Rip Curl UK Grom Camp

Rip Curl wanted me to take a selection of the uk's finest up and coming team riders to Hossegor, France, for a week of pefect waves and glorious sunshine, not to mention the hard core training. Lyndon Wake and i weren't only coaching the groms on their surfing skills, but also trying to make them realise that to be a traveling professional surfer, takes a lot more than just being the best at surfing ! Keep an eye out for the european training camp edit to come soon, from Peniche, Portugal during the  Rip Curl Pro.

RipCurl UK Training Camp - Hossegor from jayce robinson on Vimeo.

JR's Shredathon

https://vimeoom/74940567

JR's Shredathon from Luke Pilbeam on Vimeo.

The concept behind the shredathon was simple: mix four teams, consisting of two pros and one local, put them in the water for two hours, tell them to shred as hard as they possibly can and wait for the outcome. Announce a winner at the event and let the public decide on a second winner a few weeks post event.

We had the event at the ‘Mighty Meor ’ alongside a rad surf contest and music party called the Greenaway Pro. It was fun and stood out from the norm for competitive surfing in Britain. Everyone hug out together, surfed together and shredded together.

The Greenaway Pro is a non profit event held in the memory of a St. Ives Surfer and legend, Tom Greenaway, which has turned into something special. It still has a few nights of music, including performances from - Ben Howard, the Massive Attack DJ, Brother and Bones, Catfish and the Bottlemen. Not forgetting films from the best film makers worldwide and a lot of love.

“It was a pleasure to have the Shreadathon join us this year and rad to see some high-paced full-throttle surfing, in a relaxed way, with a lot of laughing and hooting, joking, smiling. A really friendly vibe by all of the contestants like it always is at the GP. Loads of fun and hope to have JR, Rip Curl and everyone that donated there time for free to such a good Cause, Tom Greenaway would have been very proud” GP

Words, Jayce Robinson

I have a love hate relationship with contests. As a kid I wasn’t forced into doing them, I just loved the feeling of being the best and being on top of everyone else. I suppose I loved the attention and the atmosphere around the events. Of course every up has its down and for me losing was something that has taken years to understand and to come to terms with.

For me the Shredathon is a relaxed form of competition, not only that, but a way of pushing innovative surfing. Without sticking to the standard format.JR

There is no doubt about it that over the last 5 to 10 years surfing has become serious. Sometimes I see kids in the water who find it hard to smile and there’s defiantly something not right there. I know what it feels like to be that kid, so many times in the past I have been a grumpy little shit, just because I had a bad surf, or didn’t get my way in a heat. I have even come out the crying because I was so upset about the way I surfed. Some may call it being passionate, but I think its just being stupid.

The turnout for the event was massively varied with such a mixed crew of amazing surfers like top WQS surfer Billy Stairmand and former Australian junior champ Noah Lane, ripping it up amongst the likes of the top UK surfers: Alan Stokes, Oli Adams, Harry De Roth, all these dudes were mixed in with locals that would not normally compete and don’t like the thought making surfing competitive. It’s also funny to see people like Tom Lowe come into the equation, showing everyone that he is not only a big wave guru, but can also throw his fins out.

The event was held in 4 to 6ft stormy conditions at Porthmeor Beach, which was a ‘Greenaway send’, as the dates were decided a long time ago.JR

If you don’t know much about Porthmeor then i will let you know that it rarely gets above 2ft and is pretty much flat throughout the summer, so we were pretty God damn lucky. The elements were against us, but all the boys were frothing to get in there and show everyone some flare.

The vibe on the beach was great with spectators heads turning side-to-side as black specs amongst the storm took flight up and down the beach. By the end of the two hour session I would be lying if I was to say I wasn’t tired. We all walked up the beach like zombies. The energy that we had at the start of the session was diminished, but the smiles remained glued to our faces.

To tell you the truth every team tore it apart and gave it there all, in my eyes everyone was a winner. By a public vote that evening, a decision was made that the white team consisting of British champ Alan Stokes, old time legend Dane Hall, and local architect Jacob Down, took it out.

There will also be a winner that is decided by an online voting system, each team will have there edits put up in the next couple of weeks, for you the public to decide who shredded the hardest. Coming soon.

- France in The Summer -

France in the summer is a pretty rad place, to say the least. 

This July i went down to figure out my new job role with Rip Curl as UK team manager and marketing -co ordinator.  

It defiantly doesn't mean that i'm giving up my surfing, and spending hours and hours behind a desk. 

