shaky windows

It’s kind of hard to sleep when all the doors and windows in the house are shaking; it took me a few minutes to work it out, as outside there wasn’t a breath of wind. The strange thing was it was incessant, not just a one off rattle or shake. A continuous noise, a constant reminder that in the morning I would possibly see the biggest waves I’ve ever seen. Bizarrely though I slept really well.
With a small window of opportunity everything was pretty much prepped days in advance, what boards were working, safety, flotation, all we had to do was put the skis in the water and head out. We’ve surfed here so many times now it was just another day. As we left the harbour at first light and my first glimpse of the waves the reality hit, it was huge. At first I wasn’t even sure about surfing; my mission was to put Garrett on the biggest wave possible.
Some opportunities only come once and when I had a chance to grab the rope I wasn’t going to let it pass, I’ve been wanting this so much for years and I feel truly lucky to be in this situation. The waves were dangerous, giant, fast and incredibly hard to read, I didn’t want to make any mistakes or take any silly risks but I also wanted to try and get to the bottom of one of these waves and try and actually surf it (which is surprisingly hard to do believe it or not,) rather than just hop down the shoulder.
I got a couple fun ones like this shot from Jose Pinto above. Thanks to Garrett for the tow and inspiration, Hugo Vau who drove safety and all the crew I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with and made me feel so welcome.
Thank you Nazare, you have the biggest, scariest most beautiful waves I’ve ever seen.

Paul the Plumber from Bundoran

Wonder what Paul the plumber from Bundoran has been up to the past few weeks. Probably fixed some leaky taps, fitted a heating system or bathroom then gone down The Chasing Bull had a few beers with the boys, harassed the band playing then did some lunges and maybe a press up or 2.
I on the other hand got towed into a wave at Mullaghmore which ended up getting some XXL attention which got me on the telly at home and abroad, the cover of a surf mag, made back page on the North Devon Journal, was in the Gold Coast Bulletin in Aus and just pretty much got global surfing attention. You could say I wasn’t expecting that and I do apologise if towards the end of the week you were bored senseless and tired of seeing or hearing about it, it wasn't completely my fault. Rather than bore everyone even more with the same shot by posting my cover shot or the XXL entry I thought a photo of me and Paul would be more appropriate, I am missing him.

Over and out.

I don’t even like surfing anymore; I am getting on now. Might give up, sell all my boards and get a full time plumbing job in Barnstaple, you know 6 days a week shuffling round on my knees from 8 to 5, under sinks, behind toilets and under floorboards. Save some cash, buy a house and settle down. I am engaged for feck sake and have to think about my future and reasonability’s.
Only joking, had you for a second though didn’t I. Bet my Dad almost had a smile on his face then, Although like he says if I had a brain in my head that’s what I would be doing but the reality is there’s not a chance. I’m loving life at the minute; just take this last week in Nazare. Got to surf the gnarliest beach break in Europe ranging from 5 to 15ft, got barrelled, hung out with people who all have the same passion and enthusiasm about waves as me which was pretty epic, then went to the premiere of the North Canyon Show with Garrett McNamara at the cinema in Lisbon to check myself out on the big screen; yeah I’m sort of a big deal in Portugal right now. I’M NOT. So to celebrate my new found Portuguese fame I partied all night, drank 40 Super Bock, trashed my apartment and threw my TV out the window. I DIDN’T. That’s got to be a good week by anyone’s standard. Can’t wait to come back for the next big swell but for now I hear there are some toilets that need fixing in Barnstaple, better look out the knee pads.

