There have been may questions after the weekend, like "Did Pete break anything". Of course, the answer to that was, yes. All things considered, it was a fantastic day, with a good number of as and a great standard of surfing. It was all a bit of a haze. What I do remember though, and the more I think about it, Pete Copp is trying to kill me. My problem started with the people who built my company's exhibition in the Birmingham NEC, got it about as wrong as they possibly could. It was about as effective as an 'incontinent thong'. So that had me leaving Plymouth at 4am, to be at Birmingham for 9am. A long day followed, I finally finished at 11pm, drove through the night, and got to Plymouth for 4am. Stupidly, I thought it was 5 in the morning and rang Pete to say I was ready to follow him to Wollacombe. He said "I SAID FIVE!!" and put the phone down on me.
5am, Pete turns up in his van with Adrian, and I am to follow him to the contest location. If you've ever seen 'Death Race 2000' - that is how Pete Drives. He drives how he surfs. He never uses his brakes! I know the brake lights work, because at junctions they were on. But I'd be trying to keep up with Pete - just two burning red tail lights flying around in the dark. Me up for 24 hours, a bit wasted, trying to follow him. Every now and then, without braking or anything to give me a clue, like slow down, he'd fly around a tight right angle bend. I'd be following lights - then hedge would appear "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH"
Then I had to face the scorn of James Hawkes. and the "Where are your ski's?" conversation. This would have been easier if Pete and Adrian, were not laughing at me and calling me 'twatboy'. But I had the last laugh when Adrian got his ski out of the van, and Pete's sharp steel toolbox, during the F1 drive, had dinged Adrian Thorn's Ski. Pete can run fast it turns out.
So to the contest. What a hoot. Some excellent talent, a good number and some fantastic ski's from a mix of manufacturers. Some sexy KS's and Pro Designs. James from Future brought his crazy, top secret, bullet proof, formula 1 technology, space age construction pre-shaped ski, that weighs as much as a fart. When he said he was working on a production ski - I thought 'oh dull', thinking of the usual pop-out moulded stuff. Little did I know. Words don't do it justice - no seams, as good as a custom, lighter than a custom, near unbreakable and will last you for the rest of your life. If you could only afford one ski!
5am, Pete turns up in his van with Adrian, and I am to follow him to the contest location. If you've ever seen 'Death Race 2000' - that is how Pete Drives. He drives how he surfs. He never uses his brakes! I know the brake lights work, because at junctions they were on. But I'd be trying to keep up with Pete - just two burning red tail lights flying around in the dark. Me up for 24 hours, a bit wasted, trying to follow him. Every now and then, without braking or anything to give me a clue, like slow down, he'd fly around a tight right angle bend. I'd be following lights - then hedge would appear "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH"
Then I had to face the scorn of James Hawkes. and the "Where are your ski's?" conversation. This would have been easier if Pete and Adrian, were not laughing at me and calling me 'twatboy'. But I had the last laugh when Adrian got his ski out of the van, and Pete's sharp steel toolbox, during the F1 drive, had dinged Adrian Thorn's Ski. Pete can run fast it turns out.
So to the contest. What a hoot. Some excellent talent, a good number and some fantastic ski's from a mix of manufacturers. Some sexy KS's and Pro Designs. James from Future brought his crazy, top secret, bullet proof, formula 1 technology, space age construction pre-shaped ski, that weighs as much as a fart. When he said he was working on a production ski - I thought 'oh dull', thinking of the usual pop-out moulded stuff. Little did I know. Words don't do it justice - no seams, as good as a custom, lighter than a custom, near unbreakable and will last you for the rest of your life. If you could only afford one ski!
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| Super dooper light thingy |
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| Super dooper light thingy in action |
On the subject of technology, a few were asking James about the other top secret - super dooper, wowy ASCC (Advanced Structural Core Construction). This was a mistake, as James speaks in Binary code - the result was a very technical, Klingon sounding explanation, that included molecules, bonding, thermo monomer, 6 carbon chain with an amino group, -NH2, at each end. This is 1,6-diaminohexane, you might know it as hexane-1,6-diamine (NOOOO?), compounds polymerise.....................
There was a group of very puzzled folk. This is my favorite bit. He then resulted to use layman's terms, explained it was a super tough secret compound coating that makes the ski super tough, so no rail dings from paddles... and then threw his cup at Pete's ski by way of example. Pete looked like he was going to give birth!
Back to the comp. It was great to see UK riders ripping. Steve Chivers is still super fast, Kieron still carving big gouges with fins out even in slack slow waves, Rudi and Steve Tickle having there own contest and pushing each other. Pete's flowing style and Adrian's aggressive style both effective. James Hawks almost missing heats, doing airs further down the beach in one of his many, many ski's and yaks he brought with him (watching him carry them all back up the dunes was fantastic - I laughed so much, a little pee escaped.)
There was a group of very puzzled folk. This is my favorite bit. He then resulted to use layman's terms, explained it was a super tough secret compound coating that makes the ski super tough, so no rail dings from paddles... and then threw his cup at Pete's ski by way of example. Pete looked like he was going to give birth!
Back to the comp. It was great to see UK riders ripping. Steve Chivers is still super fast, Kieron still carving big gouges with fins out even in slack slow waves, Rudi and Steve Tickle having there own contest and pushing each other. Pete's flowing style and Adrian's aggressive style both effective. James Hawks almost missing heats, doing airs further down the beach in one of his many, many ski's and yaks he brought with him (watching him carry them all back up the dunes was fantastic - I laughed so much, a little pee escaped.)
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| Thorny dragging a hand - searching for a tube |
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| Wavemaster slash |
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| James busting out the tail on small stuff |
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| The Steve! |
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| KD doing a trademark snap |
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| Doing the flags - Jonny, part of team retard. |
Being awake for a full 43 hours, I was exhausted. So I tried to get a little sleep on the beach. Soon I was fast asleep with my mouth open, and a massive gust of wind blew half the beach in my mouth. We all met up for a beer at the Red Barn at 6 (I immediately regretted not wearing shoes on the way, as I stepped in poo). we all had a good old chat. But, awake for near 40 hours, I was exhausted, I had to leave early. In my trance like state, I walked out of the pub, into the path of an oncoming car full of old people. I did the full wipe out over the bonnet. Lucky for me they were old, and oak frees grow faster than they drive.
All in all a great day. Some serious talent and new blood. The outlook for paddle-surfing is looking brighter and less like a fringe, awkward cousin of stand-ups. The opinion was, that there will be more organised 'meets' to take the pressure off those who feel they are not competition ready or don't find the prospect of 15 minutes surfing, followed by standing on the beach, listening to Pete Copp and Adrian Thorn wind each other up like an old married couple. So - stay posted, we hope for some South as well as North coast expression sessions.
All in all a great day. Some serious talent and new blood. The outlook for paddle-surfing is looking brighter and less like a fringe, awkward cousin of stand-ups. The opinion was, that there will be more organised 'meets' to take the pressure off those who feel they are not competition ready or don't find the prospect of 15 minutes surfing, followed by standing on the beach, listening to Pete Copp and Adrian Thorn wind each other up like an old married couple. So - stay posted, we hope for some South as well as North coast expression sessions.
