Beach House Winter Getaway bargains

Thought I'd throw this out - there are a few weekends up for grabs at the Beach House this winter. The very special deal is exclusive use for £500 - that's up to ten of your friends and family staying right on the beach. And we can sort out lessons or hire - whatever you want for your visit. Keys can be picked up anytime on the Friday, with a check out anytime Sunday. Give us a call if fancy it.

The beach is emptying as the half term comes to an end. But what a half term! I'm off to Minehead now - got to register for the Exmoor Beast later today for the event tomorrow. Going to stay the night in Taunton - 5.30am start. Forecast looks quite brutal! Very wet and windy up on the Moor - nice!

All's well that ends well

Andy made it! He's a rock that boy - despite spending most of the day looking down the neck of the porcelain bowl, he was able to drag himself onto the stage. And all was well. It was good night. Proceeded by a good fun surf comp - the Big Wig. A low key affair with ten teams - the surf couldn't have been more perfect. 2ft glass - perfect for the swellies.

Last year we had one person booked in for the 10am today! This year we had 30! that makes a difference. What a great advert it's been for Polzeath this half term. Lots going home tomorrow.

mahoustic

We had a band practice on Monday night, the likes of which we've never had before!! It's quite possible that every song, we played better than we'd ever played in our ten year history. For some reason we all turned up in the 'zone' - it was straight through without having to go over any or discuss one or two tweaks. There were a few knowingly glances between band members as if to say "hey, this is going much too well!" We left clearly the hall clearly pumped and looking forward to the gig tonight.

But nothing's ever that easy. Our bass player has been throwing up all night and it's doubtful whether he can muster himself out of bed and up to Polzy from Hayle in time for tonight's end of season gig!! This is a huge dilemma! Do we cancel, try and find a replacement or see if he feels better? What we do know with Grattman is that if he can make it he will! I think we'll hang on in there and hope we can prop him up on stage. Adrenalin can normally get you through these things.

The beach continues to be busy. It's been an amazing end to the official season. With warm weather and superb surf, holiday makers have been down in huge numbers enjoying the best of what Cornwall has to offer.

Pumping

This is the first time in 4 years I've been on the beach for the October half term. France with the Boardriders has been the go and I have to say that I've missed not getting on the Ferry with the crew. Good job I'm here though as the pumping surf and sunny skies has brought everyone to Cornwall. It's bonus time! I even had to teach twice yesterday and Janey had to man the shop!

Time to Question

Well that was an interesting programme last night then! They didn't like Mr. Griffin very much did they?! Cornwall is quite isolated from all the issues they're talking about - except that we did have to sort out Kelly's visa so he could work over here for the next five years (he's from NZ). It was a difficult and costly process - that was our experience. It certainly wasn't a formality. I thought it was a pretty good system as it goes.

Our postie has just popped in to deliver the mail. He's not a union member. Last night on Amazon I purchased Surf Into Yoga with Rochelle Ballard - and he's brought that with him!! How good is that?! That means tonight I can contort my body into all different shapes and sizes! Need to ... my calf is much better but to get through the 'Exmoor Beast' I'm going to need to be in tip top! Quite nervous about it as it goes.

The half term is now upon us - it's going to be very busy. Seven days and then it's chill time!!

Post Strike

Hm, not sure about the post strike?! I have a healthy disregard for Unions! I still think it's pretty amazing that you can send a letter and have it hand delivered at the other end of the country the next day for the cost of a small chocy bar. We'd pay a bit more wouldn't we?

The Cribbar was firing yesterday. I was down at Fistral at the British Surfing Association HQ for a surf school meeting, watching the boys tow in to double overhead. Looked like they were having great fun. Fistral itself was pretty good - might explain why quite a few of the meeting attendees didn't come back after lunch!!

