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