SurfGSD, Learn to Surf, British Surfing School,surf coaching, surf lessons, gower surfing lessons, ,surf blog, surfing blog,

Love the Beach Leave no trace, If you can't, then do not visit

Above, the awesome drive into Mumbles village with Swansea Bay on the left handside even nicer on a sunny day with the tide in it is amazing.

You then get to one of our glorious beaches, have a barbecue with friends or family and leave all your crap on the beach (ketchup bottles, chip packets, barbecues, empty cans of beer, needles, glass)  WHY?

The very place you have visited for it's beauty, peace, and well being is being destroyed by litter bugs so why contribute to it?

Last year we did a beach clean at Caswell beach and whilst collecting other peoples crap, a family sat on the beach dug a hole and filled it with more litter in front of us! 

I could not believe it, I walked over and asked them to put it in their bag and take it home with them.

If you do see individuals leaving rubbish or making mess on the beach please report them to the lifeguards or Council officials on 01792 636-000 

Pics below show litter including a barbecue, glass sauce bottle....  

  

 

It's simply not tennis old bean and I am not talking about strawberries and cream with a glass of pimms on the grass!

 British tennis sinks to new lows and questions are being asked, how and why?  To those that know, the answer is simple, sport in the UK reflects the unjust economic barriers facing many in current day British society.

This paragraph from the telegraph is classic > '....Yes, Andy Murray skipped a weekend at the Vitas Gerulaitis Tennis Centre, but shouldn’t the LTA have more to show for all the millions that they have spent over the years?

The Lithuanian’s annual budget is roughly the amount that flows out of the LTA’s bank account every day of the year, and yet Britain still lose to a nation whose previous claim to tennis fame was the ancestry of Vitas Gerulaitis, who used to play under the American flag...' (By Mark Hodgkinson in Vilnius, Published: 6:00PM GMT 07 Mar 2010, Entire article here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/daviscup/7392803/Davis-Cup-Great-Britain-suffers-new-tennis-low-with-defeat-in-Lithuania.html)

Tennis in the Uk is all about strawberries and cream, pimms on the grass, British players who never make it to the final of Wimbledon (Andy Murray is Scottish not British apparently). The one chance of gaining success in Britain is breaking down barriers to sport and making it inclusive rather than 'exclusive' the evidence appears to support the facts that despite over 10 years of labour in power sport is unfortunately becoming more exclusive.

The problems are going to get far worse over the next few years with the pending cuts after May whichever party gain power. As the first level of cuts are always on non statutory areas within Local government which of course is sport and recreation. An example of cuts can be seen here in Swansea with the proposed closure of the Indoor Tennis Centre.

PIC: BBC ONLINE SERVICES full article can be seen here > Save Swansea Tennis Centre on BBC News

Anyway the election is looming use your vote to make changes in your community and the future may get better here in broken Britain > 

 

Thanks to Quiksilver in Swansea for becoming our 1000th friend on facebook

On facebook or twitter then add us as your friend > Surfgsd/facebook or follow our surfing tweets > surfgsd/twitter  that include surf reports, forecasts and other surfing information from around the world.... See you somewhere!

For more info on our surfing lessons or booking a taster session > Click on picture below

Twitter is for Twats? Maybe, but, Twitter saved our surf school £800 !

'Twitter is for Twats..' commented David Cameron the next British PM, he may be right or wrong on that, but, it was rather funny hearing him saying it.

However, in support of twitter we have found it a great way of distributing our gower surf updates and surf news among like minded individuals (surfers, beach users and customers).

Anyway, whilst watching Panorama last night (did you see it? Watch it on BBC Iplayer)  > We want clean seas (shame on you environment agency!) a message popped up on our twitter/surfgsd account.... 

Tweet >   '@SurfGSD did you leave 4 boards on beach at Caswell? Good surf this pm..' 

Our reply > '..hope not will txt coaches that worked 2day...... r u watching panorama ?..'

