The struggle is real …

This is dedicated to all those delightful dramas that come with Surfing…

As we all know, nothing is easy in life and certain things are sent to try us.

We firmly believe that the hardest task us humans have ever been handed is – putting on a wetsuit ….

Here are some pointers for showing that skin sucking, tight rubbery outfit a thing or two!

1. Get in the zone – If like us you live in the UK then there’s no two ways about wearing a wetsuit, it’s got to be done. Prepare yourself for the task in hand by giving yourself a little pep talk – you own the wetsuit and you will look fabulous in it!
2. Maybe put some motivational music on in the background – We’ve found that the Rocky theme tune works wonders (especially when hung over).
3. Put it on dry – hang the sucker up after each use so the water can drain out. There’s nothing worse than putting on a soggy, cold suit that makes you feel like you’re being born again!
4. If you’re rocking a chest zip then this may require some extra grunts and strength to pull that hood over your noggin! I (Holski) have a rather long neck, so pulling my hood over is just terrible. I have to sit on the floor and brace myself whilst Katy lifts it over for me, it’s hilarious but not pretty! Katy has the longest and thickest hair you have ever seen, so getting it all into a hood is also hard work – see picture for effect (CHEWBACCA)

The legend of Duct Tape.

If you know, you know …

This stuff will one day save your butt – there is literally nothing is can’t fix.

A roll of duct tape should always be in your bag of tricks – we have had way too many experiences with it so far, so below you will find a list of how it has saved our bacon!

1. Leaking car roof – due to having a soft roof rack we have to thread the straps through the car so that they are above our heads, this is great if it’s sunny but as we live in the UK the drive down is normally wet and blurry, THUS causing the doors not to seal properly when shut, so all the water eventually dribbles down the straps and onto our heads (yay). BUT – we did some of that ‘standing outside the car and looking at it for 10 minutes’ like guys do, then came up with the ingenious plan to duct tape ourselves into the car WORKED WONDERS – no more leaks but also could we no longer get out of the car haha.
2. Injuries – Duct Tape has you covered for gash wounds, cuts, blisters and more. We were first introduced to this by the chef at Feral Surf. He’d cut his foot somehow so instead of using a bandage he just cleaned it with salt water and taped it up. Worked a treat! It was then Katy’s turn to injure her foot, so we sent her to Dr Ellis (duct tape chef man) to be treated. She came back out with the prettiest dressing I’ve ever seen (pictured below)
3. Board repairs – Katy has somewhat a huge lack of spatial awareness and because of this she clacks her board on almost everything and everyone she passes. You can imagine the amount of scratches and dings on it – poor thing. Anyway, not only does Katy often come out the sea with a new ding in her body, so does her board. Our friend at the Watershed is our main port of call for everything surfing and repairs, but when he’s not around we have to take the repair into our own hands and basically cover the ding in wax and duct tape. Again, it works a treat and is very inexpensive!

Windy weather can cause serious injuries!

Be careful of your face when it’s windy, it can sometimes be the impact zone for flying boards!

Holski knows this too well …

January 2nd, Towan Beach, Newquay.

It was one of them horrible, grey and very windy days (I think storm Frank was in town) and we were both planning an afternoon surf once the tide had gone out.

This all changed when we bumped into the Watershed gang who persuaded us to surf right then. We don’t take much persuading so off we went to struggle into our wetsuits (Rocky theme tune was on of course). Off we tootled down the beach and they all headed into the water whilst I (Holski) faffed with my GoPro for a bit.

I couldn’t turn the damn thing on so I made my way towards the water. As I was about to place my board on the water, a MASSIVE gust of wind came along, threw my board back up and straight into my two front teeth.

I literally thought I had just been walloped by Mike Tyson. I proceeded into the water to get Katy’s attention to ask her if I had done something to my teeth as I couldn’t feel anything.

She just looked at me and burst out laughing – it was at this moment I knew I had lost either some of or all of my tooth. I went and caught one wave because there was no way I wasn’t after all that!

I had to go to hospital and have emergency root canal surgery that afternoon – surprisingly I couldn’t feel a thing but nor could I for the next 4 hours after it. I know I look like a hillbilly 24/7 as the damaged tooth is so much shorter than my ok tooth. But hey, it’s a funny story!!

This photo doesn’t do it justice as the blood had stopped pouring!

One of the more recent surfing ailments we’ve experienced is BRAIN FREEZE!

There’s not much you can do about brain freeze other than either get out and admit defeat or suffer for another wave.

We personally prefer to admit defeat and head to the pub for a good meal and a few drinks.

If in doubt – head to the pub

Hope you have enjoyed reading!

Holly and Katy

xXx

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