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SPECIAL ISSUE: COLLECTOR’S EDITION

ISSUE 200 MARCH 11 THE “JOLLY GOOD” ISSUE

ISSUES AND STILL CHARGING!

BRITISH SURF MAG SINCE 81

MOROCCO

Micah Lester, Morocco

£3.95 Mar 200 wavelengthmag.co.uk

INSIDE THE BEST SEASON EVER cover_200.indd 2

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THE MONEY

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SURF OR SUDOKU? Marco Giorgio, Morocco Photo: Ben Selway

I

t was day two in fabulous Morocco (see my incredible feature on page 038) and we had just settled into our luxurious apartment, over looking the sloppy point break at Immsouane. I was about to indulge myself with a fresh mint tea and a perplexing game of Sudoku on the balcony when Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy asked if I’d rather take water shots of him attempting to do cut backs instead. Initially I thought ‘no way! Today is Sudoku day, not fat point break day!’ But then something in me clicked – maybe I should go with Sam, it would be the perfect place to blow off the cobwebs, plus I’d still get a great tan! I agreed to go with him so I immediately set about preparing my camera housing. But moments later Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy came in saying he’d just randomly spoke to a Moroccan mate who said a secret slab would be on. Needless to say, we went there instead, however sadly Sam didn’t score many photos that day. The crew of friendly Brazilians that were out there did, though!

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THE MONEY

A NIGHTMARE Nate Yeomans, Baja, Mexico Photo: Damea Dorsey

I

worry about Damea Dorsey sometimes. He keeps going down to Baja on photo shoots. The situation down there sounds pretty frightening at the moment because, in his words, there’s ‘some crazy shit that’s been going on down there (drug dealing mayhem, heads getting cut off and thrown down the street, Mafia shit, etc) and people are scared to go down there.’ The last thing we need is for him to find himself caught in a cross fire between rival gangs, or worse; being wrongfully arrested and sent to a Mexican jail for a life a fending off sexual offers from horny cell mates!

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EDITOR’S LETTER

COMMITTED

I

ssue 200, I’m in my fifth year at the helm of Wavelength and I’m sat in the farmyard at Thurso East. It’s cold, a north westerly breeze is both enhancing and ripping apart a fun little swell. The rain from this morning has backed off but the sky is leaden, the tide is just starting to pull back, and at some point there will be a pretty rip-able wave. A small crew is milling around, Chris Noble will be in there for sure, Jersey man Ian Battrick is camped out in his van and will surf anything, Scottie is knocking around too, whether he’ll bother with the paddle is yet to be seen.

It’s a typical winter scene, it could be happening in any car park in any part of the country, the waves are what can only be described as rubbish, but it is a wave. The boys will be in there, it’s better than an hour at work even though it will require them to get freezing cold, paddle against wind and rips, all to fit in a couple of bumpy turns. But it’s the commitment/obsession/addiction which drives every surfer through winter and it’s that same commitment and obsession that has got Wavelength to issue 200. When John Conway started

issue 200

the magazine way back in 1981 it was just a quarterly broadsheet, put together by himself and a few friends. For photo shoots he used to round up whichever surfers were available and get them out at ‘Leven or Fistral or some of the other local beaches. Then he and Wavelength got the pro tour to come to town, this was the launching pad for this mag and it put Britain on the world surfing map.

Since then every surfer who had aspirations to be a pro have come through this magazine at some point. In the early days the likes of Grishka Roberts, the Winter brothers, Nigel Semmens, Carwyn Williams and Spencer Hargraves, to mention just a few, starred in the pages. The magazine did ground-breaking photo trips to Morocco, the Canaries, Scotland and France, all the while slowly developing into a glossy journal of our sport which had no peer in the whole of Europe.

Since those early days we’ve added more issues, and sadly our founding father John has passed away, but thanks to a whole line of similarly obsessed individuals including his own son, the mag continued. It’s had its

rough times, highs and lows, but since the current team have moulded it into the journal of surf that it is now, we haven’t looked back. 200 issues is a milestone for sure, a central point of our thirtieth year and I’d like to think that over these thirty years Wavelength has played, at times at least, an important part in the development of British surfing. Now we sit on the cusp of a new age of magazines, when the mag started the internet was just a figment of some boffins imagination, now it dominates British surfing. I’m sat here in Thurso because I know there is a clean swell coming. Chances are the shots and reports from that swell will be on the internet long before this mag hits the shelves, so the landscape is on the move for Wavelength again. But like the guys I’m waiting to go surf with, the obsessive commitment to surfing drives us on. 200 issues in and we still want to deliver the best quality magazine. That’s why this issue you’ll notice a re-design to devote more space to photos and features, and less of the old school pages like ‘Letters’. But please keep in touch, just hit us up on Facebook!

Chris Clarke, committed Photo: Tim Nunn

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INSIDE

CONTENTS march 2011 regulars

FEATURES

010_ THE MONEY 014_ INTRO 020_ SUBSCRIBE 072_ GALLERY 082_ BOARDS 084_ INTERVIEW 086_ STUFF 090_ TESTED 092_ KNOWLEDGE 094_ ON ITS DAY 096_ NEXT MONTH

022_ 200 MILES ÂŁ40 of diesel can get you a long way 030_ TAKE COVER Seedy stories from beneath the covers 038_ Morocco Like the usual Morocco, but more... way more 050_ 200 COLLECTIVE Five eras in British female surfing 056_ PORTUGAL The British youth learn how to get high 064_ EDGE OF THE EARTH A frostbitten crew turn Tens up to eleven

Alex Baker, Portugal Photo: Greg Martin

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MASTHEAD

the future of british surfing faces HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE THE 200th ISSUE Editor Tim (I’d cheer up) Nunn 01872 224006 tim@wavelengthmag.co.uk Art Editor/Design James (group hug, naked) Wilkinson 01872 224006 james@wavelengthmag.co.uk Photo Editor Ben (consume a bag of cheese) Selway 01872 224006 ben@wavelengthmag.co.uk Managing Editor Greg (tell James I love him) Martin 01872 224006 tgreg@wavelengthmag.co.uk he future of british surfing Advertising Barry (party at Whimpy) Davies 01872 224030 mobile: 07779271328 barry@wavelengthmag.co.uk Subscriptions 0844 245 69261 (Quote reference PA25) wavelength@servicehelpline.co.uk

Published by Endless Summer Media Ltd. Suite 3, Kerns House Unit 11, Threemilestone Industrial Estate, Truro, TR4 9LD ISSN 0967-2079 Directors Kevin McCormick, Nick Troop Printed and bound by William Gibbons, West Midlands Distribution Marketforce UK Ltd, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0SU comrades Contributing Photographers Stu Gibson, Damea Dorsey, Aaron Pierce, Billy Morris, Repo, Andrew Shield, Pete Fleming, Jeremy Wilmotte, Ryan Alley, John Respodek Contributing Writers Demi Taylor, Dimmer Webwizard Dj Millward Contributions Story and photo contributions are welcome but colour transparencies for publication are sent at the owner’s risk and whilst every care is taken neither the publishers of Wavelength, Endless Summer Media Ltd, or its agents accept any liability for loss or damage. When submitting material please send an SAE and whilst every care is taken in compiling the content of this magazine, the publishers accept no responsibility in affects arising there from and the expressions expressed are those of the original authors. © Endless Summer Media Ltd. Suite 3, Kerns House Unit 11, Threemilestone Industrial Estate, Truro, TR4 9LD Find Wavelength Magazine on Facebook

CONTRIBUTER: Demi Taylor JOB: Writer LIVES: Cornwall Demi Taylor is a surf travel writer. She has co-written more than six books on surfing including the Footprint’s Surfing Europe – which saw her pack in a perfectly good job as the communications manager for the world’s largest surf brand before setting off around Europe in a van for a year of ‘intensive’ on the road research.

She contributes to surf media around the globe as well as national press from the FT to the Independent, she has a love of lefts, despite being a regular footer and can often be found swimming up stream. wearethefold.com

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Cover: Micah Lester, Morocco Photo: Ben Selway Ben says: No doubt you will agree with me, but I think the fact my image of Micah Lester is on the cover proves that I am the better photographer out of Greg, Tim and myself. We’ve all known about Wavelength’s 200th issue for some time now and the three of us are more than aware that securing a 200th issue cover for one of our images is huge. Other than our 30th birthday issue, there is no finer honour. Because of this, it has been an intense battle from the beginning, but through a mixture of skill, patience and timing, it is a battle which I have, won - emphatically.

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31/01/2011 13:37:32

Shaun ‘Skippy’ Skilton

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WORDS AND PHOTOS GREG MARTIN

Back then it had seemed like the world was my oyster. I had dreams of exotic places and undiscovered waves. As I watched Skippy tearing the mystic point break apart on the first day of my mission, I felt smug that this rare beauty had awoken for me only a few miles from home. With almost 195 miles still left in the tank, this surf trip was surely bound for far flung destinations, but a week later, as I cross my fingers and check the waves on the last fumes of diesel, I’ve barely made it 500 metres from my front door.

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02/02/2011 12:23:18

left to right: Seb Smart, Sennen; Sorry, the traffic was bad on the way to work.

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The coastline of Cornwall is just short of 300 miles long. The width of the county is less than 100 miles across. So by my reckoning, even though I live way out west near Land’s End, with 200 miles

Bude, likelihood is that I could make that amount of diesel last for a week’s worth of wave hunting. Now, I’m not going to be down on myself, everyone has stupid ideas like this, and no

worth of fuel in my van, I could score whichever break in Cornwall had the best waves and still make it home comfortably. In fact, unless I happened to hit somewhere in the far east like

offence, but if it had just been you I was sharing it with, you would have tactfully pointed out to me that it was a stupid idea, as good friends do, and we would have moved on. But it wasn’t just you.

Without any permission from my brain, my gob had just voiced this wild claim to the editor of this beloved magazine.

Tim disappeared back to his desk, quietly tapped away on his calculator, then came back over to my desk pulling out his wallet. “It’s a good idea... 40 quid should cover it yeah?”

I’ve always wondered if petrol station cashiers eat sweets and thumb through the latest pornographic publications during quiet periods at work. The guy behind the counter didn’t seem to be engrossed in Razzle, he was just staring out of the window at me as I sat in my van, peeling apart the sex waxed pages of a Peugeot Expert 1.9D Handbook.

That £40 was burning a hole in my pocket but I had a hunch I could get 200 miles worth of diesel and still come

away with some change. I took into account the poor service history, my erratic driving and the heavy corpses in the back, and guessed that my rusty wagon could do about 33 miles per gallon rather than the 35-40 promised in the booklet. Therefore, I should be able to do 200 miles with six gallons, which would come in at a cool £36.74, leaving me enough shrapnel to get a Texaco lunch. Normally I would opt for a healthy fruit filled snack like a Picnic bar, but with a week’s worth of wave chasing ahead of me, circumstances called for an athlete’s diet and I rounded my purchase up to £40 with a Hazelnut and Chocolate Chip Tracker and a carton of Ribena... Light.

If the rest of the week had gone as smoothly as the first day at that right

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02/02/2011 12:30:04

top to bottom: Seb, Sunset Sennen; South Fizzy, not busy.

hand point break, I would have been laughing, but by the second day I wasn’t laughing, I was sheltering from a biblical downpour in a 3ft high cave at Porthleven. Through the miniature waterfall that had now become the window of my Osama Bin Laden inspired beach condo, I could see a few hardy souls making the best of the stormy, 6ft sets, but it wasn’t pretty.

Slightly damper and 24.2 miles poorer, I returned home photoless to formulate a plan using every available weather and wave pattern forecasting technology that I could think of. Magicseaweed was giving Fistral three stars and one slightly faded star for Wednesday... it was good enough for me.

