A Big Call

It's a very big call I know - but last night would go down as one of my top three favourite surf's of all time!! There's a possibility that it might sneak into the top spot! Which as I say is a big call. Head high, maybe a bit more on the sets, sun setting. Started in the middle of the beach with Liam and Anthony B and then moved to find my own wave over on the left. Glass as glass can be, with perfect lefts.

A good frame of mind is essential to a good surf. And I was in one following the St. Minver School music evening! Very proud of Billy for doing his first speaking part (which he'd kept a secret!) - but more than that, it was great to see the talent on show. There's a lad called Sam Every who plays drums and percussion. Remember his name! As for the violin, let's just think this through. Someone many years ago must have put this instrument together. Can you imagine the first time it was ever played - who in their mind mind would have thought "that sounds really good, we can definitely make something of this".

And then after the music, I went down to the beach to find this balloon! I changed and headed to the water when one of the photographers ran over and asked if I'd stand next to the balloon for their promo shots for the World Cup bid. You bet.

Kit and Dale - lightweights!

Okay, who stayed out last for the Solstice surf? Thanks you, thank you! Dale and Kit got out at 11.15pm - lightweights. Myself and Hans left the water at 11.17pm. Come on! It was pretty dark by then! Nice to surf Polzy without the crowds though!

It wasn't the blue cheese! It was the Piriton! With my weird dream last week! Or I think it was. My experimentation with three crackers full of the stuff resulted in a restful nights sleep... but no dream. Tonight, I'll experiment with an overdose of Piriton - what's the worst that can happen, super clean passages.

Not loving the new budget much. VAT up to 20% - bit of a killer for us. All the help seems to be for new business start ups - which I think is help misplaced on the basis that one in ten new businesses go out of business in the first year! Much better to help SMEs who have been established for a while and who offer the best chance for growth and employment. If the economy was buoyant then you could make the case - but on the basis that a lot of established companies will be under pressure, hard to see how new and inexperienced businesses will find the lucrative gaps in the market. But then again, I'm often wrong.

Gul Pro Junior, Fistral

Surf's Up! Boardrider Liam (blue shirt) takes the Pro Junior under 12s title, Max (white shirt) runner up. There's a good battle going on between this crew.

3ft maybe more on some of the sets greeted the competitors of the Pro Juniors at Fistral yesterday - ideal. And it was our Surf's Up! Boardriders Liam Murray and Max that shone in the under 12s. Each produced mature performances right through to the final - Liam took the honours on this occasion with Max coming in 2nd. It's amazing how much they've come on. This is a three series event - Max heads the table with one event to go! Nip and tuck all the way.

Toby returned to strut his stuff, fresh back from three months training in Oz and Hawaii where he took on 30 ft waves at Waimea! Yesterday was not to be his day - needs a few more days back in UK conditions, but you can see how his surfing has developed. Just didn't get the quality waves required. The same for Harry T, who having cut his long locks has gone from boy to man in one season! Surf comps are funny old things and are the source of great frustration - you win some you lose some, simple as.

Oh and big up to Billy who came 2nd in the skateboard comp! (although a much lower key event! ad hoc I believe) - made my fathers day!

Andy Hobbs - RIP

Such sad news! I received news this morning that an old school friend had died - Andy Hobbs. There are people you meet in your life that are truly inspirational - he was one. I had the honour of playing alongside him on both the rugby field and the hockey pitch for five years. He went on to captain the England u18's rugby side at Twickenham - we were so proud that our mate had achieved this heady distinction. Had it not been for injury there's little doubt that he would have gone all the way. He was more mature than we were, more professional, more dedicated - he was an exceptional head boy with incredible leadership skills. On our school rugby tour of NZ he was THE man. Whilst we were running away from the Kiwis, he was taking them head on. Destined for the best of things.

The shocking part of this is that Andy took his own life. Of all the people.... makes little sense. I'll head off to his remembrance service next week and no doubt catch up with some long lost school chums. We'll celebrate the Andy that we knew - one of a kind.

Surf's Up!

Don't know exactly where it's come from but we're not complaining - 3ft clean as you like. And yes, once again we have the most perfect day - is it ever going to end?! Checked out Holywell Bay yesterday with the boys, but it didn't deliver. So we ended up having a BBQ in the dunes at Perren - which was great!

Dad's day today - two things have made me very proud of the boys recently, Fin was in a swim gala yesterday and brought home the bacon in the last leg of a very exciting relay. And Billyman moved from bottom group to top group in maths in one term. Totally stoked for him as he worked really hard at it with some after school tuition. Big up to Sarah for her efforts. Apparently his teacher was in tears when she saw his maths exam results. I remember my school teachers used to cry at my school results, if my memory serves me right, for very different reasons.

So today - lots to tell. International Surfing Day is today - which means go surfing, be nice to those in the line-up, and pick up rubbish on the beach.

