Saturday 27th August brought us a small wave – we might call it Nemo-friendly! It served our mini groms very well, and they had a particularly fun session. Tandem rides and tricks were much in evidence. As usual, there were also a few steeper, more testing waves for the older surfers, so all-in-all, a fine day was had by everyone!
As we come to the end of our rash of postponements due to Saturday morning high tides, we are now anticipating another threat to our weekend session in the form of a predicted huge swell for the weekend! While we see how that plays out let us count our blessings that the sessions we have been able to run so far have all offered pretty decent conditions. Last Saturday was just such a case, and while the National Nippers Surf Lifesaving competition in Exmouth cost us a great numbers of absences, there were still 75 surfers took to the water.
I felt I detected some surfers’ attentions were beginning to focus on the end-of-season competition as there were several examples of trick rides on display as well as some traditional polished surfing to admire. The gallery below shows some of the action. Let’s see how that weekend forecast pans out!
Well, I didn’t know what to call it myself, though I did hear one young girl call it “The best session ever!” as she got out of the water. That gives such satisfaction to the coaches and helpers. Thank you Kaitlyn for that encouragement!
The first session began at low water, and the waves looked small as we gathered at the surf school. However, we found a persistent swell with the set waves about chest-high to our sharks, ideal conditions to serve up a surfing session for all sizes and competencies. Only 89 surfers today, our smallest attendance this year, but I suspect there may have been a swimming gala somewhere, as none of our ace competitors were present.
Thankfully, we had best use of the sea conditions, as the beach filled to capacity as the day wore on and a fresh batch of holidaymakers got to enjoy Porthmeor at it’s best – albeit it’s busiest too!
That old music hall routine is one that many of our groups use in their warm-up, and it aptly describes the nature of our Saturday mornings so far this season. In – out – in – out the high tides have cost a fair few sessions.
Last Saturday saw 105 kids enjoying perfect conditions – a gentle surf with enough grunt even for those surfing their own shortboards to bag some peelers. There was some good surfing on show throughout the groups, and I’ll offer additional props to the members of the Sharks who put in a great hour helping the more junior groups before their own session commenced. Great work guys and gals!
There’s a gallery of some of the action below.
A blustery Saturday morning saw a rippy low tide offering some chunky waves to the Dorys and Nemos in the 9 o’ clock session. It required a large corps of instructors, helpers and parents in the water to get the kids on the waves. Nevertheless, despite the wipeouts, inevitable collisions and numerous duckings, the smiles told us that a challenging day in the surf is fun!
A Team Huddle
Even the sharks surfing out back found themselves tested by the conditions, and all the intermediate groups were also pushing themselves to get on the larger, steeper waves. Attendance was again over 120 surfers, all keen to keep the Saturday morning vibe despite the disappointing run of cancellations due to early morning high tides. There’s more on the next two alternate Saturdays, but then we see an unbroken spell for a while to get into the groove as the school holidays begin. All we need are waves! Some Saints below…
Well, today’s title, borrowed from Nat King Cole’s breezy song, is almost a farewell to Kids Club’s 2015 season. Our last Saturday outing before the end-of-season contest offered some decent surf conditions for our coaches to make a final  assessment of how our junior members have progressed this year.
We have taken a great deal of pleasure from the Nemos and Dorys, the newest and youngest intake to the club – particularly in having their parents or elder siblings in the water with us giving the sessions a real family feel. For the older and more experienced groups we’ve structured the fun around the SurfingGB junior surfer scheme, and tried to instill good surfing and safety practice into their time in the water. The picture below shows some of the Sardines group with Porthmeor head lifeguard, James Symons, learning that vital knowledge of how to make a phone call to the emergency services should they witness a dangerous situation on the beach.
This is one of the fundamental skills required to pass level 3 in the junior surfer scheme. Our two images below show Luca and Matty smashing the close-out to finish a ride in fine style having got as much as the wave offered. That’s what we’re after!
So, only the end of season contest remains. I’ve seen some of the kids out polishing their moves during these last few days of the summer holidays. Expect to see the buddhas, cockroaches, coffin rides and ( without giving too much away ) some headstands in the fun shoot out. And fingers crossed for some good waves for the senior groups to show what they can do under traditional contest rules. 12th of September it is then !
Here’s a gallery of pics from Saturday:
Eighty eight surfers turned out for the Saturday club this week on a blustery, cool morning. The surf was chunky, with some strong rips on the inside, and a bumpy face on the set waves. Our banner picture shows our youngest member, Deja, putting her dad through his paces. Some of the groups have developed routines and themes – the hokey cokey being one particular example. Our picture below shows the Mackerels gathering for a team cheer at the end of their session.
There were plenty of waves for everyone, and a small gallery below captures some of those rides.
There will be no Saturday morning surf club next week due to adverse tide times.
Another fine Saturday morning dawns, and again we have waves – at least large enough to interest our smaller members. A turnout in the mid-80’s was taken through lessons which included learning how to paddle out pushing the board up into the oncoming wave, and how to speed up and slow down once you are on the wave.
With the advanced groups, surfers who might be at a beach unaccompanied by a parent or adult, the small conditions gave us a chance to introduce them to Porthmeor Beach’s Head Lifeguard, James Symons, who explained how to make an emergency phone call if they should witness an incident – and what information they might be expected to provide to the call handler to help get the most effective help quickly. An accurate location, the nature of the incident, the number of casualties involved, are there people already attempting a rescue – possibly a good assessment of the weather conditions if an air ambulance should be requested – and so on. Some members of the group were then handed a phone to make that call to the call handler having been given an imaginary scenario to describe. We hope never to find ourselves in such a situation, but being prepared to deal with one is a vital skill for any surfer!
And then those groups got their chance to paddle out, and were last seen disappearing round the corner into Foxholes on a surf safari. It’s been an unsettled summer, weatherwise, except for Saturday mornings at Porthmeor which have blessed us with enough of both sun and surf to keep enthusiasm firing among saints boardriders! A gallery of today’s action below:
As the tide fell off the bank on Saturday morning we again found good conditions for Kids Club. Wave size varied from 1 to 2 foot at the West end of the beach to a meaty 3 foot plus on the sets by the Island. So from chest-high for the Nemos to chest-high for the Sharks, everyone met a similar challenge in their respective groups. It seemed like all the kids wanted to impress, getting out in the deep for a steep take-off, and remembering to work on style once up and riding.
I try to resist calling a ‘Wave of the day” because it’s clear that many of us are reaching new heights in our surfing as the weeks progress. But I’ll give a shout-out to Matt Burrell in our banner picture for his overall performance this week. There’s a gallery of pictures below of some others who impressed this session -we’re seeing great improvement from these guys, though they’re not the finished article yet!