The car park at North Fistral was quiet and only a handful of surfers were taking advantage of the lighter mornings. As the tide was dropping

back from full, the head-high waves were clean and offshore, but a little bit lacklustre for now. A pink full moon quietly sunk into the sea, just minutes before the sun rose from behind the town like a celestial see-saw on which Night and Day were balanced. It was a very spiritual moment for me. Mild 026

hypothermia is like drugs sometimes.

The much needed warmth of the sunshine also signalled that time was up for most in the line-up. “Reckon it should get pretty good later as the tide drops out... gutted I’ve got to go to work,” one guy said to me as his lips turned blue. But I wouldn’t wait to find out if his prediction came true, I had itchy feet and a text had come through from Seb Smart at Sennen, saying that low tide promised to be sicko times ten.

An hour and a half later via a code brown stop at home and a surf check at Porthcurno, I pulled up at Sennen to see it was sicko times four, but with potential to get better as the tide turned. Seb was already in, tackling a ridiculously heavy, dredging righthander which appears and disappears at Sennen depending on some top secret conditions. From the shoulder, it looks more like a shallow reef than a sand bank, but is almost impossible to get in the spot because of all the currents and water moving around. In the end after several beatings, we moved over to the more makeable left, where Seb, on his forehand, repeatedly tried to stick his fins through my face.

His older brother Sam came out to join us to, freshly recovered from a boxing injury to his knuckle (you should’ve seen the other guy). As the tide pushed up and the sun set, the swell picked up, breaking fat out the back but every now and then flashing tasty inside ramps perfect for boosting.

The swell hadn’t lost much size by the

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following morning, sat in the van at Gwithian I watched empty lefthanders race down the beach, too fast for most, but seductive nonetheless. This wasn’t the place to shoot today, but the plan was to wind my way up the coast until I found that place, but something was wrong. As I started the ignition, that old friend the orange ‘empty’ light caught my eye. How could I be nearly empty already? There was no way I had done 200 miles yet. Reluctantly I turned my back on the waves and limped back home, revving and braking for no-one.

Online, I mapped my route so far; 6.4 miles on the first day, 24.2 to Leven, a round-trip of 66.4 to Newquay and 20.4 miles to Sennen and back, including the detour to Porthcurno. With my failed 15.6 mile excursion to Gwithian, that still only added up to 133 miles by my calculations. It was a mystery, but the orange light never lies and I was prisoner to my lack of fuel.

Two days later and I still can’t work it out, but as luck would have it, another winter storm has pushed enough swell into the south coast that rumours of my hometown break working are starting to do the rounds. It may not be much to look at, but I still think I’m lucky that I live within walking distance of surf. I decide to take the van... well, why not?

There’s got to be at least a couple of miles of Tim’s money in there waiting to be used. The waves are barely chest high, so fat that a guy in a kayak is struggling, and they look like they are crumbling in slow motion... it’s the best 028

I’ve seen it in ages. Out in the water it’s a who’s who of the West Cornwall longboarding scene (plus me and a couple of groms catching nothing on shortboards.) Matt Travis is making use of the slowness of the waves to hang off the end of his 9’ 6” for hours, whilst Slide 65 shaper Rob Wright is hooting his customers into waves like a proud father. I get chatting to anyone who’ll listen about my mileage issues, and sure enough, I keep getting the same smiling response... ‘Cornish miles.’

Very soon it starts pissing me off that everyone seems to think ‘Cornish miles’ is a real phenomenon like the Bermuda Triangle and Pixies, so I bump start the van home to discredit their theories for my own peace of mind. But there it is in black and white, on Wikipedia, “a Cornish mile = 1.5 miles.” 133 miles times 1.5 comes out at 199.5 miles!

Boom! I’d made it. I’d driven 200 miles and had one crap surf within walking distance of my house. I love surfing.

top to bottom: Gwithian, making tails wag; Matt Travis

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issue 001

Steve Daniels, Australia, Mark Jewel, Penhale, unknown, Barbados Photos: John Conway Year: 1981

take COVER

200 covers on 200 issues, that’s a lot of magazines and a lot of cover shots, and when you look at them all together there has been a lot of total crap! Granted surf photography was not what it is now back in the eighties, or nineties for that matter, but Wavelength sure has had some strange ideas when it comes to what makes a good cover. So for your sheEr hilarity and pleasure here are some of the tales behind the cover shots and the issues beneath them.

WORDS TIM NUNN UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

Issue 001. “Wavelength the beginning, 1981. John (Conway) was a man never stuck for an idea, we nicknamed him ‘Conway of the Kodachrome’ through Chops. The first time we met him he took us out to the Sailors Arms and got us wrecked - you know the way most friendships start in surfing. We were a trio from St Agnes me (Dimmer), Wiggins and Smoothie and being a man who liked people who would work for free it was a match made in heaven. We would tell John when Levy was on or any other good surf, you have to remember this was in the days before Magicseaweed - you had to read a weather map and go driving around to check the surf, and he would turn up to photograph the event. The front cover and centre spread of Smoothie in issue one was taken at Penhale during that particular summer in 2 to 3ft gutless surf. The suit that Smoothie was wearing was a custom order that Malcolm, now of Snugg, but at the time Gul, had made for a customer who, on seeing it thought it was disgusting and would not pay for it. So sensing a bargain Smoothie bought it. The first mag was to come out on the eve of the first ever big pro comp in Newquay, Rabbit Bartholomew and Cheyne Horan were staying at our place (Chops’ house) and Shaun Tompson was in Newquay.

Although we were helping John with the mag we never saw the layout or had any idea what was in it.

Cheyne had to pick his dad up from Newquay, I had to run an errand for John so I took Cheyne to Fistral for a quick surf and to show him the place. The surf 030

was still only 1 to 2ft, but we got changed and went straight in. It was a sunny evening with about 40 people spread all along the beach. Cheyne who was riding his then famous teardrop board, set about ripping it up whilst I found it hard work. Within 10 minutes the 40 people in at Fistral were all sitting 20 feet from me and Cheyne. You have to remember that these were surf stars in every sense of the word, so I decided to get out and let Cheyne hold court by himself. Cheyne got out half an hour later as did the 40 people that surrounded us in the sea to carry on being star struck in the car park. The next day was the eve of contest event in the Sailors Arms, John was going to pick up the mag and distribute it around that night, I on the other hand was going to get wankered and stay in Newquay at Geoff Tydeman’s house and crash on the settee. At about one-ish the lights went on and I was handed a big blue mag. Despite what people may think, having a picture in a mag can be very embarrassing, I saw Smoothies pic on the front cover and smiled to myself knowing that he was going to hate it, but then saw he had the centrespread as well! Then two pages later it was my turn to show up in the Ripcurl advert. I eventually fell asleep and was woken up by the boys picking me up to go to Fistral for the comp, I held up Smoothies picture to him and Wiggins, who just laughed and called him a posing wanker. Smoothie tried to hide the pic like it was the only copy. We were driving down to Fistral reading the mag when we passed a tall, lean surfer in a black

wetsuit with O’Neill in big white letters. It was Shaun, who was off for a surf. Luckily the slack summer mush had turned overnight into 6ft plus, cranking offshore.

We almost forgot it was Shaun standing there and got straight in there! We hoped that nobody had seen the mag yet, but in fact it was everywhere. We surfed with the pros for two days in perfect surf. It was all winding down when Smoothie and I went into the trade tent, a young boy came up to me holding a copy of the mag and pen and asked me for my autograph. “You want what?” “Your autograph please.” “Are you sure?” I replied. He nodded, I was so shocked I had to think hard to remember how to write! As I was doing this the boy asked “who’s the best surfer, you or Smoothie?” It was hard enough trying to do the autograph without answering questions, young surfers can’t multi task after all. ”Ask Smoothie, he’s over there!” I said as I handed him his mag with my unreadable writing. He walked over to ask Smooth the same question. “Me, I’m the best,” he said in a very loud voice.

So Wavelength had been launched on the best weekend that British surfing had known to date, JC had done it, he had put out a mag that was far and above anything that had been before and now it’s putting out its 200th edition. Sadly John is no longer with us, and the mag has changed over time, but it’s still there, still current and going forward. Good luck for the next 200 Wavelengths!”

Words: Matthew ‘Dimmer’ Deaves

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issue 028

Rider unknown Photo: John Conway Year: 1990

issue 050

Todd Prestage Photo: John Conway Year: 1994

issue 075 Russ Winter Photo: Joli Year: 1998

Issue 028. This is more about the contents of the magazine than the cover as this is one of several Wavelength covers which were not credited and it is difficult to confirm the surfer.

Over the years there have been many a British surfer who have died before their time. Some of those may have been anonymous to the wider public whilst others have had their flames burn bright in the full glare of the surfing public. The earliest of these was probably Nigel Veitch from the North East. One of Britain’s greatest ever surfers Veitch competed on the world tour, surfed pretty much every wave of consequence at the time with a style and aggression that few of his peers could even come close to. He inspired many too, he was responsible for schooling the Davies brothers of whom Gabe went on to be one of our most celebrated pros, and Jesse, one of the best big wave chargers. Unfortunately he had a darker side, a depressive side which sadly led him to take his own life on the 30th of April 1990. This issue was something of a tribute to the life of the man and what may have been.

Issue 050. A milestone for British surf media, no other mag had really broken out of a few tens, most not even that so to hit the big 50 was a major milestone. On the cover was Todd Prestage, an Aussie who was making waves on the pro scene at the time, but maybe more significantly he was part of British surf company Gul’s international team. At the time Gul were making a concerted effort to be a big player in international surfing, they went on to sponsor other legends like Taylor Knox. Inside the mag and the main feature was an epic black and white photo special of a classic swell at Porthleven.

Run over eight pages it looked a lot like the sort of thing we do these days with some classic Levie lineups from pretty much every angle there is, angles which we are still finding. So 150 issues later and not a great deal has actually changed!

Issue 075. Russell Winter’s first and incredibly only ever cover of Wavelength. Undoubtedly the best British surfer who has ever lived Russell was given a full profile in this issue looking at life on the world tour with shots from John and regular contributor Joli, who also took the cover image. Russell’s time on tour probably helps explain his lack of covers over the years, as focusing on becoming such a formidable competitor was a lot more important to him than going on photo shoots and scoring front page real estate. That said it’s still a sad state of affairs, so for 2011 Russ, you’re on at least one ‘Length trip to double your cover shot tally!

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take COVER issue 091

Spencer Hargraves, France Photo: John Conway Year: 2000

Issue 91. This is probably my favourite cover from the early days. As a grom in Norfolk, Wavelength was my only source of connection to the whole surfing world and people like Russ Winter, Grishka Roberts and cover boy here Spencer Hargraves were the British equivalent of surfing superstars. Spencer has gone on to have one of the longest surfing careers in British history, still surfing regularly as well as now being an employee of Quiksilver.

The reason I remember this one so clearly though was because I was about to go on my first trip to Morocco.

Spencer, who was then second only really to Russ on the pro scene in the UK and Europe, destroying the lip of some poor defenceless Moroccan lip was all the inspiration I needed to get the hell out there. The feature inside is one of the first real modern travel features I can remember seeing, a full on boys trip to perfect waves that are just a short flight away. This has always been part of modern Wavelength and has helped us and other mags thrive. Surfers in the UK do not realize how lucky we are, we live on an island drenched with swell and to add to that we have some quality surf destinations all under four hours flying time away. John knew this from day one, he pioneered epic 032

photo trips with the likes of Grishka Roberts and Spencer to the Canaries, Morocco with Carwyn and Spencer and spent a lot of time on the beaches of France and Portugal. This paved the way and started a format of surf photo trips which now passes on to the current crew here. It’s no coincidence that Ben has just been to Morocco on an epic trip, or that Greg was down in Portugal either, this is British surfing’s bread and butter and it’s helped craft the magazine over the years. For me, this mag epitomizes what a surf mag should do, it has epic inspirational images, which thrill and inspire you to get off your backside and go travel.

