Beach Bum's blog

Cross An Ulsterman With An Hawaiian And You Get...

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:54:16 +0000

...an Orangeman in a grass skirt? No, you get George Freeth, often billed as the "first surfer in the United States". Apparently, Georgie's old man hailed from Ulster and fell for a Wahine after he emigrated to Hawaii. The offspring of their loins turned out to be a rather interesting dude. As inscribed on a memorial statue at Redondo beach in California...

British Airways - Karma Bums

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:07:00 +0000

According to British Airway's (BA) own webshite "At London Heathrow Terminal 5 we’ve created a natural, logical journey that’s so calm, you’ll flow through. It shouldn’t take long to get from Check-in to Departures. Transferring and arriving are just as simple and calm. Spend the time you save enjoying the excellent range of shops, cafes and restaurants. Or simply relax and be wowed by the world class architecture..."

DIY Surfboard Kits From Grain & Magicseaweed

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:22:47 +0000

No, it's not the wing of an outsized model aircraft - it's a Grain Surfboard in assembly. Produced in Maine from a company with a background in boat-building, you can now buy these wooden boards in kit form from Magicseaweed - their new (and exclusive?) European distributor. Using white & red Cedar from sustainable suppliers you buy a kit that includes board frame, cedar planks and rail strips, fin box, leash plug, glue, epoxy, fiberglass (sic), rubber gloves and more. Every step of this process has been thought through and is detailed in our 40 page instruction manual. Each board takes approximately 60 hours to build, but will be around for a lifetime of waves.

Great Stoke From Little Acorns Grow

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:38:49 +0000

Whilst "eco-friendly" surfboards (I'm referring to the variants that use alternative foam and resin formulations) have been on the radar here for many moons, they haven't really gotten close to being mainstream - yet. Perceived price, cheap pop-outs from Chinatown and performance issues may have stalled acceptance but actually finding board shops that will sell you something greener is rather hit and miss.

REEF = Surf Sexploitation?

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:51:49 +0000

It was the video below that did it for me. It had me wondering if Kevin Flanagan, the VP of marketing for REEF would want his daughter's thong-strapped ass up there promoting all their tacky products. Now I've no idea if Kev has a daughter, wife or girlfriend - presumably he's had a mother unless he's been hatched from sort of weird corporate cloning factory (less unlikely as the years roll by) - but you get my drift.

Taiji - some days that will live in infamy

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:11:31 +0000

The saga of the seven plagues of Egypt - the curse where rivers and streams turn to blood - kept trickling through my head as I stared at this shocking image from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's site. This isn't Egypt but the coastline off Taiji, one of a number of villages that make up part of the fishing community in this region of Southern Japan. The ocean has turned a gory red, awash with blood from scores of dolphins, porpoises and small whales that are herded into shallow water for slow death slaughter by spear, knife and hook.

Cornwall Air Ambulance - It's A Scandal!

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:32:10 +0000

There must be scores of surfers, bodyboarders, swimmers and other ocean users who owe their life to the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust. Be it longboard meeting head, cramp out the back in heavy surf, asthma attack, rip currents - there's as many opportunities for a day's surf to go badly wrong as right.

Assuming you do get back to shore and urgent medical treatment is required, anyone fading fast might as well bow out early if they were to struggle in a conventional ambulance to the nearest A&E unit along the fatty arteries that are the minor roads in Kernow. And that's assuming you're near a road to start with - the beaches, clifftops and moorlands of this county are often inaccessible by road. Clearly the service that the Air Ambulance provides is both invaluable and essential.

Harry Daily, Newquay Nights

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:24:19 +0000

If the young Dylan had journeyed out of California instead of the minelands of the bleak Midwest, with a surfboard under his arm instead of a harmonica in his back pocket, I fancied he might have looked something like the fellow I bumped into in Newquay the other night.

Here's an artist to watch out for with as many nicknames as he has hats. Underneath the splendiferous forest of face fuzz, you'll find the fine painter that is Harry Daily, a.k.a "Harry The Hat" or "Sketch Holiday".

Surf Rakes, Beach Butts & Water Bottles

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:00:45 +0000

As I watched this tractor tow a Barber Surf Rake up and down the beach the other day, I was reminded of some scenes from that flawed but minor classic film - Westworld. Set in a futuristic Disney-like amusement park, guests can check into themed regions and live out fantasies as Medieval knights, Roman noblemen or gunslingers - interacting with sophisticated robots that are virtually human. The guests literally tear up the town each night and while they sleep off their hangovers and recover from their brawls, there's a huge clean up operation taking place.

Surfpods in Newquay

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:51:34 +0000

Sounding like the progeny from a sci-fi flick where a surfboard has mated with a Triffid, I'm not referring to anything quite so alien here, just an example of a property developer jumping on the woody and using surfdom's marketing potential to sell flats.

Tagged as "funky micro homes for the urban surfer", you have the opportunity to pay between £141,000 - £200,000 for a one bedroom apartment - sorry, surf pod. I can't quite fathom from the blurb exactly what design features have been incorporated that differentiates these flats from any other squeezebox - apart from a reference to a locker where, presumably, you can rack your board and wetsuit.

There Be Pirates!

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:21:09 +0000

I’ll wager that the spirit in a surfer’s body would be something less without a shot of pirate blood. That the word for pirate is derived from the ancient Greek phrase that implies “finding luck on the water” is proof, if proof were needed, of the bond.

A bit of swash and buckle always ticks the boxes when a company or venture wants to sell that edgy, dangerous feel. In Kernow we’ve got Pirate FM on the radio and Cornish Pirates on the rugby field.

Shinfin Frolics

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:50:29 +0000

Try saying that with a few pints downed! I've been around and I've seen some things ... but there's always more to dredge up that keeps the eyebrow raised. So, for your delectation and delight, let me point your browsers in the direction of "Shinfins".Invented by Marc Lee, a Pommie who's decamped to Oz, they're designed to improve a host of swim skills and seem to have garnered pretty positive feedback from users so far. Despite the fact that fins and "regular" surfing might seem as natural a fit as a bodybuilder in a tutu, it was the very claim of Shinfins as a surf aid that caught my eagle eye.

Beach Bum's Barbie Tips

Tue, 08 May 2007 21:24:42 +0000

"I love the grill, I excite at the thrill. Using the Heat Beads is what my tucker needs, to perfect my BBQ skill."

So says Kellie from Victoria, Down Under. As I pointed out earlier, Aussies may claim to own all beach sports but they're clearly not a nation of poets.

Still, when the logistics division (Sea Nymph) of my HMC (Home Management Centre) had me preparing the May Day Bank Holiday weekend for maximum beach time like Operation Overlord, these Heat Beads were high on the shopping list along with beer, Guinness and alcohol.

Skimpy Bikinis Don't Mean It Ain't Sport

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:34:26 +0000

Last week on www.s-e-x-wax.com there was a photography theme - this time it's bottoms and as this shapely little photomontage shows, I'm clearly not the only Bum on the beach. As much as I love the ocean, there's always enough entertainment on-shore to keep me from getting bored between waves.Now, unfortunately, the closest I've come to Beach Volleyball is an Xbox game but I reckon if there was more of this in Cornwall, I could develop a greater enthusiasm for spectator sports.

Surfboats & Speedos Up Your Bum

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 22:55:48 +0000

What is art? Haven't figured that one out yet but gaze long enough at a masterpiece like Katsushika Hokusai's Great Wave and if you find your mind tumbling round and washing up on different shores, then you may be onto something...