John's Blog

Summer’s Swell

Posted on September 27, 2015 by John

Towards the end of September the swell gods smiled upon me, the forecast was 3ft, no wind and sunny on my day off; a perfect excuse to chuck my board in the car and head through to Cayton Bay.

Despite the sun shining the traffic was relatively free flowing on the run through, and once at Cayton the carpark still had plenty of spaces.

After a couple of coffees I suited up and headed down to the sea. Usually I would do a scout of the town beaches too, but a friend I knew off the East Coast Bodyboard Club Facebook group was already in at Cayton so I trusted that he’d done a check and headed down to meet him.

Now as it was a weekend the beach was fairly busy, with lots of newbies in the water on foam boards, not the biggest of hassles, but a touch annoying when a lot of them were unaware of surf etiquette and were dropping in on most waves.

I paddled out and snagged a couple of small ones before noticing Lee and swimming over to say hi. It was good to have someone to talk to in the water again, and I tried to get some decent shots of him with my board mounted Go Pro:

Unfortunately I was just shooting video so the quality of the stills isn’t as high as I would’ve liked, but it gave me some good practice for positioning to get the kind of shots that I like.

We had a fair few waves between us, and while it wasn’t big or perfect it was still good fun. There’s a lot worse things to do on a day off!

Steph was also on hand to get some shots from the beach. Her photography skills improve everytime, I’m sure she’ll get a shot the mags before I do!

After the surf I spent a couple of hours wondering round Scarborough with Steph, eating fish and chips and doing generally touristy things that I never really do on a solo mission which made a really nice change.

All in all it was a swell day at the coast!

Filed under: Bodyboarding, Photography | Tagged: Beach, Bodyboarding, Cayton Bay, Go Pro, Ocean, Photography, Scarborough, Surf, waves, Yorkshire | Leave a comment »

Welsh WaveGarden

Posted on August 22, 2015 by John

If you surf you’ve probably seen the pics and videos that have been doing the rounds over the last couple of months of the WaveGarden in Snowdonia. Teaser shots of the wave had been released whilst it was still under construction and upon it’s opening day the internet was saturated with images from the place showing a pretty decent looking wave.

Speaking to my friend Harry we decided we had to have a crack at it, sorted a day when were both free and pre-booked an hours session down there one evening.

We decided to do the advanced wave and it was a good job we did. Whilst the intermediate was more of a knee high peeling wave, the advanced was genuinely shoulder high, not exactly the world’s most technical wave, but it looked fun.

It took us a couple of hours to drive down from Sheffield and we got there early so that we could check the place out and shot off some pictures:

Was A Bit Of A Walk To Get This Shot, But It Gives A Great View Of The WaveGarden.

Close Up Of The Same Sponger.

Different Angle, The Wave Holds A Nice Shape.

Never Seen A Surfer With A Background Like This.

Plenty Of Time On The Wave For Maneuvers.

Incredible Place To Surf.

We were due on the wave at 6 so we checked in at around 5. It’s a bit weird getting ready in changing rooms as opposed to a carpark but once we were ready we walked over to the briefing room. The staff were super friendly and explained the rules to us, took a couple of minutes, it’s not overly complicated. 3 people are in the advanced group and you take it in turns catching the wave. If you miss it or wipe out you go to the back of the queue!

Briefing over, we headed out into the pool…. waiting for my first wave was a very weird experience. The pool is flat and still, then you hear a small groan and the plow that generates the wave starts moving towards you and the wave just rises up out of nowhere! Very disconcerting at first but easy enough to get used to.

It’s probably more powerful than most of the beaches in the North East on anything but the most intense of swells, meaning each wave is nice and fast, as well as quite easy to catch. During my hour I caught all 12 waves that came my way and each one lasted between 15-20secs, better than I’ve had in Scarborough for a longtime!

I had my go-pro mounted on the board for the first few waves, but after a lifeguard told me the founder of go-pro had lost 2 cameras himself I left it on the shore as I fancied taking off later and pushing it a bit, highly likely to lead me to wipeout and lose my go-pro!

One Of The Stills From The Go-Pro.

