Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

So that's it for 2010, here's some wintry Sennen shots from the recent snow.  If you're reading this tomorrow, then Happy New Year. Sennen Cove Sennen beach, with Cape Cornwall in the distance  Sennen hill surfing  Penlee Park  Penzance Promenade Return to Ocean-Image.com

With all the spices going into the mulled wine this time of year, it reminded me of one of surfing's most iconic commercial uses in the 1970's Old Spice adverts.  If you know who shot the surf footage, or who the surfers are, please get in touch, I'd love to know. Festive Greetings to you, hope you have a Spicy one. Return to Ocean-Image.com

I love getting in the water to shoot surfing, it gives such a fresh perspective on what is really going on in the water.   Today was also fantastically bright, which helps with getting faster shutter speeds to freeze the action.  Porthleven today Freezing was the buzz word today, with a near zero air temperature and blocks of ice for feet after a long session swimming about in the water ensuring that hobbling across the barnacled reef afterwards was like stepping on red hot knives.  But a brilliant blue sky day with sparkling clear light and some great colours. More of the shots here :  Porthleven Today Return to Ocean-Image.com

A few horses in the snow, alert to the arrival of some hay.. Return to Ocean-Image.com

Hot on the heels of the 2011 Waves calendar comes my first book, unsurprisingly entitled 'Ocean-Image', and published via the Blurb phenomenon. With 120 pages of, as the title suggests, seascapes, surfing and wave pictures, the book also includes three surf travel stories from previous Irish, Scottish and Sri Lankan adventures. You can buy one or just have a look at the first 15 pages here :   Ocean-Image Book   New Book - Cover A calendar, a book, whatever next ? Well, hopefully some time for a surf before the X-word arrives. Return to Ocean-Image.com

So the new Waves Calendar has arrived, just in time for the X-word, with 12 great surfing and wave photos plus a whole year's worth of days and dates inside, it would make a marvellous present for the Ocean Lover in your life.  The 2011 Calendar cover  Back cover  Displayed inside it's own clear fold-out case, it'll sit happily on a shelf, mantlepiece or desk, plus it is sold in aid of Surfers Against Sewage , who aim to keep our oceans clean, among many other worthy causes. Grab one via the website by clicking here  .  Return to Ocean-Image.com

Today was a day of barrels, everywhere you looked there were barrels peeling down a reef.  And a lot of takers too, doesn't anyone in Cornwall have a job ?  Bert Wright Is this you ? Although there were plenty of deep pits, it wasn't as big as expected. Seemingly most of the swell went south to Brittany and Galicia, and hit the west coast of Ireland in a very big way.   There were a lot of smiling faces at Porthleven today though. Bert Wright There were so many barrels, some people just stood there, mesmerized .. . . . . Surf zombies transfixed by barrels Did you manage to get in? Retuen to Ocean-Image.com

Miss Cornwall A calm, windless, clifftop evening, with a stunning view from a classic Cornish setting. With a few lines of surf rolling in across the glassy sea, what could be better ?  Well, the opportunity for a shoot with Samantha Orpe, the current Miss Cornwall, that's what. See the photos and read Alice Westgate's interview with her in the November issue of   Cornwall Today . Nice. Return to Ocean-Image.com

Having been surfing for about 25 years, I have only once surfed with dolphins at my home break.  That was around 15 years ago, when a pod of about eight dolphins came leaping out of the wave faces as a set pushed through the lineup.  I managed to catch one of the last waves of the set, which had two dolphins in it. They sped along underneath me, one on each side, like some sort of aquatic outriders escorting me to shore. A very memorable surf for all of us in the water that day, but it never happened again. I've spotted dolphins many times over the years, but never happened to be in the water when they've arrived.  Until yesterday. And then again today.  Of course, no camera with me whilst out in the surf, but managed to snap a shot immediately before going in.  Dolphins - fin  Dolphins, just like London buses. Return to Ocean-Image.com

I was up at Perranporth investigating the history of surfing for my monthly Surf Spot column, when I chanced across this beast in the photo.  Not Tom Tremewan, but the board he's holding. Known as ‘ Chris and Bill ’ s board’, it's a hollow wooden finless board which is 12 feet long. Built in the late fifties by Bill Heath and Chris Thomson for paddle races, it was apparently physically damaging to ride.  Tom and friends used to surf it back in after a paddle,  making it potentially one of the first boards ever surfed in Cornwall. More info in the latest  Cornwall Today Surf Spot column. Return to Ocean-Image.com

An unusal sight on any beach really, the gathered forces of the King's Troop at full gallop bearing down on you. Though partially posted in Afghanistan, the troop are more often seen firing Royal salutes on state occassions, under the leadership of Captain Max Channery. These were shot earlier in the summer for the national newspapers while the horses were 'holidaying' in Cornwall.  Luckily the surf was only mediocre, so it was easy to concentrate. In other news, this blog has heard that it is not fulfilling all of the functions claimed in the title.  Plenty of photos and surfing, we're told, but not enough moaning. To redress the balance, perhaps Blogger itself should be the subject of some moaning..... I've been trying to post these photos now for about ten days, but the recent 'updated' and revamped blogging software has been consistently refusing to allow it. Stumped, with all 'Help' emails routinely ignored, thousa...

