Newquay
Nine MiniMals, one thruster, two waveskiis, two shopping trolleys worth of neoprine rubber, twenty metres of roof rack strap and 850 km on the road, combined with some big surf for the clubs first trip to Newquay.
Saturday saw the club heading off to Devon to pick up our boards and break up the long journey to Cornwall with a surf in Croyde Bay. This proved to be a very strange beach with big dips every metre so if you were wading out rather than paddling you had a hard time of it. We had the water to ourselves however and despite the waves being a bit messy, most of us had a good time and caught some waves. Afterwards we headed down South on some of the countries most interesting "A roads" to Newquay. Having found our B&B the clubbers went off to town for free entry to one of the clubs while the others ordered pizzas, played pool (including an epic battle between myself and Neil and some interesting backseat playing from Claire), watched TV and got some sleep.
Sunday morning enabled the hungry to make full use of the all you can eat style breakfast before we went to check where the best surf was to be found. Much to our delight we found it was either excellent and big or just good and reasonable. Opting for the traditional and deserted Fistral (yes Surrey Surf Club actually had the waves at Fistral to itself for a good time*) all the surfers managed to get a good session under their belts. Although I could not see who it was, I saw several of our members really showing improvement on their surfing. Whilst still having a great time, I was cursing myself for not being a better surfer as the waves right out-back might have offered a short tube ride for a more experienced surfer. After a quick stop in town for a bite to eat and a quick shopping trip (yet more rubber was added to the clubs store) we started the journey back to Uni. The return journey saw some truly filthy songs courtesy of Rob via year 7 school kids, the worlds cheesiest rock album and an impromptu singing competition between Annabel and
Alana on one team and Dustin and Charlie on the other (if my ears are correct).
Thanks to everyone for coming along and making it a good first weekend in Cornwall and good skill to Claire with her rolling. Special thanks should go to Neil for driving 850km for his first trip with the minibus and Rob for his expertise in tying everything down securely (I won't mention what you told me about your rope skills).
* Those of you who are waiting for the summer will have to put up with the beach being packed as full as a very packed thing with a very good reason to be packed, plus there will be less waves and accommodation will cost more (it is still great fun however).