The only thing I would say about these trips is that mags never quite print what really goes on, one day a mag editor may break cover and release the real stories, if that were to happen they would have a best seller on their hands. Unfortunately they would also be breaking the ultimate rule of surf trips, what happens on tour, stays on tour, which is probably a good thing as I’d have lost my job ages ago, and as for Selway, well let’s just say prison would be too good! We caught up with cover boy Spencer to give us the inside track on this shot. “I remember this shot really well. It was October and it had been pumping all week

at (Le Penon) in France, this sick little bank north of Hossegor. Back then you could drive up to the top of the dune and camp out with no bother from the Gendarmes (French police) banging on the side of your van at 4am in the morning and asking you to piss off or get a fine. l had been down in Europe all summer in my VW competing in the Euro leg and surfing everyday with Carwyn, who at the time was good friends with Gary ‘Kong’ Elkoton. Kong had just signed with Quiksilver for the second time running and the talk on the beach was ‘KONG’S BACK.’ He was a hero of mine through grommet-hood and to meet up and be hanging out training and surfing was amazing.

So we all surfed this bank every morning with the late John Conway shooting from first light till beer o’clock, that’s when the true Kong came out to play! I bonded straight away with Kong and from that session for the next ten years we did promo trips all over Europe and Australia. As the former Quiksilver marketing manager and Tracks editor once said (Phil Garrett) “Spence I’ll send you on the Quiksilver crossing through Europe so Kong’s got a mate to play with!” But that’s a whole other story and like we say, what goes on tour stays on tour!”

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issue 122

Corey Lopez, France Photo: John Conway Year: 2003

issue 139

Matt Archbold, California Photo: Naki Year: 2004

issue 160

Toby Atkins, Iceland Photo: Tim Nunn Year: 2006

Issue 122. It may not look like much, but issue 122 was a pivotal moment in Wavelength’s history, sadly it was John Conway’s tribute issue. Most of the surf industry penned something in memory of the founder and driving force behind Wavelength. It was a sad moment for the magazine and British surfing as he’d been such an inspiration for so many people from surfers to aspiring surf mag editors like myself. The issue does him justice though with a great retrospective over several decades of his work and a biography which reveals a lot more about the man and his achievements than simply the magazine that you hold in your hands.

Issue 139. ‘That Archie Cover’ featuring a little German on the bottom – I got a text from a friend of mine who is also the editor of a surf mag, it simply said “have you seen the latest ‘Length’ cover?” I ran to the newsagent as I knew I’d sent them some epic shots of Porthleven and figured, shit have I scored my first bit of front page real estate? Unfortunately what confronted me in WHSmith was not one of my crappy shots, but a shot of Matt Archbold smoking a fag, what’s more the cut-out surfer below wasn’t even a British guy but German (Marlon Lipke). I was mystified to say the least, even more so when I opened up the mag to find none of my ‘Leven shots had even made the cut. I vowed then I’d never ever do anything for Wavelength again. Six years on I’m editor and the mag has ruled my life ever since. I actually quite like the cover now, a classic anti hero and probably more like the sort of thing that should go on now, but at the time slightly strange.

Issue 160. London Burns and Iceland Fires, my first issue in charge, Ben scored epic in London and cover boy Toby Atkins, Ian Battrick and myself spent three weeks exploring more of Iceland than had ever been looked at before. It was an epic issue which still ranks as one of the highest sellers of all time, there’s not a lot of doubt why, London was a big puller and the shots on a lake next to rollercoasters were at the time pretty mental even if it was actually little more than wakeboarding. Meanwhile Iceland had been covered in other mags before but it was pretty unknown still and the three of us arrived determined to see and explore as much of the place as possible. The most memorable session went down on a beach break on the south coast in the middle of the summer, it pumped, meanwhile back in the UK the Boardmasters dribbled on in a couple of foot of surf.

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issue 164 Reubyn Ash, Indo Photo: Pete Ash Year: 2007

Issue 164. Without a doubt during my reign as editor one of the most exciting things that has happened is the emergence of surfer Reubyn Ash. Without a doubt the best surfer when it comes to new school moves this country has ever produced.

I’d wanted to get him on a cover all the time I’d been in charge to herald the coming of a new school of British surfing. He finally got the cover after a trip to Lakey Peak, Indo, with his old man Pete shooting. A fitting combination of father and son nailing a cover shot. He’s gone on to score two more since.

Issue 177. The Vice Issue – One of my favourites, it is the issue we got the most ever complaints for, but also the most ever fan mail. It sold a shit load and had a cover which stood out like the sore festering puss filled zit of a magazine. It’s the only issue that someone has stopped me on the street and had a go at me for being nasty about Newquay. The local took me to task over my feature about Sin City saying how her town was nothing like I had described and that I should consider the feelings of locals like her that were born and bred there. She did all of that in a thick Manc accent, I told her politely to get fucked.

Meanwhile the Jason Reposar profile rocked a few boats, Jason is one of the world’s best known surf photographers who made his name in the States. His route to success has been a bit rocky though with a bit of time spent in prison, he allowed us to run a warts and all interview. No one in surf mag world had dared to do this, after we did, it appeared on every continent.

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Yadin Nicol, West Oz Photo: Jason Reposar Year: 2008

issue 179

Ian Battrick, Scotland Photo: Tim Nunn Year: 2009

Issue 179. I think I was still drunk when I took this shot; the surf was a good size but a little onshore.

Our arch rival mag was shooting in the same bay and Bagpipe was looking a bit rubbish but an ok size. Still it was a sunny sunday, I had a raging hangover, Ian Battrick was in a similar state and we decided to paddle out anyway. Local Alex Sutherland joined us, whilst the rest of the Brit crew up there surfed the nearby Dump wave. Baggies was rubbish, so we paddled up the reef to a patch of reef which was way, way deeper than you’d normally take off, pretty much a different wave. Anyway this set came through, stood up, wedged and heaved across the reef connecting all the way to Bagpipe and this was the result. The rest of the session threw up some gems too but this was the bomb set. I can remember getting set after set on the head this day as I tried to sober up. It almost didn’t make the cover either.

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take COVER

Issue 184. I love this shot of Reubin Pearce that Selway took on his 2009 Mexico trip, but it’s a classic case of you don’t always get to put the best shots on the cover. Inside is one of the best water shots I’ve ever seen, of Reubin Pearce too, but due to its beauty and epic composition it would have been totally destroyed had it have been put on the cover.

Trouble is when you’re deciding a cover shot it’s so much more than just the shot, there’s the colours, the size constraints of the cover itself and of course the cover lines. So the best shot doesn’t always make it.

As the cover line suggests it was also slap bang in the middle of the first outbreak of pig flu in Mexico, this sent everyone into a whirlwind of panic here including the head honchos here at Wavelength insisting that Ben went and got tested for the deadly strain of man flu. I don’t think he actually bothered and as we all know he still lives.

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Reubin Pearce, Mexico Photo: Ben Selway Year: 2009

issue 190

Patch Wilson, Porthleven, UK Photo: Greg Martin Year: 2010

Issue 190. – Patch Wilson at ‘Leven, this was the day of days at the south coast reef, there were pros everywhere on both sides of the lens and the surf was epic. The shot of the day though was this one, St Ives lad and ‘Levie regular Patch Wilson who had consistently nailed the waves of the day at the reef.

What is more, it was Greg Martin’s first issue back on team ‘Length, he walked straight back into the office and stole the front page, a more humble cover pair you’ll never meet, a sicker British cover you are unlikely to find. It was also the launch of our longboarding mag.

Issue 198. Aaron Pierce’s shot of Cotty in Ireland.

We had often steered clear of Ireland due to being totally outgunned by Mr Smith and rival mags getting the score. However we’ve always had a massive respect for Aaron Pierce, who had for years been embedded like a war reporter in the Irish big wave scene. Trouble is we’d pissed him off and the whole crew over there due to a miss communication between our then Ad guy and big wave man Duncan Scott, over some shots of Mullaghmore. Said shots never got run even though they certainly deserved an outing, we screwed up and the next big score Aaron went to our rivals, we were gutted. So when Cotty called me saying he had just scored Prowlers I sat back resigned to the fact that Carve would get the scoop, but good fortune was on our side. Aaron wanted to get the shots out quickly and knowing our deadline was a mere two days away he gave us a chance to redeem ourselves. I knew when I saw the shots it was going to be tricky to do them justice on the cover but we had to try. We laid out the feature in double quick time, James our designer was ready to kill me as it was just the two of us in the office and the mag had been almost finished until this spanner was thrown into the works. We got the feature sorted, then it came down to a choice between Cotty and Al Mennie, there was much deliberation but Cotty got it, and Aaron just as he was leaving Ireland for his native New Zealand scored an epic cover.

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issue 198

Andrew Cotton, Prowlers, Ireland Photo: Aaron Pierce Year: 2010-11

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WORDS AND PHOTOS BEN SELWAY

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Right: I think the future of captioning photographs lies in accompanying said image with a Batman and Robin-styled star burst which reflects noise and impact, thus creating more excitement for the viewer/reader! This is Shaun Cansdell at Dracula’s – KERR-ACK! Left: SHA-TING! Niels Musschoot; a thoroughly nice, fluent English speaking lad from Belgium!

HELLO! The last time I went to Morocco the trip was a catastrophe!

But I don’t like to talk about that so I’ll tell you about this trip instead. It was incredible, which is great because it happens to be my contribution to Wavelength’s 200th issue! It was for the O’Neill Close Encounters project, which you may have seen working its way around cyberspace. I was going to write a long article about the premise of the project; to invite surfers and media from Europe’s key surfing nations, along with superstars Cory Lopez, Shaun Cansdell and Mark Mathews – and essentially photograph and video these fine athlete’s frolicking in the sea together and doing general day to day bonding. I was going to talk about how we had perfect waves, brilliant sunshine, three sumptuous feasts per day, luxurious accommodation, and how everyone wore happy smiling faces!

But I feel writing small concise paragraphs of no more than 500 words are my strength, so this is what I’ll do.

TORTOISE When O’Neill first announced that their Close Encounters event would be held in Morocco, the first thing everyone wanted to know was; will we expect to see wild tortoises? Of course, many of you probably won’t know this, but the Spur-Thighed Tortoise is an upstanding member of the Moroccan animal kingdom and we all felt we’d be sure to see one. However, by day six everyone had started to worry because no sightings had been reported, and going home without spotting one was the last thing anybody wanted! We weren’t to be disappointed, though, because one morning, on our way up to the Trestles wave (a wave that broke like Trestles) we had to swerve past two tortoises lazing on the side of the road! Luckily they were unharmed and neither seemed to be very stressed by the ordeal. Everyone kept calling them turtles, though, which I found frustrating. I tried to explain that while most biologists and lay people would use the word, “turtle” to refer to all chelonians, in general, it’s turtles who live in or near the water. Unlike the tortoise, who is a stout member of the Testudinidae family (and mostly a dweller of arid land) turtles have adapted to swim by holding their breath underwater. Maybe these philistines have been watching far too many episodes of the popular children’s cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, of which my favourite hero in a half shell was Raphael.

THE TRESTLES WAVE Like I said, we found a wave which broke like Trestles. Every surfer on the trip proclaimed that this was their favourite spot in Morocco, which I found surprising. I thought that perhaps the ferocious breakers at the slab or the long reeling rollers at Dracula’s would be more popular, but no, the Trestles wave came out trumps. The film guys also loved the place because they were able to shoot tens of gigabytes of footage. For the photographers, the place scored a grand total of five out of five broken cameras in the ‘Worst Surfing Spots To Shoot Guide For Budding Photographers’ which I may or may not publish. This was largely because it was difficult to shoot and the wave was only really suited to off-the-tops and cuts backs.

