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.

- A Quick Trip To The Mountains -

Everyone Needs a holiday 

Its easy for some to say that my life is a constant holiday, but it's actually harder work being a professional surfer than you might think. 

So this is my escape from surfing, if you do to much of one thing then it starts to get frustrating, snowboarding is completely different to surfing, but still has the ability to give you that adrenaline that some of us look for . 

In the 10 days we were on the mountains we really made the most of our time there. 

Here is a little edit i made from my new toy that my girlfriend Tori gave me for christmas. 

New Years In Tignes from jayce robinson on Vimeo.

New years night, I thought i was taking video, but sure enough i wasn't, some of the images came out quite cool though and actually summed my vision up pretty well ..... 

Eye of the needle 

pow  !

The Lake 

Parge stuck down shit creek 

This time last year we could snowboard the whole way down this vally, but as we ventured down the dangerous creek a year on, we found 10ft drop offs that we had to climb down. 

#OURSEARCH - The Beginning

Oursearch has begun, it has begun in Ireland, the land known for its fine whisky and guinness, also known as an island to be battered by the winter storms, pretty much every low pressure system that comes from the atlantic ocean heads straight for Ireland. 

With nothing in its way ireland takes her fair share of beatings from the powerful mother nature herself. 

A fair few of us have witnessed and managed to find a window of calm in between the storms.

 This is what we are here for and this is where are journey begins. 

Lyndon mentioned the idea of a search trip from the north to the south of Europe, last year while we were on holiday in the Canary Islands. 

We have both spent a lot of time traveling throughout Europe, but mostly during the summer season.

With out a doubt we have had our fair share of perfect waves, but during the summer you can be sure to find more than a handful of people will be surfing the waves that you can only imagine would be unbelievable if there was just you and your amigos out. 

This winter we are hoping we might just get that scenario.

 A lot of surfers are put off buy the cold and venture to warmer climates, i know that we defiantly have done this through out europe's winter, more than a few times. 

4 months of searching through Europe is our mission, we hope to score in every country we visit, but if we don't than i'm sure we will enjoy all that this beautiful continent has to offer. 

From the death defying shores of Ireland,  To the the bleak, cold, slabby barrels of Scotland, down the coast of devon and pictures Cornwall.

From the Finistere,  to Europe’s surfing capital Hossegor and Biarritz, A quick visit to the mountains could be on the cards, for a breath of fresh air. 

Venturing across the Basque boarder to Euskadi, through Spain, to the land of good fish, Portugal. 

This journey has been in the making for a long time now and for it to finally be on its way is so real. 

we have already scored some scary, breath taking waves on the coast of county Donagle  and we are only 3 days into the trip. 

Our Search (trailer) from Luke Pilbeam on Vimeo.

This trip was different in many ways to our previous visits to Ireland. As well as scoring some amazing waves at Mullaghmore during just the very first few days of our trip, we had plenty of time to really explore the country and see some of the amazing sights and scenery that normally get overshadowed by the 20 foot spitting beasts all the way along the coast.

A real highlight for us was having the opportunity to spend an hour or so on a rainy day chatting to Nan and Patricia. These are two of the most genuine and lovely people, who just happen to own one of the most authentic pubs in Bundoran high street. Having a chance to chat to them and getting to pour a ‘proper’ Guiness behind the bar at Brennans really gave us a great connection with the area and the people, and a small insight into some of the deep set history and culture of the place, which really made it a special adventure and a privilege to then go on and get some amazing waves.

We hope that you like our series of videos, as much as we will enjoy creating them. We plan to showcase not only some great surfing, but also the culture and vibe of each country we venture through. With good friend of our’s and very talented videographer - Luke Pilbeam - behind the lens, capturing every golden moment, I’m sure there will be lots of eye candy for everyone to enjoy.

Our Search (Pt.1) from Luke Pilbeam on Vimeo.

Keep an eye out on Instagram for updates from @jaycerobinson @lyndonwake and @lukepilbeam #oursearch

The boys are currently travelling through the British Isles 

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.