A Dogs Life -

Im currently in paris on another photo shoot.

some news came to me yesterday that my dog had to be put down.

to here this whilst being alone was very sad.

after sharing 15 years with a dog, you bind a connection, you understand it and get to know its personality, even though its not human. 

shady was 15, she lived a long and happy life on our farm, chasing sheep, horses, badgers and any other animals she could snout out. 

we’re all gona miss you shades......... r.i.p

 especially sunny ladkins ...

and treacle dog .

Seasons Come And Go -

The end of summer has come,

say goodbye tot he cornish sun.

The rush or tourists from west to east,

leaving us with the very least.

Fear not the fish are still swarming,

the taste of sea bass is still very warming

A cold breeze breaks the stem of the old brown leaves.

clocks go back darkness dominates.

collect the logs for those long nights in.

Not long now the christmas spirit will soon begin.

Winter swells have just begun,

all surfers are on the run.

Snowy hills, Icy lakes,

hope my new van has trusting brakes.

The whistling kettle never seems to stop.

Warm your cockles on the uk’s finest crop.

Crisp and clear, do not fear,

easter is on its way,

summer is near.

If only it went this fast,

us surfers may be able to last.

Still we plough through, with a sigh of relief,

leaving winter behind, with nothing but grief. 

Parnassus surroundings -

I was invited to do the rip curl, wct trials in Peniche, Portugal 

The waves were lambasting. 

The vibe was intense.

To come 3rd was an achievement, but to be so close to surfing against the guys that i have looked up to since i started was demoralizing. 

Surfing with the best guys in the world has given me faith that there is still light at the end of the tunnel. 

Its only a few steps away, fame, glory,money !!!

But to be honest it doesn’t seem like the be all and end all. I think i would prefer to be underground just come out every now and then and do what i do, shame it doesn’t really work like that. You need to have a certain style or personality to achieve that lifestyle. 

I seen some stuff down there that really put my thoughts into perspective, stuff in which is normally covered up by the media. I’ll tell stories in person, but to blog it on the internet would be indecent. 

Home Sweet Home -

After a long 10 days of small, summer surf in france, i yet again arrive home to the amazing sight, of the refreshing landscape in which i call home

words - Tori  - Ok so when someone says you can’t do something, no matter if their older, wiser or stronger, you should never let them make that decision for you. Unfortunately from my own knowledge so far of life, and how it works, which isn’t allot as am only 18. But I have never been more aware of things u need written on paper to get places and past certain levels in life, people relying on impressions, expectations and security created by dare say it but ‘money’. Rather then the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness. Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it. . .

As it’s the most important thing to your life wherever, whatever, or whoever you are or trying to be. 

A few days of camping with my best friends puts everything into prospective. blessed with the end of summer sunshine, the purity and secret nudist beaches of the southwest tip, frowns upon the rest of the world.

http://mpora.com/videos/wi2lM001r

Images summer 2010 -

Here, There, Everywhere -

Since the English champs i have been to portugal for a photo shoot for rip curl. Then straight to newcastle for a competition, that was canceled due to small surf. After that i spent a few days at home spear fishing and barbecuing,

the weather was amazingly sunny for several days. I am now returning from another photo shoot for rip curl’s online shop, in Paris.

its been a busy month to say the least. I went to Paris with an open eye to explore the beautiful city that it is and an eye opener it was. to get to work i walked passed many of homeless people on the streets, i traveled on the metro. the constant rush of people blurred my vision, the tall building left be gazing into the sky. some afternoons i had free time. I bought a day pass on the underground and checked out as many tourist attraction as i could, the eiffel tower, Chans a lise, the arc de triomphe. It was nice to spend some time alone to just think about things, but it did get lonely, i just wanted to speak to anyone, but the language barrier was difficult. i had one friend in paris. her name Annabelle, we met for drinks after work and soaked the last of the sunshine in a park located in monceau. towards the end i really needed to go home. 5 days away from the sea is long enough for me, i felt claustrophobic, but an experience it was and another place to tick of the list. 