Whenever we headed to the spot the photographers protested by sitting in the jeeps for the duration of the sessions. Often, fierce arguments broke out between us and the film guys which sometimes resulted in bloody rucks on the hot Moroccan sand. Predictably it was the photographers who came out on top because we had strength in numbers (six against four) and mono pods/rocks versus their bulking unwieldy tripods.

THE HOUSE When I travel, I like to stay in luxury. I am too old for anything less, so you can take your tents and camper vans and shove ‘em! I like nice clean apartments with large beds, WiFi and

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Left: WHOMP! This was Cory’s last photographed wave of the trip. He is by far the most professional athlete I’ve ever met. He would joyfully wake at 5.30am and effortlessly embark upon marathon 6 hour sessions with little need for food and water.

Exhausting!

entertainment. Thanks to O’Neill my needs were met because they booked our accommodation at the BoardX House in Imsouane. That’s the BoardX House in Imsouane. There’s only one word that can describe this; O-M-G! It’s the perfect accommodation for a surf trip. The weary traveller will live regally here. They will be treated to the finest views of Imsouane thanks to the positioning of their beautifully decorated apartments. Other notable benefits of staying here include a swimming pool, king sized beds, great food and extremely kind and helpful staff. Did I mention their web address? No? www.boardx.be BEETLE Today I saw a beetle go to the toilet on the patio. I have never seen a beetle, or insect ever do a poo or wee before and it has compelled me to report this event back to you. Once the beetle had finished his business, I didn’t try to pick it up or smell the faeces, I just left it alone.

IN BED WITH LAMIROY For one evening only I was forced to sleep in a king sized bed with no other than Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy. I was surprised to discover that he chuckles in his sleep! By day I found this to be quite endearing, but during the middle of the night, when I was rudely awoken by it, I wanted to tear off all of the covers and wake him with an air horn whilst screaming ‘who’s laughing now, buddy boy?!’

DONKEYS Donkey’s are very much part of day to day Moroccan life. They are used for transportation and little else. You see them everywhere either grafting or resting in the North African sun. I worry about these gentle animals – they all look thoroughly miserable and not a bit like the ones at the Donkey sanctuary in Dorset.

JAN BIJL For many years I have heralded photographer Jason Feast to be the

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greatest person I know. But I have big news for you mon frere; he no longer is! That’s because Dutch photographer Jan Bijl is! You see, from the moment I met him I instantly knew that he would take this title. I can’t explain why, he just has that X-factor! What I can tell you, though, is that he is a fine snapper and he provided us with much entertainment on our daily car journeys. He also taught me how to use Adobe Photoshop properly - something which has always perplexed me ever since I declared myself as a photo editor. Curiously, his and Jason’s names look very similar and I often wonder if the ‘Jan Bijl’ is actually Dutch for Jason Feast. It isn’t, though.

language. I am also ashamed to announce that each and every one of the European surfers’ and media alike spoke incredible English. They even spoke English amongst themselves. Also, whenever the Belgian owners of our fabulous accommodation were engaged in conversation with each other and realised I was trying to listen in, they thoughtfully switched to the Queen’s English! I tried to reciprocate them with a display of foul sign language, complete with deaf-sounding noises, but I don’t think they understood. Jan Bijl taught a few curse words, too; Goedkope teringslet = Cheap slut, Kanker hoer = Cancer whore and Klootzak = scrotum!

MAN DOING HIS JOBS ON THE PAVEMENT One evening I was on the telephone to my wife and I happened upon a man doing his number 2’s on the pavement. What do you say to someone who is doing this? Absolutely nothing. You just have to walk away and carry on with whatever it was you were doing.

THE WORST TOILET IN MOROCCO Have you ever seen Midnight Express? Remember the unsavoury psychiatric prison he winds up in and the utter state of sqauller it was in? This was like the public lavatory in Essaouira! I was desperate for a wee during lunch and couldn’t hold for much longer so I asked a local Moroccan gentlemen to take me there.

Inside there were lots of local chaps washing themselves and yelling at me. I suddenly panicked and began to feel like Daniel Day Lewis – or Rain Man whenever anyone ever touched him! I was petrified

LANGUAGE BARRIER I am ashamed to announce my extra-curricular language ability merely extends to basic French, a smattering of Spanish, German and some UK sign 044

and didn’t know what they wanted me to do. I just wanted to scream and run away, but I couldn’t, I was desperate for wee. Pay attention.

CRUMPETS WITH SAM LAMIROY Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy announced that the Christmas period had pushed him clear of the 14 stone mark, but rapidly lost weight afterwards – and throughout the trip to Morocco. His secret to the weight loss?

Exercise and putting butter on the smoother side of his crumpets, rather than the saturating ‘holey’ side.

GOATS IN THE TREES Apart from the tortoises, everyone agreed that the most exciting moment of the trip was seeing real life goats feasting amongst the trees. I don’t mean at the base of trees, either. I mean in the tree tops!

Unfortunately you’ll notice there are no photos of them in the feature, this is due to the fact I only have 12 pages and I have limited space for pictures. Try typing GOAT IN TREE into Google if you are curious.

THE SLAB I won’t bore you with the obvious, but we surfed a slab for the duration of the trip. It wasn’t perfect, by

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Above: WOOOOOSH! Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy took a more of a responsible role on this trip, rather than being a simple photo slut. That’s not to say he didn’t surf – here he is taking a break from organising the group and getting barrelled. This demonstrates how incredible he is.

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Clockwise from bottom left: WAAAPOP! This is friendly Basque lad Indar Unanue. He is from Zarautz and is apparently into terrifying large waves. He also does airs! This is the worst caption of the feature; SHA-RAPPP! I would hate to get into a fight with Mark Mathews – he’s a big mutha and would batter me.

Luckily, this will never happen because I’m not a fighter and in comparison to him, I’m not even a non-aggressive beta-male. I’m a female!; BWWAAAA! Micah Lester was unanimously voted as Surfer Of The Trip, by all of the media types. Similarly, I was nominated as the best photographer amongst all of the surfers’. England two R.O.W nil.

any means. You might be thinking I am just saying that to warn you off from trying to find it, but it really wasn’t. The local body boarders there are a frightening bunch, too and will be sure to yell obscenities at you if you try to tackle it without their permission! You also probably think I am just saying this as a preventative measure as well, but I’m not. One day, we were out in the water and there was a commotion on the rocks. I was extremely worried because I feared it might be the locals - livid with me about their wave being photographed. Maybe they would try to attack me if I tried exiting the water? I had visions of them waiting for me on the shoreline for hours on end, forcing me 046

to stay in the sea until the early hours! Or at least until they grew bored and eventually decided to call it a day. Fortunately, though, French water snapper Bastien Bonnarme was with me and was first to offer his services as a peace keeper – a suggestion which I wholly supported. However, it transpired they meant us no harm and made no attempt to evict us from the line up. The commotion turned out to be no more than innocent horseplay amongst themselves. I think they were play-fighting.

BEING FRIENDS WITH THE PROS It’s not everyday you get invited to go on the same trip

as Cory Lopez, Shaun Cansdell and Mark Mathews, so naturally I was very excited when I heard they were going. I was even more thrilled when I found out that Micah, Slammin’ Sam Lamiory and myself were sharing an apartment with them! Before flying to Morocco, I was concerned I’d make a fool out of myself whilst trying to impress them. This was the last thing I wanted. I needed them to think I was cool, yet at the same time I didn’t want to lead them to believe I was eager for their friendship and respect. I wondered if I approached them with a ‘playing hard to get’ kind of attitude, they might have said to each other, ‘wow, this guy is incredible!’ In the end, though, I was simply

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myself and I think they really liked me. Now, weeks after the trip we remain good friends. We’re all taking it slowly though, but I’m pretty sure in six to eight months we’ll be familiar with each other enough to stay at one another’s houses and perhaps eligible to give each other wacky nicknames!

BONUS SAM LAMIROY INTERVIEW! During a quick toilet and coffee stop at Exeter services, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to interview Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy about the trip.

Unfortunately he was doing his big jobs at the time and the Dictaphone had a hard time recording his

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words from above the cubical in which he occupied.

Still, this is gist of the conversation.

ME: Sam, have you had a good trip?

SAM: Yeah, it was amazing. I feel everything worked perfectly which was amazing considering nothing was firmly planned. Everyone got on like houses on fire and the surf has been incredible for two weeks straight.

Over all this was a great success for O’Neill and I hope to be doing something like this again.

ME: How consistent are your jobs?

SAM: Yep, they’re solid. I’ve been lucky!

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ME: Am I the greatest photographer you have ever worked with?

SAM: Well, you’re one of them…I’d say Ted Grambeau is probably the best. (The interview ended at this point because I ran off in floods of tears.)

THANK YOU. My mother and father brought me up well. They taught me to have manners and the importance of saying please and thank you. I feel this is now the perfect opportunity to demonstrate their teachings to you. I

would firstly like to say a huge thank you to O’Neill for the Pyrofreak wetsuit (see page 88) and for hosting the event – I had the most fun since Christmas Day morning! Also, to Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy for simply being Slammin’ Sam Lamiroy and a great manager of people, Said (that’s ‘Si-eed’, phonetically) for looking after me and doing my laundry, the massage girl for her jiggling mammary glands while she rubbed all of the surfers’ down and lastly, those crazy Belgian’s at the BOARDX House Imsouane. That’s the BOARDX House, Imsouane. Oh, I forgot; Jan Bijl for just being incredible.

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Above: WAAAPAH! Christophe Allary was born in Reunion Island. I asked him if Reunion Island were in the world cup final with France, who would he support?

He said this would never happen because Reunion Island isn’t a country which, in turn made me look uneducated.

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the 200 collective 5 female surfers - 5 eras in british surfing

WORDS DEMI TAYLOR PHOTOS GREG MARTIN

CANDICEO’DONNELL 20 Something:

Hood up against the chill, hands clamped around a mug of tea purloined from the now defunct BSA, Candice O’Donnell has her sights fixed firmly on the horizon as a set rolls in. A shiner is developing nicely beneath her eye, deep purple, like a storm front brewing. “I got it surfing out here a few days ago,” she says nodding towards her home break Fistral, a beach that inspired her love of the life aquatic and saw her make the transition from eager bodyboarder to pro longboarder. But before she’d even settled on these shores, it seemed as though the planets were already conspiring to steer her towards the world of waveriding. Born in South Africa, her family moved to Biarritz. “Our house was right there on the beach. We had Jeff Hackman living up the road from us. We used to go round all the time and play with his son.” Overlooking Chambre D’Amour, their home also became an informal backpackers for surfers competing on the ASP tour. The scene was set.

But perhaps that is too simplistic a view. Candice is a person who doesn’t seem afraid to challenge the fates and charge head long into life. When the women’s WCT came to Perranporth in 2005 Candice had never surfed in a contest before but that didn’t stop her from competing in the expression session. “We’d just got back from a trip to Australia and we were really excited. I did alright in it and Roxy approached me for sponsorship.” She’s the sort of person who seeks out new experiences and creative challenges, whether that’s playing the ukulele, dabbling in photography or experimenting with equipment. “I have bodyboards, why not? I love it, it’s still good. It’s just about being in the ocean. I have hand planes, swim fins, a single fin. I did have an Alaia, not any more. It was hard, it takes a lot of patience which I don’t have. I’m one of these people who wants to learn now, I see something and I want to be able to do it good straight away but with surfing you’ve never learnt it all, you’re always setting new goals, you’re always looking to progress.” She admires those three-dimensional surfers who are more then mere poster girls. “If you look at the ASP tour Carrissa Moore, Stephanie Gilmore, Sally Fitzgibbons they’re really pushing women’s surfing on all levels. They’re spokespersons, they’re artists, they’re musicians. The professional female surfer today embodies all of that, they have to, to stay on top of their game.” So while Candice may be sitting there in Fistral with eight national titles and a European ASP win under her belt, she’s still got her sights fixed firmly on the horizon.

