Only weeks to go...

Things are starting to feel very real now. L is 32 weeks pregnant and although it might sound daft to say so, she is looking proper pregnant (with only a matter of week remaining). She's still feeling pretty good and in my opinion is looking very good. Her only issue is working too hard during the day but she's not someone who you can tell what to do, so on the whole you have to leave her to it.

We're still playing around with names but I think we're 90% sorted. Although I guess we'll have to wait until the wee-fella makes his appearance before seeing if it suits.

It's amazing that we've gone from the tiny guy in the bottom shot (is he on a tiny surfboards?) to the 4lb+ boy you can see in the upper shot.

L having a rest.

L testing out her new garden strimmer.

Past the half-way point....

Things are definitely happening. L is now in her 21st week and the wee-boy is most definitely a boy. L even thought she felt the boy kick this morning but she would like to feel some proper ol' movement just so he's making himself known to her.

At least folk have stopped telling me how my life will end once the wee fella arrives. According to all the inlanders, once the wee-boy arrives I'll have to say g. I'd beg goodbye to surfing, wakeboarding and all those things that keep me sane. I'd beg-to-differ and show you a vid-clip of Cory Lopez with his grommet of a little girl as evidence.

Popped over to Liquid Leisure yesterday and bleddy hell, it was the coldest session of the season yet. Ok, I should have realised it was going to be cold when the air temp was close to zero and the water temp was in the low single figure numbers (4'C?) but the hail storm really took the piss - a giant hail stone to the eye just after hitting a kicker can put a downer on a day. Still, it was great to get wet - always good for the soul.

Oh ye, we went to the Banff Film Festival earlier in the week and saw some brilliant short films. It was the Red film viewing and so the majority of the films shown were land-based and I was surprised how I found myself completely absorbed by a couple of films in particular.

Probably joint favourite film was only 8mins long but was a sad little cracker called Denali. It's on Vimeo and so you'll have to jump over there to check it out (see link). A cheeky surprise to me was Unbranded. Four guys train and ride a dozen mustangs from the Mexican border all the way  up to Canada. It was the abridged version and so I'll definitely be renting the full movie at some point.

Unreal was a cracking mountain-biking film. The footage was just ace and the twist on the filming made it a little extra special.

Pretty Faces was a fab addition to the evening, with the focus being on female athletes. There have been a few viral articles going around about women and the way they're treated in the professional sports environment. This film film looks at Rachael Burks and her dream of Alaska.

There were a number of other cracking little films but if you want to see them, you'd best get your arse in gear a get a seat booked at your closest Banff Film Cinema - LINK

Well into January...

Well, I'm not too sure how many of you know but L and me are pregnant. It's going to be a summer baby and we're pretty sure it's a mini-surf dude! It's been quite a battle getting to this point (I'll not bore you) but needless to say that the pair of us are pretty chuffed. I'm still getting my head around the fact that it's actually happening and slowly things are dawning on me - you know, I'll have to share the house with someone else, my pocket money will take a huge hit, I will no longer be the sole focus of L's attention.....the list goes on but I think I'll be able to get my head around most of them.

Already L has informed me that the wee-guy will be too small to either hit the lake or the sea. Apparently I might have to wait a year or so.

This is an old pic but things are looking good and apparently everything is in the right place and the right size. Today he's about 10cm from head to butt, which is spot on!

Anyway, L is doing well. Starting to look proper pregnant and I guess the cheesy word to use would be blossoming. She's obviously not drinking and so my beer intake has taken a huge hit (I had 3 beers all last weekend and that was pushing it).

Off wakeboarding in the morning, so looking forward to getting wet for the first time since the start of the year.

Oh yeh.....I guess I could say that I've eventually started my training again (proper training) and have done a couple of runs longer than 6km. Still need to pick things up but I'm sure I get the distance up as I move closer to my London to Brighton challenge.

I'll keep you in the loop.

Not quite festive...

