ISLAND LIFE
Living on an island for sure has its ‘pros and cons’, but for me the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Nature’s moat that separates us from the mainland can be a real pain in the backside when trying to travel to Gatwick or Heathrow for an early flight but at the same time the segregation from the rest of the UK is what keeps us islanders constantly drawn to back to our roots. There is a consistency about living on a small island; it’s a smaller close knit community and the stress levels always seem far lower than the traffic jams, hustled commuters and sirens over in mainland towns and cities. Island living is not everyone’s cup of tea but for me it is awesome to be able to travel and see the world but then be able to return to a safe place where there are always familiar faces in the surf and around town. We live a two minute walk from the beach, our children grow up in a safe environment and we score some pretty decent wind and un-crowded waves all year round, so personally I would not want to live anywhere else!
SLICK SESSION
Anyway, back to the action and from the ‘get go’ the boys were hungry to go hard at it. Perhaps the cost of the ferry, which apparently is the most expensive crossing per mile in Europe, was making the crew rack up their ‘money’s worth’ in waves. But these were fun conditions, nothing massive but perfect punchy size with just the right angle of cross offshore wind and a hollow section on the inside for the glory moves. Ross set the early pace throwing down his normal mixture of vertical snaps and wave 360’s but not to be outdone, Timo, Lecky and Jamie all followed suit nailing 360’s back into the wave. Yep, Levi Siver and the crew had been planting some pretty tasty ‘wave 3’s’ in the perfect conditions on the end bowl at Ho’okipa, but some of the moves the boys were throwing down at Niton were equally if not even more impressive. With everything seemingly slotting into place, I even allowed myself the luxury of a quick water session to shoot the boys from a different angle, the timing of course was perfect with the outgoing tide allowing me to hold position perfectly in the line-up and capture a few waves with the ominous St Catherine’s lighthouse as a backdrop.