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“I didn’t want to be a fraud, wear the clothes but not actually surf.”- sarah bentley 052

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SarahBentley 30 Something:

“You know when you get into a band, and they’re your band and then everyone gets into that band and you think ‘F***ers, that’s my band.’”

Sarah Bentley is talking to me about the recent boom in women’s surfing. “Well, I actually don’t feel like that about surfing. It’s generally good that there are lots of girls surfing now. It’s the most macho sport, you throw a few girls in and it just calms everything down.”

Sarah was the first UK surfer signed to Roxy and she was signed by fax, “so we know how long ago that must have been,” she says laughing. Over a decade on she is now a wife, a mother with a proper job and a mortgage, but still signed to the same brand. Her role outside of the line up may have increased, however her place in the line up hasn’t diminished, but she puts the time in. “OK, so I surf a lot,” she finally concedes with a guilty smile, “but it’s only because of my impeccable time management. I’m so much more aware of time and tide waits for no man now. It’s not just, yawn – I might just go for a surf later. If you can squeeze an hour in, you squeeze that hour.”

She started surfing because she didn’t want to just sit on the edge of the scene looking in, “I didn’t want to be a fraud, wear the clothes but not actually surf.” And after getting over that initial hurdle of not actually loving surfing, her motivation has remained the same: “It’s fun and you wanna get a better wave than you’ve ever had. It feels good when it all clicks into place. There’s nothing better than doing a really good turn and it makes a great noise, and you remember that noise after you come out. It’s jammed in your head and you walk up the beach and someone says ‘Yeah I saw you fall off.’”

Sarah can be disarmingly honest about being a female surfer in a male dominated line-up. “Being a novelty is a nice thing. It’s easier because when you’re a girl, as long as you show willing you’re alright. Everyone looks out for you. It’s always going to be different if you’re a girl and you’re in a minority. Although recently in Costa Rica, I surfed in a one piece that kept coming down. I had to take off, hands to bosoms to check, then I could do a turn. Boys don’t know how tough it is, they just have to think about doing turns – we have to make sure our nipples are undercover. So actually yes, it is tougher being a woman come to think of it,” she concludes, laughter erupting into the room.

SheilaFinlayson 40 Something:

Everyone’s heard of Thurso East. It is one of the world’s best reefs, the site of the annual O’Neill Cold Water Classic. But few realise that the small surf community in mainland Britain’s most northerly town is built on a bedrock forged by female surfers. “It took me a long time to realise that it was a male dominated sport,” says Sheila Finlayson, agent provocateur of the fledgling surf crew at the dawn of the eighties.

“We thought it was a girls sport. We eventually did see some guys surfing – it was a bit like seeing loads of guys playing netball.”

That Sheila discovered surfing was down to pure chance or destiny. Had anyone else in the north of Scotland found a stash of old surfboards at the back of garage, they probably wouldn’t have given them a second thought. For Sheila something seemed right. “I think it was an innate love of the sea,” she explains. “I grew up with it breaking outside my window. I’ve always been fascinated by it. It’s like finding a cocoa bean on the beach, finding out what that is and where it’s come from. It’s come from the Caribbean – amazing.” So she persuaded some friends they should all give it a try. “I like speed, skiing, and I loved the sea, and it seemed logical that you could marry these together. I guess I was also lucky as I was part of a crowd of girls who were prepared to give anything a go.” Even if that meant donning leaky wetsuits, veruca socks and washing up gloves to ward off the cold. With the ‘Old Spice’ their only cultural reference they headed to the hollow slabs of Brims Ness. “We got absolutely hammered,” she says laughing. Not that this put them off. “There was never anybody else out. If we turned up at spot to surf and there was someone else we were thrilled.”

Sheila has travelled the world, and amassed ten Scottish surf titles. “I enjoy the competitive side, because I think you’ll try things you might

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Photo: Tim Nunn

not otherwise,” she explains. “You’ll try and do a floater, a really good cut back or some spray off your turns – you’ll try that little bit harder.” Putting something back into the youth community is something Sheila is passionate about. “I’ve had so much fun doing this, it’s been so good for me and I can’t bear that these amazing waves are breaking and the kids are knocking round the streets bored out of their heads. For most people it needs to be easy. But there are certain individuals who will want to find a frontier, and who say just because it hasn’t been done, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I’m probably unusual like that.”

“It took me a long time to realise that it was a male dominated sport,” - shelia finlayson

DeborahWatts

50 Something:

“I’ve just been up in the attic to dig out my old photos,” says Deborah Watts opening the door to me. On the side in the kitchen parcels of surf memories wait to be opened. In an era where holiday snaps have been reduced to code viewed through the prison of an iPhone screen, these are something tangible; no lomo App here, the tones and textures point to a real moment in time. “1981 I think,” she says passing me a photo of an empty, unrecognisable Aragum Bay. “Sri Lanka was so wild back then, so unexplored. There were so many waves for you to find for yourself if you just looked a little bit – like over the hedge on the bus.” It was a time when surf exploration was just that – exploration. “Surfing certainly takes you into the wilds, takes you to some beautiful places. I probably wouldn’t have gone in certain directions if I hadn’t surfed.”

I pick up a black and white photo of a small girl on a huge board being pushed into a wave. “I must be about three there,” she remembers. “Surfing on my dad’s board in the Bristol Channel.” Her father is a waterman who encouraged her connection with the sea, “I think the fact that my dad surfs influenced me, he’s certainly been one of my idols; he’s 80 next year and he still surfs.” But it wasn’t until she was 18 and living in St Agnes, that waveriding truly became part of her life. “I really wanted to surf seriously then. I loved it; I lived, breathed, thought surfing. I’d surf every day.

My friend Judith Hayworth and I were the only two in the sea in St Agnes in the winter. I don’t think we had full suits; we looked purple but we said we weren’t cold.”

“My sister surfs, my niece surfs, my daughter surfs. There’s great camaraderie between us all. We have a laugh, go places together. Sometimes we do more talking than surfing out there... If the surf’s running in the summer there’s a bit of a grapevine going between us. I think we’re involved in each others lives. We’re connected through surfing and the sea. I like that my daughter Leah likes to surf, I wouldn’t push it upon her though. She has to be her own person. In the early days the boys at Chapel Porth would encourage you and give you priority in the water.

It’s not like that now; it’s survival of the fittest.”

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GwyneddHaslock 60 Something:

You can always spot Gwynedd Haslock surfing at Newquay, she’s the one wearing a bathing cap. “I’ve always worn a hat,” explains Gwynedd, a veteran surfer of over 40 years. “That’s my trademark. I hate the water going in my ears, hair flying around.” But her headwear isn’t the only trait that singles her out. While others get strung up over winds, tides and swell, Gwynedd is more open minded. “I think people maybe get a bit fussy. When I go over to the north coast, I just go surfing in anything, where as people who live by the beach might pick and choose more. It doesn’t matter to me what the conditions are like. For me it’s about just going in. I have two 8ft boards, a belly board, a boogie board. I mean it doesn’t matter what you’re riding. If people want to catch a wave on a lilo, why not?”

Gwynedd’s liberal relationship with waveriding began with belly boarding at Tolcarne, Newquay in the 1950’s, “I just wanted the thrill of catching a wave,” she explains. Her family had a beach hut and time spent by the ocean was important to them so when the local lifeguards started stand up surfing, Gwynedd’s transition to longboarding seemed like a natural progression. The lifeguards agreed to give her some pointers but wouldn’t let her paddle out until she could carry the board down to the water’s edge herself. “It was very heavy, so I used to carry it on my head.”

In order to meet other surfers and progress her surfing, Gwynedd started going to contests. “The first competition I entered, there were no other ladies in it. I don’t know what the men made of me. I’m one of these people, I’m not really bothered,” explains freespirited Gwyn. “I just thought of myself as a surfer, whether you’re male or female didn’t come into it actually. Except that I think men are stronger. I don’t pretend to be as strong as a man but you use your own skills to achieve what you want.”

Gwynedd is modest about her surfing life which has seen her rack up more than ten title wins. “There’s nothing unusual about me, I just like going in the sea. We’re all there to enjoy the surf, I think if you give respect, you get respect back. If I see someone in the sea and I see they’re just going to catch all the waves, I just let them get on with it. I’d rather just go down the beach and find a quieter spot. You can always catch a wave somewhere.”

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Left to right: Stu Campbell; Nasty offshores

THIS WAY UP 056

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Hey kids! You wanna get high? Are your airs pathetic chop hops off the back of the wave?

Well listen up and take some advice... there are two ways to do airs, the right way and the wrong way

WORDS AND PHOTOS GREG MARTIN

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Below and right: Alex Baker; Arron Evans

058

It’s 6 in the morning and the crew bound for Portugal are spread out on the floor of the airport having stayed awake all night under the fluorescent stars. A pale green man who was apparently in love with everyone a few hours earlier is being sick as he gets led away by armed police. A snowboard instructor who is coming on the trip to transpose his knowledge to surfing is getting hampered by snow on his way to Newcastle airport and now, the Spanish air traffic control strike action is threatening to disrupt our flight. 8 hours later we are all sat in a Travelodge in Bristol. The Surf Solutions Aircamp has been grounded. It’s just the beginning, but this is starting to feel more wrong than right.

The right way to set yourself up to do an air all comes down to speed.

Obviously your wave selection is crucial as is being able to spot the section ahead of you, but without speed your air attempt is going to be weak and forced at best. By setting a high line

and keeping close to the pocket you can maintain enough momentum until you see the perfect ramp. Your final approach needs to be a long drawn out bottom turn, much shallower than you would for a turn, as you want to keep as much of that speed as possible. The preparation for this training week in the Algarve had been anything but speedy.

Joel Gray of Surf Solutions had spent months meticulously planning the Aircamp, a coaching trip unlike any others that would focus purely on what happens above the lip. The crew had been carefully selected to include new school naturals like Stu Campbell, Seb Smart and Alex Baker, powerhouses like Lewis Clinton, Alex Piper and Arron Evans and one of the youngest UK aerialists in Liam Turner. Ben Kinnear, the snowboard instructor, actually coaches trainee instructors as well as snowboarders of all levels. He is the current Snowboard Director of the BASI (British Association of Snowsport Instructors) and has been in talks with

Joel for some time about how some snowboard coaching techniques could cross over to surfing with beneficial effects. No, speed wasn’t a factor in setting up this project, but right now we have to shift... our rescheduled flight is boarding.

I am taking my first look at the beach closest to our Portuguese residence courtesy of The Surf Experience in Lagos. The wind is blowing strongly onshore, the waves are closing out, and all the boys are frothing. Like a player wearing beer goggles, these groms see potential in slop that less-talented surfers would walk away from. It’s a reassuring reaction considering that the week ahead promises much of the same, stormy conditions, but as a surf photographer brought up on pictures of perfect line-ups, groomed with offshore winds, I still find it hard to feel amped. I just don’t get it. Surfing, as I once knew it, has changed, and this all feels counter-intuitive to me, like getting to the lip and not pushing down on the rail

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Clockwise from left: Seb Smart; Ben Kinnear; Lewis Clinton; Stu Campbell

to do a turn.

Of course, the secret to launching into your air is making sure your board is flat when you hit the sectioning lip. You will have to take some of the pressure off your front foot so that you don’t end up just pushing yourself over the back of the wave (the onshore wind will also help you out here,) but not too quickly that you bury the fins in the face and stall. Crucially though, you need to keep your board flat.

