Here check out my site. If your order comes to over $150, you get free shipping!

We have new boards, used boards, wet suits, rash guards, fins, fin tethers, some surfboards, board bags, and other accessories. Please give it a look.

MySite

[Edited on 2-7-2004 by petersone]

Your site is wonderful in my opinion. Although i haven't yet ordered from you, i have found it really great to look at, get a look at new, good equipment and learn new tips and moves from "helpful info" section of the site.

I've read that vicki reale and jay reale are the owners of the site, do you know them by any chance? Because they were featured in issue 57 of british bodyboarding mag ThreeSixty...it was about how their day went.

I have also emailed vicki before about advice, so all in all i think the site is a great contribution to the sport and sponging community. Keep up the hard work!

I'll be voting yes on your poll!

Airborne.

Airborne-

Thanks for your interest in my site. I do business with Vicki and Jay frequently selling bodyboards and other equipment. I've never met them in person before though. If you enjoy the stuff on the site, I would encourage you to sign up for their email notification. They send out codes for discounts that you type in for your order and you can receive 10-30% your purchase. If you need any help with anything (ordering, board choosing, and equipment quality), email me at petersonelhs@hotmail.com. I would be happy to help you.

Great! I'll give that email notification thing a try. I'll also take you up on your advice as i am always wanting some because i'm still getting to know the sports intermediate skills. So, thanks for your email.

One thing i would like to ask you...are you really only 15 years old like me? Because on your profile on this site it says you were born in 1988. If this isn't true you might want to change it! I thought you might want to know that.

Cheers again, speak to you soon.

Airborne.
Keep spongin'!

Well, I just turned 16 in May so yeap, my info is right. I've been sponging for almost 4 years now and I think I've got the right idea.

I ride a 2002 42" Ion with a bicep leash...hows about you?

I like ION boards, i reckon i might get one for my next board. I have a Manta 40" Elite (cresent tail) with a surfblock wrist leash. I think its quite good. I've been bodyboarding for 4 years as well, and i haven't changed my board in 3 years because i don't get to sponge very often, living inland.

I would like to ask you some questions:
1) Is my board ok for prone and dropknee?
2) What should i look for on my board which would tell me i need a new one?
3) What fins do you have?
4) I have "winston's" which are the cheaper (£20) copies of churchill fins. Are these good for dropknee?
5) Where do you sponge? Ever been to Hossegor, France?

Hope you don't mind taking the time to answer these, its just i like to get all the advice i can get.

Cheers,
Airborne.

Ions are a great board if you're looking for speed in small surf. They don't come with stringers, so I'd actually advise away from Ions. I sponge on Cape Cod in the USA, mainly Nauset beach, but I also live inland so I dont get a lot of chances to do so either. I have attached a photo for you from some lady's web site. Its about mid tide in this picture, low tide coming into high tide, so the waves get about 2 feet bigger. On to your questions:

1) Is my board ok for prone and dropknee?

>>Your board is def. ok for prone riding. It depends on your weight and if you have a stringer in your board if its ok for dropknee. I would say on a 40" board, if you are heavier than 135lbs, dropknee would be difficult.


2) What should I look for on my board which would tell me I need a new one?

>>On old boards, I usually look for any sunspots and blistering. Sometimes deep gauges on the tops and bottoms of the boards can cause problems with catching waves, turning, etc. Little scratches on the other hand aren't a big problem. Also, another thing you should look for are any creases in your board. Usually they happen around the center of the board and look basically like a fold in the deck.

3) What fins do you have?

>>I use power edge swimfins, I think they're the cheapest set on my site. They work well though.

4) I have "winston's" which are the cheaper (£20) copies of churchill fins. Are these good for dropknee?

>>If they are anything like the Churchill Slashers, or Makapus, they are fine. If you are a beginner just learning to dropknee, its probably easier to have shorter fins, making it easier to get up on the board without fumbling with your fins. For example, I would rather have one of the two Churchill fins for dropknee compared to BZ's rubber swim fins, or Viper swim fins. Although both are great for prone riding, they are too lengthy for me to use while dropkneeing.


5) Where do you sponge? Ever been to Hossegor, France?

>>Seeing that I live in the US, I basically sponge in New England. I spend two weeks at Cape Cod every year with my family. This year I believe we're going the last week of July into the first week of August. Hopefully I'll get some decent pics of the surf for you when I come back. Ocassionally when I get the money I fly down to Florida and stay with some relatives. I've never been to Hossegor. How large is the surf there? A lot of spongers from Europe say its the place to be.

