The Wave by Maggi Hambling

This weekend I headed from London to Cambridge for a day trip. While there, I checked out the Fitzwilliam Museum. It turned out there was an exhibition on called The Wave by artist Maggi Hambling. On show was a group of large scale paintings depicting the power and energy of the North Sea.

The brochure states the exhibition 'reveals the artist’s long standing fascination with the elemental character of the sea off the Suffolk Coast. Among her most ambitious in scale, these evocative and sensual portraits of the wave demonstrate Hambling’s increasingly bold way of working, confronting, the viewer with all the power, grandeur and beauty of the sea.'

I love the fact that everyone has their own thoughts and feelings of the seas behaviour. Surfers learn to respect waves particularly when learning. It is important to know your limit and not to mess with large ferocious breaks that are clearly beyond your level.

Seeing and hearing waves crashing or gently lapping, people can decide whether they think the sea is angry or calm. Human behaviour is very much like the sea in we also have wild and calm days. But, there is no better way to relax than a great surfing session.

Artificial reefs

Reading the paper on the tube last week I was disappointed to see an article on Europe’s first artificial reef, built in Dorset, is not performing as well as was hoped. I was fascinated to read the reef was built by a New Zealand company. While there has been negative feedback, visitor numbers and house prices have rocketed in the Dorset area. There are moves to try to improve the reef.

Reading the story did make me wonder if we should be tampering with nature. Shouldn’t we accept the world’s breaks that have developed naturally? Although, I can see there would be a strong argument for the building of reefs with minimal environmental damage. I support the move of encouraging world governments to protect natural surf breaks, particularly when we see adventure tourism and seaside developments continuing to be developed. If you are interesting in the artificial reef check out the story yourself.

Happy surfing!

Surfing in Britain

It has been a cracker of a weekend here in London. It has been bliss in the warm, all day sunshine. Let’s hope it will be one of the hottest summer’s ever recorded as has been forecast.

It was awesome to pick up a free copy of TNT magazine at a tube station and to see the cover story was on surfing in Britain. Check out Catching Waves, Hit The Surf in Britain. It is a really well written story with helpful advice on where and when to go surfing.

I envy those who have close access to the beach.

Happy surfing!

Wipe outs

Hello from the United Kingdom! After two long flights I finally made it to old London town.

I had to laugh when I looked at my blog on arrival to see I had been ripped off by another blogger. I don’t care if my blog does suck. It is mine so I can do what I want. I think that dude needs to chill out. I don’t care that I am a bad surfer. I admit I am not great but at least I give it a go.

Anyway, to get over my jet lag I have been checking out some wipe out videos on YouTube.

I liked Jaws Wipeout as the sound is awesome even if it has been added later. It is a pretty big wave.

I also liked the following video courtesy of Deep Water Film. You do wonder what the consequence of this high speed wipe out was.

In Surviving A Big Wipe Out video by Disovery Earth, big wave surfer Garrett “G-Mac” McNamara claims he enjoys wiping out on giant waves in deep water. That is just crazy! He talks about arms being only held on by the skin after a wipe out …. haha, madness.

Finally the Style Evolution Wipeout Project video captures old wipe outs. No doubt these will long continue into the future.

Happy surfing everyone! Enjoy those waves.

Don’t sit and watch life disappear

After a lot of thought and consideration I have decided to bite the bullet and head to the UK for a year. It seems a good idea to follow the sun. Hopefully, England’s warming up as New Zealand’s summer draws to an end. With a bit of luck there will be a chance to try some UK surfing.

I have undertaken a lot of thinking about this move. Thoughts have swirled through my head for months like violent waves. I have been weighing up what I will miss, whilst what I could potentially gain. Friends and family will be sorely missed. Emailing and Skyping will be handy. My local beach will always be here to come home to. I am almost certain I will come to love it more. I do hope to explore new beaches on my travels.

I don’t want to look back with regret at not doing an overseas experience (OE). I think the whole cruisy, carefree lifestyle is a myth. It seems to me everyone does need some sort of a plan. Perhaps, you can cruise after you have achieved in life and completed major goals like world travel or had a successful good occupation. I will stop rambling here ...

On Saturday there was a messy 3 metre swell out at Waimairi Beach, Christchurch. There was no gap between the breaking waves. Paddling out was hard work. The waves really taught me I must learn to duck dive. I got pummelled out there. After 2 hours I slunk back to the car with my surfboard. The fact that there were no other surfers indicated that it wasn’t ideal conditions but perseverance wins on the day. I am determined to get better at this sport. I also need to surf as much as I can at the moment as am leaving for the UK next week.