Back to back XXL swell Hits Cornwall / February 1, 2021 by Guest User

I was sooo looking forward to this one as I saw it appear on the charts. Its hard not to get too excited, I always remind myself it could drastically dissipate, change course or disappear completely.

Unfortunately as the first lumps arrived the weather wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad either but it was typically Cornish with what we call “Mizzle” (a mix of mist and rain) the worst possible combo for amazing pictures with the Atlantic just looking like a grey puddle.

As it all started to hit there were some hearty waves with a nice height as well as some gaps in the clouds. It was quite deceptive and if you were just walking about you would maybe have missed a big set because of the long periods between them. This scenario carried on throughout the next couple of days.

The photograph above was taken on the 31/01/21 Just as the second onslaught of swell hit our shores. I took it almost by accident. I had just been standing watching the swell with Rob Fowlie who was sizing it up for a potential Cribbar paddle out just before lunchtime. We both agreed it was looking more like North Beach in Nazare than Fistral Beach in Newquay. I was on my way back to the car to dry off my equipment and decided I wanted a shot from next to my mums memorial bench which is situated near the Atlantic Hotel. It is an image myself and many other photographers have taken many times before but this spot now has an even more of a special meaning to me.

I started to set up my camera and before I was even looking through the viewfinder I noticed these absolute mountains on the horizon that transformed slowly into one of the biggest sets I have ever seen in the UK rolling straight into Little Fistral. I think this shot shows just how big and powerful this whole event was. Remember this is not the Cribbar, that was still doing its stretches and warming up for the day and getting ready for what would become a legendary afternoon session the following day.

Monday the call went out. The cribbar was ON. Despite the Mizzle waves were very big, clean and consistent. Dom Moore broke his gun and took what must have been a two story fall due to sheer exhaustion from back to back mega sessions making the most of this rare window. A few good rides and fun stories made this a very special day. Although positive at the same time it was a little scary to see 200 (socially distant) people on the headland instead of the usual 20.

I have seen the Cribbar itself larger (not necessarily cleaner) on several occasions and have the photographs to prove it but remember I am looking at it from a very different perspective to someone who surfs it.

Couldn’t be more stoked that this image was picked up by magicseaweed and not only received 6 thousand+ likes but made the coveted “photo of the day”

PS. It’s a hearing gull on the left in the mid ground of this shot not a surfer in the water. Anyone in the ocean would be the size of a pin head, just look at the size of the cars!

Top 5 Big wave spots in Cornwall for storm watchers. / December 31, 2020 by Guest User

It is well into the season for getting wet here in Kernow so we might as well embrace it. Like many, I am inexplicably drawn to the Ocean. A fascination born from golden hazy childhood memories of long car journeys to Llandudno once a year as a kid. Desperately trying to spot saltwater from the backseat of a Vauxhall cavalier probably 50 miles before we were anywhere near the place. The seas and oceans have always held me firmly in there grasp. Watching huge surf is not only breathtaking, it has a habit of putting everything from our daily lives into perspective. In times that seem to be perceptibly compelling what is left of our free will to worship screens either in our pockets or everywhere else we turn, It can be suprisingly refreshing to witness something so real as Mother Nature’s temper instantly compelling all our senses to react to what they were originally designed for. There is no denying that the Ocean cooking on full gas is one of the most powerful forces on the planet and of course this natural theatre plays a major role in our very existence. Now this is Cornwall, not Hawaii, Portugal or any other big wave Mecca but let me assure you after watching this corner of the Atlantic for many years I know for sure that we get some extraordinary and immense waves. Most of these mountains of water are totally invisible for a majority of the year only surfacing on the most herculean swells. Usually the show begins with the remanence of ex hurricanes or tropical storms sending their left over energy and violence in the form of charged tower blocks over the Atlantic using the United Kingdom as a final crash barrier on their passage of utter obliteration. The beasts created in this way are waves often unsurfable by even the greatest watermen and women but this particular blog is about my favourite places to photograph big waves NOT surf spots.

