Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

Not being able to get to the surf for a while, I've been checking out som videos of it on the web. Fair play to this geezer 'Vas' at Ours in Sydney for even taking this wave on, let alone the subsequent beating. Still, at least he got a trophy for his trouble - Worst Wipeout Award. Return to Ocean-Image.com

The hunt is on for a name for our new baby daughter, now past three weeks old and as yet un-named. We are 'in conversation' about the final naming, but the lack of a viable name for others to use has seemingly caused widespread panic. People seem unable to relate to her as a human being without said moniker, incurring lots of high-street tutting, late night pub discussions, and leading one commentator to utter 'Really, it amounts to child abuse!'. Your ideas on postcard to . . Another new arrival that has succesfully achieved a name is cool new surf mag - Drift . Born out of the online mag of the same name, it promises a refreshing change of angle on our surfing life. Return to Ocean-Image

Of course with the new arrival, there's been absolutely no chance of escaping for a wave for the past three weeks. Odd moments of freedom get taken up with things that simply invade your time. Like work, for instance. Consequently everyone has been ringing up or emailing their congratulations, frequently ending the conversation with 'Oh yes, and it was going off today.....!" and keeping my cup from running over. There is a minute portion of pedantic pleasure to be gleaned from this heavy dose of surf starvation, in that it just goes to prove my First Law of Surfing in a recent post. Luckily there's a backlog of work to catch up with, including uploading the recent Penzance Triathlon shots. The thing with surfing is that you never realise if you're breaking a sweat, as you get a cool rinse on every duck-dive, but these guys (and gals) were surely showing the strain at the end. Though it made a change from shooting surf action, it was certainly chilly up on the

So, no posts for a while due to the arrival of a new baby girl on the 19th March, in the back of the ambulance on the way to hospital no less. An exciting event in many ways, and making the 'Place of Birth' spot on the birth certificate, er, almost redundant. Although 'A30, Cornwall' might be accepted. In other news, a recent job in this diary of strangeness involved taking a picture for the Daily Mirror of a chap eating a plate of mushy peas. Not the everyday shoot. Witness the story of Rob Mathews, 42, who had allegedly lost 18 stone in seven months on a diet of three tins of mushy peas a day. Or had a gastric bypass. You decide.