light as a feather

Lost a stone in 10 days! Feeling good baby! I said to Janey once I'm cut again she'll find me irresistible. I think her reply was, "Make sure you put the dog out!" hmm! But the home cooking has gone down a treat with the boys.

Keep on bouncing

My mate Mikey's been down. He's a legend. We're good buddies. He did the interior of Homer Park, our first surf lodge in Port Isaac. Long days and nights to get that project done but many happy memories. He dropped everything in Ely to come and manage the project for 6 weeks. He used to do Changing Rooms on the telly, and true to form the building was complete the day the guests arrived! A reference to Changing Rooms on it's own would be an insult though as he does some amazing interiors. check out his stuff http://michaeljewitt.com/.

We went on the boat over to Padstow for some Steins fish and chips which were for the first time, really disappointing. That won't stop a return visit though as the average is... very high! Mikey chose to act as a water barrier on the front of the boat as we explored the Camel Estuary. I think he enjoyed that! Anyway, whenever he's around there's much laughter and ti was great to see him down here.

Scores on the doors?! I've lost 11lbs in 8 days! Come on! Combo of no chocolate, no milk, no coffee, eating healthy stuff like nuts and fruit, lots of bouncing on the Bellicon and some spinning on the bike! So much more energy. My new found stoke has led me to cook for the family two nights in a row! And true to the hunter, gatherer tradition, not just any old meals. The full fresh cordon blue approach getting every pot and pan out on display. Fin's been diving in to help - talking of Fin, Big Sam was teaching him in the surf last night, pulling him into huge waves for the little man. Breakthrough session - thanks Sam!

Big Sam's wedding this weekend. Looking forward to it. Up to Croyde in the morning for a surf comp and then back for the big event.

Much quieter on the beach now.

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.