Classic Pipeline for Volcom pro

Wave face heights of over 20 feet marched in at daybreak, yesterday on Oahu's North Shore and continued to reel off with machine-like consistency throughout the day, offering the full Pipeline experience from perfect 10-point tube rides to injuries and shattered surfboards.

A $120,000 5-star event of the ASP World Qualifying Series, the Volcom Pipeline Pro is open to the world's best surfers along with locals and legends of Pipe. Check out yesterdays coverage below:



The call for the next heats will be made today -Friday 29th

Surf too big to hold Volcom Pipeline Pro!

Another giant swell of 15-20-feet (wave face heights exceeding 30 feet) cleaned out the North Shore of Oahu yesterday, too big to be rideable at the Volcom Pipeline Pro. But the stars are aligning at Pipe and today is shaping up to produce a dramatic opening day of competition.



Winds are expected to clock back around to traditional trades, the swell is forecast to drop to around 10-12 feet, and the ocean is sweeping the break clean of accumulated sand today, revealing a perfect surfing stage. Today's swell is expected to peak in the afternoon, then slowly diminish through tomorrow and Friday before another giant swell marches in late Saturday.

SAS campaign to stop North Sea sewage

Some of you may have read a previous thread highlighting the practices of Anglian water pumping partially treated sewage in the North Sea off Lincolnshires beaches. This story has been followed up by BBC Look North. Heres the full report:



If you'd like to become involved in the campaign contact: dom@sas.org.uk

BBC film for SAS campaign for cleaner waters in Lincolnshire

Yesterday BBC Look North news channel filmed the partially treated sewage being pumped into the North Sea at Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire. The film is being used as todays feature article on the news and will be a huge boost in supporting Surfers Against Sewage's campaign to reverse Anglian Waters policy of turning off UV treatment during winter.

For more info: http://www.sas.org.uk/

D.E.C donations for Haiti

Heres a link for DEC (Disaster Emergency Commitee) for donations to aid the country of Haiti which is going through an appalling time http://www.dec.org.uk/

Win a free copy of Bustin Down the Door surf movie

To enter our free prize draw to win one of 2 copies of the latest surf film blockbuster, "Bustin down the door" just sign up to our newsletter Click here. The draw to find 2 lucky winners will be made on 25th Jan 2010.

North sea winter surfing brain freeze

For all of you surfers in the southern hemisphere summer and warmer climates please spare a thought and ride a clear blue warm water wave for your Northern brethren wherever they may be, surfing in sub-zero temps with frozen wetsuits ! :)

Sewage in Lincolnshire surf breaks!

I have to admit I was shocked to hear the news given to us by the team at Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), that during 7 months of the year Anglian water are discharging partially treated sewage into the North Sea off Lincolnshire's coastline!

They have been officially allowed to turn their Ultra Violet (UV) treatment off during the off tourist season since 07/04/2003. The UV treatment is suspended between 30th of September to 01st May each year.

Their rational for this move is based on a claim that no-one uses the water during these months!!....I personally know a whole lot of local surfers that would disagree with Anglian waters claim and theres a host of kayakers, kitesurfers, beach users, chalet owners, local businesses and more who'd back us up.

From the information I've been given it looks like there are two sewage treatment works, one in Cleethorpes and one in Mablethorpe pumping partially treated waste water (sh*te to you and me) into our seas during Oct-Apr each year. This renders the local "Blue Flag" awards meaningless.

What we'd like to do is rally Lincolnshire surfers along with any other beach and water users who oppose Anglian waters actions and work with SAS to support their efforts to have the UV treatment turned on year round by using the Legislative power of the EU bathing water directive against Anglian water. To do this we need to start with supplying recent photographs of people using the sea (ideally with a digital date) which SAS will use to prove that the water authority claims are ridiculous.

So please show your support by posting your lincolnshire beach pictures (of actual water use, surfing, kitesurfing, kayaking etc- or pictures showing evidence of sewage, waste, effluent on the beach) taken during Oct-April from 2003 to the present day, onto either the Lincs surf club Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&ref=ts&gid=65707202165

, or post comments/views on the Facebook wall, or to this blog, spread the word online or add shots to the EH image gallery http://www.extremehorizon.com/surf-shop/surfers_gallery.html

I will endeavour to keep you up to date with Feedback from SAS and let you know if theres anything else we need to do further down the line.

Just so you know what Anglian water are letting us surf in and what the potential risks are, heres the facts:

• In totally untreated wastewater (i.e. raw sewage) there are on avearge 5 million bacterial pathogens (that are potentially hamful to humans) per 100ml of water.

• In secondary treated wastewater (which is what Anglian water will be pumping out at Newton Marsh and Mablethorpe plants) there are 0.5 million per 100ml

• In tertiary (UV) treated wastewater (quality of UV treatement does vary from company to company) the level of potentially harmful bacterial pathogens is on average about 30 per 100ml! Added to this, the science suggests that those 30 have been so impacted by the treatment that they are ineffective and cannot cause human infection.

• It has been shown that it can only take one bacterial pathogen to cause infection and therefore make water users sick. For further info on SAS's stance on this and the illnesses that are on the prowl! have a look at this page on their website http://sas.org.uk/campaign/sewage_and_sickness/protecting_your_health.php

What diseases can I catch from sewage-polluted water?

The most common diseases caught from surfing or swimming in sewage-polluted water are gastroenteritis (often resulting in diarrhoea and vomiting) or ear, nose and throat infections. As well as these, pathogens in sewage such as Hepatitis A and E. coli 0157 can cause much more serious, potentially life threatening, illnesses.

PICTURE: Lets stop this from happening at our beaches!!

California Calling competition

Ok, so this is a bit of a shameless plug but Britain has been hit by temperatures lower than the Antarctic recently and the snow just doesnt want to leave the beach!, so it'd be great to visit some warmer climes which is why we've posted the entry below into the California Calling competition. Its a comp being run in the UK to send a lucky winner to LA to be included in their tourist boards next UK TV ad....wish us luck :) ha ha



to enter yourselves heres the competition website