Seychelles -

is paradise really what its made out to be   ?

white sand,palm trees, warm, transparent sea, exotic fruits,coconut, papaya. its a dream, that everyone wishes to live. 

in my eyes the grass is always greener on the other side.   

when your sitting in the air conditioned airplane looking out the window upon lush green forest surrounded by a few miles of golden sand, you think WOW, my dream is about to become true. But  reality hits as soon as you take the first step of the plane. you first feel the moist humidity that hits you, like opening the door of a sauna, you start to sweat within minutes. don’t get me wrong after coming from mid winter in england there’s nothing better than feeling that heat, but after a few days it becomes uncomfortably hot, you realize you cant sleep, unless you have air-con. after a week of surfing the rash on you belly becomes unbearable the sand gets between you and your board, paddling becomes a chore. you get your fist cut from the razor sharp coral, within 3 days you cant walk, infection kicks in. or you carry on surfing and it turns into a gaping hole. you try to rest on the beach and watch your mates surf, within 2 minutes your covered in sand fly’s, horse fly’s or mosquitos.  I’m going to stop there cause i don’t want to sound like a spoilt, pessimistic, dream destroyer, but i’m sure every surfer knows what i’m talking about. 

luckily enough for me i didn’t get an infection or a gaping wound on this trip to the seychelles and the previous cut on my foot, that left me stranded on land for 2 weeks, healed up just in time. 

I would say the seychelles was by far the most beautiful place i’ve visited so far. the surf is there, finding it with the right swell,wind, tide on the right island is a different matter, but there is defiantly big potential. we found some fun waves, that looked like on there day could be unbelievable. I came to the conclusion that the best way to visit the Seychelles is bye boat, staying on land is expensive, especially the privately owned islands. buy yourself a boat and sail around the 115 islands that make up the seychelles and i promise you will find some amazing waves that have never been ridden. 

English Championships -

1 minute I'm on the dance floor with relentless energy drowning my insides, the next I'm standing on the podium  with a  first place trophy in my hand, the microphone in my face,  

any words  ????   24 hours of excitement, exhilaration, and relief ...

The first day of competition only consisted of 1 heat, i passed with no problems. that night i new i had to go to this party, it only comes around once a year and all my amigos were there. i decided that it would be a good idea not to drink.  i just drank relentless energy all night.  by 10 p.m. i was buzzing and shaking with energy. we entered the dance tent, the music was amazing and for once i could actually hear the music in detail and recognise which songs where playing. Its pretty weird being at a party like that, stone cold sober,  everyone else is so of there face on drink and drugs. but wearing a mask defiantly helps, people cant see your straight face and sober emotions. there was people knocking into me and falling all over the place, i disguised myself as one of them and got on with it. I danced until the relentless wore of and left without goodbyes. if you want to go home on a night like that, you just have to go, saying goodbye means getting sucked back in or disappointing friends, just leave. I arrived home at 1 am feeling a bit tweaky still, but happy to be in bed.

the next day i was ready for it, i decided to myself when i left that party, that i was going to win.  if i was to get knocked out or even came 2nd, i would of been distort about leaving the party early.

i stormed through my heats, the semis was a close call with close friend Oli Adams and myself drawing. I managed to come out on top as i had the highest wave score of the 2 waves counted. 

I relaxed for the final and picked of a couple of nice set waves, which put me ahead of Lyndon Wake, another good friend of mine.  it was such a relief to win, as i haven't had a win in a while, i was starting to forget how it felt.  so i am now still a big fish in a little pond, but slowly working my way up the ladder and loving every step.............

Scotland -

 the crazy thing about being at home is that i don’t appreciate it unless i have been away. The uk has its days and it has its special  spots. like everywhere in the world it has its good and bad points, for some reason most people avoid talking about the good and focus on the bad. its unfortunate that the beauty of britain is not appreciated as much as it should be.

