Jingle bells and barrels!

I've been having a few technical issues in terms of getting online the last few weeks. I suppose it makes me really appreciate how useful a tool the internet really is to todays fast paced society! Since leaving Santa Teresa a few weeks back. We have headed further south staying at Playa Jaco which was like the Kuta (Bali) of Costa Rica Playa Hermosa (good beachbreak) and our current location....Dominical, which is where we have been since the 22nd of December.
So far out of all the days spent in Dominical Christmas Day was the best to date. Check out the photos (below).
However all other days have been pretty fun too!
I have been chatting to a few locals and some expats and they reckon the wave at Dominical breaks like Lower Trestles (California). What they didnt mention was how uncrowded it was compared to Lowers!

Merry Christmas and Happy new year by the way!

Christmas Day perfection Playa Dominical Rivermouth

My favourite bikkies!

Chilly Morning!?

Today was the first day in a while I decided to get up at first light and be the first person in the water at Santa Teresa. I surfed alone for about half an hour by then a few more guys were in the water. However I haven't had a crowded session in Costa Rica yet which is of course a very good thing.
Sunrise is currently about 5.45am on the west coast of Costa.
Here in Santa Teresa there are miles of beach break peaks to surf, usually with a few guys out or all to yourself if your in at the crack of dawn!

Today was different though. I couldn't put my finger on it..........Oh yeah wait a minute its a little chilly!
For some reason the water temperature had dropped a degree. I was of course smuggling peanuts, shouting at the sun to hurry up and come up over the hills and warm me through!
Not sure why i'm whinging though though as I hear on the grape vine its been bloody baltic, back in blighty ol England!

A couple of swedish guys who are staying at the same hostel as us took these photos and kindly sent them to me!

Word out.

Nice colours!

Woke up this morning in Santa Teresa to be greeted with light offshore breezes and a fun 2-3ft swell. I have to say the colours were lovely.... Before today, we had 3 days of overcast weather. It really makes you appreciate it the sun especially when you dont see it for 72 hours!

pic Janine Horn

Palm Tree (pic Janine Horn)

Mission/Relax/Mission.

Its been an arduous 12 days or so. Since my last post me and Janine have travelled a fair few miles in Costa Rica (mainly on the Peninsula de Nicoya). Since leaving Tamarindo we headed down to Avellanas and Playa Negra. After that we made our way down to the Nosara area and stayed near playa Guiones which was another great beachbreak. Now we are settled in a cool surf town called Santa Teresa which hosts miles of perfect beach break peaks. Getting here was a right mission though as no buses run along parts of the crappy coastal road!
After another long day of travelling via bus/sleep over/bus/bus/ferry/bus/taxi we made it and it feels good just to chill for 2 weeks!
Our next stop will take us to Jaco and Playa Hermosa, which we intend to stay for Christmas and New Year. Apparently Jaco is supposed to be carnage for parties! So I will let you know what are adventures bless us with next!
Here are a few Photos from the last 12 days since leaving Tamarindo or shall I say Tamagringo!

:0)

Modelling at Playa Guiones Nr Nosara!

Santa Teresa off the bottom pic (Janine Horn)

Local shredder playa Guiones Nr Nosara

Tail Whip Santa Teresa (pic Janine Horn)

Lizzard Santa Teresa (pic Janine Horn)

Settled.

After a 9 hour flight, 3 hour transit, 4 hour delay, 3 hour flight followed by a 6 hour bus journey we finally arrived at our first destination in Costa Rica!

Me and my girlfriend are currently in Costa rica travelling down the west, followed by the east coast.

We arrived in Tamarindo on wednesday night, and are heading south on sunday to a place that is famous in the classic surf movie "the Endless Summer 2" called Playa Negra and Avellanas.

We headed to a beach 2km south of Tamarindo yesterday called Langosta and I scored a fun rivermouth righthander. Caymen Crocodiles were on my mind the whole time!
However I had a blast and got some fun waves!

Will keep ya posted on the goings on next week!