Disclamer:

(If you don’t like the idea of sitting in an icy bath wearing all you clothes with someone continuously and relentlessly giving you the ice bucket challenge and slapping you round the face with fine grain sandpaper while all your expensive camera equipment gets destroyed until the moment you make it back to your car then just maybe storm watching is not for you. If you do go storm watching its at your own risk not because I told you to go. (Please take care and take the appropriate precautions)

5. CAPE CORNWALL

When it is big and I mean BIG, if you can make it through the blusterous squally to Cape Cornwall you will not be disappointed. It is a hard place to take pics due to the severity of how weather systems hit this exposed area with very little in the way of cover due to its geography. Occasionally you may get a brief reprieve from the onslaught but I have yet to experience one. Even if you just sit in your car and try to scale up some of the mountains of water rolling in on the nearby house it can be rewarding. Taking photographs at sea level are not really advisable unless you are a Himalayan goat with a dry suit on.

To give this giant a sense of scale look for the bird in the photograph just in the left hand corner and remember this is an adult gannet not herring gull with a wingspan of around 6 feet in length.

Tip: Stay in your car the entire time.

4. MILOOK WATER. BUDE

For me it’s not always about the sheer height of a wave. Sometimes just the immense power and ferocity can make it so unique. Look at the thick shoulder on this rabid bulldog! I came across this wave quite by accident some time ago while on the hunt for a mountain of liquid gold just a little further from my usual comfort zone. I don’t know for sure how often it gets this angry here, neither can I remember the chart stats of that day. I do however recall it was a serious unrelenting onslaught with trees and debris strewed all over the roads. The exit on other side of the valley had become a tempestuous rapid like river that was almost undrivable but after two attempts and a lot of wheelspin we made it out .

Tip: Prey to the storm gods that there is no one else is taking photographs or cruely taking their poor doggy for a walk in such conditions as parking is VERY limited.

3. ZORBA’S REEF/ BAKER’S FOLLY. PENTIRE HEADLAND. NEWQUAY

Zorba taken from Towan Head approx 3.5km away.

The Zorbas reef is a monster wave spot located two miles off Pentire headland. Situated almost in the shipping lanes it has the potential and has without doubt thrown up some of the most massive water mountains the UK has ever witnessed. The only problem is that the planets don’t align very often with all the correct factors for this rare phenomenon to happen. During severe storms I have spotted this almost mythical giant wave out back rearing its head from the depths yet it took me many years for all the elements that are needed like size and the correct swell/wind direction to witness it working properly. This whole area of headland often produces some huge and interesting shapes on a big swell but my favourite day was this one. On the 6th of February 2019 we in Newquay were experiencing an unprecedented jaw dropping two weeks of pumping surf that just kept on giving. I pretty much spent two weeks on the coast and even got sunburnt (YES in February) as I was outside watching the ocean for so long. I was casually walking on the costal path from South Fistral to Pentire Headland and could not actually believe my eyes, row after row of 20-25 foot waves! They were forming on the Zorbas reef way off shore then charging past Goose rock as they continued to grow in size, eventually breaking about halfway down the headland. The absurdity was that although there was huge amounts of swell around nothing of real significance was happening anywhere else. Even the mighty Cribbar was not doing a great deal. A small group of us gathered and just surveyed this titanic spectical for at least a couple of hours (see above pics). Pentire Headland is somewhere that I often pop up to when there are big seas because at the very least there is something memorizing in watching the James Bond style house (Bakers Folly) behind the Lewinick Lodge take a good beating. In my 20 years of wave watching here I have never seen such massive and solid waves of that caliber or consistency in this location before that day or since.

Tip: If its ever on ring me first! (please)

2. PORTHLEVEN

If you love big waves, their power, their majesty and the absolute drama involved in it all then you have to visit Porthleven. I remember my first time like it was yesterday. Its quite a jaw dropper. Not so much due to the size of the waves themselves, although they do get some serious lumps. The main spectacle and attraction is down to the insane height produced from the rebound of thundering southwestly boomers that hit the wall and cliff face of this Cornish fishing port with an indescribable force after travelling at full speed across the Atlantic. It is so impressive that people have even built careers and successful instagram accounts off its backwash alone. In short, if you are curious about all this storm business I highly recommend a session or two taking the now nationally familiar pictures from one of the many vantage points around this beautiful harbour town. I have pictures of much bigger explosions of water here but I love the light on the first picture showing this sonic boom as the oppersite forces collide. It allows you to see the incredible natural pallet of the Atlantic that we only seem to get here in Cornwall.