A little longer than an hour would’ve been nice, but we got out of the pool pretty satisfied. 12 waves in an hour is good going, especially when they all peel smoothly I will definitely be heading back, just not for awhile as at £45 an hour, plus a full tank of petrol for a trip, it ain’t cheap!

Filed under: Bodyboarding, Photography, Surfing | Tagged: Adventure, Bodyboard, Snowdonia, Surf, travel, Wales, WaveGarden, waves | Leave a comment »

Shooting Shorebreak

Posted on June 17, 2015 by John

When I first started getting into photography some of the shots that inspired me most were those of empty waves breaking onto the shore. I’m not 100% what drew me to this type of shot but it has remained my favourite type of surf shot, and is something that I have been wanting to try for years.

The problem with this type of shot is that you generally need a good DSLR with a fast shutterspeed and a decent lens. On top of that you need a waterhousing for your camera. Now the camera and lens can add upto anywhere from £500 to £2000, then add on another £1000 or so for the waterhousing and you can probably gather why I haven’t been posting many shorebreak shots.

However, since the launch of the GoPro and it’s subsequent upgrades the price of shooting in the water has gone down. The quality of the GoPro isn’t quite the same as a DSLR but it is pretty damn good, and some surf mags have even run GoPro shots on their frontcovers so the quality isn’t far off.

Since I didn’t have a spare £3000 knocking about I got a GoPro Hero 4 Silver for Christmas and have been slowly getting to grips with it. I made a DIY mount to make it easier to swim with and last week I finally got a chance to test it in the open ocean.

I’d gone to Scarborough with the hopes of catching a few waves but the reality was different from the surf forecast. Instead of just turning round and heading home I decided to just swim out with the GoPro and shoot some empty waves. I put the camera on burst mode and rattled off around 900 images. Some of them turned out ok;

I’m really pleased with the results, they may not be as good as the photographers I look upto (Clark Little & Tedford Mahiko) but they aren’t a bad start. Hopefully I’ll get a few more chances to practice before the Autumn swells start hitting and some great waves will be lighting up the East Coast.

Filed under: Photography | Tagged: Cayton Bay, GoPro, North East, Ocean, Scarborough, Shorebreak, waves | Leave a comment »

Scenic Cumbria

Posted on May 5, 2015 by John

Ever since Steph moved upto Whitehaven in April of last year I have enjoyed going up there as often as possible. The weather has usually been pretty cooperative, especially in the summer months, meaning we got to do a lot of exploring in one of England’s most beautiful places.

The scenery never fails to amaze me, no matter the weather, but on a recent weekend exploration we ended up at a Moto X event near Workington. I had my DSLR with me and snapped off a few hundred shots, just because the action from the races clashed amazingly with the local landscape:

These shots are my personal favourites from all the ones I took.

It was a great event to watch, the background however made it spectacular, it was just a shame the event wasn’t well publicised as the crowd was a touch sparse with all things considered.

Filed under: Photography | Tagged: Cumbria, Dirt Bike, Lake District, Moto Cross, Moto X, Race, Scenic | Leave a comment »

East Coast Getaway

Posted on April 5, 2015 by John

Both myself and Steph had a few days off towards the end of March but weren’t too sure what we wanted to do with them. Various ideas were floated, Norway looked like an option for awhile, as did various other European destinations. However, in a bid to save a bit of cash (big adventure in the pipeline for the end of the year) we decided to stay fairly local and rent a cottage.

A couple of hours looking online and ringing round later and I had one booked in the small village of Ebberston, close to Pickering, Whitby and Scarborough, a really great location for some walking and, if the weather was in my favour, some surfing.

The cottage I had found was lovely, in a really quiet area but had access to a swimming pool and jacuzzi, as well as having a great wood burning fire. It ticked all the boxes for me, I enjoy swimming and any chance to play with fire. Steph was equally happy, mostly about the swimming, she’s not as big of a firebug as me.

Nice To Have A Fire On An Evening.

Our first full day started out quite overcast as we headed over to Pickering. It’s somewhere I have been a lot, but not since I was about 14/15 so it was good to have a wander round again. There are a couple of old second hand bookshops and it’s quite easy to lose a bit of time in those. With a few books bought we decided to move onto Goathland, famous as the setting for TV’s Heartbeat.