I phoned the member of staff in question, his reply ..'oh yeah, I did, sorry mate..' I hung up and sent tweet message straight away...  > '..Hi mate yes one of the guys left 4 boards on the beach do you know if anyone picked them up ? Thanks for letting us know..'

Tweet back > '...@SurfGSD rescued the boards from sea and put in lifeguard hut below yours, took liberty of borrowing one for a bit..'

Our reply > '..thank you, will u txt me 077 395 361 22 will sort you out some beers thx'

Tweet back > '..@SurfGSD some board hire credit for Ross on Wye Surf Club will be more than enough! Will txt when next down, Nick, Charles and Lea..'

Our reply > '..no problem txt me when you are thinking of coming down and will get the coach that left the boards to give you a lesson!..'

Now isn't that exciting for you all, Thank God for Twitter! It saved us £800's, that is a heap of surfing lessons, so thank you Twitter and a big thank you  to Nick, Charles and Lea from Ross on Wye surf club who will be getting free surf lesson from the surf coach and free hire when they want it.

P.s if you want to follow us on twitter click here > Twitter surfgsd

If you want to watch the video of David cameron talking about 'twats and twitter' click here > twitter is for twats

Love the beach leave no trace then join surfers against sewage > Clean seas

Panorama last night > Shame on you Environment agency and Water companies

For more info on our surfing lessons or booking a taster session > Click on picture below

Love the Beach & Leave No Trace: Ban Smoking on Beaches

It amazes us that people visit beaches, seen in the picture below here on gorgeous Gower, and leave rubbish on them.

Smoking is one thing, but throwing your butts on to the beach after, causes deaths in the natural eco system. The smoker/visitor on this Gower beach obviously quite content with killing himself, does not believe in the saying > "Only leave your footprints on the beach"  

 

Scum

Stolen gower surfing sign: Reward offered for finding or capture of the KOOKS

Was last seen outside the Wormshead hotel, we are waiting to check security camera footage and hopefully KARMA will deal with the surf sign rustlers... It's a jungle out there!

Mark Thomas in Cardiff last night was a blast!

Despite the warning early on I decided not to leave before he started his show and must say was very funny and spot on with many issues all though not sure about a couple of the policies suggested.

Anyway, if you get a chance to go see him do so or buy his new book it all helps in keeping an eye on our democracy and freedom for more information about Mark Thomas see links below.

Mark Thomas website

Mark Thomas Video results Google

Mark Thomas squatters comedy night, classic!

Anyway thanks for a great night Mark and you have my vote!

Dave Jones the surf photographer here in Wales is a legend!

Well done Dai for talking your mind on face book regarding toytown surf (click here and scroll down to bottom) and  parking charges.

If you want to find out more become a friend of Daves (he is a great guy by the way) and read all about it!

My answer to it all? Go elsewhere, why pay so much money for no services?

Happy Face booking guys.. Simon

Healthy eating, do you watch what you eat?

Just as well I was when I went to pop this slice of Hovis farmhouse wholemeal into the toaster this morning. As one of the nice workers at Hovis has obviously decided to add a blue glove into the ingredients for extra roughage perhaps.

Just makes you think about what the big corporates tell us is good for us.

Organic foods, home made and local produce is the way to go but the price put's so many of us off.

healthy eating > Food standards agency

Small clean lines today, thank God for 'Chasing dreams' after the last book I read

Think I will go for a paddle on one of the swell boards today, weather is pretty good and there is small waves Friday is looking better though. Have started reading 'Chasing dreams' which has been a great relief after reading the book  'Small Island' by Andrea Levy    which, I must say for personal reasons, found really disturbing.

The only problem with Chasing Dreams at the moment is that it is making me want to go traveling again!

Just a quick change of subject whilst out on Saturday night a local Langland surfer told me > '..you don't need talent to surf big waves simon.."  Well,  I must say it left me dumb struck, perhaps there is another reason to go jump on a plane and travel... to escape people that make statements like that..

Anyway off for a surf now in small waves to progress my 'talent', have a good day...

For more info on our surfing lessons or booking a taster session > Click on picture below