Tip: When its on it gets very busy. Don’t park on Beacon road (the small hill that leads out of town towards Rinsey) unless you are very patient or have a good book to read.

1. THE CRIBBAR REEF NEWQUAY

There can only be one winner in my own personal BIG wave top 5. Although there are other great places in Cornwall to witness Mother Nature at her best, some close to me here in Newquay and a couple way down west that may or may not be more impressive on occasion. These are MY favourites and for me nothing in this country beats the Cribbar Reef. Even on smaller days it still mesmerises me with its bubbling franticness as water is forced up and over from the deep to the shallows. With its many faces as the winter swells draw in. Watching it ‘s madness is truly what make’s me feel most alive. Many times I have stood on the headland deenched, freezing and all alone, laughing like a madman while the ground shakes accompanied by the thunderous sounds from its crashing bowels. Occasionaly if its not a raging weather front I am accompanied by curious crowds and sometimes surfers if the conditions are right, all sharing the strange draw and deffinite addiction of the Ocean and its mighty waves.

Above and below are a selection of images of the Cribbar reef from different vantage points takes over different years.

Tip: Wrap up warm. Don’t climb on the slippy rocks and always smile at the soaking wet guy with a beard and gaffer tape on his lense cover.

Surfers Dom Moore and Johnny Fryer. 25/2/19

SINGLEFIN SHOOTOUT 2020 / December 13, 2020 by Guest User

6th December 2020 saw the first few rounds of the annual vintage single fin surf comp The “SINGLE FIN SHOOTOUT” run on pre 1982 boards. It was held here at Little Fistral in Newquay.

The sun was out and the stoke was high!

I never thought I would ever say this but it actually warmed the soul to see so many happy people all gathered in one place. (socially distant cliff gathering) It has been one hell of a year for all of us in one way or another and I think without realising it I had missed the sounds and sights of good people in the same place really enjoying themselves.

Pretty big statement for me concidering my hobby these days is walking costal paths by myself watching the ocean but there you have it.

I took a couple of snaps on both days and spent most of the time actually just watching the mayhem, style and laughter. I hope you like them.

PART TWO Quaterfinals:

Sunday 13th December 2020. Bigger waves, stronger winds and full on Kern mizzle but same great vibes!

Ben Skinner, Alan Stokes, Gee Piper, Callum Murrell

BLACKSPELL / October 19, 2020 by Guest User

I’m beyond stoked to announce that I’m now a brand ambassador for Blackspellink 🥳

We have been working alongside each other for a while now and it seemed natural to officially represent an amazing group of individuals whom not only recognise and promote the best talents in board sports and creativity but actually give recognition and props to people like myself who work immensely hard to be able to show you what they do.

Check out their amazing range of eco conscious unisex Apparel and Clothing on the link above and use the code CONCRETEOCEAN10 for a discount on the site.

Storm Ellen / August 22, 2020 by Guest User

Well that will teach me to winge about no action in the ocean during the summer.

Storm Ellen, although you were not a winter banger wreaking icy chaos and doom as you smashed our beautiful coastline you were a very welcome relief from having to now get used to crowds of people who are still upset they couldn’t go to Turkey this year with their grumpiness, litter and their own ideas on what being socially distant means being forced onto those of us who were just beginning to think we had paradise all to ourselves. Its never bothered me before and its selfish I know but all my life I have been listening to people saying '“imagine if all the tourists went home” Well they had! Lockdown although challenging, sad and at times downright dystopian brought with it a Cornwall I had never seen before, a Cornwall that was truly silent apart from bird song and totally in tune with nature again. I didn’t want to give it back.

All my storm chasing plans went a little wrong but i’m pleased I stayed on home turf in the end as I was able to see a few sights I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I was pleasantly surprised by this beast while standing watching the bay as Ellen rolled in. Im not a big fan of the sunset and backlit waves are a hard one to make look good but just at the right moment the cliffs acted as a giant natural reflector and gave me what you see below. Hope you like it.

ADRIAN BAGLEY PHOTOGRAPHER