I hope these answers helped. Lemme know if you need anything else.






[Edited on 4-7-2004 by petersone]

That info was great! Your definately the man to come to if i need any advice. Cheers for that. Maybe i'll just stick with Manta boards, they seem to suit me and i think they're good in colder waters sooo living in Britain that probably makes sense!

Cape Cod looks really nice. The water looks cleaner than most of the beaches in Britain...especially the ones closest to where i live (east anglia...my days its like a sewage dump!) The wave looks fairly good, 2 ft higher must be nice. Good beginner wave maybe, and where the wave's breaking is that going to be a very small tube? The thing i like about that place is that it doesn't look like you have to paddle out to far to get to waves, although there are a few in the background. Plus its sunny, here in England all we get is cloud!

Judging by your advice it seems like my boards ok for now. I think i'll just stick to prone because everytime i try to get up on the board it starts to sink! It looks like a may be to heavy?...i think i'm about 8 stone. (Don't know what that is in lbs). Plus my fins are too long. I might try DK without fins for fun! I'll try my brother's 42" Manta Amp...would that work?

Hossegor is supposed to be really good for sponging, along with Lanzarote...hopefully i should be going to Hossegor next year for my summer hols. Usually on average the surf gets to just above head height in the summer, but in the other months it can get really big!
Here's a picky of it BIG!

[Edited on 4-7-2004 by Airborne]

Here was one of the posts made about a year ago, it just shows how one time near Biarritz, near Hossegor, France the waves got BIG!


60ft French Waves!!

Sunday Times Article:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


FREAK WEATHER MAKES EUROPE 60FT-WAVE SURFER'S PARADISE
By Maurice Chittenden, The Sunday Times, 20 April 2003



BIG-WAVE surfing, the sport that has been the almost exclusive preserve of Hawaii, California and Bondi Beach, was yesterday forced to take a new kid on board: Europe.
Freak weather conditions have seen some of the biggest waves in memory lashing the Atlantic coastline this spring. A 20ft-high wave was surfed in Guernsey last month. But the "daddy" of them all was a wave the height of a six- storey building, ridden off the French coast by two surfers who had tracked satellite weather pictures of the swirling front of an intense low pressure system across the ocean from Newfoundland.

The storm sent a 25ft swell racing ahead of it at 35mph towards the coast of Europe. Its waves peaked in height as they hit a reef off the coast in the French Basque country.

The Americans are not amused. The French feat was greeted with boos yesterday at an international awards ceremony for surfers in Anaheim, California. Photographs of the wave were studied for three hours by judges who measured it at 64ft high. It was just 2ft short of the season's record, a 66-footer successfully ridden at a famed spot for ferocious waves, nicknamed "Jaws", off Maui in Hawaii.

The ceremony was held as an offshoot of the Billabong Odyssey, a three-year-old hunt sponsored by a surfwear company to capture a 100ft-high wave for a $500,000 (£318,000) prize.

The Americans are scornful of the waves surfed last month at Belharra Reef, two miles off the French resort of St Jean de Luz. The audacity of France at seeking to take the surfing crown from America at a time when the Iraq conflict was brewing has upset sensitivities on the beach.

"The French have a lot of good things, but military backbone and big waves aren't included," said one of the postings on an internet message board set up by Surfer magazine.

Eddie Rothman is a Hawaiian surfing icon whose 18-year-old son Makua won $66,000 yesterday for riding the winning wave off Maui. "The French wave is beautiful but there's no trough on it," Rothman said. "It's mushy. I'd take my nine-year-old son out to tow into that wave. I'm 55 and I want to ride that wave. But no way would you get me out at Jaws."

The French are unmoved at suggestions that their wave was less dangerous. Fred Basse, one of the French surfers, said: "Riding this wave, it was like going down a huge ski slope. But with an avalanche behind you."

So can surfers in Cornwall this summer expect such high waves? "Not quite," said Dave Reed, a director of the British Surfing Association, which estimates that 250,000 Britons will go surfing this year. "The highest wave ridden in the UK is about 16ft. The Atlantic shelf around the coast protects us from a massive swell."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



And heres a photo of it... Not quite Jaws, but still bloody big!!

