By Royal Disappointment

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Dear Reader

As ever, it has been a long time since I last typed words into the ether, however this time I have a proper excuse. A right royal one, even.  Earlier in the year I took a call about photographing some people who would be visiting the area later in the year. 'Would love to,'  I said, 'Who are they?'

'Umm, we can't say at the moment', the caller replied. We talked some more and then, even having sworn me to secrecy, they would still only give away that 'They are an eminent, high profile and newsworthy couple'.  As it turned out, the eminent personages were none other than HRH The Queen and Prince Philip.

Unfortunately, the date they were coming conflicted with a date I already had booked on a ferry for a two week surf trip/photo shoot to France. Should I blow out the trip and get an HRH portrait or two in my portfolio - by Royal Appointment?  What a quandary - photograph the Queen or go on a surf trip?  What would you do?

'Can't they re-arrange to come a day earlier?' I enquired, 'Then I can fit them in'.  Apparently Her Majesty, despite her massive wealth and influence, couldn't create enough leverage to fit in with my surf itinerary. 'Oh well, they'll have to be disappointed then' I said, and duly jumped on a ferry to France (where they have a habit of beheading Royals) instead.

The trip was organised by Surf Nomads for a group of  school kids, with my job being to record stills and make a promo video. Having been on any number of surf trips in the past 25 years, from Arugam Bay to Aileens, in surf ranging from four feet to forty feet; whether on my own, with mates or shooting for the UKProSurfTour, none of them has instilled as much fear in me as the thought of travelling with a bunch of frothing, surf stoked, 12-15 year olds.

Tintin in France

Luckily they all turned out to be a right bunch of characters who provided me with two weeks of surf or skate antics and amusing cheekiness, constantly bursting to get into the merest hint of anything looking like a wave.  As a consequence of which I have been trying to condense approximately 10,000 video clips of surfing, shaping, skating, Spanish side trips and unstoppable frothing into a 45-minute-long epic trip video. Which, it transpires, takes rather a long time.

Hence my ethereal silence,
by Royal Dissapointment.

Regards

Mike

P.S.  In the meantime I've also been working on this old footage someone found in a loft in Redruth






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