The weather wasn’t great on the way there, we stopped to eat some sandwiches overlooking the Hole Of Horcum but the rain meant we couldn’t really see all that much of it. As we parked up in Goathland the sun started to peek out, and it stayed relatively bright and warm for a couple of hours as we walked some of the trails along the old railway line.

The paths were really nice, taking you into the woods and dropping you down by small rivers, the highlight though was seeing some wild deer run by. They were super close, pretty much heading straight at us when they realised we were people and changed direction rapidly. About 15seconds after the near-deer crashing experience a dog bounded past after them, obviously the reason they were running.

Taken Before The Stampede.

Just Off The Beaten Track.

After spending most the afternoon walking we headed back to the cottage for a pre-dinner swim. It was a nice quiet evening spent watching films in front of the crackling fire, can’t complain at that.

An early start on Friday morning led us to Scarborough. Upon arrival the surf looked good but I decided to leave it a couple of hours before getting in to give the wind a chance to die down. We spent some time on the beach at South Bay before walking up into the town and doing a little shopping. I picked up some new fin socks to try and stop my feet freezing like they did the last time I paddled out.

By the time I got my wetsuit on the wind had died down a fair bit so it seems I made the right call. The waves were 2ft max, but still fun. Quite a few people were out but I still managed to get my fair share. It was my first time using the go pro too, so not having to do any duckdives or suffering any bad wipeouts was good for my confidence in it.

I Had The Go Pro On Constant Video, This Is A Still Pulled From It.

Steph Was On Hand With The DSLR To Get Some Shots From Another Angle.

Really Like This Shot She Took.

After steady drive back and another pre-dinner swim we walked to the pub across the road from the cottage for dinner. It was a touch overpriced but really nice food so I can’t really complain there.

Saturday was our final day on the East Coast and we spent in Whitby with my parents and Steph’s mum (her Dad was working unfortunately). The sun was again out and we spent a few hours strolling up and down Whitby’s side streets before heading to a Fish & Chip restaurant by the pier for some food. The portion sizes were massive, my plaice was like 2 fish had been battered together. Safe to say I was full by the end of it.

All that was left to do was the steady drive home.

Steam Train From Pickering.

Filed under: Photography, Surfing | Tagged: Adventure, Beach, Bodyboard, Cottage, Deer, Go Pro, Nikon D3100, North Bay, North East, Surf, Swimming, Walking, Wildlife, Yorkshire | Leave a comment »

Throwback Thursday

Posted on February 19, 2015 by John

I know “Throwback Thursday” is usually reserved for instagram but when I realised what the the date was I couldn’t resist using it as an excuse to post some pictures from my travels.

It’s almost 3years to the day that I was watching some of the worlds best bodyboarders in the Pipe Pro final in Hawaii. Sat on the sand, camera in hand it was almost impossible to get any closer to the action, and surfers were just passing through the crowd on their way to the waves, something that doesn’t happen in many other sports. Over the course of the contest I reckon I shot close to 500 frames, but probably close to 100 of those were rattled off in the final heat. 100 isn’t that many by professional standard, but I had more shots than I knew what to do with, but here are my pick of the last round:

Jeff Hubbard.

Mike Stewart Was Pushing Close To 50 During This Contest. Still Surfed Like He Was 21.

Dave Winchester Hitting A Backflip. Solid Reef To Land On If He Messed Up.

Jeff Hubbard Running To His Mates And Fans After Winning.

It was an awesome contest to watch, the waves were great and the surfers were going all out to win. Seeing guys who I had seen in magazines and videos up close and at one of the planets premier waves was a mind blowing experience. Then there were also some guys in the comp who I knew, the North Shore is quite small, and there’s only really one backpackers place and it was full of people who had flown in for the comp, so you get to know them which makes the earlier heats all the more interesting, hoping your new friends make it.