Al.

justal has attached this image:

Sorry the image didn't appear on the previous post. Here it is:

If you want any info on Hossegor ask the member "bucski" or email him at bucski@yahoo.com <bucski@yahoo.com> He knows all.

wow that's crazy surf. the biggest break i've been on is about a 10 footer after a bad storm the night before. it was sand bar break, so it was crazy powerful, nothing like that though i could imagine...

Petersone,

I've got one that could go on your tip page. When you talk about leashes (wrist or bicep) you could add ankle. A friend of mine who dropknees put the leash plug near a bottom corner and then wears the leash around his ankle.

He does this more for when the waves are big monsters and you want to go deep during a bail-out. Also, when floating by the board the board is pulled close to him as the leash is about his height, so when his legs are in the water the bard keeps near him. I know it sounds weird, but I’ve tried his board a couple of timeas and it does the job.

Use it or not, your site is good. Keep it up.

Hello there!!

I have to say hello to you Peter because you ride an Ion..... I swear I'm the only person in the UK with one as i've never seen anyone else riding one.
I've got the 2003???? I think.... possibly the 2002 42" board.. Your probably more in the "know" than me so correct me if i'm wrong but i've heard that ION are no longer around! Also that Wave Rebel are selling ION boards which aren't the same spec as before. They're still charging around the £160 mark for one but its garbage...... heard anything like this?

Hey...no, I haven't heard anything about it. I've been checking up on Ions homepage (www.ionbodyboards.com) and it says that the site is coming soon. I'll see if I can't find any other information on it.

Now...I have a question for you. How does your Ion ride without a stringer? Mine rides fine because I ride in about 2-4 ft surf. I don't know if you catch anything bigger where you are, but the locals here in the U.S. say Ions are trash because they don't have a stringer.

Clear me up on this topic please...could you tell me what a stringer actually is and what it does! I've heard it around, isn't it something to do with the rocker of the board?

Cheers.

yeah you're right. a stringer is just a rod put into the template of the board to stiffen it. it really depends on the kind and size of surf you ride to qualify you for a stringer.

Cheers for that...one last question before my knowledge for intermediate bodyboarding is complete...when you say the wind is offshore does that mean the wind is comming from the land and towards the beach (making onshore wind from the sea onto land), is this right? Plus which one makes the waves "better"? Isn't onshore worse for waves?

Thanks for your help.

you know i really couldnt tell you much about the wind. i know that when the wind is blowing against the waves it makes it harder to catch them. thats about all i know...

Hi Peter,

I've had no problems with my Ion at all. Probably the biggest surf i've been in with it had around 10ft faced waves, quite a lot over head height for stand up surfers, (thats how I measured it anyway!!) It managed everything I wanted it to do and could have probably done more if i'd had the balls.
I've taken off the top of waves with it - landed pretty hard on more than one occasion and theres nothing wrong with it.
Its fast... its turns VERY quickly... I think its the best thing since sliced bread, and one of the best boards I've ridden!

2 of my mates ride BZ's, one of them a Hubb which i've had a go on, another mate has a Morey Mach 7.7 Stewart signature Model which I've ridden, I've ridden Manta's and Wave Rebels.......... I still prefer my Ion!

Regarding that Ion Website... it was up and running this time last year and then mysteriously just went down....

HOLD THE PRESS...... i've just tried it again... and its up and running...... check out the gallery.. and theres your answer to how it handles on big surf!!

Woo hooo....... Ion are back!!

Nice...I've been waiting for that site to get up and running.

I've had the same luck as you do. Everyone else over here in the U.S. thinks they're too flimsy. Must be jealousy...

To make your day, I've given you guys the link for a couple of pictures of wear I sponge. I know Airborne was wondering, and I kinda gave him a bad image, but here's a few you may like. The breaks at Cape Cod are big, prolly 3-4 feet in most cases, but they break all over the place, not really leaving for a smooth ride. Let me know how you like them.

You can visit them here: Cape Cod Pics

ooo i might go have a look at that website gallery...how did you find the Manta to ride Thodd?

I have a question for anyone...if you're dropping in on a wave...do you find it easier to drop in on an angle in the direction that you want to go in or just dropping straight in and bottom turning?

I didn't like the manta airborne.. it felt slow and "clunky"... but saying that it was only one of their mid range boards.

To answer your question Peter... I do both depending on how the wave is behaving.... sometimes if I want lots of speed I'll drop straight down and put a turn in , if the wave is a really clean mellow one then i'll start at an angle.
Its a hard thing to explain really.. its more of an sub-conscious action rather than an actual decision that I make.

