Dawn Session

Just enjoyed some dawn solitude at a local break. Really clean swell, and about 40mins with the waves all to myself. Took a bit of motivation to face the approaching winter temperatures but well worth it. 

For me there's something really special about being on the water and having the line up to myself as the sun rises...the perfect way to start a day for sure.

I took out my brother's Watertech wave-ski which was fun...albeit a bit more twitchy than i'm used to at times paddling out! I'm probably going to do some more waveski-ing over the winter so should be entertaining :-)

 

Check out more pictures in my gallery: https://picasaweb.google.com/chrisharveyonline/November82012

Perfect Day

Just had a great 36hrs of playing around in the prototype. With 5 fin boxes i've been able to play around with different setups and so far the thruster seems the best. It's amazing the difference fins make to boat performance and i'd definitely recommend everyone plays around with size, positions etc. The thing i love most about this boat so far is the rails which engage with the wave really well and make for great carving turns as well as enabling you to get locked in high up on the wave...all i need now is a few deep hollow pits to get into.

And a few more pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/chrisharveyonline/October292012

Prototype Arrived Today!

I finally got my hands on the prototype i've been working on with Watertech. And first impressions are :-) awesome! It was a really messy 4-5ft windblown swell but the boat performed nicely, really tight carving turns, rail engages well and shoots down the line...lots more testing to do, but a shortboard style  hollow wave boat is what i wanted and looks like it's on the money...watch this space!

3 Days of Searching & Surfing

With a few days off last week, i was glued to the swell charts and contemplating a trip to Scotland but with a nice swell headed straight for the East Coast, decided to stay put, hook up with my brother (Adam) and enjoy some local sessions. 

However, instead of joining the bank holiday crowds at the usual spots we decided to explore a bit beyond the beaten track and scored some great waves... some nice and mellow, others a tad more gnarly...


One area of coast i've been wanting to check out for a while was particularly epic...after a 2 mile walk in at low tide our concern that it might be for nothing was turned on it's head when we reached a ledgy section of reef with hollow monsters dredging out and a rip like a river snaking between the peaks. After a bit of psyching up i launched (heart thumping) into the cauldron to see if anything was rideable. Another half hour of psyching up and i dropped into a steep  left hand wedge, holding the rail in as hard as i could and only millimeters away from carnage...fun! 


Not everthing we surfed was as gnarly and we clocked up many hours of great waves with everything from 6ft adrenalin pumping wedges to long playful walls and 2ft mellow beach breaks and all this with barely a soul in sight!

The view after walking for over an hour.

Only just making the drop on a very shallow ledge!

The long walk

Adam keeping it tight under the lip

Lots of fun

And some more...

Enjoying the view