£70 to not go to work

I missed 2 appointments with the Vicar the last month due to surf but 3^rd time lucky and I sat through the meeting which was a general gist of I’m going to be charged a whole heap of money to get married and also have to pay an organist 70 quid whether I want him to play or not, which I don’t so to cut to the chase I’m paying some bloke to NOT turn up and make a load of noise on his organ at my wedding, oh and not to forget the deposit. Not that I could as she mentioned it about 30 times like it was most important thing, what was she actually implying by that. Anyway never mind the freaking deposit wish I could get paid not to turn up to work, that sounds like the best job ever.
We had a little break from the swell but now I’m about to move house and it looks like we’re in for a run of all runs of surf, Portugal, Ireland, Portugal, Ireland. Just can’t stop looking at the charts and planning where to go and what to do about this moving house scenario. I missed the last time we moved house due to an unfortunate Analog team trip to Indo for a month which I organised, it was perfect for me but a nightmare for my Wife to be and I’m not quite sure how to approach this one. ’Just popping out to the shops darling’, ‘see you later’ ‘oh and I’ll send a postcard’. X
Oh but she’ll love my tan when I get back, well maybe!

© Polvo/ Jorge Leal and Wilson Ribeiro - 2011

Worlds Deadliest Catch

The SEVEN SKIRTS of NAZARE from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

You might recognise me off the telly, I looked like a Wurzel or one of them fisherman from the World’s Deadliest Catch you know the one that’s crossed eyed and has a speech impediment and very possibly makes love to some of the fish he catches when no one’s watching, I don’t know that I’m just speculating as it’s got to be lonely on those boats and sometimes scary enough to make you think you might not make it back alive. I know what I’d do. I don’t want to keep banging on about this place Nazare as I’m sure it’s all boring you but check out my little clip of a few waves from last year, the old dears wear seven skirts at once in this place as some sort of fishing tradition about counting set waves on their skirts and signalling to their husbands to return to shore, might have those facts wrong so don’t quote me on that. Imagine how long it must take them to get dressed in the morning. Hope you like the clip.

History made

I can tell you one thing about this photo that not many other people could, just a few minutes before this wave was surfed Garrett was doing an aqua poo, in fact as he was laying cable I could see the set approaching but as he said at the time, he wouldn’t be rushed which is fair enough as the whole morning was pretty magical so why rush it, breath it in and feel the energy. So I’ve established this isn’t me in the photo its Garrett McNamara although it almost could have been but the simple fact is its not, I am slightly disappointed it’s not me but I did however help him get this wave as I was driving the jet that towed him in and also picked him up which sometimes can be as good of a feeling than actually surfing the wave but then again sometimes not. It is however a freaking big wave and I’m just super stoked to of had the opportunity of being out there on this morning, thanks to everyone involved in The North Canyon project and the town of Nazare and congratulations Garrett for an epic ride. 

Change of reasons

Change of Reasons from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

I love this blogging shit and it has been said I am quite good at it at times, apart from that incident when I wrote about the grown men pissing about racing their little dingys which upset a few people. Well mainly them and I think there has been a couple other minor scenarios but you can’t please everyone all the time and like I said some people just take things too seriously and I was only saying what I saw.
So I’ve been given the opportunity to write another blog for the guys at Eyeball, it’s going to be completely different to this one, as in I won’t be as loose and I’ll try to be slightly more professional and write about my surfing experiences rather than random dribble that comes into my head which at times should never be written down let alone published on the internet. This is a clip by Wavedreamer of a few waves I surfed in Ireland towards the end of the season, to see what sensible things I wrote about it check out my blog on Eyeballhq.com . Hope you like it.

£5.50 Hot sandwich combo meal

I learnt from my last trip to Nazare, never sit in the middle on those sit anywhere flights because last time all I wanted was the hot sandwich combo meal for £5.50 and although I could see the air hostesses coming from either end they took over 2 hours to get to me and by the time I got my hot sandwich combo meal I might as well of waited cause I was practically already there, then to top it off I was pretty much last off the plane and had to wait ages standing around at passport control. I could of sat anywhere on that freaking plane, why did I choose the middle? So this time I sat right at the front, I got served first with the food trolley, was first off the plane and through passport control within minutes, getting experienced in this travel stuff.
Not sure why I even came home really, well apart from seeing my girls. I knew this swell was going to be a big one down there and when I got conformation and told to bring any extra flotation I had on my return I did begin to worry that It had all got a bit out of control and wasn’t 100% sure what to expect but just knew I had to be there.
On swells like these I do this thing where I imagine the worst possible scenarios, waves so big I don’t want to surf, nightmare ski situations and the heaviest wipe outs and then when I get there its always smaller, safer and fun than I planned out in my brain, simple mind games and it works every time. The surf pumped for 3 straight days and was still smoking when I left, Nazare truly is an amazing wave but don’t let any photos you see fool you, it’s not to be taken lightly.

Photo:http://brunoaleixophoto.com/