Peter,

I agree with Thodd; it depends on the wave and a sunconscious reaction.

I find I do the drop and bottom turn on steeper sucky waves. When waves are not so steep then its normally an angle start.

Airborne: You were right on with the offshore - on shore part. Onshore will make the waves whitecap (have the top part break out at sea and lose energy) so the waves become smaller than they were. Offshore helps the waves barrel and make a tube (the wind slows down the fromt face while the backface is still pushing forward). Both can destroy waves if they are too strong. I think the best waves I've ridden have always had a light offshore wind.

On the board issue and stringers:

I remember reading that Guillerme Tamega (world champ back in 90 something) used to crease his boards on purpose. He'd put his knee to the bottom and pull the tip until he got a crease on the bottom. He used to say he prefered a flexible board for pulling off some of the moves.

Some people like stiff boards, some like flexible ones. If a stringer makes the board too stiff, then some people will hate them while others will love them.

thanks for your responses...that helps me quite a bit. now...onto another question..

rip tides...how do you spot them and how can you avoid them?

Thanks for all the advice guys...now i'm really up to date. Peterson, i think those waves at Cape Cod are really good. Your lucky to live close to such a nice break. Nice info mexican bandit cheers. I'm glad i was right about the wind.

hey thanks about those breaks airborne. they're about a 4 hour drive from my home in connecticut. its like paradise though there...its really something...

Rip tides eh??? They can be your best friend or your worse enemy! Heres what i've learnt but if anone else wnts to add something........

Depending on the size of the beach you will usually get 3 rip tides. 2 on both sides and 1 in the middle. THey're caused by all the water getting washed up on the beach trying to get back out to sea. When its doing that it'll start to "groove" out the sandy sea bed providing channels and theres your rip. The problem is the rips can change from hour to hour as the sand is shifted around under the sea.

O.k. thats the theory...(i think its right!!) Spotting rips is can be easy... before you go in the sea take some time looking at all the waves... you'll probably notice that there will be a place where the waves aren't breaking...this is your rip. Spotting this area can be difficult if its a particularly messy day. Personally I try and find the rip to help me get out to the back of the line up... kind of like a conveyor belt.

Of course once in the sea it can be a different matter as you'll become slightly disorientated with your position. I usually give myself 2 or 3 markers. 1 on the beach on 1 to my side... say a group of surfers or a tree on the cliff face (whatever works for you) You should then be able to judge if your getting swept in a particular direction and compensate accordingly.

But remember....never ever swim against a rip.... you'll get tierd and probably won't win. Always swim horizontal to it and after a few kicks you'll probably find your in the clear!

Thanks Thodd...I've heard about swimming horozontally, but I haven't heard about the way the waves brake with a rip tide. I think it'd be rather hard to tell where I am because the waves are sloppy and break all over the place.

From experience here, I just look for a big sandy looking mess, but where I sponge its sandbar for about 1/2 mile out. You can check it in this pic.

i thing theres something as well where if the waves or sea is bobbing up and down when it comes in to the beach, this is where pressure is and thats where your currents can be produced! Nice pic peter...wheres the waves though? And great advice Thodd. Keep the post comming!

gotta climb down a 30 ft sand dune my man...gotta work a little for those waves

Oh! I see...now i get it!
Well, then i take your word for it that they're good. Is that picture Cape Cod or somewhere else?

Can you see that black dot in the sky on the image? It could be a U.F.O!

Yeah its good ole Cape Cod, even with the UFOs is good stuff. Thats quite the sandbar eh?

It sure is! Is that you on your avatar peter? Here's my answer to your earlier question. I usually drop to the bottom and do a hard bottom turn on a steeper wave, whereas if its more flat i like to just angle, slightly turing into the wave...i always find this a bit slower though.

Does anyone know how to stop sliding out when you take off on a wave, how do you stop slowing down and end up being pushed forward rather than along the wave? Is it something to do with the tail and rail in the wave face? Wher should these be?

Cheers.

No sorry...thats not me. I' actually a female rider. My username is just my last name followed by the first initial of my first name. My name is Erika by the way.

My answer to your question from above about sliding out when taking off on a wave:

*If its a big wave, stay closer to the breaking point, otherwise, your velocity is going to increase when you fall down the face of the wave causing you to slide all over the place. I would reccomend staying near the breaking point unless you plan on doing a manuver that requires plenty of speed and a huge wave.

Hope this helped.

