Wednesday 26 June 2013

reTREAT yourself in Costa Rica

In April in Costa Rica we were joined by a radical crew of chicas for our last Surf & Yoga retreat of the season .. we went out in style with some epic wave riding and good times in Santa Teresa .. we even met Mr World at the beach (photo evidence below) ..   Check out all the photos, they continue after the break, or take a peek at our flickr gallery for the full set.

We'll be here ready for more fun next spring, find out now how you could be joining us in paradise!



Monday 24 June 2013

Surf Camp in France with Big Friday



Join the Big Friday crew for a week long surf camp in South West France 21-28 September 2013 - Its a 7 day trip staying in our stunning and spacious French farmhouse style villa right by the beach in Labenne Ocean.  Surf each day with the Big Friday surf coaches who will help you really progress with your surfing and take it to the next level, whether thats riding your first wave or improving on existing skills.   Back at the villa the Big Friday chefs will be cooking up a storm with delicious and healthy breakfasts, lunches and evening meals, and there will be plenty of opportunity to explore the local area and local nightlife too!    This trip coincides with the start of the Quiksilver Pro so not only are we guaranteed to spot some of the pros at our local breaks we can also go and check out the contest when it starts!  See you there .. 



Friday 21 June 2013

Surf Artisans: beach to board bag with wyatt & jack

Photo by Oliver Harvey

We first met Georgia at the London Surf Film Festival last year and we fell in love with her range of bags recycled from the fabrics of the beach, old deck chairs, marquees and parasols .. just fling all your childhood summers over your shoulder and go.   This creative lady has just relaunched her brand as wyatt & jack with a lush new website and a wealth of new products including recycled board bags, so we asked her to talk us through the process and what inspires her ..

"I love the stretch of water that separates the island from the mainland. It makes it feel like a proper adventure every time you leave (even when you have to wait a couple of hours because you've missed the ferry).  Which we have. Once again.

We're going to see Rik. Going to see Rik is very much like being a borrower or Hobbit .. everything in his workshop is ginormous (including him and his grin!).  Theres a 10 man inflatable SUP board hanging from the ceiling and two cutting tables that I can only just see the top of .. then theres the machines .. the machines.. he's got all kinds of special machinery that do the jobs we spend ages doing in half the time. Its my stainless steel equivalent of a chocolate factory!

wyatt & jack bags .. the yul, the tote, and the frank
This is the bonus of having our stuff manufactured in Britain. We’re looking at it...being made. When I first starting making the bags a couple of years ago, I knew that whatever happened to the business and however it grew, I didn’t want to export the fabric and have our bags made abroad. Aside from anything else, the minute you put it on a plane or a boat, the carbon footprint instantly counters the recycled nature of it. We don’t want to lose that, we’ve recycled over 4 tonnes of beach material so far!  Plus, we’ve got some of the best manufacturers in the world in the UK and we wanted to hunt them out and use them.

The struggle has been finding someone flexible and enthusiastic enough to join us. The materials are difficult to work with. They come to us, after living a previous life on the beach, then we wash them all back and reveal their original colours before they arrive at the manufacturers in assorted shapes and sizes.  We knew the person who took on the job would have to be into what we’re trying to achieve as much as we are, and with a sense of humour, some of the pieces we send him are probably not much larger than a pair of pants and a pretty similar shape!

The marquee pvc, previously a host to a Bollywood production and countless British festivals, is perfect for a boardbag. Its really durable and easy to keep clean, plus its not black!   Its nice to have a bit of colour for a change, the stripe at the end is from the deckchairs of the London Parks, thats my favourite bit!

board bag in the workshop
I don’t think I’ll ever stop enjoying seeing an idea turned into a tangible object, especially by a professional, they make it look so easy.  Months and months of planning and talking, yet in 20 minutes, theres a finished bag, its unreal really. I'm very lucky.

