December issue #26

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Artwork: Gemma Chalmers.

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SEEK & YOU SHALL FIND // SLYDER CUP ACTION / / PERFECT SURF DAY / // . . . E N J O Y !

#26. DECEMBER ISSUE Here we are at the end of 2014. We are hurtling towards thick coatings of neoprene here in the UK. This issue brings you stories of exploration, favourite experiences and coverage of events like the Slyder Cup. All of which, give us the Stoke to approach the winter waves with open arms.

Editor -Gemma Chalmers.

Seek&

Surfing adventures :: finding new special spots.

Early october coastal explore in Cornwall.

Surfboards, BBQ’s, beers, dogs, food and some hell rocky vertical descents!

Tricky terrain! But worth the scramble.

We learnt:: there is always somewhere new to find.

Artwork: Katie Rewse.

The Slyder Cup

If anything is going to get you frothed up on winter surfing, it’s events like the Slyder Cup. Last weekend saw the most beautiful day, PUMPING waves and an air of fun and frivolity that can only do good in the midst of these often dismal winter months...

The promise for the 2nd Edition of the Slyder Cup presented

by Reef had been 2-3ft and offshore. Serving up what can only be termed ‘solid conditions’ with light winds and plenty of sunshine for this Frigid Friction Affliction Winter Convention, I think it’s fair to say the surf gods over-delivered!

I might be biased but it’s one of my favourite events. The turn out of fins free fanatics was awesome once again with more than 50 competitors taking part from across the UK, including a regular crew of hard charging ladies, plus a huge gathering of shapers and makers displaying their craft. First in were the 4 heats of body surfers, who tackled the serious swell with style and commitment to match.

The Slyder Cup

Photos: Gemma Chalmers.

The 2nd heat saw Jaydene Reed drop into bomb which drew hoots and high fives from the line up to the shoreline, and earned her the highest score in the heat. As the tide dropped out, conditions became more manageable. In the surf mats, Neon Wetuits founder Elsie Pinniger graced the final, having never ridden a mat before while Sarah Bentley claimed 2nd in the Alaia’s, to overall Slyder Cup Champion Jimbo Bennett.

Photos: Gemma Chalmers.

The Slyder Cup

Jaydene Reed - Fresh from dropping into bombs on her Against the Grain Handplane.

The Slyder Cup Combining total commitment with grace and good vibes - pulling off spins, huge drops and epic wipeouts with aplomb on her 4’ 11” Albacore, Sarah also received the award for ‘Most Stylish Human’.

The Run What You Brung Expression Session was approached with high levels of stoke and some radical wave crafts were ridden – from bellyboards and hand planes to trays appropriated from the golden arches, a finless board home-shaped from insulation foam and a toilet seat rebranded the Poo-po but the winner of the expression session, and one to watch for the future in the Alaia section, was grom Leon Reed who went home with a brand new Slyde Hexflex Handboard for his efforts!

Huge thanks to everyone who came, charged, cheered and hooted, to our friends at Reef who have been stoked on the Slyder Cup since the beginning plus the crew at Allpress, DaFin, Mullet, XCel, Satorial, Whale Submarine and MakeMake for the support, we had a blast!

Words: Demi Taylor.

The Slyder Cup

Photo: Gemma Chalmers. / Jen Orchard.

The Slyder Cup GRAND FINALISTS:

Photos: Gemma Chalmers.

4th - Bellyboard Champion - Keith Usher 3rd - Bodysurf Champion- Rory Mason 2nd - Mat Surf Champion- Rich Pope 1st - Alaia Champion - Jimbo Bennett

Sarah Bentley The Most Stylish Human.

Jimbo Bennett - overall Slyder Cup Champion.

The Slyder Cup Photos: Gemma Chalmers.

Photo: Gemma Chalmers.

End of the day at Lusty Glaze, Newquay, for The Slyder Cup.

Photo: Liz Montalbano,

PERFECT SURF DAY It was one of those days. After a week of grey skies and rain, matched with big and stormy seas, the weather decided to bless the local surfers—who were all frothing for a good session--with a gift. That Monday rose sunny and the swell tapered off to a perfect six feet with light offshore winds at my local break Arrifana on the southwest coast of Portugal. Even still, when I paddled out close to day’s end on my longboard, there was enough storm swell left that I was the only woman and the only one on a board longer than seven feet in the water.

Several heavy waves and a few barely navigated closeouts later, I’d earned the respect of the guys in the line-up, who looked out for me with brotherly care when a big close-out set would roll through and I didn’t quite make it over the first wave. With each wave I took I started to feel, after a week of the weather-related blues, happy and alive again.

A rainbow—first a half and then a full arc—visited us mid-way through the session, curving over the fisherman’s village on the top of the cliff. As the day’s light waned a large cloud moved in over the sea and provided us with a dramatic sunset, backlighting the waves so that when they approached everything went dark for a moment, then light again when the walls of water moved through the line-up.

As the tide began to drop and darkness approached, the waves got cleaner and better, and the eight or so surfers in the water seemed perfectly in sync. We were all taking waves, paddling out the channel, and then taking the next one in turn. Just as it was getting too dark to see, I took my last wave—another glorious left that made this goofy-footer’s heart soar—and made my way to the beach, my Volkswagen bus, and then my warm and cozy home a short drive away. The day reminded me again why it is I made the decision to change my life, move more than 3,000 miles across the sea away from the country of my birth, my family and my full-time job, to live by the sea to do exactly what it is that I love.

By Elizabeth Montalbano

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