That's it! Everytime i've been slow its been near the end of a wave and not as close as possible to the breaking part! Cheers for that. And sorry for the confusion about you being a female rider and me calling you a man! Soz.

lol thats quite alright

i have to say though, this is a pretty good going post topic going on here...thats unusual! You must be popular petersone.

I don't think popular is the term. I think we're more informative than anything

Hey if people enjoy it...keep up the posting

Hey you two!

Back to the "sliding out" topic before!:

This happened to me quite a lot after I bought my Ion board. I've a feeling it was down to the huge increase in speed that the board gave me. I've found that the best way to compensate and correct it was to shift my weight around the board untill I got traction again.
This usually involves putting my weight on the back to "dig in" to the water, getting my control back, shifting my weight forward and to the side so I can get my rail into the wave face, and then i'm away.... hopefully without loosing to much speed!

Speeding as fast as I can on a wave rocks my world! But you do have to think extra fast otherwise its game over and your off the wave! Belting down the face of a wave at mach 4 doing a bottom turn and shooting off the top is the best feeing in the world! I just need to learn how to land them properly!

WOW! You sound pretty good at sponging!

I wish i could do that...hopefully i should learn it this year or next.

Anyway...thats some really good advice there Thodd, i definately try that as well! You know when you say dig your rail in the wave, should the rail actually be covered in water or just really close to a wave...and also is it the whole rail that should be in the face, or just the corner near the tail?

Cheers.
Airborne.

hey guys...
i found something for you guys to look at. hopefully this will help you with your problems. if it doesnt...drop vicki or jay a line.

Riding Tips

Cheers Erika... i'd already spotted that on the site! Some great tips from Mr.Hubbard!!!! One day i might be able to do half the things he can!

Airborne.... by shifting your weight to the back of the board you'll find that more of you ie legs and waist area will end up in the water.. this acts as drag in the water and will slow you down, hopefully giving you some time to regain control. Your weight also tries to sink the back end of the board and again will give you more control.. but less speed.

Its all about experimenting as different boards and different weights of people will mean slightly different techniques.

One thing that you can do which is fun... if you find yourself
sliding sideways on a wave, pull your entire body onto the board, lift your legs out of the water, put a hand in the water near the front of the board and make a scooping motion with it, scooping your hand toward the back of your board. if done properly you'll find yourself spinning around and around and around and......
The only problem then is stopping whilst facing the right way!

With respect to the rail.. its hard to explain as I've never actually looked at what its doing!! To travel horizontal along the wave you need to almost lift up your outside edge and trust that your board will hold. Your inside rail will do all the work and you'll be trimming along the wave with the best of them!!
But don't lift up too high as you'll end up binning it!

Its all about experimenting and practice! But when your trying something new get ready to hold your breath!

Thanks for the great tips Thodd, brill info and thanks Erika for that link...although i have read everything there is in that section of the site, but thanks anyway!
Hey Thodd, that "game" sounds pretty fun with the spinning and all, i'll give it a try!

No problem...I think morey actually put out a set of videos that may help you Thodd.

http://www.waveblasters.com/videos.html

Thanks once again Erika, but i've also seen them as well...lol! Maybe i ought to watch the trimming video again, and maybe bottom turning, thanks for the reminder though!

Hey i tell you what would be useful to me! A copy of Bodyboarding Inside and Out on PAL format (i already have BIO 2 but can't seem to find BIO 1 anywhere on PAL format)...anything?

Cheers.

sorry airborne...i couldnt find anything...

back to your problem though...try to keep your butt end on whichever side is closest to the wave. between that and having your board almost perpendicular with the wave you should be fine. if you cant seem to figure it out...drop Jay a line...

Thanks a lot for your help. Hopefully when i try it in 2 weeks time i should be alright now. I'll let you know how i get on.


Cheers.

lol 2 weeks...I'll be bodyboarding at the Cape. Hopefully I can snatch some pictures for you.

i'm going to be in North Devon doing my "thang" at Croyde next weekend!
I've had a waterproof camera for about a year now and i've never taken in the sea! I always end up leaving it in the car cos I end up getting excited about the waves and want to surf them..... same goes for all my mates!

what camera do you use thodd? i've been thinking of getting a waterproof case for a sony p5 but at over £150 its a lot of money... about 10 waterproof disposables!!

i was thinking about getting a waterproof camcorder...you know the ones that you see in all of the sponging videos. The masive one...i can't find one though! Where are they?
Hey, petersone! Consider yourself lucky to live quite near a place with good waves...i only get to surf in good waves at around 3 times a year!
Hopefully when im older i can do it loads more often at weekends etc., damn lazy parents won't take me anywhere during the year (apart from east anglia where the waves aren't good and the sea is brown with lots of sewage!)
Oh well, back to the bodyboarding videos i go. Looking forward to seeing those pictures petersone.

