Nae cont aboot…

A few years ago I was doing trips to two main places in Britain on swells, and even though I was scoring sick waves I started to think about how much of our coastline hadn’t been explored yet. I decided to make it my mission to start scoping out the land for new waves as the reefs throughout most of Britain and Ireland are perfect. On my first mission I wanted to start with a certain area that I hadn’t heard of anyone surfing before. As I set off I had no idea I would find a wave of this quality straight away.

Still nae cont aboot…

What I do on all my search trips and what I did on the one where I found this wave is to drive as close to the coast as possible (usually down loads of random farm tracks) and then get the walking boots and waterproof gear on and walk for hours scouring the coast. On the second day of doing this I came face to face with a really angry farmer coming up the track in a tractor so I reversed back up as quick as possible and parked down the way and walked in. When I got to the coast I realized I had stumbled across gold as there was a left going top to bottom and spitting! It was really powerful and came out of deep water so I called it “Beefcakes”, just down from it was a right that was nearer to where the farmer had chased me out so I called that one “Farmer’s Beef”.

Take 2 bottles into the shower? Not Oli – he just washes, n’ goes…

I’ve been back on loads of different charts since and scored it better and better but this trip was the best yet. Beefcakes goes through so many different moods, it can be mellow and good for turns and airs or thick and just full on pits. Some days it has a short barrel followed by a good air section and some days a really long keg.

It was really good to have Johnny and Skindog on the trip, they are two really good friends and are really different on land and in the sea. Johnny had been on a trip here before with me, and Skindog is my brother-in-law so there was no way I couldn’t take him to this barrel factory. Johnny was a bit down before this trip because he has on-going problems with his hips and is waiting for an operation so it was really cool to get him in some pits to put a smile on his face. He was ripping, so stylish and got some of the kegs of the trip. Skinner was ripping too on all boards but was especially impressive on his longboard getting one of the best longboard pits I’ve ever seen in the last surf.

Skindog Pigdog

The scariest thing about the wave is that it breaks right under a cliff so when the tide gets too high you have to make sure you get out in time otherwise you would be buggered because there is literally no where else you can get in and out. On the last day when the surf was at its best we knew it was getting close to being sketchy, but the waves were so good that we couldn’t get out and we nearly got fucked getting out.
But surfing there is such a special experience because there is no one around for miles, no surfers, just fresh air and crystal clear water, a world class wave and my idea of heaven somewhere that’s really cold, no mozzies, malaria, suncream, snakes, spiders, sharks, sharp reef, sunstroke, just good waves with no people.

– Oliver Adams

You’re sexy and you know it

We aren’t allowed to say where in UK it is, but it’s cold and grey… does that narrow it down?

photos by Timo