The photo doesn't really do the spot (Langosta) any justice as its a really fun righthander rivermoth wave.
Thats just the quality of my digital camera!

Peace.

Boards part 2.

Thought whilst I'm on the same subject of taking gay photos of me standing next to my boards for promotion, I thought I may as well tell you what the boards are and what size waves they are for.

From left to right:
Dave Brown 6,3. 18 3/4. 2 3/16. Round Tail.
Haven't really used this board in the UK much, only when the waves have been 4ft+ and barrelling. I took this board to Indonesia last year and it went amazing at G-Land and Uluwatu etc.

Dave Brown 6,4. 18 3/4. 2 3/16. Round Tail.
Used this in Indonesia last year too and for some reason is more forgiving than the board to the left! I prefer the concave that Dave has put into this board. Again I don't really use this board in the UK as the waves are generally fat (Especially in Devon). However I am taking it to Costa Rica next week, where hopefully I will get to use it more regularly. Its such a nice shape for perfect barrelling waves.

Jason Stevenson 6,1. 19 1/4. 2 1/2 Squash tail, Luke Egan Model.
I was persuaded to buy this board in Bali by my friend Jake who at the time said "that board is perfect for you". At the time I was hesitant, as it was near the end of the trip and I was almost broke!
Then I thought fuck it! It looks like a perfect board for small conditions back home.
I was glad to buy it. It only cost me just over £200 and it had only been ridden once by Luke Egan (retired asp surfer). Its a bit battered now but it has been the best grovel board I have ever had. Great for shitty slop in contests!

Mark Webber 6,3. 18 1/2. 2 1/4. S-Core.
I have only ridden this once and didn't really get on with it. It's been sat at home since last year. I should really surf it more, as I feel it could go really well in the right conditions (sucky medium sized waves). Maybe soon I will try it in descent waves, as I have only ridden it in crap waves, which wasn't helping the matter!

Dave Brown 6,2. 19. 2 1/4. Squash Tail.
Out of all my board I ride this one the most. Its my good all round board for the UK. It's really responsive through turns and allows me to surf really loose when its junky! Other than the JS, I get the most speed on this board when the surf isn't great.
It goes well when the waves are onshore as well as when its perfecly offshore and barrelling. I won't ride this board much over 5 ft though as the rocker is real flat and the fins are small, which is good for English waves in the summer.


Dave Brown 6,4. 18 3/4. 2 3/16 Round tail.
This board goes sick when its that little bit bigger. I have used this board when the reefs have been pumping at home. The rails are rounded and thicker which helps when the waves are a little harder to paddle into.


Nick Blair 6,2 1/2. 18 3/4. 2 3/16 Round tail.
I bought this board on the Gold Coast (Australia in) 2008 and it's been ridden in all diffent types of waves. The glassing is a little bit thicker than the usual, therefore is a little heavier, which helps when the waves are more solid. It doesn't really go great in the average slower waves we get here in the UK. But when its hollow and bigger it holds really well off the bottom and in the barrel. Good Indo board!


Quiver 6,2. 19. 2 5/16 Luke Hart (lying horizontal) Squash tail.
Great board for my all round surfing. I havent ridden this board much either. I'm trying to save it for Central America next week. Im a little afraid of snapping it! I have found thats always the case when you find a dream board you end up breaking it at somepoint and it breaks your heart!
Im hoping to get a few more Luke Hart shapes when I get home in April. they are sick boards!

Thanks Elusive.

I have just become a new member of the Elusive surf team. Pretty stoked really as it couldn't have come at a better time as I'm going to Central America and California next Tuesday, for 5 months!
Elusive is a surf clothing company based in Newport wales. They are an independently run surf and lifestyle brand who sponsor UK surfers and contests.
So this post is just a huge thank you to Elusive for supporting and promoting me!

Cheers.

Emotional week.

What a week A.I. passes away and slater wins his 10th world title. It was my mates birthday yesterday and all the boys piled up his house to watch the finals of the Rip curl search somwhere in Puerto Rico. Then we hit the town.
What we saw was Kelly Slater win the event and world title in style.
It was also rather emotional the fact that Andy passed away last week and Kelly dedicated his triumphant win to Andy and his family.