Pro Juniors down at Fistral - biggest event on the surfing calendar for groms. off there in a second.

And RAB (Ride across Britain) completes the last leg of their event, cycling from Launceston to Land's End. If you see a lot of cyclists on the road today, that could be the answer. Give them a clap, 600 of them have come down from John O'Groats in 8 days!

Engerland!

Lovely beach day again - couple of feet on the sets, light breeze. Great for beginners and improvers! When's it ever going to end? The Rock Oyster Festival is on this weekend down at Porthilly, no idea what it is but people are making plans to head that way. And the Pro Junior surfing comp is on at Fistral tomorrow. This is the big one!

My dream last night involved playing in the ladies semi final at Wimbledon, a broken racket, Boris Becker pretending to not be able to speak German, him lending me his notepad (after reminding him that I saw him speaking fluent english on Panorama) and then me being disqualified for using someone elses notepad! I blame the Blue Cheese ... or it could be the Piriton.

I generally like to wake up with Lucy Versamy from the Sky weather team, but more recently she's been a cause for concern. You see many years ago, when I was an 'inlander', I used to suffer terribly from hayfever. I was one of the only pupils allowed to wear sunglasses - hey (ref. the fonz)! But ever since I moved to the coast 20 years ago the pollen seasons have come and gone without too much ado! But Lucy has been troubling me because she's now started using these new symbols to signify pollen strength. Any hayfever sufferer trembles in front of the telly when a big H appears on the screen. A High Forecast signifys a day in doors. But we now we see the Big V making a guest appearance. And as we all know, a big V is much worse than a big H! Not only that, but the area identified as a big V is coloured in danger red and it was focused on Cornwall! Piriton here we come!

Anyone catch BP's Mr Hayward yesterday being grilled by Congress? It was like watching a car crash in slow mo, bite the pillow time! He's probably a really decent family man, but this was poor performance. Yep, it was the same questions repeated time and time again, and he probably does want to wait until all the results have come in - but somehow there was a lack of appearing to want to help them. If our coastline was being threatened in this way (and we're not totally oblivious to the way the currents work from there to here!) we'd have wanted a bit more from him too. The irony of course is the americans past record on the environment, the 'unseens' don't seem to matter. But now we have a 'seen' perhaps, although extreme, in history this could go down as a defining moment that's good for the planet as we change our dependencies.

Plans afoot for 2011

It's all true... in 2011 we'll be moving our surf school to the beach house... and cutting back our capacity by 60%!! Really? Yep, we've written to the council informing them of our decision and on the 1st November we'll drive off the beach for the first time since 1995! When we tendered for the beach licence last time out, we didn't have the Beach House - but now that we do have our own premises right on the beach, it makes sense to make the change. Keep it all under the one roof.

But why cut the surf school by 60%? Since 1995 it would be fair to say that we've been one

of the leading surf schools in the UK. We'd like to think that we have a good grip on the surf school industry. We think now is the time for a new type of surf school. Of course we wouldn't be going into this without a plan and we have one. If we were doing this in year two, this wouldn't work, but after 16 years we can make the change with real confidence. Most of our

business is pre-booked, so that's a strength. But there will be significant changes to the way we operate. We're very excited about it.

As for this year, it's business as usual. We're currently enjoying potentially the busiest ever and a year in which positive feedback is at an all time high. Credit to the team. No changes until Jan 2011. We've got the rest of the year to let everyone know of the changes in 2011 - can't wait, very excited!

Just finished three days at the Royal Cornwall Show - really not much point in doing that again. Unless you have old stock to sell (which we didn't) no-ones there to pay full prices. It was fun though setting up next to Ollypop who kindly gave us some space. I gathered all the profits on the last day to buy a nice slice of Blue Cheese from the food tent - says it all really.

Pilgrim Pete pays a visit to our stand - I use the term 'stand' very loosely!

A big up to Billy's footie team who completed the cup and league double. What an amazing bunch of young lads! And a huge thanks to coaches Tom and Nick who's dedication to the team is inspiring and selfless. Totally committed to what's best for the boys.

New designs big success

Tee shirts have historically not been great sellers - not entirely sure why? However, the new ones with new designs and colourways have been flying off the shelves.

Peace and quiet

The beach has returned to normality following a sensational Whitsun. Just great for everyone. Funny that Pirate FM did a report saying that Cornwall businesses were saying that numbers were 10% down - maybe that's because they were all here. When you get the combo of surf and sun there's no beating it - and that's what we got. People were calling the surf yesterday, the best ever. Even past instructor and former Western Oz surf champ Mick, reckoned it was one of the best he'd had at Polzeath. 4ft, maybe more on the sets, super clean with great banks.

Britain got Talent - Big up to Spelbound, brilliant and so understated. Where do these people hide?! As the Janey Cutler? You just start when you like love!