Tag: Surf Trip

Croyde // Winter Surf Trip

On By lex270In UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s been 84 years…. well not quite, but it had been nearly six months since I had last submerged myself in the salty goodness of the Atlantic Ocean. It was time. I did try over New Year, but a slight issue with the Airbnb meant that myself and the family had to abandon ship and head home, also the conditions were terrible which meant going in the sea was not favourable, think sand whipping up your legs and in your face.

So a mid February trip west was just the thing we needed. I checked the forecast and could not believe it. The weather was going to be decent, above 0 degrees and sunny, AND there was swell on the horizon. WHAT! The stars and the moon were aligning! This happens rarely.

I bought a new board in August in Portugal, a Chilli board. I used it in baby waves, which is partly the reason I bought it in the first place. I wanted something that I could surf in small or rubbish conditions, but also gave me some paddle power in bigger waves. I had tested it in the smaller waves, now it was time to test it out in some bigger waves. I was excited.

I headed west and arrived in the dark. Got a Maccas on the road, yuck. I think I could eat a cardboard box and feel better. The next morning I woke up feeling horrible. Headache etc, so I tried to sort myself out with yoga, hot water and lemon, good brekkie and a decent coffee, but it took until the afternoon for me to feel myself. I then went for a surf.

Croyde at low tide. Fun. Actually it was pretty fun, I got a few smaller waves! And I felt salty which is always great.

The next day was big, I got up early to meet my friend Rae for a surf. I got a beating on the way out, I’m not that surf fit at the moment since its been a while, but I did get out to a decent sized Croyde, and got one beautiful wave! One wave in two hours… it was that kind of session. It was big, the sets were a good size. People were frothing and there were some really good surfers out there.

The third and final day was a little smaller. I had to cut through some holiday park and over some barbed wire fencing to get to the beach as the foot path was under construction, which made me feel like I was on a proper surf trip exploring for waves. When I walked up on the sand dunes, the sun was rising behind the hill and shining down on the line up. The lines were stacked to the horizon, it was the most amazing sight.

I paddled out with only one duck dive – a little different to the previous day! I got loads of waves and had all the fun. I was getting into the groove of my new board and where my weight needed to be depending on the size of the wave and so on. I caught a beautiful left in right to the beach and called it a day.

So, overall the new whip. I still love it! I got on waves that I might not have got on, especially after not surfing for a while. I had to move around a bit, stand more forward to get into the wave but then if I needed to turn more like on a shorter board, I needed to step my back foot back onto the tail pad. This is all new to me as since I’ve been able to ride a short board – I’ve ridden a short board. This board it a 6’4” and I found it a lot more effort to duck dive. My triceps were screaming at me on the second day. On some of the bigger sets, I checked around me and when I was on my own, I would throw my board – I know – but no one was there to get it to the head.

A great little surf trip to Croyde and in great conditions! I didn’t even get that cold thanks to my Mystic Jayde 5.4mm wetsuit. I only got flushed in my hood either side of my face twice, and on the same hold down ha! That stung my ears a bit…

Great trip and I’ll be back soon!

How to surf after having kids | Top 10 Tips

On By lex270In Fitness, Parenthood, Surfing, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hey there!  I recently, or not so recently, wrote a blog to answer one of my lovely instagram followers questions on how to fit in wakeboarding and surfing after having kids… well I managed to write, edit, add photos and publish the wakeboarding one.  So now I’m just getting around to the surf one.

I don’t live by the coast, any coast, in fact, I’m probably the most land locked you could possibly get in England.  So we have to travel in the UK or abroad to get waves.  And no more surf day trips to the coast.  They will be shelved until the kids can surf.  (sob sob).

Surfing has changed, possibly for the better actually (I’m already in denial). Before kids we would surf at dawn if there was surf, eat, tan, surf, then do it all again all day, every day for the entire surf trip.  It was total shit.  (It was awesome.)

Then we tried to do the same thing with a baby.  Which is totally possible.  (It’s just not possible.)  A baby, or a small child (or multiple), is just not going to allow you to hang/bake on a beach all day long.  We’ve had to modify our holidays quite a bit, but they do work for us at the moment, we’re just on the cusp of having to do more kid focussed trips.  The main one being that we can’t really go somewhere in Europe for the waves in winter, no one wants to sit on a cold windy, rainy beach with small children.  And its not fair to ask anyone to go on a surf holiday and stay in the accommodation all day with nothing but internet and a DVD player to entertain them.  So we’re missing out on winter swell, which sucks.  See summer waves in the photo below…. it just ain’t the same.  Enough said.

Surf trips go like this: if the waves are cookin’, one will surf a dawnie one morning while the other parent gets the kids up and fed and makes the lunches for the day, we take it in turns each day to do this.  Then it’s off to the beach so that the other parent can surf.  We play with the kids, take them surfing, have lunch on the beach and then break the day up with some sightseeing, food shop, movie (we take kids DVD’s everywhere, family favs are Surfs Up, Happy Feet and Moana).  Then we’ll head back to the beach for a second surf while one is on the beach playing with the kids, beach walk, ice cream, rock pooling, sea glass hunting…  and then one will surf while the other parent takes the kids home for dinner and a bath, or get them ready to go out for dinner.  We try to stay where we can surf within walking distance of the accommodation as we do rent a car, but the one surfing needs to be able to walk home.  So it’s quite a juggling act, but its good for now.