Legend!

R.I.P. AI :0(

Its rocked the surfing world and has come as a huge shock to everyone who closely follow professional surfing and the A.S.P. world tour. Andy Irons passed away 2 days ago suspected to be under the influence of Dengue fever which is caused by bite from an Aides mosquito (a mosquito that bites during daylight hours).

Andy Irons was my surfing idol when I was learning as a grom.

Hands down he was one of my favourite surfers, not just to watch in the water but when he spoke or had interviews he was either hilariously funny or just really blunt when he was pissed off about losing! That's what made Andy so exciting, he was one of the best competitors ever!

I was lucky enough to surf with him at Lakey peak in indo and share some waves with him. I will never forget those awesome memories.

The surfing world wont be the same without Andy and personally I think they should cancel the Rip Curl Pro in Puerto Rico to pay respects to A.I. and his family and friends.

It sucks that it has all ended at the age of 32.

R.I.P. Andy a surfing legend.

Better quality!

I should have been more patient and waited until some professional shots were published from the weekends Tiki National Interclubs. Instead I was bored yesterday and ended up blogging shots from my small digi thingy!

These pictures are way better and are taken professinally by local photographer Rob Tibbles.

Respect.

Team Effort!

This weekend saw the highly anticipated interclubs surfing competition at Croyde. It was cool as I had organised a team from Westward Ho! Surf Club to come and have a crack at this event. As some of you already know I cant remember the last time the Ho! entered a team into the interclubs which is crazy because we host some proper shredders from the right side of the river! It was also a really nice social competition as at least one competitor from each team had to judge during some duration of the contest, with that in mind created some great banter between clubs.
The usual rivals i.e. Croyde and Woolacombe surf clubs competitors love a bit of social banter. These 2 clubs usually finish 1st and 2nd if not visaversa.
Not this time, this was the ho's! year.

Conditions on saturday were solid and lumpy which made competing difficult as a lot of luck and skill were needed to get some decent scores on the board. I had a bit of a shocker on saturday as every wave I wanted to hook into seemed to close out or go fat, then I spent 10 minutes trying to battle the set waves right on the melon! Luckily the rest of the boys had a stormer on saturday all claiming high scores respectivly.
After day 1 (saturday) we were in the lead by 2 points so we wanted to try and maintain that lead all the way through to the bitter end.

On sunday the swell had dropped off considerably, I surfed a really good heat and fully improved my scores from the saturday which fully helped us win the event!

Better than that I managed to win a free wettie for scoring the highest heat score over the 2 day event, I think I posted a 16.00 out of a possible 20. Stoked!

The contest was obviously a huge success and I hope the swell is good for it next year as the Westward Ho! surf club boys will be all over it again!

Cheers.

Keeping Busy.

Its been a busy week to say the least. It has also been a fairly enjoyable one, considering there aint been much in the way of swell (until today). Today I went on a solo mission down the coast, to a spot my own father discovered back in the very late 1970's. It's funny I mention that actually, as going down there on a weekday when most of the devonion surf population are busy at work.

I was clearly expecting it to be nearly empty. I arrived to see 2 of my mates in the lineup Luke and Paul. No one else.....Sweeeeet!

Usually when you come here, even on a weekday there will usually be at least on average 5-6+People, today it was me and 2 of my close friends.....Perfect as it does get a bit eerie if your alone which is very rare in this day and age!

After sharing a few waves with the boys for about an hour and a half they both had to get back to other commitments. I kindly asked them if they could move my car at the top of the hill in they're space when they left, as my car was nearly blocking the road where I parked it originally. I did ponder on the thought of those boys moving it as I kinda knew they would do something to wind me up! They ended up eating all my sweets and drawing all over the car with their fingers!

My car was covered in "GOLDEN COD" which is apparently one of my nick names!