Hey someone from the Crystal Coast bodyboarding forum asked me about waterproof cameras. You need to buy the camera and then the housing for it. I found a site where you can buy the housing.

http://www.marinecamera.com/ikelite_video.html

I think this one houses the sony TRV-6, TRV-8, TRV-10, TRV-11, TRV-15, TRV-17, TRV-20, and TRV-30. Give it a check.

Also, I have a question. My bro just got a Morey Comp...Surlyn bottom, bat tail, etc...and he wants to load it with stickers (this is beyond me cause a naked bodyboard is a beautiful one). Will the stickers affect his take off and speed?

wont the stickers just peel off?

No, they're basically decals for the bottom of your board. The problem is, his surlyn bottom is patterned like a golf ball. It has hexagons on the bottom, making it look hammered. So, I don't know if the hexagonal indents would have something to do with the speed, takeoff, and anything else. I really wouldnt wanna screw it up for him.

i'll take your word for it... i dont have a clue with bodyboards im afraid!

petersone, the decals will affect the speed, but not much. Some people will hardly notice it.

If the indents are quite deep then the decals will start peeling off quite easily and when this happens then they will affect the speed more.

If you place them in the middle up by the front of the board, the part that spends most of the time out of the water, then you'll never notice them.

Tell your bro he should make some stencils and spry paint the board, thats better than any decal.

thanks bandit...

i dont think the decals will make that big of a deal...the indents are kind of retarted anyway. he'll be fine...

otherwise he can just take them off...

Thanks petersone about the camera housing, i'll consider it...any idea how much they are?

Its also interesting about the decals...i used to put them on my board, i only have one small sticker now because they all fell off!

YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THIS PETERSONE BEFORE YOU PUT THE DECALS ON: -

make sure that the bottom of the board is squeeky clean...this is a top tip to make sure that the stickers/decals stay on! If that doesn't work then its not a good enough clean and you've lost your stickers or they are really rubbish!

hey thanks airborne...

on the camera housing. i think you may have to call the store that they're on, they dont really give you a price.

and the board was right out of the packaging clean, so i should be fine with the decals. i did them before i even put the leash on. have any of you guys used silicone to seal your leashes? i find it works well for sealing and keeping the leash screwed together...

Hey Everyone!

Back to the decal thing. As i'm part of a "tribe" of bodyboarders (cannt think of what else to call it!) myself and all my mates had a sticker design made up that looks like a tribal tattoo personalized with our individual names on. I've had it on my board for 3 months now and its made absolutly no difference at all to speed or handling of the board!

If anything its made me better at aerials as I want everyone to see it!

Pretty sweet Thodd...how big is the decal?

Its probably around the 25cm x 15cm size (ish)
The only draw back is once i'm on a wave i'll ride it and ride it and ride it.... and it usually end up getting thrashed on the beach break.....hence... the decal is a bit scuffed now!

I'm an absolute muppet for doing it, and one of these days i'll end up killing my board! Still........ its all good fun!

Oh so your decal really isnt that bad. Gotcha!

Mmm...riding the board into the sand...doesnt it make you feel 6 again? lol

shem, i think thats one of the nicest breaks i've ever seen forming for you right there...

That is a really nice break. I can see how you'd ride it all the way to the beach.

The break I surf has a VERY steep beach, so the land always seems to come out of nowhere! I'll be on a beautifuly large shaped wave thats on the verge of tubing, i'll be riding it for a good 30 seconds and then my whole world turns to pain as I get pounded on the sand!

So you see it isn't a case of riding my board onto sand, its more of a case of falling 6ft onto land!

Its certainly made me understand how to control myself on the board, cos if you keep your bearings you can do a cheeky pop off the top and save face from a dumping!.................................... sometimes

Absolute sweetness Thodd, you have any pics?

I'm afraid not.... Its a long walk to the beach and when we get there we just want to get wet. Although we take a camera everytime we go its never been used as we don't want to leave it on the beach.
I need to take an unsuspecting mate along with me next time and turn him into the camera man for the day!

