The Best?

What a day we had for Christmas, Cornwall at it's very best. Blue skies with just the lightest of breezes - well worth battling through the ice and snow to get here! The boys have been having a ball with their cousins. Happy days.

Went to see Avatar 3D today - how good is that?

Note to self - although Christmas abroad is tempting (we did it two years ago), don't do it. Couldn't beat a family Christmas at home.

Unite!

Have I said before how much of a disregard I have for Unions?! Yes, I believe I have! So every time that ridiculous body of do-gooders Unite pull stunts like the one with BA, my blood boils! Yes, the threat of strike will certainly focus the mind of the Directors and bring a resolve perhaps a bit quicker. But at what cost? If I had a flight booked this Christmas, I'd be on the phone changing my airline right now.

Running a business in this country is difficult. The government certainly doesn't encourage it. Taxes in particular are incredibly negative. VAT for the surf school is a straight tax - nothing to write against it. You should see the figure we have to pay out in holiday pay. I've got no problem with our longer term staff, but temporary staff who pass through for 5 / 6 weeks! And legislation has become more and more ridiculous. If you deal with kids, as we do, well there's a minefield right there. CRB's are a complete waste of time and money. They take ages to process and you need one for every activity you want to teach!? Where's the sense? The old central system was much, much better. But hey ho, what do we know - this will be my 18th year and Janey's 21st year teaching surfing! Still young at heart! 

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!!! A huge hero of mine - oh dear, all gone a bit pear shaped. I went up to Wentworth a couple of years ago with Stuart (from the Cone Zone) to watch him in the matchplay. He was in a big sulky mood and lost his match. What's the expression?... never met your heros? Well okay we didn't actually meet him, but we were close enough to mop his brow! 

Christmas prep is coming along nicely. Billy (10) and Fin (6) - that's a good age for festivities. The tree is up, the pressies are all in hand, turkey ordered. For once we may well be on top of the game! Family are starting to arrive - yep, got a good feeling about this one! 

Ebay - not much left to sell! All the stuff that isn't used has gone. Done really well. The only thing is I'm a rubbish packer! my mind doesn't work that way! Especially with the bigger stuff. It's real ordeal!

Off to meet my mate Nick for a bike ride. He likes pain! 

Big Up Greg Long

Did you catch it? Greg Long won the Eddie Aikai big wave contest at Waimea. It's an event with plenty of history where the worlds best big wave surfers congregate to show off their skills and bravery. The man that we support, Carlos Burle came 16th. Carlos came to visit us a few summers back and gave a talk to our Boardriders courtesy of the boys at Finisterre. He showed us an amazing video of his exploits. He's only a little man, but with a huge heart. 

The surf is pumping at Polzeath today and looks good for a few days. Well overhead and offshore. 

Giggles

Billy's got his Christmas play coming up in which he plays an old woman. I was in Bodmin yesterday with Janey when she said she just wanted to pop into the charity shop to get something for his outfit. So we pop into the Salvation Army shop and she carefully choses the least fashionable, old person style trousers, shirt and cardigan - perfect for the Billyman and his Panto. I was by her side when she approached the till. "Would you like to try this on?" said the shop assistant. "Just to make sure it fits!" I nearly wet myself. I got the giggles bad and it was only through a lot of cheek biting that I managed to resist from blurting out an inpromptu belly laugh. As I left the shop I could tell from Janey's face as she proceeded to check out that she too was desperately fighting the inner giggle demon. Funny, funny, funny.

Ebay - well we've been having some fun with this. "If it hasn't been used in a year then it's going!" I announced. And to be fair we've shifted a whole load of stuff. It becomes quite addictive! The trouble is I'm rubbish at packing and that's a bit of a chore! The garage and store room is slowly clearing though, which is a good thing. We're off to Truro car boot to get rid of a load of other stuff this weekend. Having a good old clear out is very good for the soul!

Morning meeting with the team. we have a new regime to make sure that we make the most of the winter. So we meet every Friday morning and come up with a plan for the next few days - then we meet again on Monday afternoon to see how everyone's got on. The nice thing is when we hit Easter next year, we're going to be so far ahead and so much more on top of things than normal. The boys, Wailin and Mikey still fit in their surfing, but being more focused and working as a unit is definitely much more productive. JD continues to come in and hassle me over accounts - oh how I love accounts, but I still love her! On Monday we're all off to Plymouth for a meeting and then a bit of a staff Christmas lunch. No two days the same down here!

A wet weekend

Golf on Friday was a wet affair! But standing on the 12th tee looking out across Daymer Bay and beyond the Camel Estuary, Stepper Bay and the Atlantic - I had to pinch myself. Such a stunning stretch of coastline.

My back is a bit better now! Picking up a towel off the floor on the first evening at Centre Parcs I twinged it, and several days have passed where saying hello to my toes has not been possible. A visit to the Osteopath made it worse, but today, ten days later it's much better. "Keep moving" was the advice. So a combo of cycling and golf have helped a bit to get it going. Yesterday we took the boys down to Portreath, to a place called The Track. It's an off road bike centre, BMX track, dirt jumps etc. The weather was so hideous in the hail storms that no-one else was there. The owners were about to leave but said we could have a go while they packed up. How much fun was that!!? Fantastic - the boys were loving it.

Sad, sad day!

On Tuesday we heard the devastating news that local girl Jess Solley had passed away at the tender age of 22.  

