The battleground between cornish granite and the fearsome fire power of the atlantic has shaped some of our more interesting wave riders. There’s a unique quality to everything ‘out west’. Writer pete geall knows it well, lifeguarding the beaches and surfing its secret corners, read on as he takes a poetic dip into the seat of storms...
Once every while, a dead Gannet seabird washes up on my local beach, down in this far west corner of Cornwall. Its spinal column severed by the force of colliding with the water at speed, whilst attempting to feed on a specific fish, identified individually out of an entire shoal.
There is something glorious about each of those birds, locked forever in that defining moment: wings tightly clasped around their youthful breast, oily eyes fixated into the unknown depths and onto its quarry. So often the end of things is characterised in decline. But those birds, in the peak of their salad days, meet a most poetic and presumably immediate end. A slender margin for error, a cigarette paper between life and death; their fate sealed by a few degrees or a divine gust of wind - and thus their occasional arrival on my beach is assured.
Yet still, what of the fish? The fish deemed prey in the gannet’s myopia of hunger, whilst the others in the shoal drift mercifully into the periphery. That fish has survived a dive attack that few others do, and yet it can’t contemplate either its luck in surviving or its misfortune in being chosen in the first place. This story, in case you were wondering, is about that fish.
As a surfer growing up in Cornwall you get used to be dive-bombed from a young age. Tourists come to roost during the summer months, before returning to the presumed riches of urban Albion, leaving a vacuum of seasonal unemployment and high property prices in their wake. What is left though, can’t be taken away. Consistently average, occasionally excellent year-round surf that with careful application, can open the doors to a hidden Cornwall. Beneath the summer glam and sham, are fleeting moments of exquisite beauty that will always live on.
Denne historien er fra Issue 183-utgaven av Carve Surfing Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 183-utgaven av Carve Surfing Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
2020 Wetsuit Guide
If the recent boom in wetsuits sales is anything to go by, the best bit of advice we can give you is make swift decisions and invest quickly. To help you, here’s the lowdown on the best wetsuits on the market right now.
CEYLON STORIES
SERENDIPIDITY IN THE INDIAN OCEAN.
ENGLISH NATIONALS
TOLCARNE TAILSPINS IN THE LAST COMP FOR A WHILE . . . MAYBE
THE ST VALENTINE 'S DAY MASSACRE
ROB MILES AND CALLUM DAVID THOMAS MIX IT UP WITH THE WORLD’S BEST AT ALL TIME SAFI.
BARBADOS
FAMILY FRIENDLY SURF TRIPPING TIPS
GENE GENIE
FROM PAIGNTON THROUGH VARIOUS PROFESSIONAL KITCHENS WITH A SOJOURN IN THE SCOTTISH ISLES EUGENE TOLLEMACHE NOW CALLS INDO HOME AND IS LOVING LIFE
*OCCIDENTAL DRIFT
THE BLEEDING EDGE OF SURF EXPLORATION IS A HOT, INHOSPITABLE PLACE. BUT WORTH THE MISSION.
TASMANIA ART CLUB
BRENDON GIBBENS AND DION AGIUS EXPLORE THE LITTLE CHUNK HANGING OFF THE BOTTOM OF AUSTRALIA AND GET CREATIVE
Mr Smith
THE GENIAL ED SMITH IS ONE OF THOSE SURFERS THAT HAS A TON OF ABILITY AND TOYED WITH THE COMP SCENE BUT SOON REALISED A REAL TRADE AND SURFING FOR HIMSELF WAS A WISER OPTION. WE BUMPED INTO HIM ON OUR MISSION TO SCOTLAND, AND HE WAS KILLING IT EVERY SESSION. SUPER STYLISH, ALWAYS DEEP, A PLEASURE TO SHOOT. HE 'S A GOOD BLOKE TO GO FOR A PINT WITH TOO.
SETH MOZ
SETH MORRIS IS A YOUNG PRO FROM A QUIET PART OF WALES. HE JOINED US ON OUR WINTER MISSION TO PORTUGAL, WHERE HE IMPRESSED ALL WITH HIS STYLISH ATTACK. READ ON FOR A PEEK INSIDE HIS HEAD.