That’s the right thing to do apparently.

After a couple of days of video analysis, intense coaching and pushing each other to go big, nobody is feeling happy about getting above the lip this morning. Every couple of minutes, through the torrential rain and red mud coating the Land Rover windscreen, we see fork lightening getting closer and closer, followed almost instantly by an ominous boom of thunder. I’m not sure how risky it is to go surfing in lightening, can you really get electrocuted and are your chances increased when you start busting airs? The general consensus, though not backed up with scientific evidence, is yes. A round of galäos (milky coffee) at a beachside cafe gives the storm enough time to pass and put us out of danger of death. I’m not sure whether it is the out of season time of the year or a hangover from the disappearance of Madalene McCann, but this south coast seaside resort where she was last seen feels forgotten, the

apartments empty, the full English breakfasts not being cooked. The small cove amplifies the storm swell into punchy beachbreak ramps and the crew get amongst it whilst ex-CT surfer and Algarve resident Marlon Lipke echoes their boosts further down the beach. Lewis tries a couple of big ally oops whilst Baker pulls out air reverse after air reverse for the camera. As the day draws on Stu hits a perfect section and goes massive, but loses concentration in the air. He has an excuse, he’s really sick with flu, and now, halfway through the week, so are we.

With your speed and your launch nailed, getting high is almost inevitable, but what you do in the air next is what makes an aerialist a good aerialist. As soon as you leave the lip you need to be thinking about getting yourself and your weight above the centre of the board.

This is why a wider than usual stance is useful when going for an air.

Even a super straight air needs a little bit of rotation so that you land in a position to carry on down the wave. A grab can help rotate the board by allowing the front shoulders to open up the rotation on launch. Frontside is easier but once you have mastered those, backside grabs can actually fit the rotation better. From the moment you are in the air, the rotation needs to begin through the hips, shoulders, arms and of course your line of vision.

All of this is being dissected, analysed and repeated on a trampoline

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Clockwise from above: Alex Piper; Dance off; Liam Turner

in the Lagos Martial Arts Club. As Ben encourages them to go higher, the lads take turns at going through the motions of different airs whilst trying not to bounce off the edge. If Piper could somehow replicate his backwards straight legged airs on a surfboard he would be making Jordy cry at night. Arron has a natural ability that would guarantee him a job in the circus, Seb has no fear and Stu is sat in the corner feeling worse than before. He stares off into the distance, the scar on his face making him look like a soldier who’d seen the frontline, rather than a surfer trying not to puke on the cushioned PVC floor. The war wound was his 18th birthday present. In his local nightclub, dancing with the wrong girl, her boyfriend ended up bottling him. Bleeding all over his Ninja Turtle costume, a paramedic who happened to be in the club came to his rescue and got him to hospital. 12 stitches later he was back home, the doctor said he was lucky; his purple Ninja Turtle eye mask had saved his eyes. Good old Donatello.

Finally we’re looking at proper waves. It’s over-head and offshore, the sun is even out, the boys are hating it. After sliding the Landys down some seriously treacherous dirt tracks, we’ve got a remote beach break with en-suite point break all to ourselves. Arron carves stylishly into the feathering faces, but for anything remotely new school, today is a write-off. Still, the crew are giving it their best, with little Liam Turner, 062

one of the few groms I’ve seen actually land airs, putting in the effort.

Ideally you want to be landing on a crumbling bit of foam just in front of the lip, but not in the flats, otherwise you’re going to damage your board or yourself. To do this you’ll have had to project yourself forward with your rotation, which again, is why offshores are so cursed amongst the frothers. By compressing yourself as you land you can absorb the shock and ride through any foam without getting bumped off. At this point, if you find yourself uncontrollably pumping the air with your fist, all of your hard work has just gone to waste.

The plane touches down with a bump. The journey home has been a sombre one, with almost everyone now infected with the flu of Stu. No doubt all the surfers will find they have a new bag of tricks and increased confidence in boosting next time they get in at their home breaks, but for now, we are tired and ill, and mumbling goodbyes is enough of a strain, reflection will have to wait. After a difficult start, the trip had hit a pretty stormy section; got high and rotated so much that our heads were spinning, but against all odds, we had landed it and that’s really all that matters. Sick! I fist-pumped the air.

For more info check out surfsolutions.tv and surf-experience.com

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The Goose Chase Strikes Back (again)...

WORDS AND PHOTOS TIM NUNN

Left to right: Timmy, Sunrise, Thurso East reef; Making the most of the ensuite bathroom

Seven cheese sandwiches, three coffees, two nature bars and a Red Bull about to be cracked open, this is goose chasing in its most purest form.

Five years ago when we gave birth to The Chase the world was a very different place. Wavelength was still based in the mighty ‘Length Towers, since then every other mag seems to have monopolised the term and moved into their own versions. Sadly we now reside in the Wavelength cave, a less undercover more downtrodden basement of the surf world. Back then we had resources at our disposal second to none including the mighty chase mobile, the epic Mercedes van.

Although poorly built it was an awesome vehicle for chasing in, except for the huge WL on the side which resulted in many a waxing, all totally deserved in my opinion, by zealous locals. But despite our world seemingly being on a bit of a downer, for this leg of the EOE project, a poorly veiled excuse for the Goose Chase, we have a

new weapon in the form of a Subaru Legacy estate. Yes, good people the days of Wavelength Towers may be lost in these times of austerity but we are on our way back up and I sit writing this doing 70 miles per hour on the M6. No joke this bad boy has cruise control and the steering is so well balanced I’ve climbed into the back seat and am getting on with some work. I’ve got a little buffet lunch laid out next to me and my laptop is buzzing with ideas. I’m watching Jamie O’Brien on the in car entertainment system, which is insane and I’m having the easiest trip up to Scotland ever.

It’s always about this time panic sets in, I suddenly realise what the hell am I doing in the back seat of the car and hurriedly climb into the front, I then get my foot caught in a seat belt, fall head first into the steering wheel and just as I am about to hit the truck in front of me I wake up with a jolt.

This time I’m in a service station, I can’t remember where it is, Lockerbie or

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What is more I am chasing

blind, there isn’t even really a chart, I’m rolling loaded dice, I know the result and I know it’s bad, but who

Clockwise from bottom left: Inside Batty’s spotless van; The camp; You can put a bunch of pros out at Thurso but Chris will still be one of the stand out performers; Bad weather goes with the territory up here, but you still get moments to punt, Ian, Thurso East

gives a shit

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Perth, no matter, I’m dribbling, I feel sick, am I too old for the Chase? I feel like a 36 year old Paul Gascoigne desperately trying to hold on to past glories when in reality I am fat and devoid of the creativity that once blessed everything I did. What is more I am chasing blind, there isn’t even really a chart, I’m rolling loaded dice, I know the result and I know it’s bad, but who gives a shit.

The temperature gauge reads -eight, I cough for a minute uncontrollably, the sort of cough you should only have after a night out in Kuta and 40 Gadang Garams to your name. I slug on a bottle of cough mixture, non drowsy, no alcohol. I have one of those driving stomach aches, you know the ones, full of gas, nothing a good strong coffee won’t help shift though.

The well tattooed Scottish lass in the service station idly texts whilst I make a big coffee. We exchange pleasantries, I understand nothing, her thick Glaswegian accent masks any form of the Queen’s English, but why shouldn’t it, this is Scotland not England. Walking back into the car I notice icicle and ice build up on the wing mirrors, driving through freezing fog has created some beautiful sculptures.

One sip of coffee and I crack a Red Bull, ok brain

prepare to be charged for the cruise through the Cairngorms. 10 minutes later I’m buzzing, five minutes later I’m pissing, in knee deep snow. It’s cold; I’m a walking vessel of caffeine, happy house blares from late night radio, and the full moon lights up the snow covered peaks. One hour later I’m fast asleep in a lay by, the come down and related slump are savage, Just after dawn I pull up between a white transit and a blue pick up. Chris Noble and Ian Battrick are talking about the surf, yesterday was epic, and I feel sick through lack of sleep and too much caffeine. Long Johns are on, it’s cold, I love spells of winter way up north, the short days make you work harder, the light is insane but fleeting, much like the surf. A few hours later I am driving south again, to Inverness to pick up Timmy Turner and Ram Rod, you’ll remember them from Canada. They are on the latest leg of filming for the movie Cold Thoughts and we’re camping out with them in Scotland, and by camping out I mean camping. We pitch up in the dark, it’s cold but dry.

The first day and the surf is a write off, over it but the local crew are all hitting the town tonight, so it’s a good chance to catch up with some old friends. It’s request night in the Y-Not, we’re sitting around having

a bite to eat and some beers when the DJ comes over, next up we have ‘YMCA’, it’s for Tim Nunn, because he is gay! The whole pub falls about laughing, Batty, Scottie, Chris and Dom are hi fiving and pointing at me, turns out they’ve requested ‘In The Navy’ for me as well, cheers boys. The night is a Thurso classic, all the boys and girls cutting loose, we all back down from Skinandis, Ram Rod is keen, and also sober which is definitely a bad idea for going into the North of Scotland’s premiere night spot.

The surf over the next few days is choppy, a brisk northerly breeze keeps the swell coming but also ruffles it up, and still sessions go down. In between time Tesco coffee shop is used and abused, the ladies in there know us by name and are asking about the surf after five days - a bit of a milestone as I also change my socks for the first time around then. In the evenings it is the Y-Not, a beer and free internet, Chris has us round as well, we have a couple of classic sessions with his young son Alex building railway tracks for Thomas and friends. Everyday though ends in the farmyard, the muddy farmyard with tents set up between bales of hay for shelter.

Ian has his Transit though, no one else can enter, he

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The best waves were few and far between, but Ian still managed to snag this thick lipped runner

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prefers to keep it pristine in the back. He’s house proud and rightly so, he spent a lot of time taking this thing off a building site and into cold water service.

Timmy and Ram have the trusty North Face tent, that thing has been everywhere, Iceland, Canada and now Scotland, surviving anything that some of the gnarliest places in the world can chuck at it. After five days in the yard and constant cold wet winds from the north the weather finally breaks. Thursday dawns cold and clear, the day before we had an overhead wind swell, today it is clean and small with a promise of a little pulse filling in behind it. Thurso looks fun, but the boys and Chris Noble have their eye on Tens, it’s marginal whether it will work on such a scruffy swell, it’s bang

clean yes, but there are several swell directions in there. It turns out to be even trickier than it initially looked, there are no proper sets and picking the right wave is a near impossibility. Ian goes for a couple before getting the wave of the day which grows off takeoff before spitting him out into the channel. Timmy gets a big one for his first wave, it slurps hard before doubling up on the inside, he tucks in, it sucks dry and it is good by helmet camera. His next one is not much better, a tight tube backwashes throwing him on to dry rock arse first, he pops up laughing though. It’s kind of a fun session, the swell keeps threatening to build but doesn’t really. By dark though Thurso has more lines, the wind is dead and the temperature in

the farmyard freezing.

Next morning is freezing, the puddles lay solid with ice, the cold snap is starting to grip the north of Scotland like it wasn’t before. A little run around and there is more swell, quite a few of the local boys have trucked south for various commitments and only Hamper patrols a glassy Thurso East lineup. It looks fun but before I head south myself, we decide on Bagpipe. It’s cold out on that reef, really cold the biting offshore strips you to the bone and the North Atlantic offers little in the way of warmth. Baggies is poor, not really enough swell on it, but a couple of sunny gems do come through. Timmy gets the best; a glassy little tube ride illuminated by the golden winter sun.

