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.