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United Airlines, SkyBus, Easy Jet and incoming swells over next 10 days

 

Just a quick thanks to United Airlines for a superb flight and excellent service on a very long flight indeed, if you get the chance when you fly with them upgrade to economy plus it  will not break the bank and the extra leg room is excellent. Glad to see also that flights will be resuming from Cardiff airport this spring to Newquay, Cornwall which will save me a  heap of driving and even better news for all you surfers in the South West Easy Jet are starting flights to Biarritz in South West France! Nice one, French tarts, Moules and sick pits this summer.

The surf is looking fun for the next 10 days on and off with Friday giving northerly winds and possible cranking conditions depending on the amount of swell remaining from the big blow on Thursday, then another swell coming in on Monday and then late again next week.

Spa body massage and great food before heading home over the Severn Bridge

                                                                                                                     

Well why not, after a month of getting marmalised in the surf on the North shore a nice soothing body massage at the Atheneum hotel spa was just the ticket which I booked through 'lastminute.com' and must say was worth every penny I think it is an excellent thing to do on a stag or hen weekend as a hangover cure or before going out on the Saturday big nite out.

Must also mention 'Tootsies' in Holland park we had some lovely food in here and the staff fantastic, very good service and the food of very high quality.

The drive home was easy as the sun was shining and apart from the grey cold looking water of the Severn River reminding me that it was the winter one could be forgiven for thinking it was April and spring had sprung..

Women's surfing no sun screen and bikinis just wetsuits and determination

This is another one of my favourite Gower surf lesson pictures it was taken by Angus on behalf of  VisitWales and used along with other pictures in an article about surfing here in Wales and used at various trade shows.

I like the focus, balance and pure concentration on riding the board to the beach surfer style.

A typical surfing day, surf, eat, talk,surf,eat,talk some more whilst eating then sleep so you can get up early and surf again

This Hawaiian surf trip is coming to an end  and I hope you have enjoyed some of the pics and stories, I have got heaps more to upload to my flkr surfgsd account so stay tuned. The next surfing trip will be to the Atlantic paradise Island in Feb so will hopefully get some more surf shots for you there. I had an email asking who is 'Piko Man?' Well his real name is Frank M, a surfer from the east coast of America and we both worked together many years ago at Plantation village, Oahu.

   

British schools are offering surfing to help fight obesity and other social problems

I stumbled upon this article thanks to the Institute of Sports and Recreation Management (ISRM) members E newsletter clicked on and read the following. Ministers will pledge this week to offer children five hours of "organised exercise" a week in order to tackle Britain's obesity crisis.

Schools and out-of-school clubs will be instructed to provide greater levels of sport and exercise under the Government's obesity strategy.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, and Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, will outline national targets to drastically increase activity among children...' for more on this article please click here 'schools to offer more sport to fight flab'

Just to let you know readers that pupils across Wales are and have been experiencing a new dimension in the way sport and physical activity is delivered in secondary schools. Funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and managed by the Sports Council for Wales, 5x60 is changing the face of sport provision in schools. Gowerton School got the ball rolling over three years ago as one of the 5x60 pilot projects across Wales. 

The 5x60 programme aims to encourage more young people than ever before to take part in sport and physical activity on a frequent basis and will be the main vehicle for achieving the Welsh Assembly Government’s aim of 90% of secondary school age children taking part in regular and frequent physical activity. 

The programme at Gowerton allows pupils to enjoy activities which they might not have had the chance to experience.  Over the last three years pupils at Gowerton School have been able to take part in a variety of extra-curricular activities including street dance, rock climbing, archery, intra school tournaments, walking challenges, girl’s football, lacrosse, basketball, rugby and gymnastics to name a few.

However one of the most successful 5x60 clubs so far has been surfing. For more information on 5 times 60 click here five times sixty school information and to book your schools end of the day slot please email us 'contact surfgsd'   p.s another idea to help may be to stop selling school playgrounds, encourage controlled risk taking, encourage children's play, invest in grass roots sport rather than the elite whom apart from the rugby team have not really done anything of note...... wow starting to sound like a rant, sorry.

A typical older surfers day on the North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii

(n.b if you click on the pictures they will open up larger for you.)

