Stealth gets first outing

I was quite excited taking the new Swell Stealth for it's first run yesterday. But it was big disappointment! It's going to need a bigger wave to get it going. In only a couple of feet it just bogged down and never really got going. Might need to get the tri fin set up organised. I'm not entirely sure it's stiff enough, but time will tell. Sometimes new swellies need a bit of bedding in.

Janey's taken the boys off to Lyme Regis for the week. They love it there - lots of crabbing, fossil hunting, jumping off rocks etc - fun, fun, fun. I'll try and get over there a couple of times if I can.

It's never easy

We had a meeting with Tim Martin last week - he owns one of the largest companies in the UK. He's someone who we have a huge amount of respect for and as business owners we hang on his every word. When someone's been there and done it, you know that they will have had experiences both positive and negative well beyond our own, so when they speak, you listen.

He recalled a story - the moral of the story of which was that if you own a business, you have problems. It goes with the territory. That's why we love it - the variety, the constant challenge, no two days the same. It's a rollercoaster. Forget the fact that we live on the beach etc and the lifestyle is fantastic, we face the same challenges as all other small businesses around the country .... okay the view is good. Please stop feeling sorry for us!

Bit frazzled this morning as I phoned Pipex to query a bill. Turns out Janey is the account holder and they wouldn't speak to me. Frustrating and will have to wait until later. Not that interesting I know. Sorry, slow news day!

A British Summer Holiday

Duncan Ballantyne, from Dragons Den fame is about to bring a load of under-privileged kids for a surf lesson in a minute. It's to be filmed for his new programme about holidays in Britain. But it's pouring with rain, seriously pouring! Not sure it'll look that good on the big screen! At least it's a good advert for an activity you can do, rain or shine! Mikey's going to take the session.

The Money Shot

I didn't quite get it! But someone would have. On the top of the hill overlooking Fowey, we were camped out at the official Red Arrows watching site. Just behind us, was Red Arrows number 10 giving us a commentary. The scene was set for an awesome display. The boys were frothing. And then as we were given the 30 second countdown the heaven's opened!! It poured. The show continued, it was wet, but amazing. Down the valleys, through the valleys, up the estuary, the planes were coming from everywhere, first in formation and then man on man racing towards each other at top speed.

The skies started to clear leaving the most perfect, brightest, most complete rainbow, stretching out across Fowey and touching both sides of the river. That alone would have been enough as we stood watching from our lofty position. And then it happened. From out of the gloom beyond the rainbow we saw the lights as the Red Arrows approached. They flew straight through the rainbow and then banked with the blue red and white smoke trailing from their tails right in front of us. It was truly memorable.

Someone would have got the shot. I only had my mobile with a poxy 2mp's to catch the moment. But expect to see the money shot in the Red Arrow promo shots from here on in.

This is my rubbish mobile phone photo! This is not the money shot!

Swell Stealth

Swell Stealth

A one off, made in celebration of the fact that Swell have been making boards for 25 years! This is custom made to my spec!! 8 ft, old shape, narrower at the tail and less volume on the nose. We're looking at a three fin set up - it should be absolutely awesome. And the black is a new type of material. Looks wicked. Can't wait to give her a go!

A big up to Polly who led the shop for a record day on Monday! Came as quite a surprise as it's normally busier at the end of the week. Pleased to report that August is officially busier than last year, so far!

This morning I went and helped Kevin on the 8am lesson. He's really come on. Last year we knew he was good but he just lacked a bit of consistency. This year, with a bit more experience under his belt, he's proved he's got real strength and gets a lot of positive feedback. Nice relaxed manner, the clients have really warmed to him. Alex too, he's been good from the start, and had some great feedback today. Always nice to hear at this time of year when the seasonal staff can see the end is in sight.

Staff party organised for the Tuesday, 1st September. We're anticipating that it will go quiet after that as schools go back early. We've having a BBQ on the Beach House decking, Cowboy fancy dress theme and we've hired a rodeo bull machine for the night! Should be fun!

Swine Flu?

Well I thought I had it. I asked Janey to stroke my head and sing sweet tunes to me. But in the end I had to man up as the Surf's Up! mantra dictates. I was up all Saturday night and it took a good deal of resilience to get to the beach to open up the following morning. On the plus side, I have lost a lot of weight in a short space of time. And I did get to watch Usain and Jessica Ennis. Awesome.

It's a Party

Tiny and Olly (of Ollypop fame) got married last Winter in OZ. Last night they held a party to celebrate with all the english contingent. Mahoustic hit the stage much to the disapproval of the older generation. I say disapproval, one or two did venture from within the confines of the house to the marquee where the action was. We've got a lot of time for Olly and Tiny, good people. A fun night.

The dolphins are in the bay again - they seem to be camped out here at the moment!!

Couldn't believe it!

So last night we've got a full boat. We'd been everywhere fishing, looking for Dolphins, watching the seal - my boys and my sister and her kids were all loving it! On our way back from Port Quin the natural path back to Polzeath is to head between Pentire and the Island. Now on the best of days there's a strong current running. So anyway, we're chugging along and these two people start waving at us from the cliff top on Pentire. We wave back. But one them keeps his arm raised. We kind of clock this and think that something doesn't seem quite right. Then we catch sight of a person in the water. A young girl, 25ish she's treading water and waving about 100 metres from the rocks. Stunned we go over and pick her up. Okay so she along with her mates had scrambled down the cliffs at Pentire, had swum out to the island and then two out of the three had made it back, whereupon the two had scrambled back up. The girl said she'd been in the water for four hours!! Maybe the adventure had started four hours earlier - who knows?

But she was totally cool, slightly chilled even from the water temp, but it wasn't like she was going under. Whether she would have done give more time - who knows. But talk about a ridiculous plan!! I cannot even begin to understand what they were doing. Not smart, not clever. But all ended well - bit of a story, few red faces. No one hurt and that's the main thing.

Failed Again

The Dolphins were out in the force again yesterday, right in close at Polzeath. Which was great as we'd timed going in the boat at about this time. Loaded up the kids, Janey and Sue and then full speed ahead to the mouth of the estuary. But to no avail - saw no Dolphins and coincidentally no shooting stars with the low cloud. We did get the ringo out though which the boys absolutely loved.

Staff end of season party coming together nicely!!

Setting records

It's quite possible that yesterday was a record day for Surf's Up! - a combo between school and shop. Which is pretty incredible during these tough times. 

Time to start planning the end of summer staff do. Will liaise with the team but we've got a few ideas in the pipe!!

Went surfing for what seemed like the first time in ages first thing yesterday. Tickled into a few 3ft - the old magic was still there!! I've ordered a custom made Swell board. It's similar to the old design which was much narrower in the tail with less volume on the nose. It's a one off black stealth edition with a yellow lightning bolt. We're looking at a unique fin set up as well. Can't wait to get it out at Serengan!!