Heres a little film about the Boardbag Process, sorry about the grey tinge, but if we waited for sunshine, we’d never have had them made!"


process the boardbag from wyatt&jack on Vimeo.

wyatt and jack's board bags are already out and about being road tested by UK surfers, heres what Ernest Capbert of cold water surf company Finisterre had to say .. 
"I have a toiletry bag I love, I have a rucksack that I love and a pair of boots with red laces that I love. these are the things I take on a cold water surf trip and they all sit so well together. You put a board bag from one of the larger brands next to it all and although the board bag at times, does what it should, it falls short of looking beautiful, they always do. Can someone make a board bag that does what it should but also looks good? I can happily say yes, hello wyatt and jack."


photo courtesy E Capbert 

Thursday 20 June 2013

Sista Snaps: Blustery Bellyboarding Mission


We love these pics that popped into our Facebook feed of Surf Sista Lucy and her friend Claire headed for a bellyboard on a blustery day at Westwood Ho.  Hurray for sand dunes, big seas, surfer girls, vintage boards, neon wetsuits and a good old windy summers day in the UK :) 

Fancy adding a wooden bellyboard to your quiver?  Check your nan doesn't have one in the loft and if not check out Sally's Original Surf Board Company .. and don't forget to get yourself down to the Bellyboard Champs at Chapel Porth beach in Cornwall this September! 


 Thanks to Lucy Kirkland for sharing your lovely photos with us.  We love seeing and sharing your photos so if you have any shots of yourself and your friends enjoying the surf then send them in and you could find yourselves on this here blog.  At the end of the year we will put the names of everyone that appeared on 'Sista Snaps' in a hat and we'll send a special goody bag to the winner!   

Monday 17 June 2013

NEW DATES: Cycle Surf in France


Due to popular demand we have added an extra cycle surf for this september, still a couple of spaces left on the first week (31 Aug - 7 Sept) but now you can choose to head back the other way with us as well .. we'll be headed Lacanau to Hossegor by peddle and paddle from 8 - 15 September!

This is the ultimate summer adventure, surfing great waves, sleeping under the stars to the sound of the ocean, peddling through sleepy French villages, meeting new people, eating good food .. enjoying the outdoors!

Check out all the info here



Sunday 16 June 2013

Sunday Slides

A curation of vids that have caught our eye this week .. a little inspiration for your sunday!

Holes In The Map - Sea Movies from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

This nugget by filmmaker Hayley Gordon takes us to Tofino, Canada with Jen Smith, Mele Saili and Jenna Balester



Diosa De La Costa from Quality Peoples on Vimeo.
The girls from Seea making long boarding in Mexico look ridiculously stylish. Video by Quality Peoples who make rather nice tees.



IM LAURA {a new beginning} from IM LAURA on Vimeo.

A peek into the world of Billabong pro Laura Enever

Monday 10 June 2013

Support the GB Juniors in Nicaragua


Surf Sista coach and Oakley rider Gwen Spurlock is tweeting us from the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Nicaragua where she is coaching the GB junior team!

Follow the updates at Surfing GB and tune in to the live feed and show your support for all these talented young surfers!


Sunday 9 June 2013

Summer is here! Lets go surfing ..



It feels like summer is finally here, time to enjoy the bluest of blue seas, golden sands and lush summer waves of our very own beautiful Cornwall.    This summer we have beginner and improver weekends running hand in hand, perfect if you are coming with friends with different levels of surf experience!

All weekends include transport from London if required, two nights stay in a fantastic 4 star surf lodge, breakfasts, surf coaching, a table booking at a great eaterie on Saturday night and a surf goody bag from Oakley. With our Surf Sistas host on hand to help you make the best of your weekend we can also arrange spa massages and treatments, other beach activities like Stand up Paddleboarding or surf rafting and point you in the right direction of the perfect beachside cream tea or coast path walk.

You can choose from the beginner or improver coaching and if you are not sure where you are at just drop us a line and we can have a chat with you about it.