Clockwise from bottom left: Batty punts Thurso; The ruins; Cold doesn’t even come close; The light up here is insane, it’s what makes this shot, Timmy backdooring a little Bagpipe peak

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Timmy gets a big one for his first wave,

it slurps hard before doubling up on the inside, he tucks in, it sucks dry

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Josh Kerr, Indo Photo: Jason Reposar

V IS ION G

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Baja, Mexico Photo: Damea Dorsey

V IS ION

Matt Capel, Northumberland Photo: Greg Martin

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V IS ION

Ian Walsh, Pipe, Hawaii Photo: Jeremy Wilmotte

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South Coast, Cornwall Photo: Greg Martin

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Bruce Irons, Pascueles, Mexico Photo: Ryan Alley

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DIRECTORY

surf shops / SURF WEBSITES / products

BUY ONLINE £2.95 + P & P

MISSED IT? BUY IT ONLINE AT WAVELENGTHMAG.CO.UK photoannual_direct_200.indd 1

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contact: Barry on 01872 224030 email: barry@wavelengthmag.co.uk

surf shops / SURF WEBSITES / produCTS

travel & accomodation / surf schools

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BOARDS

BRADLEY shortboard 5’7 x 19 x 23/16 01637 850620 RRP: £449

FIREWIRE sweet potato 5’4 x 21½ x 2½ 01637 850620 RRP: £525

TUNNEL VISION vampire, quad 6’6 x 19½ x 2½ bilbosurfshop.co.uk RRP: £449.00

TUNNEL VISION compressor 6’6 x 20½ x 2½ bilbosurfshop.co.uk RRP: £399.99

REBEL nemesis 6’6 to 7’2 rebelsurfcompany.co.uk RRP: £360

BLACKER single fin, 70’s pintail 6’3 blackersurfboards.co.uk RRP: £495

FLUID JUICE squashtail flyer 5’9 x 18 to 6’6 x 19½ fluidjuice.co.uk RRP: £380

FLUID JUICE magic feather 6’10 x 20 ½ to 8’2 x 22 fluidjuice.co.uk RRP: £400

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ECTIC CONCEPTS mini-simmons 5’6 x 22 x 3 walkerlongboards.com RRP: £320

BLACKER san onofre 10’2 to 10’6 blackersurfboards.co.uk RRP: £695

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02/02/2011 09:59:45

BOARD SHAPERS

contact: Barry on 01872 224030 email: barry@wavelengthmag.co.uk

Custom Shapes Email: crhbarker@hotmail.co.uk Tel: 01840 230095 Mb: 07950 621871

Custom Shapes Email: crhbarker@hotmail.co.uk Tel: 01840 230095 Mb: 07950 621871

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02/02/2011 09:47:02

THE INTERVIEW

MIKE NEWMAN ocean image WORDS AND PHOTO GREG MARTIN

If you can remember an epic day’s surf in West Cornwall in the last 15 years, chances are that Mike Newman’s got a stunning shot of it that lives up to your memory. So vast is his back catalogue of seascapes that he now runs an online stock image library specialising in everything coastal and surf related.

Though his business has grown to incorporate images from other photographers who Mike can call upon if he’s stuck behind the computer, when the surf’s pumping, he’d still much rather go out and shoot himself.

Tell me a little about yourself…

I’m six foot tall on a good day, and used to sell ice creams from a van which I drove to the local beaches. My first proper job was managing a beef farm, but four years later I somehow ended up working in an office in London.

Ditched the smog for a surf instructor’s job at Sennen and started photographing seascapes and waves when I wasn’t working. The light went on when someone wanted to buy one of my prints . . .

Describe your average day at work...

Get up, check the emails, weather and surf, then decide whether to shoot, surf or stay at the computer. Whichever I choose, I’m frequently sidetracked by phone calls from clients needing images. I once got diverted on the way to a surf to get some pictures of a bomb maker in the wooden chalets at Gwithian. True story.

What qualifications and experience do you have?

I’ve no formal qualifications in photography, computers or digital media, I’m entirely self-taught. 15+ years experience has taught me that even if you have trained, you still need to keep learning as you work.

If you were to start again from scratch, what would you do differently?

I’d still take stills, because it’s consistently been a joy, but video would be a higher priority, and writing.

What is your greatest strength?

Siobhan (Mike’s wife) is shouting “Cooking roast potatoes!”

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Travel with the family, show the kids, Frank and Olive, bits of the world. Well, the surfable bits, anyway. Once you’ve got enough money though, surely money itself becomes quite boring, doesn’t it? Your friends might also resent you for it, so it could be a poisoned chalice.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt?

Sea water + Camera + Lens = Broken Tell us about the biggest risk you’ve ever taken...

I went on a night shoot as part of a hospital photo commission with a paramedic in Johannesburg, South Africa. His patch was the massive and violent shanty town of Alexandra. We stopped at the Fire Station there, people drive by and randomly shoot into the compound, they told me. We could hear guns going off in the shacks just the other side of the road. Everyone had a flak jacket, except me. Then we drove into the township. . . .

Who are your heroes and why?

My closest friends; they all have qualities and strengths that I admire.

Have you ever been fired and if so, what was the reason?

I’ve never been fired, but one winter I failed to get a cabbage cutting job because apparently I ‘Wasn’t enthusiastic enough’.

Describe how you continue learning on a daily basis...

Writing articles is a great way of

learning, doing all the research unearths loads of new information, facts you didn’t know, connections you hadn’t made.

What is the toughest problem you have had to face and how did you handle it?

From a work point of view the toughest bit was at the start. I tried selling my framed seascapes everywhere, card shops, craft shops and galleries of course, but also businesses, surf shops, cafés, car boots and village hall markets, trying everything. Eventually a restaurant put some up and then just kept on selling them. Nowadays, an increasingly higher percentage of sales are online.

What makes you think you’re the best person for your job?

I’m the only person who knows the password to the Ocean-Image.com

website.

What is your greatest fear?

That I forget the password.

Tell us about the most difficult decision you have had to make...

Continually - whether to shoot or surf, surf or shoot, shoot or surf.

What is your biggest regret?

Hindsight is curious in that it gives a certain clarity about the exact point in the past that you really, really fucked up, but doesn’t allow you to stop that thing from happening back then. Regrets, no.

Learning, moving on, yes.

Why do you want this job?

Do you know what cabbage cutting is actually like?

Do you have any questions for me?

Yes, have you seen my new book of Seascapes, Waves and Surfing photographs? It’s available from Ocean-Image.com.

Matt Archbold surfing for the late Patrick Swayze, insanely long car chases, the Chili Peppers, well Anthony Kiedis at least. Bank robbers, guns and waves. Cheese it may be, but we love cheese... Vaya con Dios, Brah. It’s a classic.

keep the rugrats happy. Admittedly it isn’t the Simpsons, but if you like reggae, and mice with dreads, you’re going to be in ragga-mouse-heavenmon. And no, none of us have kids, just great cultural taste. Come on, if he skates he probably surfs...

Rasta mouse: Firstly I feel I could stop right there, what’s not to like about the idea of a rasta mouse. But this bad boy is CBBCs new offering to

Shiners: Ok, picture this.

We’re on deadline and feeling a bit mental. Quite stressed, chasing copy and generally panicking about the

ridiculously short deadline that has been forced upon us. When out of the blue a parcel arrives with two sick Santa Cruz Skateboards from the Shiners crew. The sun is shining so it’s outside to play and re-capture our youth. Luckily for us we work very close to an ambulance station which is always handy.

Thanks Shiners, you ROCK.

WE LOVE Celebrations: Not only are we in our 30th year but this is our 200th issue.

Time to hit the pub for a monster booze-a-thon get tanked up and wake up somewhere, and possibly with someone random... We’re not choosy, any takers welcome. We just want to be loved... hold me?

Point Break: Come on, you can not tell us that when it was on the BBC last month you didn’t think... YES, get in there.

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WIN A BOARD WORTH £385 www.rebelsurfcompany.co.uk

WIN A SICK REBEL SURFBOARD REBEL SURF COMPANY was founded three years a go in North Cornwall by a small group of scruffy under achievers who have very little interest in the real world and just want to go surfing all the time.

After noticing the market was being flooded by poorly made, half arsed imports, we decided to start making well made, can-be-arsed surf craft. Our boards are designed to slay small to medium surf and turn average conditions into epic sessions.

We may not make boards for the top 44 or have any poster boys on the team but we do make ace boards for the everyday surfer looking to have a blast every time they hit the beach.

JOIN THE REBELLION- SUPPORT OUR HOMEGROWN SURF INDUSTRY. Ok, rant out of the way. You want to know about the board right?

Well, my sea water addicted friends this vision of polyurethane loveliness is the Rebel Flyer. Short, fat and full of foam and designed to be ridden 2-4” shorter and ¼ -½ wider than your day to day ride. Deep single into double concave with a nice bit of vee coming out the tail. The rocker’s low and the tail kick is high. Yummy. Available in a mind boggling choice of tail shapes and fin configurations. Go fly!

To win a custom Flyer in the configuration of your choice all you have to do is answer the simple question below. Post to the usual address at the front of the mag or email to comps@wavelengthmag.co.uk or go online at wavelengthmag.co.uk. For more information about Rebel Surf Company and to prevent them from having to get real jobs visit: www.rebelsurfcompany.co.uk or email rebelsurfco@yahoo.co.uk What is the Flyer made from: A) Polyunsaturate B) Polyurethane C) Pollypocket

Rebel Surf Company, Muttons Cottage, Dinhams Bridge, St Mabyn, Cornwall, Pl30 3BP www.rebelsurfcompany.co.uk Terms & Conditions Employees of Endless Summer Media Ltd, associated companies and members of their close family may not enter. Prize is as stated and no alternatives, cash or otherwise, are available. The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence may be entered into. Closing date 25th Mar 2011. Winners will be informed after the closing date. Data Protection Act 1998. Under our obligations to you your data will only be used for the administration of this competition and will not be retained any longer than necessary. Competition entries are restricted to UK and Ireland residents only.

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STUFF

VANS ERA WINGTIP vans.co.uk RRP: £59.99

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NIXON Rubber Player surfdome.com RRP: £109.99

RIPCURL SANTA CURL ripcurl.com RRP: £23

O’NEILL JORDY FREAK oneill.com RRP: £29.99

BILLABONG TONGA billabong.com RRP: £90

PULL-IN SHORTY BOXES pull-in.com RRP: £18

O’NEILL COWELS COVE oneill.com RRP: £17.99

QUIKSILVER Matt Ador quiksilver.com RRP: £70

WESC BonGO surfdome.com RRP: £53.99

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STUFF

O’NEILL For Spring 2011, O’Neill introduce the new exclusive wetsuit - The Pyrofreak.

This limited edition wetsuit includes the latest in ground breaking seam sealing technology - The Superseam Weld.

The latest in seam sealing technology O’Neill’s Superseam Weld is 60% lighter than other seams available. This new low profile seam offers greater comfort, stretch and durability.

The Pyrofreak includes the revolutionary new super seal cuff system- this is water tight and is the most advanced streamline cuff available. The super seal cuff is fused to create a very low profile at the cuff ending, to prevent water entry and improves durability in the wrist and ankles. The UltraFlex XDS neoprene makes this wetsuit stretchier, lighter and is a great addition to the forever evolving O’Neill brand.