I shared a dorm with a guy from the Basque area of Spain called Alex, he was on the Pro tour and had recently won his first event in Australia. Unfortunately he didn’t advance through his heat in Hawaii, he still had some pretty great waves though:

Alex Uranga, Looking Comfortable At Pipeline.

Renzo, 17 Years Old And Charging Pipeline At Size.

Eddie Read, Flying The Flag For The UK. Big Waves Skills Probably Helped By Living In Oz Though.

Hawaii, and the North Shore in particular, was an amazing time for me. I was able to get in the sea almost everyday, in challenging waves and really push myself. Also getting to see the pro bodyboarders absolutely rip was no bad thing either!

Filed under: Bodyboarding, Photography, Travel | Tagged: Bodyboard, Hawaii, jeff hubbard, Mike Stewart, North Shore, Pipeline | Leave a comment »

It’s Not Always Grim Up North

Posted on January 21, 2015 by John

I’ve been a bit unmotivated on the surf front recently, only getting in the water once or twice since my trip to Morocco. Partly down to work, partly down to not having a wingman to surf with anymore I decided that as soon as I got the chance in the new year I would be on it. Only a few days in to January and I was loading my car up to chase a decent looking swell heading to Scarborough.

The journey is pretty much autopilot to me these days and was very uneventful, but the sun kept poking out and the wind didn’t seem too bad so all in all it was looking favorable. I pulled upto Cayton Bay first and walked to the headland, it looked to be about 3ft from the top but a bit messy and inconsistent, but still there was surf! I watched a few sets but decided to check the town beaches before committing.

South Bay was almost flat, maybe 1ft, 1.5ft max so I carried on round to North Bay where some nice shoulder high waves were breaking. The crowd was probably close to 30 people, a lot for January, but the waves were breaking in a few separate places allowing the crowd to spread. I rattled off a fair few shots before biting the bullet and getting suited up myself (whilst downing a coffee for warmth).

The pictures show just how good the waves were, what they can’t show is just how cold it was. Paddling out took a fair bit of effort and once I’d made it past the breakers I had a few minutes to recover and have a look for the best place to catch a wave. I was only out for around 45mins – 1hr and probably caught 2 waves, I’d seriously over-estimated how warm my fin socks were (turns out 3mm just doesn’t cut it in Jan). However the waves I got were good, with a bit of power behind them, and it was nice to be out in the water again, even if it wasn’t for long.

By the next swell I should have my new Go Pro mounted to my board to give you a spongers eye view of some chocolate brown Scarborough surf.

Filed under: Bodyboarding, Photography, Surfing | Tagged: Bodyboard, Nikon, North Bay, Scarborough, Surf, waves, Winter | Leave a comment »

Three Nights In Budapest

Posted on January 11, 2015 by John

It’s an awful dilemma to be faced with but in November of last year I had a week off work and some spare cash and no clue what to do with it.

People who are more sensible than I would probably have but it into their bank accounts for a rainy day or to put towards a house deposit, I however fancied having a few days in Europe.

A little bit of internet browsing later and I had a destination; Budapest. Skyscanners led me to flights for less than £60, and some texts to mates got me a drinking buddy for the trip.

The flights were with Ryanair so to keep the costs down we opted for carry on luggage only, wondering if 10kg would be enough I was pleasantly surprised to find out I actually had weight to spare! The only draw back is the restrictions on liquids but my travel mate James and done his research and got airport friendly sizes of essential toiletries, plenty enough for a few nights away.

After a very standard flight and a quick taxi ride we arrived in the centre of Budapest, just a little unsure of the exact location of our hostel. We had google mapped the location but were really struggling to find it. About an hour into our search we got lucky and found the tiny sign to our hostel. Check in was swift and a quick nap ensued since we’d been up from a stupid hour.

The first night exploring was a bit of an eye opener, we’d heard food and beer was cheap but we weren’t sure just how cheap. Turns out very cheap! Dinner a really nice burger joint (kind of like Red’s True BBQ in Leeds) set us back less than £5, not bad for an amazing burger, chips and a pint of the local brew. Our next stop was a pub about 10minutes from the hostel, over the next couple of the nights the atmosphere of the place and the fact it was £1.25 a pint, kept on drawing us back.

