a dark few days

its been a tough few days, my buddy ed left these shores, a few surf sessions tucked under his belt and many a frozen memory locked away in my mind. Good times and great waves.

It leaves me bereaved again, a strong work, but the only adjective that accurately captures the bleakness of having your longest, truest friend spend that kind of intense time with you, to be ripped asunder. He leaves a void that never gets properly filled.

To make do, I shaped myself a new board...B13, to commemorate some good times. I listened to moseley shoals, and old blues records, and the thievery corperation whilst I shaped and glassed. Its not the neatest of works, but im happy with it, its rough around the edges glassing wise, which is kind of how i felt whilst i made it. I reckon it'll go good.

eddie did come

Ed arrived and we surfed a few little ones at my favorite place away from the maddening crowd yesterday...small but fun, and clean to boot.
The sun is shining and the winds are good for now at least.

This morning didnt yield too much, but keen for the coastal run this morning, see what we can see.

my heart and sea

Last night i saw the new Nathan Oldfield movie - the heart and the sea - Another great patagonia screening with a few donation payment beers, good vibes...

nathans blog 

The movie has gotten me thinking about those that I include in my family, those i love, and those dear to me, so many are the on the other side of the world and I get chance to see once every couple of years...its a heartbreaker some days. Im grateful and lucky to have a few on this hemisphere that I'm proud to cal friends and are very important to me.

I also met Pesty last night - ive followed his work ever since I got into this blogging thing, and it was great to actually meet in real life, share a few moments of whats obviously a similar unbridled passion for all things aquatic and beautiful.

 pestys blog

And in two weeks my closest buddy, Ed is coming to visit - I get to surf with my oldest surfing compadre.

And in another 6 months an new life will join our family - I will become a father. I cant describe how this makes me feel.

my wife - playing with light

a few of my favorite people

this was the same little group of people that met in an empty camping ground on the beach, prai da guincho - portugal. The surf was wild that day - so beer, wine, barbequed fish and a lunar eclipse filled the day/night - and I met my wife.

So a few years later, the four of us, and a few others, got together in bournville, the birthplace of caburys, and me and the now missus tied the knot.

Good times.

ed's shred shed

Ive shaped a new stick for my best buddy from england who should be arriving on these shores in feburary for a few weeks. I surfed it at poss yesterday and it goes good.

nighttime light play - croyde bay

my friend ed

i miss ed ~ tonight, acutely. I'm homesick, painfully. its happening more, feeling more and more lonely, missing home, the closer i get to going back.

He's the guy I first surfed with, the guy I shared the first few steps of the journey with. He gets me.

He surfs good, because he enjoys it, its visceral, its written on his face, he'll do whatever madcap scheme i had conjured up, we surfed at midnight, tangled in the fisherman's lines, we surfed waves we shouldn't.

When i surf i sometimes think of him ~ and try to tell myself to be a little more like him than me.
Moments like now, when i think about my place in the world ~ i miss him most.
I miss sitting on the roof of the car, post surf, in the dewy evening sharing stories, usually tall ones, exaggerating rides, overstating ourselves, knowing that we were(are) both rubbish! - smiling, knowing, and laughing.

We climbed big cliffs together ~ we did stupid big swings off railway bridges, in the middle of night, on old rope, climbed into water-towers to abseil ~ we should be dead ~ we drove too fast ~ we trust one another ~ he belayed my first lead - on this route:

He tried to rescue me, and eventually did when i got stuck halfway down a bridge swinging in the span in the middle of the night.

im lucky to have him as a friend, even if he is on the other side of the world...

and i'll surf with him in 9 weeks.

surfing eddie

my friend eddie
i first surfed with him, climbed with him, travelled with him...
he's a fun dude