 St Michael's Mount this morning   Return to Ocean-Image.com

Hurricanes, you've got to like them really.  At the same time I was on a cliff shooting these photos of a hurricane swell hitting Cornwall, Peter Martin was on a cliff in Ireland filming the same swell. See his stylish video below. Longships lighthouse is 117ft (35 meters) high  Cornish clifftop views  Video taken at Mullaghmore Head. Mullaghmore Head 05/10/2010 from Peter Martin on Vimeo . Return to Ocean-Image.com

Likeness of a wave seen on a child's head Return to Ocean-Image.com

Meet Tony Plant. An underground artist whose work varies from metallic installations in places you wouldn't expect to find art, to paintings, to photography, to coloured water pools.   You may inadvertently see his work whilst out for a walk, but if the tide has risen and fallen again, you may equally not.  Tony Plant The rock pool creations are ephemeral, fleeting, often gone before he can pick up a camera to record them.  A blink, a passing wave, and you'd never know that something had happened here just moments ago. Colour pool Despite the questionable practice of tipping paint into the ocean, these creations are obviously all unique. And does the impossibility of selling this artwork make it more valid as art?  Driven by passion rather than the need for financial gain? Red A true artist, most likely to exhibit in places you're very unlikely to go, you can catch a little bit of his work here: Tony Plant Return to ...

Congratulations are due to James Parry , who recently became British Longboard Champion, having already earned himself a place in the World Longboard championships to be held in Makaha, Hawaii, in November.  Eagle eyed types may also have spotted him projected onto a building in a current Ford advert.   Evening surf at Godrevy Martin Black A few photos here from a shoot up at Godrevy, a stunning, end of summer, windless and relaxed evening, with a spread of water users enjoying a calm, lazy swell.  Caroline Perret Martin Black Pro surfers Martin Black and Caroline Perret were there for the evening glass-off somewhere along the acres of beach. Their session flowing over into a great sunset.  There's so much space at Godrevy that despite all the people that use it, you may easily surf alone, perhaps alongside visiting surfers, but just as easily find yourself surfing next to local people like Austrian Ladies Surfing C...

Sam Lamiroy The long awaited month of September is finally here, the month all surfers long for, heralding the end of the summer wave drought, and the start of the powerful autumn swell season. This year, bang on cue, the south west was flooded by some clean, lined up, 16second period swell, courtesy of a hurricane named Danielle.  Strong, straight lines marched into the beaches and reefs, in some cases being too big and closing out across the bay.  Up in Perranporth a small group of locals including Sam Lamiroy, Andrew Griffin and Ben Skinner launched themselves into some heaving pits.  The photographers were out in force too, it seems like there's almost as many photographers as surfers these days, so expect to see this session in a few surf mags soon. Ben Skinner Although they generate this perfect swell, over in America the press follow these hurricanes with a sense of dread, fearing that they might come ashore and wreak havo...

It's finally here. The long awaited landing of the cable for the Wave Hub project happened this morning at about 5am, on the beach at Hayle rivermouth.  Once the cable has been attached to the electricity substation at Harvey Towans, all that remains is to unreel the cable to about 10 miles offshore, drop the Hub device to the seabed, and it will then be ready for business. The end of the line This is important for Cornwall, since the wave power devices that are tested on it will be at the very cutting edge of renewable energy technology, placing us at the forefront of that branch of engineering.  It's also important for surfers, since they will be able to see if the potential 5% reduction in wave size in the swell shadow (due to energy absorbed by the wave devices) is noticeable. This would mean a 20ft wave becomes a 19ft wave, a 10ft wave becomes a 9.5ft wave, a 5ft wave becomes 4.5ft - who will notice? Presumably, unless there is a veritable Barri...

A few pictures from the Greenaway Pro , currently being held at Porthmeor beach in St Ives this week. With the longboard event being run yesterday, the Under 18 semi-finals today and the Open rounds tomorrow, the finals on Saturday look set to be a showcase of British surfing talent. Toby Donachie In the first semi today, Quiksilver rider Toby Donachie stood out, with Sennen's Seb Smart missing out on a finals place due to a lack of waves. Holding a surf contest in August, the flattest month in Britain, at a beach that needs a decent swell to get going is a daring move. Organiser Matt Smith is certainly not short of the courage needed to even organise such a prestigious event, and clean, surfable, contestable waves pumped in during today's contest. Adam Bayfield Luke Dillon Some top notch Boogie Boarders will be showing up tomorrow, in the form of the Zion team, who will be signing boards and T shirts and, if the waves are as good as the forecast suggests, p...

The annual Pirate raft race at Praa Sands was lubricated equally by drizzle and beverages, both fuelling the anarchic party atmosphere. The first 'Pirates' we met were this strange but merry crew, so we were keen to see how they faired amongst the even stranger assortment of craft lined up on the beach, including a twelve foot parrot boat, a floating trampoline, and this motley bunch . . . . .         Total mayhem followed the start with many crews barely making it 20 yards out to sea.  That didn't seem to matter as everyone enjoyed jumping ship as they tipped over, were attacked or simply sank whilst under way.  The trampoline crew taking this to extremes by doing back flips and somersaults into the water. The lads above appeared to reach the beach first, but that didn't stop our Nacho Libre attired friends from claiming victory anyway,   and duly celebrating with a warm manly hug. The re...