Surfing

IC Canoe Club : Trips : Surf trips 1996

Surf trip to the Gower peninsula

Summer 1996

Trip I

This trip utilised the amazing vehicle, Betsy, a camper van. If you do not have one of these buy one now, they are great and do not leak or anything and are actually comfortable. The trip began badly with one of our number[censored]... ask Ross or Neil about this.

Getting up nice and early at about 10 we go down to the beach by the afternoon and had a pleasant surf although, in the afternoon surf club ringpeice took over and hung about in the way for hours. Down to the pub for beers and home for more beer, we were woken at 6 by one of our more keen entrepreneurs (Mark) with the joyful cry "Surf's up".

Needing no further encouragement we got onto the water for some magic surf with only the seasoned surfers out at this time we were able to stay out of each other's way. Going back for lunch of beans and lard over at least two hours and back out for more surf.

On the way home we stopped in a Vietnamese chipshop in Swansea, it is very strange to here Welsh Vietnamese people talk. After getting home on Sunday our driver begged us not to make him laugh (sore abs) and had to sit down when we did, to get revenge for this he revealed that he had been hallucinating while driving and seeing waves.

Trip II

I got to drive this time, it is amazing what you can get into a metro, though three boats on the roof was pushing it a bit. The three of us got to the campsite at 5.30 am and discovered that the gate was shut, a sign directed us to the arse end of nowhere and I drove around for half an hour trying to find the other entrance. Giving up we went back and climbed the gate. Pitching at 6.00 to the sound of the morning chorus, not recommended. The farmer started driving around at 6.15 and it rained so hard I thought the car would disappear into a lake.

We got up at 9.00 am and went off to the surf, not all that good but the potential was there. We set off with the intention of getting riotously drunk to the local pub (only 2 miles). After succeeding in this aim we made our way back relatively unscathed by the local jailbait. Got up late on Sunday due to a tip off about the tide, the waves were big, and they kept getting bigger. The larger waves were about 4 m face height and blotted out the sun. At this point I broke the rule, don't go wheeee. There was a couple of hours of serious fun as many of the wuss types hid during this period. After a day of surfin' drama I gout to drive back, I found myself ducking for the little rises in the road as if I were paddling out into a large swell.

NEIL SHIRTCLIFFE