We've known Jess for many years, only in passing at first, but then as she moved up into secondary school she learned to surf with us and subsequently went on to do her work experience at Surf's Up! - we came to know her well. She was very much part of the local social scene. A couple of years ago she went away travelling. On her return, whilst making our morning Latte from behind the counter at the Cone Zone, she'd speak animatedly about the adventures she'd had. In more recent times she developed a fantastic friendship with Polly, 

a key member of our team. Through this friendship she became a regular face around Surf's Up! - in fact, it was only last week that I into them both in the Jacuzzi at Roserrow - they were laughing and joking as always. 

Jess was great. Funny, pretty, quiet, athletic, calm, considerate and kind - the perfect example of how you'd want your own daughter to turn out. She had a smile for everyone. In the end, however, it was to be this outwardly contented persona that disguised a secret inner turmoil that led her to make a decision too weighty and final for any of us to comprehend. It is too tragic, and my words cannot begin to do the turn of events, justice. If we could turn the clock back for Jess, we surely would. If we were granted that one chance to turn back time and help clear the fog that prevented her from seeing the bright future laid out before her and from seeing the unlimited love and support from those around her, then we would surely grab it with both hands. Our love and thoughts go to her family and friends who in life did her so proud. We're all poorer from the loss of Jess.

Rugby Jackpot

That video of the guy hitting the crossbar at the rugby match at the weekend for £250k is magic. Fantastic!

Recovering today from an epic 80 mile ride - Truro, Launceston and back - quite windy on the Moor! Janey's given me the all clear to do the John O'Groats to Land's End in January - I've got 8 days to do it in, hope the weather's okay. Just going to get a backpack together, train up to Thurso and start the journey back. Should be a great adventure. Might be a tad cold in the Scottish Mountains, and of course the days are short, but you've got to give these things a go.

Centre Parcs this weekend with the kids - they love Centre Parcs - I think this must be visit number 8? Very unsurfy I know, but we always have such a good time. Can't wait - and neither can they. They're frothing for it!

Boardriders kick a..e!

Gabi ripping it up on the Surf's Up! / Quiksilver Team rider training weekend

What a stunning weekend for the Surf's Up! Boardriders - here's the update from our on the scene reporter, JP -

"Three of the Boardriders put in great performances this weekend at the
Newquay Open Pro Tour surf finale, in epic conditions. An event made all the
more special as every category was packed with the best available talent in
the UK competing for final ranking positions in the Open, Womens, Under 18
and Under 16 events.

On Sunday Gabi won the Womens Open. An amazingly strong performance, with
none of the other girls able to cope with the huge wave size. This means she
finished second overall in the rankings for both the under 16 Girls and
Womens UK Pro Tours for 2009.

Toby gave it everything, reaching the Quarters of the Mens Open, knocking
out Tour favourite Reubyn Ash, and the Final of the under 18s, where fatigue
took over after contesting both events in double overhead heavy Fistral
surf, finishing fourth.

Max (aged 11), facing 60mph winds and a rain lashed 24ft swell on Saturday
morning, reached the Semis of the under 16 boys. A stunning effort that sent
shock waves around the beach as, in the Quarters, he knocked out two of the
British team fresh back from squad training in France - Quiksilvers Luke
Dillon and West team rider Jobe Harris." Thanks JP

It's been an amazing year for the Surf's Up! Boardriders Elite squad. In fact when I went down to the BSA meeting the other day, a lot of the surf schools were asking how they could get their top riders on the elite training programme. I still believe that despite some amazing results, 2010 will be our year!

Education, education, education

In the absence of one of the teachers I offered to step in to help at the local primary school. Originally this was for PE, but developed into a supporting role of Mr Howard with the Year 6's. I ended up doing the whole week and enjoyed every minute of it. It's where Billy and Fin are so no big deal.

Say what you like about education in this country, but unless the school decided to put on a special show for me, I cannot fault what was on offer. The variety throughout the day was not what I had expected and the care, quite heart warming. I ended up doing some maths and literature, building bird boxes, reading the school play, football, some one-on-one tuition, drums, piano - there was so much going on. And I really liked the fluid nature, the relaxed style of the day. So a big up to St. Minver school - top marks from me, an 'A' star.

Weather in this country, you've just got to love it! Storms all day yesterday - today great surf and blue skies!

Get to the beach - Quik!

It's a mass of frothing white water - it's beautiful, but not really great for paddling out! Good job it's a small tide or we'd all be moving up the hill! Apparently Falmouth Bay is cooking - and let's face it, that's not an everyday occurrence.

Toby at Harlyn - photo courtesy of Nick at 360photography

The Quiksilver Team rider weekend at the Beach House was a resounding success! Kelly put the team through their paces - at Harlyn and Praa Sands. We're hoping that this will become a regular event.

Inside Spencer's camper.

We say goodbye to Kelly as he heads back to NZ for the winter. He'll be back for Easter. He's done an amazing job with the elite squad this year and is without question the hottest coach in the UK. Everyone wants to get on board the programme, so we're looking at widening the area to include Newquay and somewhere between here and Wales. We're going to make sure that he's mobile so that those in and around the GB team can benefit.

Friday marked a new beginning for Surf's Up! - we had a long meeting with the team. It's the first time in 15 years that we can actually have a year of consolidation. With the surf school, training rooms, new office, shop, Boardriders and Elite all in good shape - we've pretty well put ourselves where we want to be. And now we can focus on all those projects and make each and every part of the business amazing. So there's a good buzz looking to 2010. We're already much more focused than we normally would be at this time. The team took away their new 'bibles' and weekly meetings will see us take huge leaps this winter. Lots of working together in the office and we're also working on a lot of new incentives and bonus schemes, across the board.