Surfing Waves

Hi, just thought I'd put this out there...

Been surfing for a while now, around 7 or 8 years mainly weekends living in Derbyshire. I think safe to say more confident this last year or two when I got a custom 'Escape' 7'6 carpet board, really improved, plus got more confident getting 'out back'.

My question(s) are concerning this wave...my mate lived and surfed up there for the last few years, unfortunately I wasn't able to get up there and now he's buggering off to NZ.

I've watched Thurso dvd's and YouTube etc. I would like to know just how hard it is to surf? I want to have a go, even dreamt about surfing it more than once is it as menacing as it looks?

Would it be an idea to go up there for a couple of weeks and watch it first? Gradually work up to it? Seen some amazing photos my mate getting tubed there (Chris and Rich Ireland if anyone knows them up).

I know it can get pretty damn big and looks menacing, Chris says 'it's not that bad', but I guess if you lived there for years on and off you get used to it?

This is something I REALLY want to do, so any advice appreciated, I have a van and tent, I assume ok for Spring/Summer no doubt need somewhere warmer through Winter?

I'm obviously not going to do this overngiht, or on a whim, been thinking about it long enough already.

Cheers!

Not that Ive surfed Thurso (its too damned cold, Im too damned cr@p), but a 7'6 carpet is one of the least suitable boards I can think of

You'd need to be confident on a high performance shortboard before giving a fairly menacing reef break a go. So dont do it... yet

Yeah, I figured I'd need a different board, that's all in the plans before I go

Get fit enough, then do it.

Any proposition if its extreme needs analysis. Its rare nowerdays for someone to turn up and just "on site" stuff unless what they are doing is known to be significantly easier than what they are used to.

The thing is this about extreme sport: You can push your limits and even find out that they are your mind and not your physical ability quite a lot. If you keep pusing youll end up doing alot of extreme stuff. This is fine. However there will come a point when you fleshin' up. I cant explain this in any other terms except rockclimbing. You will run out, get to a point when you cant climb up or down, you will have no protection, and you will think you are going to die. You will nine times out of ten pull off the solution. however there is an element of probability. This is complicated alot by the fact that having pulled this off once makes subsequent attempts alot easier. Thats why the "on site" analogy is important.

Work out the risks, ask people who know, make sure your fit enough, mentally and physically, and the do it.

It's worth remembering that there are loads of places to surf up there anyway for all levels. Some people will say better waves than Thurso East are only a few miles away. So I'd say go up there for a trip anyway.

I've camped in October and it was pretty cold. The whole of the north coast is set up really well for campers with plenty official sites and also public toilets and some showers at the main bays.

Go and check it our for yourself! I love going up there.

if you do go up there and im in leeds rather than swansea then i want in on the trip. ive been wanting to go up there for a long time but cant find the time or cash or someone keen enough to go with me.

Cheers for that Real Pol, I will be going up there later in the year...hopefully for at least a week and I'll do some 'searching'. Cheers for the info

S.S how's it going? I think one of the reasons I havn't been before is price of fuel etc. No doubt cheaper going to Portugal where I've been the last few years. I think it will be towards end of Spring early Summer but will let you know!

im from flamborough near scarborough, some friends of mine paddled thurso on longboards, and they came out fine, they also experienced some huge hold downs, near death reef missages but loved it, also the guys from my local shop fluid concept have just been round all the beach breaks up there and it looks intense, if you want a 3rd person to fill the car and fund fuel count me on that one dude

Hi NEP, sounds like a fun trip! Did they get any photos? My mate surfed on the same board as me so I guess it's more about your skill level than your board type, Pipeline has been surfed by Bonga on a longboard!
When I'm next up Scarborough way I'll give you a shout? Sounds like it could be a fun trip!!

http://www.scarboroughsurfschool.com/

the link to them is here

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