on it” – I’m not good enough to ride these waves.

“Its closing out” – as above

“The banks not quite right” – as above

” Did you see my re-entry” – I know you didnt, cos I didnt really do one.

“I got air!” – all the way from the top of the wave to the bottom as I fell off.

“Hi man. Surfs pumping!” – you missed it!

“You should have been here earlier” – you missed it and I want you to know I’m glad you did because I now feel superior. Have a nice day.

Ensure you mix in a load of ‘like’s’, ‘cool’s’, ‘ripped’, ‘stoked’, ‘bud’, ‘brah’ (I fukin hate that one!!) and ‘awesome’s’ and nobody will be able to tell you apart from  the other dicks out in the ocean. There are plenty more but I cant think of them at the moment. I’ll add them as I think of them.

Fistral a couple of days ago when it was pumping. Oh yeh, and it was ? foot.

North Fistral 22 Sept 06South Fistral 22 Sept 06

Growing old gracelessly

25 years ago when I started surfing there were a few ‘old boys’ who used to bang on about how surfing had changed since the new kids had arrived, bringing with them a bad attitude and no respect for the waves or their peers…. They were of course referring to me and my friends and we in time honoured fashion ignored them, regarding them as has beens and people who couldnt keep up with progress.

Well guess what? I’ve become one of those ‘old boys’.

Its strange how everything goes through cycles. Back then, I didnt understand what the problem was. There was plenty of room for everyone. Now, I do understand. Its not about the age difference….it’s about momentum. You see everything that you are used to being turned on its head.

Take for instance surf schools. When I started you taught yourself- the hard way, by making mistakes and almost drowning. I used heavy resin pop-out boards that could kill you as soon as look at you. Carrying them down to the sea was an act of heroism. Now, you get your hand held through the whole process, use soft foam boards and at the end of a lesson or two you are churned out, ready to surf. Then its straight down the shop for £500 worth of gear. Everyone has a new surfboard and wetsuit. It took me two years to get my first board and I surfed in a borrowed (very holey) wetsuit for that time.

Me, Dave and Alex at the north end

In a way I feel sorry for the new surfers. They will never have to go through the initiation that I and my colleagues had to take on. We are have been a tight group of friends who have lived and surfed together for 20 years and have grown to love our surroundings and understand how lucky we are. Unfortunately, we dont particularly like sharing it with so many others.

So now I’m one of the ‘old boys’ who bangs on about how good it used to be!