 I was home for a week. the sun was shining, i surfed every day at a very special spot on the tip of south west cornwall, its quite and beautiful. the waves where small but fun.

it was cool to catch up with all my friends and family back in St.Ives. my mum made special healthy dinners for me every night, like she always does, 1 thing that i take for granted if i stay home for to long. it was a special week for me.

its been 3 months since entering a contest, i felt a little bit unprepared before the start of the 6* wqs event in Scotland. and probably should of been trying to focus a bit more while i had a free week at home, but i was to busy enjoying myself,  caching up with friends + moving back to our summer house in the garden. 

i went in to my first heat with the right mind set and attitude and gave it my all, with 1 minute to go i needed a 5.0 ride, i took of on a nice wave and carved the face of the wave as hard as i could twice, i new the only chance to get the score i needed was to hit the end section with all i had and land it. the only problem was that the water sucked out and left me facing with landing on pure rock. I had no choice, i went for it, i wasn’t going to get knocked out with out a fight. i  hit the section with all my might and landed on the rocks, snapping my board in 2. i was gutted, the score came through short of what i needed a 4.6, if i landed the last turn i would of had the score i needed. least i gave it my all, and sometimes thats all you can do. i learnt allot from that heat and moved on with a positive attitude. scotland is pure and refreshing to say the least, i enjoyed the rest of the week, exploring the cold, empty coastline, hunting for waves in the many cracks and coves in the cliff edge. 

West Ozz -

a friend Matt Smith and i had four days before meeting up with Ben Selway, a british photographer for wavelength magazine and a few other surfers from the uk. my friend matt had lived here a few years back and had a few contacts. we were lucky enough to get hooked up with a 4x4  and even a place to stay in Yallingup, 3 hours south of perth. we were staying with Claire Bevolaqua, who is a highly respected surfer she’s is currently on the wct. all was good and well until my friend matt realized that a cut on his leg went from bad to really bad. he had a piece of coral stuck in his leg which was festering for a few weeks. the fever hit him one morning  and we had to race to the hospital, they put him on the drip for 24 hours, it was a pretty serious situation. i was once again reminded that being healthy is the most important thing in my life. but a couple of days late i had a reoccurrence of staff infection, staff is a bacteria that sits dormant in every human being. Staff comes alive if a cut gets infected and or the immune system is really low. i had a really bad occurrence of staff the last time i came home from bali, in 2008. i had boils and sores evolve all over my legs, they would come and go with antibiotics, this lasted for a year. i really thought i had got ridden of this infection until now, a year later and here we go again. i couldn’t surf  for a week, i had 3 boils 1 on my shin one on my calf and a big one on my knee, absolutely hating life. my immune system was low as it gets. i felt like a leper that should be caged and not let out until better. i ate healthy and rested, before i knew it i was back n the water, i can only hope they don’t come back.

the surf was crowded, every peak and slab that we checked was full, with 4 of us it was hard to surf anywhere, it was hard to keep our heads high. a couple days later after allot of driving, checking and searching, we sussed the place out and found a few playful waves, that were uncrowded and fun at the least. we bagged some shots, (above)  and relaxed, with a bottle of wine grown and made  from one of the many vineyards down this stretch of coastline.  the whole trip in all was a great experience, it was great to finally get to see western Australia, it was just unfortunate that we couldn’t enjoy the big days, on the famous slabs that the coastline has to offer, due to crowds. I’m afraid that soon every spot in the world will be crowded. surfing is massive now and still growing, but there are still spots out there, untouched, and empty. its just a matter of getting of my ass, bursting the bubble of surfing well known, crowded spots and going exploring.       1 day !!!!!!!!

Indonesia -

lakey peak- sumbawa - indonesia, 1/4 of the way through my trip. we where lucky to get blessed these amazing waves. its been small up until now, the crowds have been hectic, my patience has been tested. but none of that matters on these days, its just pure happiness, its to big for most of the average surfers, the crowd is halved, the vibe is good, everyone is loving the effortless stand up barrels, with a small portion of adrenaline running through there veins. i cant ask for much more, living the dream. my friends and i in indo having the time of our lives. a small price to pay is having a pretty intense stomach bug for 3 days after. i'm currently in western Australia, awaiting the next good swell, to surf some of the amazing waves this part of the coastline has to offer.

https://vimeo.com/21596860