a magazine for surfing females.
Artwork: Gemma Chalmers.
MARCH ISSUE HERE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT...
FRESH GLASS // SUNSET SURFING / FANTASY SURFER / OTHER STOKE
FRESH GLASS As my 30th birthday approached - I was a little unsure of how I felt about this rather grown-up number. But a ‘magical mystery tour’ planned by my fiance and a gang of mates, was taking my mind off of the detail. After work I was bundled off under the cover of darkness in our campervan, destination unknown. After a cosy pub dinner we parked up for the night and commenced a highly amusing evening of Trivial Pursuit and Cider in the back of the van. We were up early to be at a secret rendezvous point at 9am, Sunday morning and on route, Kit told me that ‘as we were in the neighbourhood’ - he thought it would be cool for us all to go and visit Ellie Miller of Miller Surfboards, at her workshop near Braunton. I was excited. I had been wanting to meet Ellie for ages. The only female shaper in the uk (as far as we know?), and shaping beautiful boards at that.
Our little gang turned up and fllled her tiny workshop. We had a nosey at the boards she was currently working on, including one she had recently finished with a silk cloth inlay, stunning. We all piled back outside to see one more she had just finished. This one, appeared to have my name on it. Check out my face in the next photo - it’s pretty clear to see, I was speechless. Probably the most beautiful little board I had ever seen and apparently it was all mine! It’s a 5’2” mini simmons-style board that Ellie calls ‘The Blimp’. Twin glassed-
in birch ply keg fins. What a beauty. It looked SO much fun. It was great to have Ellie there to take me through each and every element of the board and to tell me how it affects the ride. I’ve now decided I don’t have a problem with being 30 - I’ve just been given the ultimate fun-maker, and that’s all you need! Ellie was packing for 3 weeks in Spain... so we let her go and get on with that. She deserves a holiday I think. Having finished the board less than 24 hours before I arrived to pick it up I made the decision not to use it that day. I so desperately wanted to, but, in the end I felt I just wouldn’t forgive myself if I went and put a massive pressure dent in the fresh glass job straight away. It’s time will come, and I’ll let you know how it goes in part two of ‘Fresh Glass’. Instead I tucked my trusty 6’6” under my arm and the Birthday brigade
Photo: Kit Stokes.
Photo: Hanna Richardson.
FRESH GLASS
It was great to have Ellie there to take me through each and every element of the board and to tell me how it affects the ride.
FRESH GLASS
Photo: courtesy of Indi Purnell
Photo: Kit Stokes.
Photo: Kit Stokes.
ran into the sea and had a ton of fun at Putsborough. As you can see the waves were pretty tasty that day and the sun even came out for the first time in 3 months, so we really lucked out. I feel like I’m part of the Miller Surfboard story - as Ellie told me, I am the first lady she has shaped a board for. That’s pretty cool. (Deserved a High-five). Gemma Chalmers, Truro, UK.
www.millersurfboards.co.uk
Photo: Kit Stokes.
I’ve just been given the ultimate fun-maker, and that’s all you need!
Sunset Surfing
I started surfing when I was 17, but I grew up in the ocean with a surf lifesaving background. It was time for a change and had always wanted to be able to ride a surfboard but could never figure it out! I would walk down to the beach every day after school with my board and after lots of practice I finally taught myself to jump up and ride across the wave. I have been longboarding the past 3 years and it has been the best thing that I have ever done for my surfing! I still have so much more to learn about longboarding but I totally love it.
Photo: Zane Wilson.
You are free to surf wherever you want, ride whatever board you want, make up your own style and you meet amazing people from all over the world. It is so refreshing, relaxing, exciting - whatever you want your time out there to be! You choose your board, your getup, conditions to suit, and your set! I love going for the afternoon surf, watching the sun set, the beautiful pastels that form in the sky, sharing the break with a couple of mates as everyone slowly hops out to cook dinner, and you’re there starting to put your feet higher up on your board as it gets a little darker hoping your not
Sunset Surfing
gonna be someone elses dinner! Ahhhhh - that time of day is really special to me and makes me appreciate our beautiful country and how lucky I am to live in Australia and surf every single day. Surfing really does mean freedom to me. It’s how I express myself. It gives me so much happiness, confidence and passion for living. I also compete now - for fun, to meet new amazing people, for fitness, to see what the other girls are doing and how womens surfing is progressing and to try to improve my surfing. It’s a wonderful feeling to have something to work towards, to train and practice hard for, to land a new trick, froth off a break you have never been to and the feeling of success after your hard work has paid off. You are so much richer for having been there, enjoyed the experience, met the beautiful people and for challenging yourself every single day!