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It is simple really and here it goes, get up 06.30 check the surf news network site and buoys, get gear and drive to beaches passing the Iconic sign (pic1) for Haleiwa. Head to beach, surf for as long as you can. Get out hopefully all in one piece, head for breakfast (pic2 Piko man), now, whilst here I have been good and eating oat meal most mornings but Piko man tempted me with pancakes this morning from the Haleiwa Cafe (pic3 Piko man) opposite WVR and wow they were lush. Thanks to  Jeff in (pic 4) for the superb shot of the female surfer yesterday

After that headed home to catch up on emails and bookings for the surf school then up to Sunset beach (pic 5) for another surf, paddling in before or after the actual sun sets depends on the quality of the waves and the 'one more wave syndrome.' Again hoping that you get out safely (pic 6).

Get out, talk story with all the other old guys that surf Sunset, enjoy the calming feeling of surfers paradise and then head home for food, shower and then sleep as there is another swell due tomorrow..... (pic 7) The North shore rocks!

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Women's surfing has come of age

Please click on this image and take time to study what you are looking at.

This female surfer is inside an Hawaiian Wave on the North Shore wearing a bikini and a smile, what a view she must have.

This picture represents the tip of the sports development pyramid. This surfer is doing what I would love all our surf customers to achieve and I hope my daughter, Isabella, will one day be on the North Shore pulling in to sick pits (here is a surf video of her aged 4.) 

Girls surfing development (GSD) is well and truly under way the future could be pink.

Our women's surf weekends will start in mid April click here for further info; women only surf courses

p.s we have uploaded a heap of  surfing pictures on to flkr and also uploaded several surfing, fitness and nutrition videos for surfers to youtube

Gower surfing, you do surf lessons all year round in the UK?

Was the question asked whilst sat in the line up this morning out at Sunset beach. Yes we do in fact, there was some guys enjoying a gower surf lesson at Caswell beach Saturday morning.  The guys all nearly fell off their boards with surprise, they didn't even realise that we surfed in the UK, perhaps I should get them a copy of Surf Nation by Alex Wade.

British surfers are hardcore surf junkies willing to put up with the worst conditions, in fact I remember Carwyn Williams praying for big South west storms as they produced perfect conditions for Langland beach, which you can take a peak at from clicking here 'gower surfing cam'

Anyway with the wetsuit technology available in surf shops today the water is warm even in Iceland. All our gower surfing customers get to wear five mill winter wetsuits, boots and gloves so yes you can surf all year round and as we all know the best waves are in the winter.

I have been wearing an Xcel 2 mil shorty all the time whilst surfing on the North shore keeps me warm as toast and helps with the floatation!

Here is a picture of the North shore and for live cam and surf report click here 'north shore surf report and news'

Anyway it is Saturday night and time for a pint have a good surfing weekend and stay warm and if you did want gower surfing lessons or surfboard hire contact us.

Surf degree gets new name but same core modules including surf trips to Portugal and Hawaii

Above is a group of Swansea students from the Watersports management Course, University Of Wales. GSD has worked closely for over 5 years with many of the top schools, proactive Local Authorities and has even been involved with helping create the 'surf degree' which even though approved and given the go ahead was shot down by the media. For a ten minute video on surf gower, swansea surfing which was produced by the University simply click here 'gower surfing video'

The good news for those future students is that the degree has been renamed and will be available from Sept/Oct 2008 it will be called BA (hons) Leisure (Marine & Watersports) Management .

Exciting times indeed if you want to work in the ever expanding leisure management field of Surfing and other watersports offered globally. Indeed during the three years there will be two field trips in which students will have set course work and need to deliver seminar presentations from research carried out whilst visiting the surfing coastline of the Algarve in Portugal and the mecca of surfing Hawaii.


For more information on this course simply contact the course director Doctor Ian Jenkins  click here 'Sign me up for the new and improved surf degree in swansea'

You know when your getting old when....

'Book em Dano..'

*You stop getting ID'D when you go to Foodlands.
* You catch less waves than an 11 year old super grom called Benji Brand.
* You enjoy watching Hawaii Five-0 in the evenings instead of going out on the razzle.
* The boards you used last year do not float you as well....

Shall I go on? Never mind the sun is shining and the surf is pumping, going to Sunset beach for an early, the only way me and all the other older surfers will catch waves on a sunny saturday in the country....