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!
The origins of Surfing in Lincolnshire's often inhospitable and fickle North Seas has been a difficult one to pin down, we had known about a Lincolnshire surf club in the 1960's, but little else. So we were fortunate to meet Mick Rampton recently, who is proclaimed to be Lincoln's first surfer! Below is a short profile of local surfing back in the day kindly written by Mick Rampton, which casts light on surfing origins in our part of the world 40 years ago.
My first taste of surfing was in the summer of ’68 whilst on holiday in Perranporth, Cornwall. I hired a board from a lone Aussie on the beach for £1, which was my total spending money for the day. (wages then were £23 per week, so not cheap).
There were only half a dozen surfers out, not like today’s crowded waves. After persevering all day without tuition I was able to catch waves and ride. This is all it took for me to get hooked.
Upon returning to Lincoln I was frustrated by the lack of awareness of this great sport, also the lack of equipment and suffered ridicule from my friends who insisted that you could not surf at the East coast.
After a bit of research in the winter of 1968, I discovered that there was a surf club in Scunthorpe of all places, the founder members being Pete and Ross Maw. Desperate to have a board, I bought one from Pete Maw; it was a 9’ Bilbo pintail. I wish I still had it as it was brilliant for catching East Coast waves. Other names I can remember at that time were Alan Taylor, Mickey Davies, Ken Brocklebank and Johnny Bush. The last two lived in Grimsby where there was an affiliate club. In the winter we used to meet in a club house in Cleethorpes to watch surf films that had come from New Zealand. This would be 69/70. There were enough of us plus wives & girlfriends to have an annual dinner.
We were all in to making our own boards at that time and even gluing together our own wetsuits from kits. I subsequently made two surf boards of my own one in 1970 and the other in 1975 and with my new found friends surfed all over the UK but the club’s home beach was Sandilands, near Sutton- on-sea.
At weekends we would dash off to Scarborough or CaytonBay or even Cromer. Some of us lost surfboards off flimsy roof racks on the way! There were no surf reports in those days so it was basic instinct and guess work whether there would be any surf when we got there. The locals would say, “Ah, you should have been here yesterday, it was 6’, green and glassy”, so nothing changes.
By 1972 Lincoln’s contingent of surfers had grown to four and I had persuaded SceptreWatersports to stock a small selection of boards. By then most of our summer holidays were spent in Cornwall, North Devon or The Gower Peninsular, mainly for the surfing.
I stopped surfing seriously in 1986 after a nasty experience on FistralBeach, Newquay. Surfing alone early in the morning I lost it on an 8’ plus and was dragged under water by my leash, feet first and I was close to drowning when I finally surfaced. None the less I have since surfed in New Zealand, Hawaii and Portugal whilst holidaying but the heady times of the 60’s and 70’s were the best. We had nothing of today’s hype and equipment but we still had fun, fun,fun. Happy surfing guys.
*Picture: Sandilands 1972. Thankfully wetsuits have improved since then
You may have noticed some changes to the extremehorizon.com home page which include some awesome UK surf shots from Fistral beach and Porthleven taken by one of Britains leading surf photographers Geoff Tydeman. The work which Geoff has been producing has captured some stunning images of surfing in the British Isles showing just how good the waves can be here on our little island. In Geoff's own words:
"I've been snapping surf shots since 1974, Manager of Bilbo Surf Shop Newquay 1973 - 1978, I was the first editor of Wavelength Magazine in 1981 - 1983, and have been photo freelancing on and off ever since, but since digital photography really took off I've got back into it full time. I also made the film "Fistral Sessions" which was released in 2003, the film was taken up by the "Surf's Up" travelling museum exhibition 2005 and for two and a half years was played on continuous loop within the exhibition, making it the longest running public display surf film (in Britain? Europe? - unless you know different!). I've recently been contributing photos to the British Surf mags and various websites where my work has been receiving some very positive feedback."
Check out more of Geoff Tydeman's work here GT Images or feel free to comment with your views on the shot featured here.
With surfing, the same as any sport we all have to start somewhere so little errors when we're learning to surf can be forgiven, however the fun survey below highlights errors made by the perpetual Kook...you know the ones who can be spotted a mile off. They are the weekend warriors who have the opportunity to learn but never bother...super Kooks. Cast your vote below or feel free to leave a comment:
We all know that Western Australia has some crazy heavy secret reefs and, as we've written about in these pages before, photographer Russell Ord has been out there documenting them in all their glory. But every so often a picture turns up that blows you away, think Greg Noll 3rd reef Pipeline, Jay Moriaty wipe out at Mavericks, Laird Hamilton at Teahupoo, well in my opinion this shot is up there with them....its just insane.
With over 10 years experience in surf photography, Russell Ord enjoys an international reputation built on an enthusiasm for surfing. His affable and modest demeanour masks a remarkable talent and an inherent ability to translate the natural environment into his still photography. Russell and his family have recently established a cool new gallery in WA.
The Sitting Room Gallery is a creative design space featuring incredible images of Australian Surf Photography. Ideally located in Cowaramup, just outside Margaret River in Western Oz, the inviting studio was created by Russell to showcase his surfinging photography and promote the work of other professional surf photographers. For more info check out http://sittingroomgallery.com.au/
The reef break named by the Bra Boys as "Ours" is a mutant wave in Sydney Australia and the following story is from coastalwatch.com. Check out the board and Kobi Graham going up and over the falls- nasty:
Bondi Rescue lifeguard Kobi Graham suffered a hideous wipe out at Cape Solander mid afternoon on Sunday May 30. Kobi took off on a slabbing 6-8ft bomb and kind of nose dived, free falling head first into the reef at 'Ours'.
For those that don’t know “Ours” is a notorious big wave surf spot just outside the entrance to Botany Bay. The wave comes out of deep water before literally exploding on a shallow barnacle encrusted rock ledge no more than 10 metres in front of the sheer cliff face. Kobi fractured two vertebrae, meaning he broke his neck in layman’s terms.
Fellow Bronte surfer and good friend John “Bones” Dwyer helped Kobi onto a sled and then coastalwatch photographer Billy Morris drove them around to Kurnell beach on a jet ski and promptly called an ambulance. Thanks to Bones and Billy’s quick response Kobi was then airlifted to Royal North Shore hospital within 20 minutes, where he is now reported to be in a stable condition.”
The world’s best female surfers will assault the South American continent this week for the fifth stop on the 2010 ASP Women’s World Tour, the Movistar Peru Classic presented by IDP.
For the first time in the event’s storied four-year history, the Movistar Peru Classic will whisk the ASP Top 17 away from the lengthy, sandbar lefts of Lobitos and Mancora in exchange for the punchy reefbreaks of San Bartolo in Lima.
Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 22, reigning three-time ASP Women’s World Champion and current ASP Women’s World No. 1, has been on a rampage in 2010, collecting three wins from four events and grabbing a stranglehold on the rankings’ lead.
“It has to be the most talented field ever and so this great string of results has surprised me as well,” Gilmore said. “I think the first few events have left everyone questioning the results of the rookies and younger girls, so the focus and expectation grows on them and then allows me to be comfortable and just do my thing.”