We've battled with the BSA, our governing body, for the past 10 years. In fact, one guy said he was only at the meeting to see the fireworks! one major point of contention that I've always had was that the BSA had their own surf school. Which in effect meant that we were competing with our own governing body. But last July they sold it, so now we have a clean sheet of paper to work out what's going to be best for surf schools and the development of surfing in the UK (and the commonwealth). I have to say it was the most positive meeting I've been at in 17 years - some real steps forward. Faith has been restored. What was really nice was the positive recognition of what we've been doing with our Elite Boardriders, through the work of Kelly. Not just from the exec, but from the other surf schools. It was pretty cool and a good turnaround. As the largest surf school we've led the industry in many ways over many years. So a big up to the exec, definitely moving in the right direction.

Tweeked the old calf - same old story! Couple of days lay off - but could do with some training with the race coming up next weekend.

That was tough!.. and it's only going to get tougher!

Firstly if you're after details of the BIG WIG surf event please scroll down. Lots of people coming so best sign up asap.

Hm, just done a silly thing. Got a bit carried away maybe?! Just put my name down for the Bodmin Beast bike race across Exmoor. 101 miles of pure hell on the 1st November. Judging from my performance only 20 mins ago up the hill (south) at Pt Isaac (that's steeper than I remember!) then I'm in for a long day in the saddle. Oh well, it's not like I'm in to win it, just to finish will do me. Quite a challenge considering that 4 weeks ago I was as unfit as I've ever been in my life! And in the words of Janey "that wasn't a pretty sight".

We sponsored a long board surf comp at Polzy on the weekend. The event was blessed with awesome surf. Super clean - perfect. By all accounts it went really well. On saturday I volunteered to keep the competition area clear of other surfers. But On Sunday, i was well out of there. The boys both had football matches so that's where my priorities lie. Best of luck to the person who had the job of clearing out the local surfers from their favourite peak when the surf was going off! hm, good luck with that one! There was no way that my name was going to be down for that one!

Talking of volunteering. I just rang St. Minver school to ask if they had any work that I could do on a volutary basis. I go in on a friday to help with the good readers club and really enjoy it. And as luck would have it they need someone to run their PE. Well put me down for that. With only two weeks before we're down to winter hours, I feel that I'd like to use my time getting stuck into something different. Billy and Fin both go there so it could be a lot of fun.

And that's where we are. Two weeks to go before the 'off peak' season starts. I know next week is going to be very busy, and then we can look forward to some down time. The surf school will remain open throughout the winter but there's a completely different feel about it as far as coming to work. It'll be me, Janey, Wailin, Mikey and JD sharing the work load. 

X factor! It's a killer. I really don't want to get sucked in.. but it's so hard not to be. My thoughts... Cheryl, great job under some pretty intense media pressure; rachel needs to soften up a bit; twins, time to go. My prediction - winner - Danyl. Outside bet - Joe. You've got to think that when it comes down to the last five it's going to be pretty close. Janey likes Jamie, but I think that's because they've got similar hair. We'll see of there's more to this pony, not convinced, but like the fact that he's been thrashing it out in bars for years. Shows he's got some soul. As for the others? "I've been working all my life for this!" say the 18 year olds! Think they need to go away and get a reality check!

The Big Wig Surf Comp

THE BIG WIG

On Thursday the 29th of October 2009 Surf’s Up will be hosting our annual fun surf competition, relaunched this year as 'The BIg Wig', followed by an evening of Party action with a special appearance by Mahoustic the Surf’s Up! band at Carters. This year we’ve introduced a new format to make it even more compelling!

The Big Wig will kick off at 4pm with check in from 3.45 pm at the Surf’s Up! training center above the Galleon Beach cafe.  We estimate that the competition will be completed by 6 pm and this will be followed by a prize giving ceremony at 7:30 pm in the Carters pub which will be followed by the after party in the same venue.

 THIS COMPETITION IS OPEN TO ALL SURFERS OF ALL ABILITIES!

The emphasis is on fun challenges rather than formal competition. The fancy dress code for this year is, as you might have guessed “Big Wigs”. We'll leave you to decide what that means - go crazy!

The maximum team size is six people. However if you don’t have enough people for a full team don’t panic! You can enter as an individual or a smaller group and we will match you up with other surfers to form a full team. Who knows if you get lucky you might get an instructor on your team as a wild card entry!

Each team needs to nominate a team captain who will be responsible for important decisions on the day.