There are things afoot in the life of N & L and we've had a flipping busy few months. The summer is now a distant memory but winter hasn't really kicked in yet. It's only a matter of days until Christmas but we're still experiencing double figure temperatures.  Thinking back to last year and going wakeboarding was all about separating the men from the boys in December. With minus figure temps and pretty much freezing water temps, just building up the momentum to get in the water was a challenge enough and wiping out was made painful simply due to how bleddy cold the water was. Looking at the weather charts and wakeboarding this weekend might be wet but it could be 14'C.

So what have we been upto...catching up with friends, celebrating birthdays, a trip to Brno and generally just being busy. Haven't been wakeboarding for the last month or so. I did manage to squeeze a very poor session in when we visited Brno but the main cable was closed for the rest of the year and so I was left with a very poor quality 2.0 style system. the cable was so slack that most of the time I was amazed that it managed to pull me up out of the water. Still, I spent almost 60mins trying to nail a raley....in reality I spent 60 mins just hitting the water at various angles and speeds.

Training for the London 2 Brighton run (100km) is kinda' going to plan. Not really a great runner, so my idea is just to maintain a decent level of fitness through the winter month and then when the days start to get longer to kick up the training and actually start to do some running of worth. Hopefully it'll work but I do have to make sure I don't put on too much muscle or running in the New Year will just be painful.

As I said, Christmas is around the corner, so I should have more to say at the start of 2016.

Tilly takes it easy after a bath.

Ted looks surprised about his wash and haircut. 

Blaithin takes drinking games as seriously as she did back at Uni.

More games.

Same game.

A walk in the woods.

Saturday morning coffee.

I cooked.

I popped out for 2 drinks and wandered home at 2am.

Something not quite right about Ted.

Tilly snuggling with L.

Tram stop in Brno.

L trying to work out if this is our tram.

We made it in one direction and now just have to make it all the way back again.

Got to love a spot of lego.

A great skate shop hidden away in Brno town centre.

Brno health & safety.

L takes a glug of my beer.

It's a up & coming area apparently.

Prior to a spot of Brno wakeboarding.

If you look 'up' the place looks a lot better.

A very comfy bed.

A changing mat in one ofthe bars.

The flight...

Bumblebee...

Only a quick update as there are loads of things going on in my busy little life but this is a good-un! Going to be picking him up on Friday but this is my new motorbike. He's already been named as Bumblebee as Lisa thinks he looks like the motorbike version of Bumblebee from Transformers.

I'll let you know how things go but I opted for the MT-03 over a KTM Duke 390 for a few reasons (apart from price).

1. The exhaust noise the MT-03 makes is so much dirtier (the KTM sounded too polite).
2. The torque of the MT-03 makes the acceleration through the gears feel a lot quicker (not sure how much faster it actually is). 
3. The KTM felt a wee-bit small. Lovely to ride and actually felt so light that I could almost compare the feel to a mountainbike - it filtered through static traffic sooooo easily.
4. I actually love the look of the Yamaha MT-03. To me, it definitely looks like a transformer (the placement of the badges and that tank help).
5. The steering is heavier than the KTM but the ride feels more 'fun' and edgy.

That's about it so far but I'll let you know how things go.

Jaxon Surfboards...

The other week I spent 5-days in Cornwall making my own surfboard. It was a proper little treat and something that without help from friends and family I wouldn't have even considered doing.

Wow, it was fun. Hard work and I made a few mistakes (thanks to Jaxon for helping me rectify them) but to end up with a proper custom board at the end of it was amazing. Also, Lisa managed to tag along and so ended up having a very relaxing mini-holiday.

I went for a blue/bronze burnt-through effect. I was tempted to play safe and just go for a dip or single colour but decided to push things a bit and went for a 2 colour look. It looks pretty grungy (in a shiny way) but will look fab in the water. As it's based on my original surfboard (see first pic below), which was shaped in 1980, it's a bit of a line cruiser but I'm hoping it'll ride like a beaut!

