Extremehorizon surf blog providing: regular surfing news, updates, stories, surf pictures, product reviews, surfer interviews and anything from the world of actions sports which is begging to be blogged!
In the not so distant past the landscape of surfing was unrecognisable compared to today. Surfing is a multi-billion dollar industry which has been exported to almost every country on the planet. Exploration of new surf locations can still be a challenge but the potential for new surf spots is dwindling with each year that passes and surf brand investment in these trips takes the edge of what we'd see as true exploration.
This wasnt the case for Australian Peter Troy who explored the planets surf spots during the 1960's when surfing in many places was unheard of and travel wasn't the easy pastime it is today. Peter Troy was a true adventurer who's discoveries and travels were made all the more remarkable for the carrying of his 10ft log everywhere he went. Troy surfed in both southern and northern hemisphere extremes and across all the continents.
"Australian surf adventurer Peter Troy has died from a bloodclot. Troy is best known for his discoveries in Bali and Java. In 1975 he was one of the first to surf Nias He is also known for his part in Paul Witzig's 1971 classic 'Sea of Joy' where he and Wayne Lynch surfed newly discovered Tamarin Bay on Mauritius. A true adventurer, he claimed to have visited 140 countries, many in Africa. He surfed Jeffreys Bay in 1966. In Australia Troy ran a Sydney surf-movie-only theatre as well as a Noosa Heads motel. Peter was born in 1938 in Torquay Australia."*
Much hyped and long awaited the artificial reef at Boscombe, Southern England is now under construction. Lets hope it works as well as anticipated. Heres what Bournemouthsurfreef.co.uk says:
The Bournemouth Surf Reef in Boscombe will be one of four artificial reefs worldwide: Narrowneck, Queensland; Opunaki, New Zealand and Mt.Maunganui, New Zealand.
The reef will be located to the east of Boscombe Pier (about 2.5 kilometres from Bournemouth Pier) and the submerged reef will take up approximately one hectare (the size of a football pitch) which will be 225 metres from the shoreline. The reef mimics the effects of a natural reef and will be built from large geo-textile bags pumped hard with sand. The sandbags weigh up to 2,500 tonnes and biggest are up to 70m long, 2m high and 6m wide, so once they are in place nothing will move them
What conditions will the Surf Reef provide? The reef acts as a ramp which changes the way the waves break. The reef has been designed to provide mainly a right-hand breaking wave of approximately 75m. The left-hand break of the reef is designed to roll down the reef and 'clean up' the short period chop that the dominant cross-shore wind creates. This will make the wave-face on the right-hander cleaner for surfing.
During clean swell conditions with light winds, the left-hander will also provide a 20m fast ride, which will likely be most favourable to body boarders. This is similar to the Narrowneck Reef on the Gold Coast in Australia, and the Mount Reef in New Zealand. It is expected that inshore of the reef, better surfing conditions will also occur due to the changes in wave-height gradients caused by the presence of the reef offshore, which result in sand banks with peeling and surfable waves. During clean, long period swell, the reef and the inshore banks would all be surfable.
The reef at Boscombe is designed to provide a grade-5 wave on a day with good swell which is in the challenging range (Hawaii Pipeline is a grade-8).
In calm weather, such as July or August, the reef will create a ‘lagoon’ along the shoreline offering safe, flat conditions for families and beach users.
Heres an article we read in the Guardian newspaper a few days ago which amazed me. OK, water safety of all beach users is important but when local authorities start to threaten police intervention on where you can or can not surf its not a good sign. Its bad enough having lifeguards bark orders to surfers, but getting an anti social behaviour order slapped on by the police for surfing in an area that they say you shouldnt be in, would be ridiculous:
Here is the article from guardian.co.uk
Surfers who ride waves through areas reserved for swimmers off a UK Cornish beach could be taken to court and issued with antisocial behaviour orders, it emerged yesterday.
Lifeguards at Sennen beach, near Land's End, are so fed up with rogue surfers who refuse to follow the rules that they have turned to the police for help.
Police are now considering sending a community support officer to patrol the beach and perhaps even the use of asbos to control the surfers.
The beach at Sennen is popular with surfers but has a no-go area which is reserved for people, including many families, who use it for swimming. Lifeguards employed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution patrol the beach but have no powers to enforce the rules. They have asked the police to help them next summer after a series of incidents in which surfers cut through the bathing zone and almost injured swimmers.
Devon and Cornwall police have a project called Beach Beat at St Ives, Newquay and Perranporth in Cornwall, where they have worked with the RNLI to try to cut drinking and antisocial behaviour.
There are no current plans to formally extend Beach Beat to Sennen, but an officer could be drafted in to patrol the beach next summer if the problems persist.
