Toby Masterclass

Toby Donachie has been training with us for the past three years. In that time he's won theQuiksilver King of the Groms, the Rip Curl Grom Search, competed in the Pro Juniors and been ranked 16 in the world for his age group. He's 16 with an amazing future ahead of him. Today Toby came for training and I asked if he wouldn't mind having a quick chat with some of the other Boardriders. Which he did. He chatted about his travels, his sponsors, his competitions - it was really good.

Not often we keep them quiet!! Well done Tobes!

I'm a chocoholic

I am a bit crazy. I must be quite difficult to live with!

Chocolate is my friend, my comforter. Something I turn to whether I feel good or bad. A good night in consists of a cold bar of chocolate and a glass of cold milk ... probably with the Dave channel on. I reckon I spend about £20 a week on the stuff - Dairy Milk, Toblerone, Lindt balls - plus the mousses!

After the gig on Saturday where I just felt fat and totally out of shape, I took action. I've gone cold turkey on the chocolate. Sounds like no big deal but to me it's a mini bereavement. I reckon it's as hard as giving up smoking!!! Yep I do. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have been long days of craving. But the resolve has been strong. I'm quite good at making a decision and then sticking to it. So I know I'm not going to backtrack. The great thing I suppose is that the body craves the sugar, so I've been eating heaps of fruit which is making me feel as light as a feather!!

As we're on the subject of weaknesses - my achilles and calves.. the whole of my chicken legs in fact are hopeless. A misspent youth and overuse have contributed to malfunction and mornings are spent hobbling around the beach trying to warm up the lower legs. I'm starting to walk like my dad... and that's not good. So a Bellicon trampoline has been invested in to start some recuperation. Yesterday I did 700 bounces - a rest day today. I'm confident that this is a positive start to the new regime of better eating and getting back to fitting weight. And I'm now fully focused on the London Triathlon next August. I've started putting some time in on the Schwinn, and now the negotations have begun for getting a bike! Which is why I say I must be difficult to live with.... there's always something.

Pivotal time in Surf's Up! history make no mistake. We don't like standing still, but we've got some fine tuning to do before we can make moves in the right direction. We've just bought the MYOB mac accounting package so that I can get back to some financial management. I'm pretty good with figures, but that side of the business leaves me cold. As they say on the Dragons Den, 'Your accountant doesn't run your business, you do!"

Billy's B'day

Billy's birthday on Saturday wasn't all cake and biscuits. Firstly there was a small matter of a triathlon in Redruth. His first. Quite tricky because it was a time trial with the competitors going in three heats. So even though he won his heat he had no idea where he'd come in the bigger scale of things until the presentations. From where I was watching there were two lads in the first heat who were really impressive. I couldn't be sure they were in the same age group, even though they were. They came out of the pool together, finished the bike together and went out of sight during the final run. But they were going some. Billy had won his heat by the time he got off the bike, but he continued to push really hard on the run.

Bill's well funny. He loves trophies. Before an event he has to see what's on offer! Second place was amazing - great thing to happen on his birthday - he was well stoked. When he races he gets this fire in his belly - it's good to see. Very proud of him and his loyal supporter Fin who must have run further than most of the competitors trying to find places on the course to give Billy some encouragement.

Billy's efforts have inspired me. So I'm going to give one a go. It's cold turkey on the chocolate and it was a long bike ride on the Schwinn last night. Actually to be honest my inspiration came from a combo of the triathlon and also the evening event.

After the race I headed to Kingsbridge with the band to do a gig at a wedding - Mahoustic on tour. The summer focus was on the kids, no down side to that except that my physical being has deteriorated to a state never experienced or seen before. Shocking.

Two sessions!

Even I had to dig in today! Two sessions from Craskie .... in a row!! Need a lie down! Can't remember the last time that happened. I think I've only done about ten sessions this year, might not even be that many. Which is kind of a shame as it's still a buzz. As with anything, a change is as good as a rest and I've felt in the past couple of years that I'd probably done my time at the water's edge. Good to keep the old hand in, but at the same good to keep fresh blood coming through.

Following our chat with our 'Dragon' earlier in the week, myself and Janey have been doing a lot of chatting. It's funny to be thinking about next year, but we're really excited about it.

I had a dilemna last night. After the boys footie I decided a chinese take away was in order. I placed the order, popped over to the Spar and by the time I got back the order was ready. I clocked the prawn crackers for the car journey and headed off. As I departed I noticed the lady from the chinese walking on the pavement looking up and down the road. She looked worried. It dawned on me that possible she'd given me the wrong order. I felt the bag as I drove and satisfied myself on two counts. One that I could feel a pot of soup and secondly that if I did turn around, park up etc by the time I'd done that there'd be little point. So I headed home - it was a gamble.

Sure enough when I got home it was the wrong order. Instead of Chicken and Sweetcorn soup, King Prawn fried rice and chicken noodles... what I got was chips, some sort of meat in batter ... argh, and sweet and sour sauce. Horrible. I can only guess that who'd made the order was of a large size. Gutted. Oh well, I'll check next time. I phoned the take away so that she could put the issue to bed. They do good food, so no complaints, one of those things.