On a completly different note.... have you seen the cover of the new issue of Threesixty magazine? Some guy has actually surfed the Cyclops wave in Australia.......on a bodyboard. The picture is'nt the greatest as they obviously want you to buy the magazine but you get the idea:

http://www.orcasurf.co.uk/data/360/360_current/360_current.html

That's a pretty hefty drop into the wave on that cover! And a pretty big wave as well!.....I love the break where shem is! I would love to have that wave outside my house every morning when i wake up!

Airborne

hey that looks like it would almost hurt guys. well i'm outta here for 2 weeks...sponging at the cape! w00t! keep people posting here guys...

ok, will do petersone! Have a good time at Cape! I can't wait for this Thursday! I'm going to France, the Vendee. Staying in a villa with "les dunes" beach just outside, near "la Sauzaie" beach. I've been before, the waves are alright at "les dunes" but sometimes have no power! La Sauzaie is stronger and better, but it has a reef, soooo im not sure if my skill is good enough for that yet!

Has anyone been to that area of France to sponge?
Where is everyone else going on holiday this summer and what are the waves like there?

Phew, i think that should last us for a few posts! So keep posting!

Airborne.

hey folks i'm back. it was the worst trip i've ever taken. i caught one wave that just crashed...it was all bad. it rained 12 out of the 14 days there and our car broke down, so we had no way to get to the beach. i biked one day, in the rain to the beach where i caught that wave, but it was rainy and nasty and the water was like 58 degrees...it was all bad...

That sounds soooo vexing!
I just got back today from France. Hey, petersone if it makes you feel any better i had the best waves in the Vendee i've ever had!
Perfect bodyboarding waves for me! Not to high (so not to scary for my skill) Very small tube sometimes but perfect glassy walls to ride along. Oh, and it only drizzled spitting light rain twice, the rest was sunny hot (nearly spanish heat) weather.
Surf, swell....even though the wind was onshore! (Nice girls there if i might add!) Plus great French food, eating out every night.
All this, plus i got masses of rides in slightly crowded water....but i managed with the help of tips from the spongers on this forum managed to ride my first 40 waves of actually doing sponging pro style (riding along it and not just with the whitewater because of the great waves). And i learnt how to do spins. Stoked!

I think i might be rubbing it in a bit now, sorry peterson

Does anyone know what the surf has been like at Croyde for the last 2 weeks, any results/reply would be nice, cheers.

Airborne.

Hey Airborne, The surf at Croyde hasn't really been up to much over the past 2 weeks. BUT...last weekend up untill now its had the swell from Hurricane Alex and it been looking Awesome! The guy at the pink shop said it was "perfect" 6ft and clean!

Thanks for that Thodd, i've seen the 6 foot waves on the webcam...im glad the surf hasn't been all good because a friend of mine is sponging down there, im sure he's lyeing about Croyde having the best surf ever about 2 weeks ago. If the surf hasn't been that good then i'll get the truth out of him, lol.
I never knew about the hurricane effect on swell, wicked technique for swell finding.

Hey Thodd (or anyone else) do you know where i can find a surf report that will tell me what the surf has been like in the last 2 weeks at Croyde? Perhaps a website? I wanna find out if i was missing anything down there while i was in France when i could have been in Croyde...but wait, France was sick, going off!
Just give me the report anyway, cheers all.

Airborne.

Hey Airborne...

Check http://www.cutback.com/ for the information you were looking for. I'm pretty sure they give accurate info on the surf for all the continents. I could be wrong...but you could still give it a whirl...

Hi Petersone,

Thanks for the website but i'm affraid it only does reports for continants in America...i think, from having a look at it. But thanks for looking anyway.

Does anyone know if A1 surf report would do it?

Cheers, keep posting, lets make this Topic a BIG one!

Airborne,

I was in body boarding in Croyde on the weekend of the 24th July. ..... Well I say body boarding but it was crap! 1ft waves if that...utter garbage!

So a friend and me rented 8ft 6 boards and used them instead, it was the only way to ride the waves as they were so small.

Hi Thodd,

LOL! Great idea! If the surf was crap at croyde, i'd probably have to buy (or rent) a skimboard...my mum would be shitting herself.
I can see it now, a tiny wave comes in, i throw the skimboard, try to jump on it, the board slips under me and i fall on my back, probably on a large stone.

I've heard of those skimboards where once you done your stunt of the "ramp" of the wave you can also ride the wave back to the beach, its a special "soft top" design. More surfboard like shape, and cost loads! The Little Pink Shop sell them.

