Like I said, we’d been checking out plenty of famous surf spots such as Constantine, Perranporth, Polzeath and Watergate Bay, but the weather and tides just weren’t playing ball. Feeling kind of over it and sick of driving after the first day, we decided to find a hotel in Newquay rather than drive down to the Travel Lodge at Hayle – our normal hangout. Not only did we find a killer deal at the Best Western overlooking Towan Beach, but this simple twist of fate meant we were in Newquay, the morning it all went off.
CALLING TIME
December had been pretty much an epic month for Atlantic Storms and the low pressure systems seemed to be just stacking up one after another. An enormous swell was set to hit Ireland Saturday morning, with its long period outfall aimed right at the North Coast of Cornwall. Rather than blow this trip completely and spend half the day hunting for new spots we had pretty much resigned to head to Gwithian – the one solid location we could rely on and knew that would be working. On Friday night, our friend from the Isle of Wight, Neal Gent had joined us for the weekend and, by the time last orders were called, I would have to admit we were all slightly worse for wear. Ross was drinking Cornish Rattler, a 6% cider and I’m sure that stuff possibly may have affected his decision-making process the next morning!