Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

The Ocean-Image site will be changing in the near future ! Development work has been underway for some time now, and the IT droids processors are overheating as the upgrade work progresses. So what's happening? Well, there will be a lot more surfing, seascapes, waves and ocean-related imagery to have a look at, in an online slide library fashion, as well as other extreme sports, windsurfing, climbing, Cornwall, travel, etc etc. This will be a searchable database, and include uploads from guest photographers, with images downloadable full size for commercial use, or as small microstock images for websites or personal use. A (free) subsciption allows use of a lighbox feature, picture rating, free screensaver downloads, and more. Keep an eye on www.ocean-image.com for exciting picture developments!

So we planned a trip to try out this crazy new type of surfing - Brush Boarding. Designed to try and replicate a skate-surf-snowboard sort of feel, it's essentially a metal quarter-pipe skate ramp with holes cut into it, through which brushes rotate at high speed. You stand on a foam board and try and surf against the upthrust of the brushes. Am I making sense? Pretty much like surfing or skating, you can drop in from the top, do bottom turns and cutbacks, trim down the line, as well as kick-flips (not me) off the tops (maybe after a bit more practice) and wipeout (definitely me). The wipeouts are OK though, with loads of padding around, and instaed of being mullered by the rest of the set, as in surfing, the guy on the controls simply shuts the machine down, so you can dust yourself off, and get right back into it. Which, it turns out, is what everybody wanted to do. It was definitely fun to do, and with further developments in the pipeline, I can see this becoming a great traini...

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

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