I'm stoked to be more involved with Rip Curl and have something else to keep me occupied with. Rip Curl have backed me since i was 12 years old, i feel like i am part of a very special little family who really care about surfing and who are passionate about making the best core products so that surfers can  have the most enjoyment out of the sport possible. 

As a profesional surfer i find life is obviously amazing, The past 5-6 years  have been an adventurous, full filling journey of enjoyment and pure satisfaction, living life to its fullest. 

I have been lucky enough to live my dream through what i love doing. 

and its defiantly not going to stop now. 

Lyndon and i are planning an epic journey this winter, which is probably going to be one of the biggest and exciting trips of our life's. 

keep posted for more info on the trip. 

   

 France does go flat, in fact  like the whole of europe france went flat for a solid 2 weeks in july,

but when the swell finally came the enjoyment of surfing was doubled.

I think mother nature does this to us sometimes when we take it for granted. 

Estagnotts Car park is a sick place to hang, when your living in a van you can meet so many cool people, and constantly be on the surf at its best time of the day, as your checking it pretty much every 10  minutes. 

 legendary couple from germany ( best coffe in the car park )

The crew hit the big festival in Biarritz. 

Tom on form  !

  u are aloud to be an animal on your birthday, these days birthdays last for longer than 1 day.

might as well make a week of it. 

WOOOOOTAAANGCLAAAANG 

Kicking off

I wasn't really into rap before this . 

Cote de Basque.

Nice view to wake up to in the morning.

 Nice view to go to bed to at night !

 Spear fishing is a bit of a nightmare in Hoss, especially when you are swimming through 10 angry fishermen's lines of the pier at capbreton,

jealous that i was taking all there lovely sea bream. 

These boys were tasty. 

 Good crew, food, cake made by the x ! bless her cotton socks

 24 years

to much boooooz

waking up in the morning before sun rize to go for a surf is hard sometimes, but always worth it when u score in all aspects,

The lake . 

LA GRAV

( every day ) 

 soft sand dunes - good for the legs. 

 I'm not just saying it, but Rip Curl are producing some seriously trendy products these days

http://www.surfstitch.com/eu/en/home

Thanks to Alberto at RT - surfboards for making me a couple of amazing new boards, 

so lucky to be working with such a talented shaper,

 who is passionate about making the magic 1. 

http://www.surfstitch.com/eu/en/brand/rt-surfboards

The new VaiVai is one of those drinks that you cant get enough of. 

tasty, rehydrating completely Natural, no added sugers, 12 kcal per carton.

let me know if anyone is interested in buying a box or 2.

http://magicseaweed.com/news/vive-la-france-surfing-hossegor-southbound-ep-4/5454/

A nice little edit from the first week of the month, before it went flat

edit -  Miley Corker 

want to get involved in France ?

come with Lyndon and I in september .

get in touch with Lyndon wake if you are interested.

lyndonwake@googlemail.com

The Escape

My plan this winter was to stay at home and surf some decent winter swells around Ireland. As fait had it, the wind didn't stop howling on shore for the whole month of january, and the rain was relentless, enough to drive any sane human, insane. when you have to try and surf in those conditions it makes you contemplate surfing being a fun sport, and makes you question yourself to why you do it, when you start going backwards, bogging cut backs and tripping up on lame attempt to get to your feet. 

I think these to pictures sum it up pretty well.

Above the day i left UK

Below the day i arrived Bali

 This place is truly goofy footers heaven, every time i come here i wish i was goofy,

but i still love it

From barrels to punts, the wave offers pretty much everything.  

 The local camel checking out the lineup .

I couldn't believe my eyes when we turned up and seen this lineup.

I put it out there on the paddle out, that it looked like the best waves i had ever surfed to date.

Soon to realize that it was also one of the shallowest waves i had ever surfed as well.

The pits were square, grinding down the reef in bursts of anger.

I managed to pick of a couple of crazy barrels, before getting slammed hard on to the reef.

I was slung around the pit and hit the reef so hard that it felt like there was no water to break my fall.

I had a bad feeling that i had paralysed my self, but lucky enough the outcome of a few cuts, grazes, a very sore back and no surfing for a couple of weeks, was the price to pay for those few sweet, sweet barrels.

http://vimeo.com/61407897

Snowboarding

Snow boarding for the first time 

I was astonished with how fun snowboarding was. gliding down those powdery mountains was just breathtaking.

Tori my girlfriend is doing a season out in Tignes, the french alps, i thought it would be rude not to go out there and visit.

Going up on the chair lift for the first time was scary, especially without any lessons .

The lake

Huskies not doing there job

sledging at night

crazy mountain shadow

powder hike on my last day- magic