Our first full day in Budapest was action packed, we crammed in all the tourist sights doing a self guided walking (with a brief bit of cycling) tour. Stop number 1 was a St. Stephen’s Basilica, and a climb to its top giving us a good glimpse of the city.

The View From St. Stephen’s Basilica.

A quick cross of the famous chain bridge took us onto the Buda side of Budapest and upto several more of the cities iconic landmarks.

James Looking Towards Pest, And The Hungarian Parliament.

Walking Up The Aptly Named Castle Hill.

We got a touch lost heading back for the bridge towards Pest, but after a bit of map reading we were back on track and heading for the bridge that connects to Margaret Island. As there is no traffic allowed on the island we rented a couple of push bikes to explore.

Tucked Away On The Island.

Awesome Musical Fountain On Margaret Island.

After exploring the island we crossed back onto the Pest side and took a steady walk back to the hostel, before heading out that night and treating ourselves to T-Bone steaks and plenty of beer.

The Danube By Night.

St. Stephen’s Basilica.

Dinner that night was a bit extravagant, massive T-bone steaks and fries, for less than £12, including a beer! I was falling in love with this town. Following on from dinner we tried a couple of bars before heading back to the one from the previous night and enjoying a couple more of the well priced beers.

The next morning we got up quite early and set off for the docks hoping to get on a river boat, unfortunately very few were running and by the time the first one that we could’ve got on returned we would have missed our afternoon activity, shooting! So we just killed a bit of time around the river before grabbing a taxi for the gun club.

We were both pretty nervous when we got there having never shot before, and were expecting a safety demo or at least the instructor shooting first to give us an idea. That’s not how stuff works in Hungary, a country that refreshingly isn’t health and safety obsessed. We were asked if we had shot before, to which we replied “no”. Our instructor (for want of a better word) just replied “ok, just point the guns that way and pull the trigger”.

We Started Out With A .22 Pistol.

That Was Followed By A Glock And A Magnum.

Yes That Is An AK47.

And We Finished Up With A Riot Shotgun.

It was really good fun, we had several shots with each weapon, and the instructor did offer us words of wisdom before using each new gun. The price was steep by Hungarian standards, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fire some actual weapons.

Turns Out I’m Not A Bad Shot.

Our final night was spent in the Hard Rock Cafe before doing a bit of a bar crawl. We couldn’t stay out too late though as we had to be up fairly early to check out and have catch our flight, so no big night out on the trip, which means I have unfinished business in Budapest. Or maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to head back to one of the best cities Europe has to offer.

Filed under: Photography, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged: Basilica, Beer, Budapest, D3100, Gun Club, Hungary, Nikon, Photography, Shooting, St. Stephen, Steak, Tourist, travel | Leave a comment »

Moroccan Adventures, Part 3; Tafraoute And The Journey Home

Posted on October 21, 2014 by John

Following the 5day stint at the coast we were on the move again, this time heading to the small town of Tafraoute in the Anti Atlas mountains.

The coach journey there was a long one, and neither myself nor Steph were feeling too well, so it was a relieve when we could finally get off the bus and locate our hotel. After the squalidness of The Ocean Surf House, Hotel Salama was almost a palace. This proved very fortunate for me as the first 36hours we spent there I was incredibly ill, to the point were there was no chance of me leaving the room. However with Steph on hand to fetch me water, and a comfy bed and aircon I was back to my usual self with one full day left to explore Tafraoute.

Only having one day limits what you can do here, and after been ill I didn’t fancy any major hikes or bike rides so we just explored the town. The views were just incredible and the people so friendly that it made the day fly by. One particular highlight was the traditional Moroccan carpet shop were we were invited into. A brief history of carpet making and an explanation of the different styles followed, whilst of course enjoying a complimentary tea. In Morocco most people usually give you attention and advice in return for you buying a little something from them and this place was no different. He invited us to haggle over the price of his carpets but after finding out the cheapest was over £300.00 we politely informed him that it was well out of our price range! He looked disappointed but hopefully learned not to try sell premium goods to scruffy backpackers!

The Anti Atlas Mountains.