Local constable Andrew Tonkin said: "The RNLI lifeguards have logged quite a few problems with surfers recently. There have been particular problems with longboarders whose refusal to use leashes could cause injury to swimmers." A leash connects the surfer's ankle to the board and stops it zipping off in a fall.
Tonkin said an officer on the beach could monitor surfers' behaviour and, if necessary, intervene.
A police spokesman said the Beach Beat project was intended to make the environment safer for all users. He said: "The idea is to provide a high-visibility uniform presence on the beach."
The RNLI said it had a problem with a few surfers at Sennen. A spokeswoman said: "Our lifeguards cannot enforce the bylaws. Their remit is to advise."
Surfer Sam Bleakly said: "The idea is narrow-minded. It is unsustainable to pay police to patrol the beach when we already have very qualified RNLI lifeguards.
"Surfers are famous for being rebels. It is part of the identity of the sport and the extra bureaucracy will only create strife."
As surfers we are often asked to explain our surfing lifes, whether its to friends, family and in some cases the media: why do you surf, what does it feel like to be in a barrel, whats your worst ever wipeout or biggest wave?
I dont think that anyone has ever been able to adequately use the written or the verbal word to capture the essence of riding a wave, however some have come close and along the way there have also been some classic quotes to descibe what we do. Some are profound, some funny, but all of them we can relate to. Here are a few of my favourites:
Doc Paskowitz on surfing: "Its not a sport, its not even a way of life...its like an eskimo with snow, a farmer with the fields"
Buzzy Trent on Big waves:"Waves are not measured in feet and inches, they are measured in increments of fear"
Greg Noll on Makaha:" I remember being out there on a huge day and just going into mental freeze up. A haze settled over my brain like I was in a dream. No place put the fear of god in me like big Makaha"
Darryl " Flea" Virostko on surfacing from a Mavericks hold down:"Its like trying to do a sit up with a fat chick on my face"
Greg Noll on his nickname DA BULL: " I dont know. Better than shithead I guess"
Mark Foo's prophetic interview quote: "Its not tragic to die doing something you love"
Jeff Clarke: " Mavericks appeals to the dark side of a surfers psyche"
Ken Bradshaw on surfing:" Its created junkies out of most of us. Surfing junkies right? Our whole lives we drop everything to go surfing and we always will"
Kilgore in Apocalypse Now: "Charlie dont surf"
More to follow and feel free to comment and add your own favourites...
and finally heres a great moment of an unknown surfer winding up a TV interviewer!
As a result of our poll "Who is the most influential surfer of all time" , we promised to provide profiles on the top 3 surfers as voted by you. Not surprisingly Duke Kahanamoku received the most votes so our first installment on Dukes life was published 2 weeks ago. Heres the second and final installment in this mans fascinating life:
The young Duke grew up and surfed in a time before modern plastics, resins and fibre glass were a reality and he preferred to ride traditional boards based on ancient Hawaiian finless "olo" board designs. His board was made of Koa tree wood and was sixteen feet long and weighed in at 114 pounds. Not the easiest of boards to handle but paddling the heavy log clearly assisted with his swimming strength because in 1911, Duke beat the 100 yard freestyle swimming world record by a huge 4.6seconds in Honolulu harbour
From here it was an smooth transition for Duke to qualify for the U.S. Olympic swimming team in 1912. He went onto compete in three games, breaking world records and winning numerous gold and silver medals in the process. It was during this time that Duke went on to tour the world, swimming in exhibitions in the US mainland, Europe and Australia. Whilst travelling he also gave surfing demonstrations which drew huge crowds. George Freeth was credited with introducing surfing to the USA and California in 1907 but it was Duke who fanned the flames to create a blaze of interest in waveriding. Also in 1914 Duke visited Sydney and gave a surfing exhibition at Freshwater beach- surfing in Australia was born!
Inbetween winning Olympic medals and introducing surfing to the world, Duke had a sideline as a Hollywood film extra even appearing alongside John Wayne in one of his movies. Duke was also a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club and was involved in the swimming, waterpolo teams and lifeguarding. In 1925 he made a daring rescue of 8 men at Newport beach harbour in heavy seas after a fishing vessel capsized. 17 men lost their lives that day but it would have been more if it wasnt for Duke and 2 other surfers saving lives using their boards to assist the rescues. Since that day surfboards have become a common tool of a lifeguards trade.
After spreading the spirit of Aloha throughout his time, Duke Kahanamoku was welcomed home as an ambassador of the Hawaiian way of life. He was recognised as a true waterman and honoured with the position of Sheriff of Honolulu and later as the official greeter for the Islands. Shortly before Duke died in 1968, the Sunset beach Duke Kahanamoku surf competition became an International event and the worlds premier big wave event.