Photo: Dave Fitzpatrick.
Jenny Arnold, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia
SUBSCRIBE
http://theslideshowmag.wordpress.com/subscribe/
FREE MAGAZINE
Photo: Ellie Woodward.
FLOWING I N T O
FREEDOM I remember like yesterday my first time trying to surf. I LOVED IT. Lying on the board, struggling to paddle and keep balance, going along with the speed of the white water, feeling exhilarated! From that day I was hooked. Every chance I got I went traveling to find waves and even went surfing in the country I lived - Holland when the days allowed it. My whole mind was set on surf; it was even a time in my life that I put my Yoga practice aside just to get in that extra surf time. You can imagine then what a disappointment it was that after a year of full on surf practice, I still didn’t seem to be able to get my pop up right. That back foot just kept on getting stuck, dropping my knee on the board first before I was able to plant my foot where it needed to be. It wasn’t until I got so desperate and started practicing my pop up on my yoga mat, that I recognized the enormous connection between Yoga & Surf. One of the best examples is to compare your take off on your surfboard and going from Downward Facing Dog to a full lunge in yoga. If you are finding the latter hard and you find you need to grab the back of your foot every time to place it those few centimeters further so that it is right between your hands and your ankle, the chances are that you are also having difficulty with your take off, like I was. This was such an eye opener for me, especially as this was a time in my yoga practice when I was also struggling with my hips, and I realised that these movements are all to do with hip flexibility and core strength. To help you along and hopefully improve your take offs, here are some simple tricks that will engage your core strength. You can practice this flow on your Yoga mat and in the Ocean:
Slow it down.
The next time you try this maneuver, do it as slowly and deliberately as possible. When it starts to get difficult, make sure you’re engaging your core by pulling your belly in and pushing the floor away with your hands.
Pay attention.
One of the best ways to transform your body is by noticing when you fall into your old patterns, and making a conscious effort to break the habits. In this case, notice when you tend to stop engaging your
Photo: Zarrin Abbasy.
core (you’ll know you’re not engaging if your foot makes a loud noise when it hits the floor). Then, try the action again with awareness.
Work your core.
Practice moving slowly from Downward Dog to Plank and back again, remembering to engage your core by pulling the belly toward your spine and pushing the floor away with your hands. Then, from Downward Dog, lift one foot behind you and keep it up as you rock forward into Plank Pose, bringing your knee into your body and toward your nose. In
your Yoga practice you can start adding poses like Baddha Konasana, Ananda balasana, Malasana and Parsvokanasana to open up your hips and create strength in your legs and of course flow as often as possible from your Adho Mukha Svanasana to your High Lunge using the steps described above. But above all have fun & enjoy! Namaste, love & light. Shaini Verdon, Portugal.
www.yogaion.com
Fantasy
SURFER
The website that allows you to build your ‘dream team’ of ASP pro surfers. Who’s on your team?
Discussions with your friends about who they’ve picked, or who everyone is talking about. When you finally decide, you know your team is going to be brilliant. And then - it’s not. Because this is surfing. It’s the ocean, it can be very unpredictable. Stick some people in there to interact with it and who know’s what you’re going to get!
Hours wasted
on juggling your team, researching surfers who might be better on certain breaks, or did well last year. Which wave suits aerialists, or big barrel riders. Who you want versus who you can afford. It’s all intricate stuff. The endless nights of ‘just one more heat’ before your eyes close at 1am, or when you miss the final and try so hard not to find out who won before you watch the replays.
But that is why I love it. It’s a game, it’s fun to play, to talk about, to watch. What I have really enjoyed is getting to know more about surfing - the manoeuvres, the waves, the surfers, the tour. The best surfers in the world, riding some of the best waves in the world, showing us what they can do, pushing surfing to new levels and keeping us all thoroughly entertained. Watching the world tour isn’t for everyone, but for me, it’s inspiring and improves my surfing. Sure it’s a load of hype and might not represent the true meaning of surfing, but when John John punts an air as big as a building, or Kelly gets spat out of the most un-makeable of barrels, you can’t help but be impressed. Plus, who doesn’t want to know what a ‘doggy door’ is?! Build your team at fantasy.surfermag.com Ellie Woodward, Perranporth, UK
Sacha Norrie - she is just the epitome of surfing STOKE.
Raglan, New Zealand.
SEND US
YOURS
theslideshow.mag@gmail.com