The board I based my board on, Shaped by Mac in March 1980.

Lisa makes herself at home in the bovy (small but cosy).

Pretty pleased with my shape.

Lisa pops in to check on my work.

First glass coat - blue.

Second glass coat - bronze

A spot more sanding.

Old v New.

Jaxon and me having a moment.

My logo - it's a copy of one of my tattoos.

Finisterre...

I have to admit to loving a spot of Finisterre clothing (apart from their unethical years when they outsourced to India and China) but I'm starting to lose faith in the business. I realise the balancing act between ethics and profit is a difficult one and is faced by many of those in the surf industry (a key reason why Kelly Slater has moved away from Quiksilver etc) but  I can't help but feel that the actual surfer is being lost in a sea of middle-class pretenders.

OK, the Finisterre clothing range is expensive but it does do a good job and the team at the front end do a  fab customer care job but they are slowly turning into a fashion brand for those who like to pretend to be 'cold water surfers'. If you check out their website, as well as the usual clothing and expensive undercrackers, they now stock a range of fashion accessories that will beautifully coordinate with your iPhone 6S and iMac. So not to put off this market, the items are equally overpriced. A waterproof torch for £90, which apart from the logo seems below the spec of any aluminium diving watch for almost half the price. A pen-knife that for all the packaging and wooden handle isn't a patch on the original British Army folding-knife that sells for a third of the £90 they're asking. Just don't get me started on the duffle bag (£150 ..... what?!) and hand planes!

All-in-all, I fear that my friends and I are turning away from the brand (remember Howies when they were bought out by Timberland) and looking for a real brand that reflects the surfing image and not just those that live in London (have I said that their main store is in London).

As a surfer, I look to buy as many items as possible direct from Surfers Against Sewage and luckily, many of the gifts available from Finisterre are also available in a SAS version (drinking bottles, towels etc).

I'm not anti-profit but price-skimming at the wealthy market segment seems to go completely against the surfing-grain (have you seen the price of their upcoming wetties?).

For me, I'm going to have to be shopping elsewhere as prices are increasingly prohibitive and the products themselves are becoming irrelevant to me as a water sportsman and cyclist. Howies is looking like a far better option (especially since they are now an ethically minded and independent company) and even though a high price (like Patagonia) seems to give me something Finisterre just isn't - VALUE FOR MONEY!

Sorry but this has been bugging me for a while.

Don't lose who you are Finisterre!

Had a birthday...

So, I've managed to survive another year and I'm now a wee bit older but none the wiser. For the celebrations I (we) headed down to Woolly for the weekend. The plan was to drink, be merry and surf. The sun came out a treat and I can happily say that we managed to do all three (tick, tick, tick!) Arrived on the Friday night and promptly headed to the Barn for a few pints (the slurring began very quickly).

Up and at it on the Saturday to make the most of the sunshine (the surf was flat and so a pasty was the action for the day). The day came and went far too quickly but it was OK as Bar Electric was calling. Before the sun had even thought about going down, we were at the bar and downing the first of many pints (and then of course the compulsory rum). Anyway, the long and short of it was that I drank, made merry with friends and then danced my arse off until we were politely expelled from the bar....at which point we all went back to the girls van and continued on the vodka jelly and other drinks (not too sure what it was). It has to be said.....it was an excellent birthday! 

Sunday was a slightly tired one but again the sun was out and the surf had picked up. It was a complete close-out and the guys surfing in the comp by the rocks were getting quite a beating but we opted to head in. A few waves were caught but on a longboard it was a tad freaky and so after feeling as though I'd got myself caught out back, I paddled back in and grabbed another pasty.

I arrive at the Barn and ready to drink.

I get my b'day card and the promise of a gift inside make my year (I'll tell you about it in July).

Bromance.

My beloved (and slightly crazy Carla).

Little sis (aka Spud).