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I had been
wondering if the weather had something against IOPCC after
our very wet camp at Easter followed by the inclement
weather in Cornwall and then the wet and windy weather we
had for the West Bay paddle.
The Bude surfing weekend broke the mould and we had the
most beautiful weather all weekend and, more importantly,
the surf was up!
16 paddling members travelled down to Widemouth Bay and
stayed at
Penhalt Farm. Our weekend was enhanced by Bertie, Yazz,
Steve and Jane bringing along their young families. Most
people camped but Beryl and Jim stayed in the farmhouse.
Some people travelled down early on the Friday and
enjoyed a great day out in the gnarly surf getting mullered.
I should explain here that the words of the weekend were
gnarly and mullered. For those familiar with the
Urban Dictionary, 'mullered' means, ‘Broken, smashed
or beaten up to the point of being visibly altered,
unusuable or non-functional’. That just about covers it.
If you are still not sure what that actually looks like have
a look at the photos of Ken Buddy and Chris at the BBQ on
Saturday night and you will get the picture.
Link>>
On Saturday morning Beryl and Jim kindly invited everyone
up to Penhalt Farmhouse for breakfast. This very generous
offer, which was repeated on Sunday morning, was very much
appreciated. The weather was superb and the surf was still
up.
Ken, Steve and Clive, being experienced surfers, went off
out the back to ride the big waves. Bertie ran a surf clinic
for 8 novices. We learnt about bongo sliding, paddling out,
catching a wave, riding a wave diagonally and how to return
to the beach after capsizing. The latter of these skills was
practiced more than we would have liked. Three hours of this
and we were all well mullered so we retired to the beach
café for a long lunch break in the sunshine. In the
afternoon most people returned to the waves in and on a
variety of boats and boards.
On Saturday evening we all enjoyed a communal barbeque at
the campsite. Most people were pretty tired by this stage
but not everyone. One of our newer female members dazzled us
with an acrobatic clinic demonstrating cartwheels and flic
flacs. Not many people joined in on this occasion. Next
time…………
Sunday morning the weather was still perfect and the surf
was a little less gnarly. After a hearty breakfast courtesy
of Beryl and Jim we headed down to the beach again. The big
boys headed out the back and the rest of us were once more
treated to Bertie's surfing clinic. Today we practiced what
we had learnt yesterday and then progressed to bottom turns
and top turns. Everyone gained confidence and made progress
and also had a lot of fun. We are very fortunate to have an
expert coach who is willing to share his skills with us.
In the afternoon some people continued surfing. The waves
were a bit smaller and it was possible to paddle out in the
big boats. Jim, Ian and I went for a short sea trip along to
Crackington Haven for an ice cream. It was a splendid paddle
and was very relaxing after all that mullering! We even got
back in at Widemouth without getting trashed.
Thank you one and all for a most enjoyable weekend.
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