Back to the surf. When they left I was fortunate to have the company of Justin Seedhouse for a few hours. Justin shapes surfboards from his house nr Hartland and they are getting ever popular with local Devon Riders like Mike Plackett and Alex Downie. Look for the CakeBoy Logo when your out and about these parts.

When Justin arrived it started hitting the banks better and eventually an average surf turned into a rather fun one! I was just a bit pissed off I didnt have my camera with me today as there were some nice line up shots to be had and would have given you an idea of what it was like.

Shoulder high super clean fun lefts and right just a few of your mates, thats what im into!

Here are some shots from last saturday at croyde.

I swear I nearly drowned on that first picture, Im about to get lip launched. It took the air right out of my lungs!

Cheers.

The fun stuff. I love this time of year!

Wow......What a weekend that was. In terms of clean descent sized swell. I cant remember the last time we had a swell that perfect to be honest! Saturday was epic in North Devon. In terms of power and quality, it was up there with the finest.
Throughout the weekend I was able to indulge in some barrel riding and rather close shave near board snapping, which by the way I don't know how I got away with!
I decided to get up fairly early on Saturday morning so I could get a quick session before I and the boys started work. As I arrived around the point it looked pretty amazing, although a little bit of a closeout as the tide was high but ebbing (dropping) and there were large tides this weekend as well. I am working on Croyde beach this month, life guarding at the weekends throughout October. When we started patrolling I was really beginning to over froth watching the waves, which worked as a disadvantage to me, people who surf with me and know me well, when I get too excited I end up surfing worse than when I'm completely relaxed!
For my second surf of the day I was doing a good job of dodging some descent kegs! After about half an hour I started to get the ball rolling and got a couple of bombs that were peaking up way out the back. The bombs consisted of a placid drop in, followed by a build up of speed, set my line and walla.....a nice North Devon Coloured pit! As the tide reached towards low it started to get a little fat as the swell was breaking way out and just rolling all the way through. Until a good hour after the push it started to get sexy again!
The prediction turned out to be accurate as well. As they did forecast the swell to drop off slowly Saturday afternoon onwards.
By that evening it was nearly half the size of the waves I surfed early in the morning, but I couldn't complain at all, as even Sunday afternoon on the pushing tide was awesome. Not in terms of barrels but for fun high performance waves with lush warm sunshine.
Now I'm up to nothing during this week other than sorting out a few bits and bobs for my and Janine's trip it has gone flat as a witches bosom!
The photos above were taken at eleven o'clock on saturday morning just as I was suiting up......I wish I could do it all over again that day, i.e be off all weekend and go surf a few more of the spots that I prefer a bit further south! Yewwwww

Surfing Profile.

This shot was taken on Bali back in 07. Its not necessarily an amazing shot in terms of what im doing on the wave itself. Its just I love how sick the wave looks! Everywave that day had a perfect round bazza to pull into! This photo is on Nick Lloyds website, which I chose to use for my surfing profile. http://pushingtide.co.uk. Check my profile out, it also has other local surfer profiles on there as well.

Swell prospects this week arent amazing, however wednesday looks like we will have a small fun wave in North Devon which means I will probably go down the coast where it recieves more in the way of swell.

Catch you all in the water soon!

Jord

Powerbalance!!!

I thought it would be a good idea to post about Powerbalance! The story dates back to march 2010 whilst in Bali a friend introduced the Powerbalance hype to me. I had already heard about them off another friend but never thought twice about if they actually really worked to improve overall performance in athletes! I instantly went off and made a purchase and walla. Seven months have gone by and the hype and mystery goes on and on about these bracelets. I'm gonna put it out there......for me, it works and when I have the band on, I don't know what it is but, I feel much more confident with it on than I do without it!

When a friend introduced the tests on me, which consist of core strength tests mainly. I could not believe the improvements. Its unreal! When I surf my turns feel more sharper and I feel I can smash the lip harder with more speed.
It makes me laugh as I have tried the tests on other people, for some it works and others it does not work at all. Which is where the debate begins! Is there real science and technology being ignited into these wonder bracelets or are they just small strips of silver and coloured plastic being mass produced out of China, Taiwan or Thailand!