Anyway...hopefully the surf was rubbish at croyde from friday the 10th of August for ten days, the reason why you ask? Well, because my friend who was there (and still is) loves to brag so much...i just hope he can't compare the croyde waves to my waves in the vendee. Oooo i am cruel!

Thanks for the ammusing tail thodd.

Airborne.

hey guys...
the weather has been crap here lately. nothing but thunderstorms and humidity. no good rides either. anything over in the uk?

Hi petersone.

The Uk is having very poor weather this summer. Heavy rain (and i mean heavy!) with thunderstorms and cloud...although some days are sunny but not overley hot. That's the weather forecast and now for the surf!

Its been reasonble...i wouldn't know because i live inland, i think we might have been getting some swell from the hurricanes over in America.

But, down in Croyde Bay, North Devon its been good over the last 2 weeks but now has started to go messy and onshore, usually around 2-3 ft.

But, Croyde last week was looking good:

www.extremeboardshots.com

We've even had flooding down in North Cornwall and other areas, such as, in Scotland...just thought you might want to know that.

The summer has been rubbish for weather! I wisj i lived somewhere hot and sunny...is Australia good? I might go to Australia, plus it has great surf.

Sorry to hear about the weather. Yeah Australia is really nice. They have the best weather and the best surf ever. Most of the movies on Fluidzone.com are filmed in Australia. Although Australia is good surf, I'd like to try New Zeland.

New Zealand is supposed to be really nice...so are there waves there? There's some really nice, friendly people around that area. Surf, sun, swell...heaven!

Hey, that website fluidzone looks really good! Some really good photos shown on there.

Hey there!!

If anyones interested I can explain why the weathers been so crap this summer!!
It does get a bit boring so ignore me if you start loosing interest

The Jet stream that flows over the atlantic from America to Europe is usually our friend and in the summer helps the Azores high to "peak over England giving us our hot summer weather. This year however the Jet stream did a banana shape... Moving underneath England turning back on itself over Europe and coming back at us over the top of Scotalnd.

Basically this left England surrounded by the Jetstream in a bowl causing lots and lots of low pressure, thunderstorms and lightning storms!

Don't ask me why the Jetstream did what it did, I don't know...

Anyone manage to read all of this without falling asleep then? haaa haa!

zzzz.....er.....yeah, cheers Thodd, that was really.....er.....interesting.

Now i can tell all my friends about it, won't i be the popular one.

STUPID JET STREAM!

Back to Australia...heres one of there waves

http://www.ccbodyboarding.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=78&papass=&sort=1&thecat=

While we're on the topic of wave pictures... heres one of my favourites..... all i'm gonna say is ..... this has got to have hurt!

Yeah Thodd...after that one I'd have to pick my legs up off the beach and beat myself with them for falling off that wave...

haa haaa... thats if your arms were still attached to your body ! You can see exactly whats going through the guys head.......

"oh , bugger!"

Hi

lol, if you think he had a bad time of it, imagine this guy bailing on what threesixty bodyboard magazine are calling "the heaviest wave in the world"...it was taken at cyclops, where is that by the way?

heres a better angle of the lip...look how thick it is, back-breakingly dangerous or wot?

(its the picture on the left)

Yeah... I got that issue the day it came out.. i've had an interest in Cylclops for a while now., its got a real mystery surrounding it as its location is kept a very tight secret. Its somewhere off the coast of Australia, possibly north coast... possibly west...or south!!!?!?!??!?!! Its basically in the middle of the open ocean near an island that is a huge flat rock submerged by the sea.

It was discovered by the billabong Odyssey crew who are searching the globe for the a 100ft wave http://www.billabongodyssey.com/

Unfortunatly before the 360 guys got there somebody has actually fallen victim to Cyclops power and is lying in hospital in traction with a broken back.

This really is the sickest wave about at the moment in my opinion... I don't know how true these facts are but I've heard that the lip of the wave comes out 20ft and is more than 10ft thick..... the whole things scares me haaaa haaaaa

if you ask me, unless a big wave has a seriously nice lip, its not trick worthy...you just fall down the face...

I agree.... but I think the reason for riding cyclops isn't to do with tricks. Its about riding one of the heaviest most dangerous least ridden waves on the planet.

Personally i'd give it a miss.... not because i'm scared of it.... i'm.....erm...... washing my hair.... or something....