Scapegoat

Builders and tradesman have this funny knack of blaming each other when things aren’t running to schedule, it’s like ‘oh things are taking so long because I’m waiting for the carpenter’ which then gets the customer off their backs and onto the said trade that was mentioned. It’s happened to me a few times before, getting calls telling me i'm holding everything up like and there life depends on it then when you get there all you have to do is turn off a tap or less, but you just take it on the chin then give as good as you get next time a similar situation arises.
This sort of happened this week; I’ve been putting off leaving Devon as I’ve been waiting to finish some bathrooms. Getting more impatient and not wanting to miss any more swells I booked my ticket regardless of my little plumbing jobs but as I left work yesterday I got asked the golden question ‘when do you think the on-suite will be finished?’ I just replied ‘probably not for some time as I’m going away for a bit tomorrow’ then I quickly put in ‘I’ve been trying to get in there for weeks but the tiller has been holding me up’. Technically I wasn’t lying as I would of had it done if he hadn’t been in there the last 2 days although it was me holding him up in the first place but like I say I had to blame someone and it’s not like I’ve left them without a toilet or running water and i'm sure the tiller would of done the same to me if it was the other way round.
Oh yeah and Red Bull have given us a ski to use, it’s a Kawasaki 1600 supercharged which is 250Hp, the thing is deadly and could do some serious damage. Me and Lyndon took it for a little spin the other day to see how it goes.....Look out!
Photo: Rob Tibbles

Britain's best naked Plumber

“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing bey?” “What’s it look like Barry” “I’m being Britain’s best naked plumber.”  
I know it is a slightly odd thing to do on a building site and Barry was slightly worried about the Health and Safety aspects but I had to start somewhere if I really want to make a name for myself in this plumbing world. I did originally enter myself for Britain’s best young plumber award which was on TV the other week but I didn’t even make it through the first round, they said I wasn’t passionate or committed enough and the fact I only really plumbed for about 2 months of the year I couldn’t really even call myself a plumber and there was a slight indication what sort of person they were looking for in the title and being 30 doesn’t really qualify me as ‘young’.
Obviously I told them I didn’t even want to be in there shit programme anyway and was going to make my own award and programme hence me being butt naked at work on Friday morning, thing is I’ve got to act fast if I want to make it as the best naked plumber in Britain because come January I don’t have the slightest intention of plumbing one bit, in fact on new year’s eve I’m going to drive to Baggy Point and launch my pipe benders off the end then throw all my spanners at the moon. But until then I am available for hire, although I do charge slightly more for the naked plumbing day rate as I am currently the best in Britain.

Model behaviour and single

Check me out, ‘hot freaking shit’ you’re probably thinking. Yep been doing a bit of modelling work, one job in particular is for this high end fashion brand called Griffin, to think my ex girlfriend dumped me. To be fair, possible factors among others for this were that she thought I was a liability with the booze; her mates hated me and she was fed up with me having no money yet managing to be away whenever and where ever the surf was good. But look at me now, I’m a freaking model.
Strange and this might not be a best way to put this, but I did actually put a whole heap of love and effort into that relationship. Notably more than others in the past which even had a few of my mates getting a little worried at the fact they might lose me, as I blindly hoped, skipped and jumped down the path towards eternal bliss, marriage and kids. Nah never happened, I had my heart ripped out my chest and kicked around the cold concrete floor, before I even got the chance to get half of the way down that stupid path.
So where am I going so terribly wrong? On paper I’m not that bad, am I?
Skilled and qualified tradesman who can plumb a house or install solar panels and a full heating system, whatever takes your fancy. This also makes me generally pretty nifty around the house and with DIY situations which has got to be a positive in anyone’s books.
Surfboard shaper, glasser and sander, ok this was some time ago but these sorts of skills stay with you for life I have you know and you never know when they might come in handy.
Professional Surfer and all round nice bloody bloke, I admit this isn’t bringing in millions of pounds but it’s a passion and you only have to read through a couple of my blogs to see how happy this makes me!
And now as like iceing on this already delicious Andrew Cotton cake I’ve made it into the cut throat world of freaking modelling, well for a couple of days anyway.
Who wants to go down the boozer and celebrate, but you’ll have to pay as I’m skint and not got a penny on me, then when I get home I’ll book a flight to Ireland,  last minute of course as there’s a sneaky little chart on the cards which has fun, fun, fun written all over it........ Any nice, single girls fancy a date?