People say to me "ah Jord its bullshit mate, dunno why you got that crap on" or "I'm not sure if it works for me I just think its all in the head, you know psychological or something" and also "No way, that's amazing how much are they I want one?"! Its also weird that the website hasn't much info about what is Powerbalance? and how does it work? http://www.powerbalance.com/powerbalance Link doesn't say much hey!?
Either way, if I'm living in a fantasy world! It works for me, as I feel confident with it on and I think the Powerbalance band helps my surfing more than before!

Final Countdown.

Well its nearly that time of the year when we trade our flip flops, to steel toe cap boots and wide brimmed sun hats, copius amounts of suncream on our pink faces, to beanies and hoodies that keep us all toastie when the nights pull in.....NOT ME!

All I can think about is hitting up Central and North America with my girlfriend I cant wait.

To make my impatient matters even worse my mate Luke has just returned from a week in southern Portugal (Sagres) where he had good swell from Hurricane Danielle and of course fine weather......Fecker!

I cant believe how quickly the lifeguard season has gone by this year, its insane! All in all its been the best summer I have worked weather wise and I was going to mention swell wise until we

reached August when It just seemed to remain flat for ages!

I have to mention all the guys as well they have made the season an enjoyable one to say the least...You know who you are fellas!

Im competing at Croyde this weekend in the Jesus Surf Classic which im looking forward to. Apparently the waves are going to be shit, which is about right for a surf contest in England.

As I have named this post "Final Countdown" I wanted to mention we have 18 days left on the beach when some of us lucky one's will be unemployed...Jobcentre it is then!

Cheers.

Indo footage 2010.

Jordan Reed indo 2010 from luke parkhouse on Vimeo.

I told you lot you would hear more about that indo trip with the lads back in the winter.

Thanks goes to Mr Luke parkhouse also Paul Stevens and Josh Talbot for filming for this video.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

By the way I havent been anywhere near the Ocean this Bank Holiday as its been pap! So I shall be having a few beers with the boys and have a chilled weekend.....PEACE!

Bank Holiday weekend!

The HO! Last bank Holiday

Home is fun on Bank holidays..........

Im frothing.......well not entirely, but I have just finished work and I have bank holiday weekend off! Just planning on where to go surfing over this weekend, as Magic Lieweed have been getting my hopes up far too much over the past few weeks. Feckers!

Anyway I love bank holidays as everyone generally wants to get on the beers on sunday and that generally means all day too!

However this year is completely different to those in the past, YES I will be having a few beverages on sunday but I need to look after the pennies instead of previous years gone by. So........ A)Im amped to surf all weekend (hopefully) and B)Me and my girlfriend Janine, are trying to save the coinage for Central and North America this winter. So to cut a long story short I wont be going mental!

On a more interesting note im hoping my next update will be about all the positives of a fun filled surfing/light drinking bank holiday....Enjoy peeps!

Reminiscing.

As you probably all know this has definatly been the worst August for swell in North Devon I and many others have ever experienced......Shocker!

There is nothing I like more other than surfing itself to day dream and talk about sick sessions me and my mates have had in warmer climes.

Since returning from Indo back in Easter, I havent really looked at any of the photos I took during the trip up until a few days ago.

This particular photo was taken after me and Paulo surfed Lakey pipe, when his board snapped doing a duckdive on a 3 ft wave!

Paulo is classic and is always up there for wipeout of the trip.....keep up the good work mate!

It was an amazing trip and me and the boys (Parky, Paulo and Josh) scored some sick waves over the 60 day period. I'm sure you'll hear more about it in due course.

So this post is dedicated to the flat period we have had to put up with during the end of July and all of August! PEACE...

A Fresh Start

Hello everyone, or anyone! Welcome to my new blog page. Today I have launched my new promotional page, which is the beginning of many updates it will involve the day to day and week to week events of my life! As you can tell I love surfing and this page is mainly to promote my surfing, keep people up to date with what i'm doing and where I am and anything I think you lot may find interesting! Enjoy!

You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook