Our Search - prt 3 - France

Having a stint in France through out the winter was a first for us.

We have both ventured to the shores of south west France many times, but only once have we been to the north western coast, the Finisterre.

As we imagined the region of Brittany is very similar to cornwall. With its quaint little villages surrounded by beautiful white sand beaches and isolated coves.

There are waves scattered all over the place from fun beaches to slabby reefs and back to long reeling pointbreaks. We were fortunate enough to have local surfer Ian Fontaine show us a few of his favourite spots and share his much needed local knowledge.

1 session stands our mind; Ian told us there was the potential of a really fun wave up north. After a gruelling 2 hour journey listening to Ian's euro vision playlist, we arrived at the spot to see that mother nature had let us down. We were re assured as the tide rised that not only would our ears recover but the waves would materialise. We put all faith in him despite the mill pond, sure enough the lines started coming and we had one of the funnest surfs of the trip so far, it wasn't big or barreling but super playful, with only a handful of people out.

Unique to Brittany is the ever changing landscape which gives you the ability to find clean waves in whatever wind direction you are given. It's un explored, exciting and lacks the crowds of the southern coastline.

 Despite this, the familiarity of Hossegor is a breath of fresh air. No matter how long its been, we are always greeted by great local friends we have surfed with over the years.

However the south coast will always be a mystery, no matter what the forecast, or how perfect the chart looks you can never guarantee those perfect sandy barrels. Although sometimes very frustrating when you think all things have lined up it makes the times when your not expecting it that much sweeter.

Having had another amazing trip in France, where we have had a very different experience its now time to leave our home from home and head towards the Basque Country and Spain. Here we expect new challenges with an even rougher coastline, lack of local knowledge and embarrassingly, an even greater language barrier.

Wish us luck!

           Live The Search (Pt.3) from Luke Pilbeam on Vimeo.

Our Search - prt 2 - UK

The United kingdom, a place that although small in comparison to the rest of the world is certainly very mighty.

 As unique as we are in terms of history and culture, we are also very unique in what waves we have on our door step, that very easily get over shadowed.

 but When people see past our Royal Family, Captain Cook, Cornish pasties and our phenomenally bad weather they start to see that there is a real surf scene and some world class waves on all of our coasts.

Like anywhere in the world intrepid, exploration is needed if you want to find the gold. Put in the miles and effort and you may just score the waves of your life in the Uk.

We Started our Uk adventure in the Hebrides, we had both never been there before and didn't know what we would find on the baron, but beautiful Islands . 

With no guide or local knowledge, we started with just a simple map, we knew it was going to be hard to find the right spot at the right tide, wind, swell etc. 

Luckily after a day of driving around the Island, we bumped into a very friendly guy who was working on the roads in the torrential rain and gale force winds, it didn't seem to bother him, i think he must of been used to it.  

He took interest in the van & ski and wondered what we were up to.

He sent us in the direction of a local surfer who new his stuff. 

We chatted over a cup of tea, he told us some crazy stories from when he went searching for waves in huge swells in his sailing boat, i gritted my teeth with deep respect for the guy, good on him i thought, no cameras or photographers, just pure passion and love for the adventure and excitement of finding new waves.  

He marked out a couple of spots on our £1.50 tourist map and off we went. 

The amount of driving and searching you can do is pretty minimal at this time of year in the Hebrides, as it's dark by 3pm . It was like a race against time. 

We surfed a couple of fun waves on our own and camped out in some sheltered coves, filled with golden sand, water like you would see in the Caribbean, crystal clear, turquoise, but bitterly cold.

We really enjoyed visiting the Islands, hopefully next time with a bit more knowledge and time, we can hunt down some hidden secrets and finish what we started.  

As we sat in our hostel in the hebrides we saw one of the finer north swells come marching down the channel so we changed our course and shot back across the inner seas and descended down the north 

eastern coast.

We started to check the maps and seek out any nooks and crannies that may host a good wave given the current conditions.

 As luck would have it after 5 minutes on the road we stumbled across one of the best waves we've ever seen up there.

Churning down the reef for 200 metres, spitting several times on each wave, we started to gather our equipment and gear ourselves up.

Unfortunately being a new spot we didn't know what the wave was going to do as it dropped through lower stages of the tide and this time the wave deteriorated closing slightly and dredging onto a near dry slab.

Home is special for everyone, S.Ives is considered as a pretty special little town, for me its the best place in the world, just a little more sunshine please . 

 Low tide boilers doing its thing, when its on it really can be world class, the only problem is that it may take 5 years to be on . 

The Harbour 

Lyndon and i  got our local fill, catching up with friends and family before the festivities enrolled, after Indulging in fine food and drink, sure enough we were ready to go again.

South we go, let the search continue.  

                                 
                                     Live The Search (Pt.2) from Luke Pilbeam on Vimeo.