Chasing the 17sec period swell
I went to pick Stallion up at Wimbledon at 7:00.
We left promptly and met BBJ in his orange van. After strapping his
board quite quickly to the car, we made good progress and arrived at
North Devon prompto.
On arrival we drove past Saunton, which looked
pretty poor, then Croyde. We checked this in some detail- it was
pretty windy and chunky, with some fun looking air drops but
otherwise rather a lot of water. The consensus was to check Poohland
round the corner. We got to the top of the cliff and sure enough it
looked cleanish although not special. After checking the freeparking
situation there was no choice but to pay the astronomical parking. I
wil have a quick rant now about parking- after spending the last 4
weeks in France/Spain, where car parks are FREE, paved, right by the
beach and have showers we were paying £6 to park in a muddy field.
A 5 year old boy was on duty at the car park which Stallion jibed at
the use of child labour.
After getting changed we headed down. Having
spent a chunk of time in SW France last month I was always setting
myself up for disappointment, but I didn't realise quite how crap it
would be. In fact it was terrible. Poohland was doing that thing
before high tide where it goes to break, backs off, then closes out.
I should have booked the flight to Lisbon a week earlier. The 17
secs not sure where that came from, I have seen better wave periods
in a bath tub. I felt slightly dejected, got out meeting BBJ on the
way. He also agreed it was terrible. Back at the car we continued
to slag off the surf. Half an hour later Stallion came out, he
agreed it was crap. We continued to talk about the rubbish surf and
a milf bodyboarder with the van next door. BBJ fetched some warm
drinks. We talked about a second session being mandatory.
We made the decision and put on the wet, cold
wetsuits. Fortunately I had a thermo rash vest dry, which made it
that much more bearable. BBJ was the only hoodless out of the crew.
I miss 30 degree Hoss big time. Actually this session was awesome.
Cleaned up nicely- and was out until dark when the crowds dropped off
and the waves were cleanish (although no Croyde by anymeans).
Stoked we headed to Ilfracombe and Ocean
Backpackers. Myself and BBJ checked in. As part of the negotiation
tactics we chatted with the Canadian girl (with some interesting body
tattoos) on the desk explaining that I had been a few times in
winter. In particular, a time when in January in the snow, I stayed
there and remembered a guy dressed as a woman. Instead of getting
funny looks she said 'yes that is Dave- he is a transvestite- he has
been living here on and off for 3 years'. BBJ was clearly getting
excitied. Anyway this is all relevant because we managed to swing
her for the private room at the same price as the dorm room saving us
from the Uni Surf clubs. Having a private bath was great was we
could fill up and chuck all the suits in. BBJ fancied the double
bed- so I passed over driver's rights in exchange for 2 beers. I
think I got a good deal as the bed collapsed- prompting the Canadian
girl to come back. She told us a few stories from her time in the
hostel including when she walked in on a gay orgy in a bathroom, with
custard on the floor. BBJ was interested in this story.
The crew headed out for some well deserved fish
and chips next door- they were ok, but no Scarborough North Bay
fisheries. Following this we headed to the pub for the pool
tournament- and plenty of pints, the Doombars on BBJ went down a
treat. I was the singles champion, but BBJ was doubles king
including an amazing double pocket shot which left the Stallion
stunned. There were plenty of spooning jokes. It was time to hit the
town. Headed to Buddy's- o yes what a venue. The music was all from
my teenage days- Green Day, SUM 41, Blink 182 and a played request
for Stacey's Mum- SICK. We were approached by a guy with his
trousers round his knees, he looked a bit like Gollum from Lord of
the rings- he was rather friendly in fact he kept wanting to high
five us (bizarrre). Buddy's was an experience, but the night was
young. A quick game of fussball at DJ's sports bar, where the
Stallion was the stallion and we headed to the 'CLUB'- and what a
club it was complete with a pretty much empty dance floor. We
watched some locals pole dance, we even had a shot at it ourselves.
Bill was getting rounds of cocktails (no puns here)- which were like
something from a Uranium enrichment process.
The night was still young so we headed to
'Munchies' the Kebab shop. The blokes who ran it were solid and we
ate much junk. Stallion enquired as to why they needed a bouncer-
this was soon answered. There was a guy and 2 girls- one was his
sister and/or girlfriend something like that. They proceed to throw
fried chicken around (classy)- even funnier was that they were older
than me.
We called it a night and headed back- but this was
not all. A local guy, with lots tattoos, came and slapped BBJ on
the backside. Further down the hill we saw a man in the middle of
the road taking a dump in a flower pot- classy.
This morning we woke up slightly rough from the
uranium cocktails. After a banana run we headed to Woolie. Although
windy it was, kind of cross offshore, we made a call to get in.
Unfortunately while getting changed the wind was switching. In fact
by the time we were changed it was terrible. So picture this 3-4ft
slop, howling cross shore, hungover, a sewage alert, wet wetsuits and
horizontal rain- welcome back to surfing in the UK. It was pretty
much a foam party out the back- a couple of sections and I called it
a day. Meanwhile BBJ came out stoked with a great ride. Horses for
courses. It looked horrendous out there now- so we got changed
Post changed we headed to a Cafe where most of
this report was written- that is how good the surf was. The wind was
horrendous- infact the flag pole was bending.
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