Wednesday 18 June 2014

Raising the flag


Morning Campers...holiday homers, day visitors, locals, erm..and the rest,
 
P of the Deep Blue C here...time for a Craskie update me thinks. Now then where shall we start? Shall we get stuck right into the nub? 
 
Every morning, as the sun peeps it's shiny head above the horizon people gather by the pole at the top of Polzeath beach and respectfully observe as the lifeguards raise a blue flag to the sound of cornets and seagulls. (That's a long sentence!) With great pride we've flown the Blue Flag on Polzeath Beach for a good few years now. It's a flag that's only awarded to European beaches that achieve the strict criteria set out by a well recognised voluntary eco group. The beaches that are awarded it are rightly proud as it shows that all the boxes are ticked... clean water, great facilities, environmentally friendly etc. If you're a frequent visitor you want those recognise those standards and want them to be maintained. If you're a first timer, the Blue Flag is the comfort blanket. You know even before arrival that it's going to be a winner. And that's why those beaches that don't acheive the standard, aspire to it.
 
The worst, the very worst situation is to have it, and then lose it. Which is what has happened to all of the beaches in Cornwall, except the privately owned Carbis Bay. Why? Have standards dropped? Have we rolled the clock back twenty years when spitting out the chunks was the only natural water cleansing programme available to surfers? Are the showers no longer powerful enough to shift the sand out from in between the tootsies? No. I can hear the uncomfortable shifting of bottom cheeks on leather recliners even as I write.... two stories have emerged from the Cornwall Council. Reason number one, someone forget to put the applications in. Two, it was decided that at £500 a beach it was too expensive. Hmmmmmmm. I'll leave you to make up your own minds on this one. I have my own theories based around incompetency, ineptitude, all the 'ins' ....but best keep that to myself..... or at least until another time when I feel feisty.
 
The storms throughout the winter have changed the dynamics on many beaches. Where sand once lay, there is now none. And where there was none, there is now a great deal. Fistral is closed at high tide due to rock exposure. At Wembury near Plymouth, where once a level playing field could be found for beach footie, it's now a hot bed for crabbing! Polzeath has seen it's fair share of change too. For an unprecedented eight days straight the water trundled over the road, depositing a rather large sand bar on the left as you look down towards the sea. If you haven't been down for a while just be aware that the beach has changed, and once familiar currents may need to be forgotten and relearned. Polzeath remains one of the safest surfing beaches that you can find. Just be a bit more wary. 
 
We got burgled last week. Well the office and shop did. Couple of computers nicked and bits and bobs. Bit rubbish really. Avian saves everything in outer space so at least we didn't lose all of our booking sheets!! Now that would have been a nightmare. To those that did it.... please don't do it again. And if you do, we're now much better prepared! Smile!
 
There's been a bit of restructuring at Surf's Up! Towers and I now have a proper job within it! Which basically means that the blog is going to be up and running, if not daily, nearly daily! I shall do my best. I need to get my blog writing muscles trimmed up again, so bear with me whilst I get back on the horse.
 
Apart from that it's business as usual.