Book now and line up an awesome weekend to look forward to!

Costa Rica 2014 - New Dates online!



Our Costa Rica road trip and Surf and Yoga retreats are back for another season .. check out all the dates on our website and reserve your spot now with a deposit payment, the remainder won't be due until 8 weeks before the trip.  The perfect way to guarantee yourself a warm winter adventure in paradise!

Our Costa Rica Surf Road Trip is a 10 day Surfari along the stunning coastline of the Nicoya Peninsula, its an amazing adventure and perfect for all surfing abilities.  Beginners will love learning with our Surf Sistas coaches on sandy bottom beach breaks, while improvers and experienced surfers will benefit from our higher level coaching and the incredible surf we will encounter on our route.

Our Surf & Yoga Retreats in Santa Teresa are 7 day escapes packed full of waves, Yoga and beach and jungle activities. Again great for all abilities and we will be exploring all the different breaks on offer in the Santa Teresa area to make sure you are surfing the right waves for you each day.   Our surf and yoga retreats include 2 surf coaching sessions each day so perfect if you really want to progress with your surfing, if you just want to spend some time chilling in a hammock thats fine too!

Thursday 6 June 2013

Surfari Fever


Train, airplane, taxi, car and driver, moped, chicken bus, high speed ferry, water taxi, feet and arms ..  all of the above have propelled us from home to Bali to the island idyll of Nusa Lembongan, to countless amazing surf breaks and then back again.      When we are in Costa Rica we are all about 4 wheel drives, quad bikes, ferries, tiny propeller planes, motor boats, mopeds, bicycles .. and of course feet and arms .. always paddling!          

Its good to go and immerse yourself in one place, and we do alot of that, most of the week long surf camps that we run are fixed in one place, even if we do drive around a bit each day to make sure we are finding you the best surf.  In the last few years though we realised that if we were going on a surf holiday ourselves, only had a few weeks to spare,  and were jetting half way around the world .. we would want to see more!   Sure we want to surf great waves every day, ideally in bikinis, and with some beers and cocktails at sunset for good measure, but we also want to explore, see more of the country we are visiting ..    so we created our surfari trips and our surfari fever has taken hold and now spread to take in Bali, Costa Rica and France.

Bali Surfari - A 10 day surfari based initially in Canggu to take in some of the best breaks on Bali, we then head to Lembongan for  tropical paradise and waves that we can only get to on small white boats with brightly coloured stabilisers ..   When not surfing we can mainly be found drinking from coconuts and eating variations of nasi goreng before a dip in the infinity pool, a motorcycle jaunt to the seaweed fields and a sunset Yoga session. Yew!


Costa Rica Road Trip -  The word 'road' is significant in this Surfari as the road (or lack of one) will be a glaringly obvious feature of the trip.  We will be 4 wheel driving up pot holed hill and down pot holed dale to get to our 3 destinations on this trip, not to mention through rivers (don't be alarmed when we walk through to check the height) and even across the beach at one stage. We will be rewarded with blissful waves, burritos the size of our heads, the best avocados in the world, plenty of hammock time and a laid back beach life that will make you want to give up the 9-5 pronto! 


France Cycle Surfari -  This epic adventure is all on two wheels, while your luggage will have the luxury of travelling by van to your next destination, you and your surfboard and day pack will be pedalling all the way from Hossegor to Lacanau along beautifully kept cycle paths in the pine forests of Aquitaine. Through little french villages, past refreshing lakes and to the finest surf breaks of south west France we go, fuelled by feasts cooked up on the campfire by our Big Friday chef.  

Sista Snaps: Surf Sistas on the loose

We love a surf trip and wish we hadn't missed out on this one .. check out Surf Sistas Lucy, Katie, Jo and Agi ripping it up through the Gower in March .. hooded wonder women ..

Thanks to Jo Jo for sharing the pics!