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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
| > Home > Newsletter > Canoeing > Surfing |
Surfing"There must be surf, its blowing force 8.""Look, it's getting bigger, did you see that one?"The plan was to go surfing. Teletext said there was no surf, but undeterred, we rang the Coastguard to try to get a more accurate view. Much to our delight, he told us it was blowing a Force 8 and the sea state was rough. A quick ring round gave us a meeting point at Saltburn at 10.30am. Upon arrival, we realised that surfing was going to be unsuccessful. The wind was blowing offshore, and the surf was beautifully shaped with tubes and perfect breaks forming, but it was going to be difficult to surf six inch waves! A change of plan ensued, with Tees Barrage being the preferred option. A quick trip to the bank, the cafe for hot chocolate, then we decided to get on the water. The wind was still blowing and it was starting to rain, so what, we were going to get wet anyway (how right we were). The top wave was easily surfable by most, and the course was fairly friendly. Clive showed off by surfing the top wave without a paddle, and then we all just had to have a go! This done with varying degrees of success, we worked our way down the course. New tricks were learnt, demonstrated or discussed (mostly the latter), with the occasional stunt (usually accidental) thrown in. Four hours later, four very wet and tired paddlers finally decided that it was too cold and wet for us, and retired. A good, fun, informative paddle was had, and all of us came away feeling that we had learned something (even if it was only which way up the boat goes - Dad!) Neil Bridgstock |