Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

Have a look at this picture. It's of my local break - pretty much going off - on a sunny clean offshore day, and yet the chap surfing decided this wasn't a good session, despite, if the photos speak truth, having loads of waves like this one. The thing is, there was a crowd in the water. If you've surfed all winter in waves like this with only two people and a seal for company, and then the first day of spring great unwashed hordes of wannabe surfers descend onto 'your' patch and drop in on you, a certain peevishness is entirely understandable. Certainly though, it's a better idea to surf with a crowd and get a few waves than sit on the beach taking photos as the surf pumps up to high tide, then decide to go in, only to find that the dropping tide includes a dropping swell for free. Oh, and a bigger crowd. And an onshore wind. And don't get me started about Summer crowds. Return to Ocean-Image

Finally managed to get in the water today, missing out on the huge crowd that gathered for the start of this swell, up to more than ten times the usual crowd apparently, depending on which disgruntled local you talk to. The internet has a lot to answer for, back in the day, we'd be glued to the six oclock news watching the isobars form rings behind Michael Fish, and simply guessing when the swell would arrive. Nowadays, online predictive tools and knowledge are so good that the swell arrival can be pretty much timed to the hour, and star ratings show which beach even will attract the best of said swell. Consequently, everyone turns up at the same beach and complains about the size of the crowd. So what's the answer to this little conundrum? Somehow trash all internet forecasting sites? Or the internet itself? Or use your head and find a nice little spot that doesn't feature on any of the forecast sites, doesn't have a webcam, and no-one bothers going to because you have...

Is it just me or does everyone hate doing DIY? Just spent a whole day measuring and sawing and fixing, getting the house ready for sale. Of course the only day this was possible was the day of the best surf for ages. Sunny day, clean six foot perfection, offshore wind, Curses ! Only, if it had been two foot onshore mush, the deep hatred of these accursed chores would still have run deep in my veins. It's such an utter waste of life itself searching for the right flange bracket screw, replacing rotten timbers, or, the most wrist-slashing of all- painting. The Horror. I don't have any quirky photos to share with this, just imagine a totally black square in a vast cauldron of blackness a thousand miles deep and you'll get the picture. On a more positive note, there's now a beautifully done up two bed cottage for sale, not far from an epic barrelling right hander in Cornwall. Return to Ocean-Image.com