The View From Our Hotel Balcony.

The journey back to Marrakesh was an even longer one, as the bus took us close to Taghazout before heading to Marrakech, so it was a 7hour journey! Upon arriving we decided to walk to back to Riad Les Deux Portes as we already knew where it was and were welcomed back by the every friendly Pitchou.

We only had one full day so chose to cram it full of shopping, museums and good food! The day started off exploring the souks and haggling with the many traders. We managed to pick up a local guide and he took us to some off the radar places where we were shown how traditional scarves are made and dyed.

The Dyes Used For The Scarves.

Me And Steph In Berber Scarves.

Following on from souk explorations we spent some time in the Museum of Marrakech and the old school that is nearby. You can get entry in to both for a little under £5 which is an absolute bargain, the art work in the museum is fantastic and the school is a really cool old building to explore. The only downside to both places is the lack of English translation available which leaves you guessing on a few things if your French or Arabic isn’t upto par!

A Massive Chandelier In The Museum.

Tiny Windows In The Old School.

The rest of the day was spent quite literally getting lost in the souks before having a lovely dinner overlooking the hustle and bustle of the main square, a great way to round off a trip that exceed all expectations.

Filed under: Photography, Travel | Tagged: Africa, Artistic, Backpacker, Holiday, Marrakech, Morocco, Nikon D3100, Photography, Riad, Souk, travel | Leave a comment »

Moroccan Adventures, Part 2: Taghazout

Posted on October 7, 2014 by John

Following on from a few days exploring the hectic maze of Marrakech we hopped on a bus and headed towards the coast, destination Taghazout.

After a pretty uneventful coach journey and taxi transfer we arrived in the small fishing village of Taghazout, a place not on most tourists radar but somewhere that surfers will almost certainly be aware of.

We found our hostel fairly easily, The Ocean Surf House, and checked in. The view from our bedroom window was incredible, perfect for an early morning swell check as Hash Point was less than 100metres away. However that was pretty much the only plus point to the hostel. The rooms were grubby, but I have stayed in worse, the shower though was something else. It was a small cubicle that also housed a toilet, with poor drainage and no seal under the door you had to make your shower quick or you’d flood the stairs. I’ll not even get started on the smell. Suffice to say I would not stay there again or recommend it to anyone.

The main point of the beach portion of the trip though was to spend as much time in the sun and surf as possible, not stay in the room so it wasn’t the end of the world.

Taghazout has a couple of beaches, the main village one, and another about half a mile away called Panorama’s. We spent the majority of our time at Taghazout beach, only venturing to Panorama’s for a walk when the surf was flat as it didn’t pick up as much swell.

Hash Point.

The days we spent there were all very similar, wake up, simple breakfast, head to the beach, surf, grab a spot of lunch, back to the beach, more surf, then a quick shower and out for dinner at a lovely local restaurant for a couple of hours before heading to bed and doing it all again the day after. This might sound boring to some, but after the madness of Marrakech, and of course work back home, it was just what both Steph and I needed.

Surfing In Africa!

The wave at Taghazout/Hash Point wasn’t world class, but with no massive swell coming through places such as Anchor Point and Killers weren’t working, so I spent all my time pulling into fun ones and dodging the odd tourist who got in the way.

The first day was definitely bigger than the rest of the week, and whilst waiting for a set I got talking to one of the local guys who was super friendly and a great sponger too. I wasn’t expecting any hostility, but much like Hawaii, I wasn’t expecting the local guys to be friendly but they seemed pretty stoked to be sharing waves.

One Of The Bigger Waves Of The Week.

I Took This One On The Head.

There was never a day with no waves, and I even managed to persuade Steph to have a go, pushing her into waves that were quite a lot bigger than they first looked! We both enjoyed our time in this often overlooked beach town but we had to head on out to Tafraoute to explore the mountains and see another side to Morocco.

There’s Also The Odd Fishing Boat To Avoid.

Filed under: Bodyboarding, Photography, Travel | Tagged: Adventure, Africa, Backpacker, Beach, Bodyboard, Bodyboarding, Morocco, Photography, Surf, travel, waves | Leave a comment »

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