And as you can imagine, theres loads of quality time with your partner.  (There is no quality time with your partner while on holiday with your kids.)  Actually we’ve started going away with my folks just so that we can have a date night on holiday.  (Love you guys xx)

The reason I say its better? (Its not better, but every cloud…)  Well my surfing was improving quite nicely, but it took a dip after baby number two, (the second was harder to ‘bounce back’ from).  I recently, (as in February) surfed with my husband on a golden weekend away in England, and surfing on my own has changed my surfing.  My husband taught me how to surf (I know, he did well as teaching your other half anything is just disastrous, actually I’m pretty impressed we’re still together, hun remember that time I got concussed by my NSP board and you couldn’t stop laughing?) and I’d only ever surf well with him around.

But surfing on my own for the past six years has taught me how to work my way into the line up and, if need be, hassle for waves on my own rather than him helping me.  And when we surfed together recently, all this newfound confidence went out the window and I just followed him around like a sick puppy!  So I think our setup is pretty sweet for now, and it also means we get some time to ourselves on holiday, when we’re all together 24/7.

Tips for a family surf trip: 

  1. Stay somewhere that you can surf within walking distance of your accommodation.
  2. Watch the wave / weather forecast before you go so you can travel as lightly as possible.  Clothes wise and wetsuit / surfboard wise.  With kids and car seats you don’t want to be taking four surfboards and a million suitcases.
  3. Get in the water.  If its your turn to surf, just go… do not watch the waves for ages (if you know the break that is, otherwise obvs watch it.  Safety first!)  Just run in and spend your hour having fun and taking off on anything.  Big or small.
  4. Teach the kids.  They may not want to surf in the future and thats cool, but while I’m paying for their holidays, they will conform.  (Jokes) Luckily my kids actually beg us to take them surfing and get pissed if they have to wait for one of us to come back in.
  5. Do not attempt to take multiple young children surfing on your own.  One parent to one child ratio.
  6. Appreciate it for what it is.  At this point in time, we cannot go in search of the best, cleanest, warmest waves when the tides are just right (these days will come in time – kids get better so we can go on a Mentawai boat trip. (Thank you please).  You need to just be happy that you are out there.
  7. Surf photos.  Don’t even bother.   You have two little humans to look after on a busy beach with a lot of water.
  8. If you want to get the kids in the water for longer than five minutes and actually enjoy learning to surf, then get them full wetsuits.
  9. Keep fit & flexible.  I train all year round and do yoga every day (I know, total brag alert) but my husband goes into serious training mode when he knows we’ve got a surf trip coming.  He has a training folder with notes and shedules and everything from three months out.  Reason being is that you can get the most from your surf because you’re not surfing as much anymore.
  10. Just go.  Think of all the positives you’ll get from the a holiday with your family and enjoy.  Cheers.

What are your tips from going on a family surf trip?  I love learning new holiday hacks!

How to dry your wetsuit

On By lex270In Parenthood, Surfing, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It only seems a few days ago that I posted about how to protect you’re wetsuit. Time flies when you’re having fun!  And here I am again about to fill you in on how to dry your wetsuit easily and fuss free!

As you know my main sport is wakeboarding, but I had a weekend surf trip at the coast planned and so I thought I’d put my Elite Dry Bag to the test while I was there.  (The Elite Dry Bag has mesh on one side so more air can get in/out, you wouldn’t want it out in the rain!).

How in the world my husband and I lucked out on that particular weekend, I’ll never know, but we did.  First of all, thanks to my folks, we had a child free weekend.  CHILD FREE WEEKEND!!!  Thats two nights, not one, but TWO!  Ok so this was a huge deal as we haven’t had this luxury since baby number two came along.  And he’s nearly three years old.  Enough said.

Second of all, I booked a four star hotel that ended up having breakfast and a two course dinner in the grand restaurant included.  As well as full use of the spa.  To top it off we had a sea view room and a balcony overlooking the waves.

Thirdly.  The weather played ball.  A rare occurrence here in the UK, but it did.  It was baltic but it was bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky for the two days and we even tanned in the balcony’s sun trap while enjoying a cream tea (room service of course).

Fourthly – I know, last one I promise.  The waves.  The wave gods were with us 100% and we had great waves for the two days.  We seriously couldn’t believe it, and even the tides were right.  It was freezing so there weren’t many surfers out either so we had pretty empty waves as well which was great.

Thank you stars, sun and moon for aligning for this epic weekend.

Anyway, back to the wetsuit drying test.  So as we were staying in a pretty nice hotel, we didn’t want to walk through with sandy wet wetsuits.  I threw them in the Elite Dry Bag and carried them through the swanky place without even leaving a grain of sand on the expensive carpets.

So with the estimated wetsuit drip drying time of between 4-6 hours (geek I know), I knew my suit would be ready to wear the following morning, and I could hang it anywhere in the room and not worry about it dripping on the carpet.  But to give it that extra something something, I hung it above the radiator to make it nice and warm for me… it was needed, we were scraping ice off the car to get to the surf.

So all in all, my little Dry Bag test went pretty well!  I took a second wetsuit as I didn’t want to put on a wet one the second day, but I didn’t even take it out the travel bag.  The Dry Bag works well and is very handy while on the road.  I’ll be using at home as well so I don’t have to hang my suit in the shower all the time.  Win.