Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

It's always the same - the drive to the surf is faster, more focused, and more stressful than the post-surf meander home. On the way you're amping to music, eager to get in the water and the road always seems to be full of the slowest and worst drivers on earth. Even when it's howling onshore mush, as it was on a recent jaunt to the south coast of Devon, surfers are just so super keen to surf'. Arriving rapidly in the car park for a surf, a touch on the brakes saw this vehicle slide down a waterlogged field and into a hedge, causing 'about two grand's worth of damage' according to the driver. Despite this hefty dent to vehicle, pride and wallet, he simply suited up and ran down to the beach with a smile on his face! Not sure if this mess was worth the smile, and freezing cold to boot, though some inside wedges were peeling away nicely. This little secret spot, a pre-visit internet discovery, dished up some interesting lefts, with a half decent looking bommie...

Spent a lot of time yesterday driving around in a WNW wind trying to find somewhere to shoot some decent surf. Obviously an impossible task, since it that wind blows out everywhere in this neck of the woods. Trying to get some shots for Jess, who recently started riding with Pure Blue Water . After yo-yoing up and down the coast, and dragging serial blog artist Alex Wade along for company, we managed to turn up a pretty decent wave at a certain lesser known spot. Luckily the spot doesn't really have a name, so I can't give it away. They both managed to get a few waves, despite conditions detiorating dramatically as soon as they hit the water, as so often happens. It's the surf photographer's lament to stand on a freezing beach watching others have a whale of a time, sigh. But I was pleased with one or two waves that I snapped in between the surf shots.

Yeah, new year's day, headache, so what's really New about that? My new year's resolution is going to be 300dpi. Predictions : The credit crunch will be the biggest hoax of the year. The surf will pump in the spring. I will be on it. Or photographing it. The new Ocean-Image site will launch. Have a good one. Ocean-Image.com