Now that it’s gone flat seems like a good time to look back on what has been another epic Winter for us in Wales.  Ordinarily the thought of not escaping the cold onshores even for a week or two is pretty daunting, but this last Winter has proven that sometimes its not so bad beeing stuck at home. 

 We’re very fortunate in this area to be able to surf pretty good waves when the wind is 30mph and onshore.  Not all the spots are easy to find, nor easy to surf with our huge tidal difference yet the rewards are definitely there if you have a good look around.

After each low’s gone past there have been some smaller days out on the Gower Reefs that have been super fun, especially with the water not being as cold as it has been in previous years. 

 This Winter Jon has shaped me some amazing new short boards especially for the (relatively) small waves we get here in Wales.  They’re very close to a hybrid shape, very short 5′10″ and quite wide, 18 3/4″ keeping the rails sleek at 2 1/4 ” These boards will ride in the pocket like a more narrow board but will also skate over the fat spots and chop when the surf isn’t that clean.  The result is that you can go out on the not so perfect and pumping days and still have heaps of fun…..

  

The remnants of the last swell have now gone, but at the end of last week there were some pretty good days on the west facing beaches, with especially good banks at Gennith at Rest Bay.  With the evenings drawing out thoughts turn to longer days in the water and the opportunity to surf fun waves on more fishy type boards. 

 

 Since moving back from Hossegor its actually been quite hard to work out what boards you need to get the best out of our waves.  There is always a tendancy to look at what the pro’s are riding and try and use the same thing.  Some people manage to get going on their 6′1″ rounded pins but not me.  With that in mind I’ve got a curved channel 5′10″ ready for Spring.  It’s the same as my standard shortboard but has the extremely deep oval shaped channels in the bottom.  These channels work in pretty much any type of surf, but seem especialy good in the type of waves we get here in Summer.  Jon’s also got a new ‘Project XYZ’ quad fin coming soon so all we need now is some surf

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