Dude, your probably the best Swedish Surfer in the world right now!!

We arrived at Spot X last thursday and it was quite the contrast to the almost Jungle like surrounding of the Creasant Head Camp. The place is vast and we found ourselves being lead to a large building with a big pourch in the very centre of the camp, which it transpired was the new 'Academy block'. Its been great having all of the people doing the various courses staying in one place, hanging out on the pourch to listen to music, play cards... or getting a bollocking for creating a 'Shag Pad' (with its own do's and dont's welcome sign) in the spair room! Theres a real family spirit and everyone is looking out for each other the whole time, even the nick names are catching on around camp; E-man (the best Swedish surfer in the world... probably, definetly the best in the camp at Limbo), Sarg (the former German airforce officer who has an unhealthy obsession of getting out the bug spray), Ceaser (a 6 ft 5 German whos name is julias), Frenchie (well he IS french) and Califronia (sure you can work that one out)

 So its Friday morning, 3 days till my course starts, a big party night planned the following day with lots of beautifull women shipped in.... the only logical thing to do was to have someone crash into me and mash up my face with their Surfboard fin. I think I freaked out some of the other surf schools on the beach as I jogged past with a cheery wave and blood pouring down my face! Trip to the doctors and that was surfing done for the weekend (he didnt want me back out till the following friday... yeah right!!). Having the worlds largest black eye did have one advantage though, and pretty much everyone round the camp now know who I am, plus I think I got brownie points for having a 'proper' surf injury... and then defying the doctor to go out again 2 days later for the start of my course.

Monday arrived and it was time to start the course with our two academy instructors Rhys and Linton... both highly accomplished surfers, who have several companies who give them free stuff in return for putting their stickers on their boards, for when their photos make a magazine from time to time. The first session we just had to catch a couple of waves and show them what we could do, I was fairly satisfied with mine managing to get 2 on my back hand (going left rather than right) and a normal right wave. We then got a lot of feed back and during the week I started to work on weight distribution on the board and how I have to stop poping up and start letting the board almost fall away below me on the steeper waves, and then swing my legs up to my chest to get onto the board.

We have also started our theory and fitness sessions on alternate days. The theory covers everything to do with surfing; the very first just talking all about the different types of boards there are in surfing, how they are made and what situation we would use them in. Fitness has also been pretty hard, especially in the warm weather, with all of our scores and times being recorded for progress checks. However they have mixed the sessions up and we have done everything from Yoga to 'Surf Rafting'... taking a huge inflatable boat out into the surf and then as a team trying to paddle to catch waves with it. Oars go flying, the boat flips. Chaos ensuses. Lots of very happy faces on the beach. BRILLIANT STUFF!

The first week has been great in all honesty, and I already feel a better surfer and just fitter in general (the food here is very salad based which helps!). I was also taken aback by how seriously Mojo seem to be taking the Academy; it is only very young and they want to turn it into the biggest and best on the East Coast of Australia. Certainly exciting to be part of that!

I'll post back soon about week two, my tough choice about maybe getting a custom board made and all of the gossip from the Brazilian Carnival that went on over the weekend... them Brazilians sure know how to party! Charlie x

'Is really big Dolphin code word for something else?'... 'Maybe mate'

So I've arrived!

And my god Australia is amazing! I was picked up by my lovely host for my firsty Weekend Lucinda after my epic 21 hour journey (and Emirate bizzare inforced night time... breakfast then darkness, what!?) I got to got Bondi Beach for breakfast and had to pinch myself that I was there, though the slight drizzle did give it a slightly homely feel! I literally fell in love with Sydney, its such a laid back place for a city so large! Massive thanks to Lucinda and the Owers for being amazing host and also for a once in a life time trip to the Opera theater to see a show, something I will never forget!

Monday then arrived and it felt like the first day of school again.. meeting new people and about to start on another adventure; all a bit terrifying! But to be honest it wasnt bad at all, I quickly got chatting to Dan a lad from Reading before we got on the bus, and he's now sort of become my best mate up here. The bus headed off up the Pacific Highway and we were met by some amazing scenery.. you think Australia and blazing desert springs to mind. Wrong, more like a rain forrest with hills and large rivers tearing through the landscape!

Onto Surfing and we arrived at our first stop; Cresant Head surf camp, a remote lodge next to an empty beach and point break. As the bus pulled in we were greated by 10 ripped, tanned surf instructors... all hope of hooking up went out the window! The Surf was great and though I felt abit reluctant to have to go back to basics and start from scratch with my surfing I think it paid off. By the second morning I was catching big 4 foot waves and riding along the face, even attempting a cheeky turn here and there. Bliss! But this was not before the encounter with the 'Really big Dolphin'. It went like this:

Antman the instructor: 'Hey look guys theres a couple of Dolphins out back' *pause* cue worried look and discussion with other instructors. 'Ok we arnt going to go out far today, there is a really BIG dolphin out back and we dont want to disturb it'
Me: 'Is Big Dolphin code word for something else?'    Antman: 'Maybe...'

Maybe!! Bloody maybe!? it was a flipping 10ft Bull shark they later revealed.. thankfully though all limbs remained attatched and I made it to an afternoon surf at the local Point break, once again with me getting some of the best waves of my life!

Cresant Head was a cool little way to get us all up to speed with Surfing and really bonded the group together, the food was great and the evening parties by the fire were epic (thanks for the input Jodie!) On wednesday we packed up and got ready to head to Spot X our home for the next 3 months and the start of the course! I'll talk about that on my next blog in a couple of days! The Surfing has so far been great and Australia has certainly lived up to its name... no wetsuit? FUCKING YES!

Cheers Charlie x Yeeeeeew

Packing for a year

Hey, so I'm about to head to Australia to start my Surf instructors course and thought I would set up a Blog to let you know how my training was going and how many Sharks I've had to fight off with my Board! I’ve got 3 months of Training at 'Spot X Surf camp' on the East Coast of Australia, about 2 hours south of Byron Bay. The idea of Surfing in the Pacific Ocean seems pretty unreal, especially after a summer of surfing the slightly less exotic shore break at East Runton on the Norfolk coast. Tropical paradise it is not.

The first 2 months of the course are surfing and training every day out in the ocean getting my ability and fitness up to scratch.  Then in the  final month I start the qualification part of the training, learning advanced resuscitation, open water rescue, advanced first aid, and also taking my ‘run swim run requirement’.... I’m assuming that I’m going to have to run for that. Then swim. Then run a little bit more! I will also get to start taking my first groups out to teach them to surf as I get to do 40 hours of practical experience at the Surf School. Hopefully by the end of the 3 months I will be fully qualified and licensed with the Australian Level 1 Surf instructor’s award. After that I’ve got the working Visa for a year so hopefully I’ll be able to get a job and a place to live out there and keep living out in the land of surf!

So now I’m packing everything for a year into one bag. It is quite a large bag I might add... Unfortunately my own Surfboard is going have to sit this adventure out, the nightmare of getting it down there and around Sydney means that I will buy its Australian cousin once have sorted out a more permanent place to stay! Amazingly I have managed to fit almost everything in my bag, though I guess a selection of Board shorts and Rash vests were never going to take up a massive amount of room. The fact that you don’t need a wetsuit is something that I probably won’t accept till I get there... the sea is always cold and it’s always raining when you get to the beach right!? The hail storm in Newquay in June has sort of given me a complex...

Well that’s about it for my Blog intro, I’m going to try and update this once a week with how it’s going, and also any video or photos I take. The next one should be after my weekend in Sydney and my first week at Spot X, hey maybe I might even spot Russell Crowe!

Charlie