Autumn is the season of promise for UK surfers and this year after the warmest, flattest Summer in recent memory the expectation of decent waves on the horizon had everyone frothing. Things seemingly started going to plan in September with a couple of classic East Coast days that broke the dry spell and bought the smiles back to our faces. Then suddenly the tide turned as a big old high got stuck exactly where we didn’t want it and our wave machine went to sleep.
As is the way though one surfers loss is another’s gain and that same weather pattern which was spoiling our fun sent the UK’s West coast into wave overdrive. Instagram feeds were chock full of west coast goodness with surfers from Cornwall to Caithness gorging themselves on perfect waves. Many a right coaster broke under the pressure and hit the road to get a slice of the action (myself included with an excellent week of waves in Wales!) but ultimately nothing beats surfing right on your doorstep.
In December the North Sea eventually came back to life and sent us a run of swell that reminded us why we all love living and surfing here. Sure sometimes you had to deal with snow, ice, minus figure temps and brutal wind chill but that’s the winter way East side. With the right attitude, a good covering of neoprene and the flexibility to find the right spot with just 8 hours of daylight October and November became just distant memories.
This day was one of those during that period when the local beachie decided to go a little bit French and chuck out some good wedgey a-frames. So much fun was had that even a cold wet wintersuit didn’t deter me from a backing it up with a second session!
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