Horses on Parade

Quite special watching the Queens horses gallop across the sand and through the surf this morning. Some took to swimming. Early Monday morning when they also went in, there was a surfer who had to pull off a 2ft wave as one of the horses fully dropped in! More photos on Surf School gallery

sunset heaven

The routine of the last few evenings has ended with a walk to the top of the field as the sun goes down to scramble on the hay bales. Bit of fun with this sunset photo.

The last few weeks have been a bit weird! For no reason in particular. However today we had a meeting with one of the numero uno business men in the country which helped to settled us down!! It was a meeting of home truths and dashed dreams!! Only kidding, what he brought to the table was a sense of realism. We asked for a business critique. There are aspects of our business that we understand very well, and others that as we've grown have not come naturally. What we've come away with is a very clear understanding of areas that we have to focus on in order for them to become strengths - three to be specific. It's not often you get the opportunity to sit down with someone who really knows the score. Naturally, we will follow his advice to the letter - why would you do anything but?

So in summary of today's meeting - a very nice gentle 'get a grip' kind of meeting. The business does well, but if we're to move into areas that we'd like to in the future, then we need to improve our systems. What's brilliant for me and Janey is that we can't argue with the advice. It's come from the top man, for free - you just got to run with it. And for me and Janey that's brilliant because it helps us to sing from the same hymn sheet. It's been a very good day. On occasion we battle with the long term plan, but no more!!

Took the boys down to Plymouth for Navy Days - fantastic. We managed to get round five ships, great day. So much to see. Much more appreciation of what our forces do for us.

In one of the ships there was a young lad sat down. He was signing books. He'd lost both legs and one arm in an explosion. We bought his book and he signed it for Billy and Fin. "Take care" he said. Not much you can say to that.

National Champs

Toby, our top junior surfer won the British Nationals on the weekend - which is amazing. Gabi Rowe came third in the U18's, a stunning performance. And Harry came 2nd in the U14's. A great day for the Surf's Up! Boardriders - and a big up to Kelly who's been hard at work training them all.

Gabi's story is great. She had her first ever lesson with us a few years back - and with dedication and commitment has become one of the hottest talents on the girl surfing scene.

Wapshot hits the big 60!

No, it's not Nick's birthday!! How often do we get mistaken for each other - has it's advantages, oh the fun we could have with that! Nick is our photographer extraordinaire - and has done a fantastic job this year. We have a deal - provide a brilliant service to our clients and you can keep all the wonga! Sweet - and it's worked really well. So far he's displayed (along with his beautiful assistants Suki and Emily) 60,000 thumbnails on the boards. 60,000! Nearly 3,500 sheets of A4! That's insane - we need to review this relationship - recession, what recession! I've no idea how many photos he's sold, all I know is that the clients have been very happy. And that makes us very happy. He works hard for it and only rarely takes a day off. Covers a few miles running up and down the beach too.

don't mess with the lanterns

We thought it would be great to set off a few of those chinese lanterns at the staff party on Tuesday night. But it was bit blowy!! We got one inflated okay by hiding behind the new office but on release it caught the wind and dived into the nearest tree which promptly set alight. Much hilarity and throwing of water over each other ensued.

Many, many funny stories have come out of the night. The one that made me and Janey laugh the most was Luke, who had had one too many. At the end of the evening he decided to walk home. On his way he decided that actually he wasn't going to make it unassisted, so he rang his mum, at 3am. Clearly she wasn't best pleased. But here's the thing when she arrived to pick him up, there he was standing motionless, staring into a bush on the side of the road still wearing his pink cowboy outfit. He couldn't get in the car on his own, she had to manhandle him in! Can you imagine driving passed and seeing all this going on! Hilarious.

Here's Lukey on the left - earlier in the evening! Hmm - the writings on the wall!

Bali Booked

Booked up our Bali flights yesterday! Totally stoked. Billy and Fin were very excited yesterday when we told them. Of course they've been hearing about Bali every since I took a group of local surfers over there a couple of years back with Wailin and Kelly. As well as being an amazing surfing destination, it's such a great place to go as a family. We're staying in Legian, just up the road from Kuta and a stones throw from where the Surf's Up! Bali trip is based. I like to have a focus for getting fit, and this is just what the doctor ordered. Yoga, Pilates, gym and surfing obviously surfing - a full campaign starts right here.

Kids go back to school today. I think they're ready. What a fantastic summer it's been with them - loved every minute. September is always a very special time when you work on the beach. It's a really nice come down from the pressures of the peak season. A lot of the hard work has been done, but now we can ease up a bit. Normally we'll get a period of good surf and weather about now, which coincides with the water temp being at it's highest - it can be the best time of the year for surf. So fingers crossed. The staff who managed to get wet yesterday, following the staff party (not many had the energy to put a wetsuit on!) had an epic session in overhead punchy waves.

So now the focus changes to finishing up this year and then looking towards next year. We've got meetings this week with Sam, Wailin, Kelly and Mikey. All good stuff.