Features: • Superseam weld - Superseam stitchless technology: 60% thinner and lighter than the fluid seam weld • New super seal cuff system - New water tight cuff system- on the wrists and ankles • F.U.Z.E. Closure system - front upper zipper entry- O’Neill’s exclusive front upper zip entry offers a fresh alternative. Using the same floating zipper technology as our Z.E.N. zip closure, the F.U.Z.E closure keeps you dry without restricting flexibility • UltraFlex XDS neoprene body • New improved fine mesh gripper including much more stretch • Code red zipper • External key pocket with loop For info email wetsuits.eu@oneillwetsuits.com

QUIK/ROXY iPhone Hard Cases proporta.com RRP: £29.95

QUIK MAC SLEEVES proporta.com RRP: £34.99

QUIKSILVER

O’NEILL PYRO FREAK 4/3mm oneill.com RRP: £300

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Hands up who has an iPhone with a cracked screen? There’s no doubt that Apple have made our lives more like Star Trek than any other brand, and you can’t deny that they’ve done it with style, but unfortunately it seems like they decided to make the screens for iPhones and iPods out of the sugar glass normally reserved for stuntmen cracking bottles over each others heads. Luckily for the fruity techno addicts amongst us, Quiksilver and Roxy have teamed up with mobile gadget accessories manufacturer, Proporta, to bring out a range of protective chic for our toys. As well as bold silicone cases, there are hard shell cases for the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch in both Quiksilver and Roxy designs.

These hard shell cases are super tough, robust and protect against knocks and

impact damage, whilst still giving access to all the volume and hold controls as well as the charging socket.

Also available is a Quiksilver Neoprene Sleeve which has been designed to fit a 13” or 15” Macbook or Macbook Pro without adding extra bulk. The tough exterior of the sleeve will protect your lappy from bumps, scratches and impact damage, whilst a secure double zip keeps everything tucked away and safe. Finished in the same chequered “Echo Beach” design, this neoprene sleeve would also double up very nicely as a chessboard if you were a partaking in some hallucinogenic fuelled games.

The Macbook sleeves are available in Apple stores in the UK now, and the complete collection of Quiksilver and Roxy mobile accessories is available online at proporta.com

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TESTED

SUBARU Legacy 1.9 TRAVEL TO THE SURF IN COMFORT, STYLE AND THEN SOME

*198 comp winner... Santa Cruz Board winner – Conel Freeman Harrison, Tyne and Wear

W ORD S A N D PHOTO T I M N U N N

It is not every week we get given a car to test but just of late the good folk at Subaru have buffed us with not just one but two vehicles in the last few months.

Just before Christmas the guys at Subaru let us loose with a diesel Outback which is an epic surf wagon, and this time they gave us a week on the road in the Legacy Sport Wagon.

First up this is one sick vehicle for any surfer that likes to hit the road, but it is also smart enough to hold its own in the office car park and beautiful enough to cruise in with your chick. We’ll start inside - the ride comfort is second to none, we were going to cruise around Cornwall in it but when a chart popped up for Scotland it was the perfect excuse to really put it through its paces.

I can honestly say that I could have just kept driving this thing forever, the seats are incredible, fully adjustable, heated and firm enough to give you an excellent ride. The drive its self was

simple, on the motorway it was a case of setting the cruise control and just pointing it in the right direction, the car did the rest. When you got on the single lane roads through the Highlands it simply hugged the asphalt and despite freezing temperatures outside the partially snow covered roads were no problem what so ever.. I was a little sceptical when I found out it had an automatic gearbox but it couldn’t be simpler and the performance was excellent, there is also an option to go into a more sporty mode and use a semi manual box with paddles on the steering wheel. It performed and handled like a dream. The next most important thing is the entertainment system; let me tell you this car is stacked, incredible surround sound, touch screen and on wheel control of radio and CD as well as full bluetooth connectivity for your phone. There are even jacks in the central compartment

to link in an iPod or a CD changer. But the real killer blow for me was the DVD player. You know when you’re sat in a cold wind swept car park getting psyched to go in for a surf? Well it is made a lot easier when you have Jamie O’Brien’s latest flick pumping out of the in car entertainment. There is also a fully built in sat nav and all the trimmings.

Next big thing is obviously space and the Legacy has that and some, you could easily fit you and a mate, all your gear and boards inside the vehicle with no need whatsoever to mess around with roof racks. That for me is a massive bonus, having boards on the roof is nothing but a pain in the arse. So it sounds like the ultimate surfers wagon who likes to look good, smart for work but needs something with a bit of space to go surf with. I can say it is with one drawback, it is petrol and as you’d expect for the performance and size it is a little on the thirsty side, which

in current times of extortionate petrol prices is an issue. Truro to Thurso came in at £140 in fuel, not bad if split between two, even easier between three of you so not a major issue, it is the only disadvantage over the Outback we tested before Christmas, the diesel wagon drove for miles on a tank. So to summarise, I would love one of these, they are the perfect surf trip mobile, but I think if I were to lay my hard earned cash on the line I’d probably go diesel and not petrol simply due to the fuel to distance ratio.

Available: subaru.co.uk RRP: From £24,795

BLATANT PLUGS Joel Gray from Surf Solutions is setting up a High Performance Centre at Retallack Resort from which training camps will be based using their various gym, pool, spa, studio, flowrider and classroom facilities. Joel said “This will be the home of high end surf coaching in the UK.” For more information check out surfsolutions.tv.

Get yourself £5 off some new gear from Escape Surfboards by using the special discount code WAVEMAR1 when you make a purchase of over £40. Go to escapesurfboards.biz for more details. Analog are incorporating the work of acclaimed French photographer Mathias Fennetaux into their Spring 2011 collection.

A long time action sports photographer Fennetaux hails from the Parisian skateboarding scene.This exclusive artist series is designed to showcase the photographic work of Analog team riders, artists and friends. analogclothing.com. Xcel’s INFINITI DRYLOCK has won “Wetsuit of the Year” once again at the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Image Awards, honoring the best of the surf industry from 2010. Xcel has now won “Wetsuit of the Year” three out of the four years it has been a SIMA Image Award category. Check them out at xcelwetsuits.com 090

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

FINS OUT go on... get ‘em out for the mags

B

Clockwise from top left: Seb Smart, Portugal Photo: Greg Martin; Taj Burrow executes the perfect fins out turn Photo: John Respondek; The man himself, Micah Lester, Morocco: Photo: Ben Selway

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W ORDS M I C A H L E S T E R

usting the tail free through turns and full rail turns like the carve, show people what level your surfing is at. You can’t hide from it because it requires the surfer to have good foundations like the ability to draw a great line and read the wave properly. Your surfing becomes transparent due to the amount of commitment needed to even attempt one. A solid fins out turn bridges both on the lip and above the lip surfing and combines commitment, speed, power and control. If you are attempting this you should already have a decent top turn under your belt, so here are five simple tips that will help transform your everyday top turn into a manly, spray heaving, rail sliding, fins out turn.

Tip one: Wave selection Find a slightly steep section with a lip. It is extremely difficult to do an impressive fins out turn on a flat section (remember we are trying to bust the fins out, not do a tail slide or a waft).

Tip two: Bottom turn This is where it all starts. The speed, power, positioning and momentum is created for the hit you’re about to do. If you come off the bottom too slowly, you will hit the lip with no speed, power or drive. You need all of these things to get your fins out. I recommend coming slightly further out in front of the wave which will allow you more room to get your board vertical through the turn. At the same time you need to be compressing your legs through the bottom turn more than normal as the lower you are, the more power and speed you will have as you extend.

Tip three: It’s a turn not an air A fins out turn can result in an air if you hit the lip too high, but if you do intend to do a fins out turn remember to turn! In the main picture of Taj, you can see by the line of spray coming off his tail that he’s gone through the motion of a turn. The spray close to the lip has created an ark - this shows the line his board has taken to be in the position it’s now in. Creating this ark proves that he has started a turn before he got to the lip, Taj would have started his turn slightly higher than a normal re-entry, and as his board came into contact with the lip, extended his back leg, driving through his back foot which throws up spray and busts the tail through the lip, releasing his fins. Because he started the turn whilst still on the wave, his board has naturally followed the same line/rotation even though he has gone above the lip.

Tip four: Control As soon as you feel your fins release from the lip or you feel you’re about to start sliding then it’s in this split second you need to lay off the pressure and control the board. You want to watch you don’t over rotate and keep your weight centred over your board.

You shouldn’t have to kick your tail too hard because all the momentum you created in the bottom turn is throwing your weight into the turn. All you need to do is control the board and your rotation. If you kick too hard with all that speed and momentum you may over rotate. If your board does rotate more then you planned don’t panic - go with it!

Tip five: Ride out with speed To complete the turn properly you need to ride out of it with speed. To do this you need to make sure there is minimal recovery time - Avoid sliding all the way down the face sideways. If you do rotate sideways try to stop sliding early and come out of the rotation before you get to the bottom of the wave. This way you have some wave face and momentum to generate speed on, to carry you out of the turn.

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02/02/2011 12:06:04

ON ITS DAY

Norfolk and chance

CROMER

04/10/2008

WORDS AND PHOTO SIMON BUCK

photographer SI BUCK REMEMBERS a golden day in norfolk I’m standing on the cliff above Stone Groyne at Cromer having returned 12hrs earlier from a very pleasant, wave-filled trip to Cornwall with the missus. Mark Southgate, cheesecake connoisseur, wookie-endorsee and proprietor of East Coast Surf had given the green-light to run the 2nd Annual ECS Comp despite the charts looking less than favourable.

Worse still he had stalled on the holding day the weekend before which could have been just about doable.

With blue-green, near perfect (by comparison) Cornish surf still fresh in my mind I really wasn’t looking forward to standing on Cromer prom, freezing my jewels off in the perishing October wind.

Taking another shot of another gutless bottom-turn generated on another gutless, crumbling brown peak just didn’t appeal. However, as I stood gazing down from my lookout above the crab boats, beach huts and Saturday morning dog-walkers, what presented itself was nothing like I expected.

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Clean, 2-4ft faces stretched back to the horizon, occasionally dappled gold by the early Autumn sun as grey clouds shifted in the light off-shore breeze. Now and again a 5-6 footer would appear out back at Mikey’s and those who were either warming up or just free-surfing would make that all familiar sprint to one of the few tastier take-off points.

The comp, though kicking off early, had attracted a decent crowd. The local scene is a pretty intimate one, the remoteness and inconsistency ensures that. Everyone pretty much knows everyone, if not by name then by face.

Spectators gossiped and as old friends caught up comedy shakas and high-fives were thrown. Banter and good vibes were in abundance, this was a locals competition but anyone was welcome.

The gift of quality waves and chance to show-off to a keen crowd seemed to raise the game of every competitor in the water. The two favourites were Steve Casey, Aussie born and raised but now

locally based building boats, and Tom Cook, a local ripper who’d ventured far and wide in search of waves thus developing an obvious latent talent. They had met in the final the year before with Tom pipping Steve for the top spot.

I’ve lost count of the number of photos I’ve shot of them over the years. They were always the sure bet to provide me with images that were mag’ worthy and as a result (although they’re too humble to acknowledge this) were actually great ambassadors for Norfolk surfing.

However, things weren’t meant to be for Steve this time around. Tom delivered on the speculation, nabbing a couple of beautiful, shorey barrels and was deservingly crowned ECS champion for the second year in a row.

It was a great, fun, highly memorable day, the elements aligned perfectly and the stoke was tangible. I’m sure those who were there will remember it for a long time - certainly a day when Norfolk did it’s thing.

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Unknown getting some northern exposure Photo: Tim Nunn

WherE’s left?

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o that’s the big 200 out of the way, now it is onwards and upwards towards our 30th birthday in August, which will be a jolly good piss up hopefully. Meanwhile we are in the thick of a British winter and as we go to print there are some serious swells heading our way, so all celebrations of our epic heritage will be placed on hold and we will get stuck in to some old fashioned wave hunting, because believe it or not, there’s still some hidden treasures out there.

NEXT

ISSUE

on sale 24TH MARCH FEATURING...

EDGE OF THE EARTH goING feral for big surf County Limits deep winter scores in the UK ROLLin’ IN RUBBER SUMMER WETSUIT GUIDE PLUS WHATEVER NEPTUNE OFFERS UP WL SURFMAGAZINE

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