Your first challenge is to build a 'dug out' in the sand in 20 minutes, for your team to use as a base camp throughout the event. You can bring props to furnish your camp! Please bring along spades, flags, banners etc (strictly no JCBs!) and anything else you think will make it stand out from the rest.

Each team will have one swell board to compete on.

Teams will be given various challenges, and for each challenge will need to choose someone to represent you to catch a wave and perform a specific manoeuvre on your board e.g. switch stance or longest left hand ride.  All challenges will be given to the team captain at his/her base camp and they must nominate the person who will take on each challenge.   Points will be awarded for the different challenges.  Extra points will be given for carrying out your given manoeuvre on an unbroken wave.

There will be 12 wave challenges and team captains must ensure that all team members surf twice.

A range of bonus points will be awarded for style and creativity. And for best base and best wig outfits.  

Whist one of your crew is surfing the rest of the team will be attempting to complete land based challenges! A secret envelope containing the land based challenges to be completed will be given to the team captains at the start of the comp - these can then be opened on the start gun (no peaking!)

So come on, drop us a line and we'll send you an entry form. It's going to be huge fun!

All coming together

Just one of those days when things go your way. Only last week Janey spotted that we'd been paying VAT on all our kids clothing, wetsuits etc.... the accountant is on the case and we've been told we can expect a hefty rebate! Sweet. About time - the tax system is totally at odds with small businesses. Give assistance to small businesses and the economy will recover much quicker. There were other bits of good news today, but not really for public consumption at this time!

Spending time on the bike has been healthy. Not just in a physical way, but a mental. Gives you time to step back and think. Myself and Janey have been on a personal journey (together - is there any other way) recently about where Surf's Up! is heading. We started Surf's Up! fifteen years ago to fulfill a lifestyle. This we achieved. But as the business grows, we've moved further away from this simple ideal. No complaints. However, we've discussed at length a new vision for Surf's Up! - we've done the big surf school thing. It came out of providing a good service.... the location and timing were also pretty key. Oh and some hard work. And this led us to become the largest surf school in the UK (some say the world!). This year we've added the shop and the new training facility. But still we feel that there's a better way to run Surf's Up! Our plan is gathering pace and the momentum will carry it through to the conclusive stage. It's change that keeps the fire burning bright.

Thought I'd walk like John Wayne today - shouldn't have worried. Been dancing around the beach like the other Wayne instead.. Wayne Sleep! 

Time to Negotiate

I like my toys! And having committed to the London Triathlon next August the one thing I'm missing is a road bike! So negotiations have been ongoing with my beloved wife, Janey. It's funny how it's men that seem to want the toys. Anyway, yesterday I drove down to the Specialized shop in Plymouth to drool over some fantastic machinery. I left with a demo bike to have a go on.

Today I cycled to Plymouth, loved the bike and cycled back on my new one! That's about 100 miles all in! Slightly fatigued, but it must be the trampolining every night that's strengthening my chicken legs, because it wasn't too bad. 

So what's the deal. Well it's like for like. I've had to assemble all my past toys and put them on e-bay. Which brings a tear to my eye, but it's totally fair. The deal is to sell enough toys to pay for the bike before the Visa bill hits the desk! I'm on the case as we speak - pressures on or I can expect a very severe word in my earhole. Now the bike in question is a Specialized Roubaix, and it's awesome. Over that sort of distance I thought it'd either be really uncomfortable on my butt or would put strain on my back. But it was as smooth as you like. Quite a hilly route, but there's a great stretch from the roundabout just outside Liskeard all the way to the Bodmin Parkway railway station. It's ever so slightly downhill all the way and you can stick it on the big ring and really give it some. Bit scary with the big lorries hurtling past only feet away - keeps you on your toes at least.

Which brings me sweetly onto our clear out. We're having a mega Autumn clean. So much stuff around the house surplus to requirements. We're going to do a few car boots to clear it all. Quite fun as it goes.

Surf's dropped off a bit now - but how good was that for a few days! Right out of the top draw.

Fin's got a swimming gala in a minute and then there's an open day at Wadebridge school. Bit undecided about what to do when Billy reaches secondary age - keeping an open mind at this stage.