Dukes influence on modern surfing was unparalleled and is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
Over the years Northcore products have regularly featured in magazine and website reviews with glowing write ups and the most recent additions to the range have been no exception. The most recent is the independent testing of the Northcore C-mat and Surfers Travel pack in the Devon based online surf mag Corduroy Lines.
Check out the write up on the right or click here to read this months "Corduroy Lines" a free online Longboard magazine
John Morgan, 51, surfing yesterday afternoon between Clarks Beach and the Pass in Byron Bay NSW, was dragged through the water for about 50 metres by a shark. The shark became caught in his leash, however he managed to take the rope off and swim back to shore.
"There was a big swirl under the board and I knew it was a big shark underneath me and it sort of freaked me out a bit and then it hit my leg rope and the worst thing was it got tangled in my leg rope and started towing me out to sea really, really quickly ... I was on my board lying on it but slipping off the back because we were going so fast," he said.
He was having his daily surf at lunch time, on a stand-up paddle board, when he felt the sudden violent pull on his leg rope.
"I had just come off a wave when I saw a large swirl of water, I was then suddenly hauled backwards. It felt like I was riding behind a powerful jet ski. The water was dirty so I couldn't make out what type of shark it was but I knew from the splashing white water that it was roughly eight to ten foot (3m)," Mr Morgan said.
"All I could think about was holding on and hoping the shark would untangle itself," he said. "It totally freaked me out; I'm just glad it didn't turn around and bite me." Despite the fright, Mr Morgan will not be kept from the water. As manager of Maddog surf shop in Byron Bay he enjoys his midday surf and tomorrow you'll see him back in the water
Theres a great surf comp running this Sept at the world famous Fistral beach, organised by Newquay's Jack Clinton; surfer, entrepreneur and brother of Northcore Europe team rider Lewis Clinton.
Press release
On the 27th & 28th Sept, Fistral Beach will be hosting the 5th successful Oakley XPY Pro Junior Presented by Globe and this year is looking to be bigger and better than ever before!
The event is stop two on the UKPST Pro junior circuit, and with this event being another 2 star rated event, there is top points up for grabs along with a £500 prize purse for finalists! The Pro junior category will stage all the top under 20 surfers from across the kingdom. Other categories included in this years event are under 16’s, under 16’s girls and under 12’s OPEN. All categories will be supplied with cash prizes for finalists along with tons of other goodies to go with it! With the event being blessed every year with waves, it has grown a reputation amongst the surfers as one of the best stops on the tour! Sponsors this year include Oakley headlining the event, along with presenting sponsor Globe shoes. Other sponsors this year include new sponsors on the scene, monster energy drinks, and carveboard skateboards. Also thanks to Eurobeach & Fistral Blu. For details on entering the event, contact the UKPST office on 01637854854 or www.bpsauktour.com . Check out the contest website at www.x-pressyourself.co.uk .
Heres a brand new surf product to the market and its one with an eco-conscience. Dewaxit is an organic based, non-toxic surf wax remover which limits the negative environmental impact which can be caused by some solvents.
In Dewaxit's own words:
“Surfers have always been passionate about protecting their environment – Bluewater Dewax.it surf wax remover assists in the cause by offering the world’s cleanest wax remover, with a formula which includes natural ingredients, designed to limit negative environmental impact.
The special formula in Bluewater Dewax.it will safely remove:
Bluewater Dewax.it is easy to use and takes the hard work out of surfboard prep, whether for applying new wax, decals or pads or just keeping your surfboard in pristine condition.
Thanks to everyone who voted in our "Who is the most influential surfer of all time?" Poll. We are going to keep it running for while to see who comes in second and third (Its Laird and Gerry in the running for now), but the book for winner is closed with Duke Kahanamoku taking the top spot with 36% of the vote.
Voting Duke as being the most influential surfer of all time is no real surprise as the man is the father of modern surfing. He laid the foundation stones that lead to the phenomenal expansion of global surfing and "beach boy" lifestyle aspirations we embrace today. So as promised we are going to run a biog on the winner of the poll and follow this up at a later date with Bio's on the second and third placed surfers. Duke Kahanamoku's story is a fascinating one, so to do it justice we are going to break it down into sections:
Duke Kahanamoku: The early years
"Duke", who was born Aug 24th 1890, inheriting his name from his father, Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened "Duke" by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honour of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time of his fathers birth in 1869. Duke Grew up on the outskirts of Waikiki spending his formative years as one of the original beach boys. Waikiki Beach was the perfect environment to nuture and develop his surfing and swimming skills, which would influence his life and so many others around him.
