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.

Grab the horns with both hands

One of the funniest staff parties we've ever held. The 'Western' theme inspired by Sam and Wailin brought out the creative best from the team. And then came out the rodeo bull!!

All the photos will go on the surf school gallery v. soon.

Nearing the end

I've managed three days down at Lyme Regis this past week. The five hour round journey worth every second. Billy and Fin were jumping off the harbour wall when I arrived there yesterday - about a 12 foot drop .... and they were both doing forward flips. Which was pretty sensational. Billy puts it down to his trampolining in the winter. Heaven knows where Fin plucked up the courage. Amazing. At the start of the suumer at Port Gaverne he'd only jump off a two foot ledge and now he's fully hurling himself off some hell drops!! We finished the day with a monster game of French Boules, covering huge distances within the harbour wall.

Bank holiday weekend! Very busy. There's every chance that we'll run out of stock on Monday, which will be perfect, just in time for arrival of the winter stock on Tuesday. The shop has gone incredibly well and actually a strong August on the beach has proved useful. A lot of the instructors signed out yesterday as we cut right back for an anticipated quieter spell in September.

When the cats away

I hate it when Janey and the boys go away. Their off on their annual pilgrimage to Lyme Regis. A chance for them to spend some time away from our beach, or the business end as we know it! I went down on Sunday and they've got this fantastic place right close to the Cob overlooking the sea. They've done alright then. We had a great day of crabbing, fosseling and aquariuming (?). This chap had the 'tamest Mullet in the world' which was probably overstated but if you frothed up the water they did come and suck your fingers. Didn't really want to leave, but needs must.

Back at base it's very quiet without them all and rather than thinking, great what shall I do now that time is my own, I end up doing very little and counting down the days!! Sad I know! I'll make another trip down as soon as I can - the beach is very busy though and it would be good to finish the summer with a bang. We're making up for a poor July with a great August. The sun is out and the surf is pumping.

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.