Top 5's... this week...

Rather predictably its top 5 surfers of 2010. I'm thinking of doing other top 5's as well so if you have a topic you want 'top 5'ing' let me have it and i'll give it a go.

Ok...




5. Matt Wilkinson/Shaun Candsdell. Ok so i've cheated already but I really wanted to have a goofy foot in here and couldn't pick between these two. Their both completely different surfers, I love the way Wilkinson has gone about the tour this year, bit Dane'esc but with a bit more party and a bit less air. Shaun Candsdell is a weird one eh? Well maybe but i loved him on tour a few years ago and then he disappeared. He has since got a new sponsor, had a kid and developed his contest prowess without loosing that Parko like smoothness in his surfing. Loved it that he won the 50 g's for the Cold Water Classic series, lookout CT this boys coming back!




4. Adam Robertson. This fella first came to my attention a few years back when he went from the trials to the final of Bells, only loosing a close one to Parko in that. At the time he was sponsorless and not really operating. Now backed by Billabong he's on the QS and i just love the way he surfs, again super smooth, almost effortless turns. plus he has (probably from living at Bells) the smoothest roundhouse this side of Taylor Knox. Check the boy out.




3. Jay Quinn. I love this guy mainly from the QS Highland Open where he surfed the whole event in a 3/2mm and at howling, snow blown, 5ft thurso knocked himself out trying a massive reverse. Legend. Also super smooth, super aggresive and not shy of taking to the air if the situation warrants it. Great blog as well - check out suitcasesurfers.com for an honest inside view of life on the road.

Obvious but unavoidable top 2.




2. Dane Reynolds. I want to go out with Dane, he is easily the best surfer on tour, the funniest surfer on tour and doesn't give a shit. Drives a clapped out Volvo 240 and looks like a charity shop window model. I don't need to write anything about this fella other than he surfed my favorite wave this year at pipe. Took off late, pulled in, got proper barrelled then came out and where most people pull off, he put in 2 pumps and launched a good 6ft straight air which he put down but just behind the wave. Had he stuck it - it would've had to have been an 11!



1. Kelly. 10 - that is all that needs to be said here.

Stay tuned, next time top 5 darts players ;)

The new force in pro surfing!

If anyone watches as much pro surfing online as me then you may have seen a fair few WQS events from around europe this summer. Its been all over from newquay to the azores and is now finishing up in the canaries. I kept noticing a name in the 1st round results - Alexander El Naib. Let me tell you a bit about this fella. Al El Naib is 49 year old german guy who has been doing the QS all through europe. He enters every event, always shows up for his heat but never gets through round one. Why is this I here you ask... Its because he's fucking shit! When i say shit, i don't mean horrible brazillian style shit or not quite good enough shit. I mean really shit, like can just about stand up shit. Why does he do the QS was my question and it appears from a bit of internet research a lot of other peoples too. The guy is becoming a bit of a legend - he has never scored over 2 points for a heat total yet he keeps coming back for more. At $250 - $400 dollars a comp, travel costs, accomodation and hire car costs it must be costing him an absolute fortune to show up and surf for 20 mins. So why does he do it... well turns out he's just as much of a pro surf fanatic as me, yet infinatly richer (rumour is he's a trust fund kid) so what better way to spend your summer than travelling round europe and not only surfing with but gettng to know some of the best surfers in the world! True dedication I say. Here's a photo that encapsulates it for me - here he is shaking hands with Tom Curren who he's just surfed a heat with in the Azores... yes TOM CURREN!! Got to be worth the airfare eh?

How many bands am i in again???

If you only go out once in blue moon then make sure its shining on the 4th of Dec and come to this. A good friend of mine and in fact someone i did one of my first gigs with donkeys years ago, Jay Perry has had a tough tough time of late. This night is all about raising funds to help him with his rehabilitation. There's live music - The Breaks - awesome live band and my Ramones 'its alive' tribute The Shamones. Come along, buy some raffle tickets and get involved in a very worthy cause. Yee ha!

Gig ahoy!!

Telling it like it is...

So a few months ago i acquired a new wetsuit sponno from the lovely people at animal,and bloody pleased i am about it too. Now i guess what your supposed to do in these situations is shout from the rooftops (or the pages of the journal) about how amazingly marvelous these suits are to anyone and everyone who will listen. Well this might be sponno suicide but i haven't really done that, I've just worn mine (a lot) and been really pleased with it. Sometimes people ask me about it in the sea and i'll say 'yeah its a really good suit you should check them out' but thats about all you can say to a stranger in the sea isn't it?

But then today I thought, hang on a minute, this actually is a really good suit and deserves more recognition of that fact. Basically without going into the stretch/warmth/well made details of the whole thing - its a really stretchy, really warm and really really well made (better than pretty much anything i've had before i'd say)suit. So if your looking for something to keep you warm and mobile this winter go here http://shop.animal.co.uk/technical/icat/technical/ and discover more.

You might be thinking about now - 'he's only saying this because he has to' or 'what the fuck do animal know about making wetsuits' well i've had a fair few free suits in the past and have never been arsed to right about them before so they must be doing something right!! Right?

Anyway check em out and save yourself a fair few quid on a new xcel. nice x

Anarchy in Braunton

Punk Shows in Braunton are back on the menu after a fairly long hiatus, thats right i'm back in the punk show promo game. From next saturday expect to see a 3 band/free entry show at the white lion every other month. look out for posters for more details!

the decline of the boardmasters.

So this week is the start of the 'biggest surfing event' in the UK - its that title that has provoked me into writing this blog. 'The worlds best are in the uk'? Are they though? No their not - their in America for the 6 Star/massive prize money event of the US Open. It wasn't always this way was it? No, back in the days of the Fosters and Rip Curl Boardmasters it WAS a big event, Tom Curren, Kelly, Occy they've all come and surfed the wonderful waves that fistral in august can produce! Maybe thats the reason why they don't come anymore. Partially that but i think there are many other reasons - Namely, there's a much bigger/better event on at the same time, the costs for travelling surfers to come to the UK are huge, there's no webcast, shit prize money, its run by people who have absolutely no idea about surfing and maybe they've been before and just can't hack a week of bare chested/sun burnt chavs falling around all over the place!

Here's testament to how shit this event has got - I could've entered it! Yep thats right if i'd been prepared to pay £100 quid one off WQS fee and £100 quid entrance fee i could've been in chav land surfing with the 'best'!

Funnily enough I didn't take them up on the offer, its not my idea of fun either, going to newquay for a week in chavgust isn't high on my list of fun things to do at the moment! Think i'm just gunna sit here and watch the worlds best do the huntingdon hop for a week on an event with a webcast, with pro's in it and with the same waves thatfistral offers most of the time!

Sick x