What a rad acronym and one that has been seeing quite a lot of air time in the office at the moment i.e. we get Ian and Tim on board as Ambassadors, one is probably the most well respected free surfer in the British Isles and the other, one of the finest surf photographers.
We invest product and a bit of time and the occasional financial help on a trip or two, but we’re far from bank rolling either of them and the return on this investment, as of late:
2 back-to-back cover shots, in Britain’s most loved surf magazine - Wavelength.
Just to clarify, we’ve got 2 Ambassadors, 1 a hell bent surfer and the other a photographer and they happen to be at the right place/right time, manage a photo and get not 1, but 2 covers and in back to back months - July and August.
Just for the record, this is unheard of, these things just don’t happen and so perhaps you could say, that the Return on this Investment, has been outstanding. If only playing the stock market was this easy.
Boys, super stoked with the coverage, absolutely blowing our minds. If you’re keen on us and the people that make this place tick, pick up the August issue of Wavelength (in WHSmith’s nationally or Online) - it’s their photo annual and a collector’s edition - sensational.
Ian on the cover of this months August issue of Wavelength - backside and deep, in Scotland.
Ian once again backside, somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean, cover of July’s issue of Wavelength.
Ian and Tim packed for a six week stint in the Indian Ocean and have delivered magazine covers, stories and images to last us into the winter. We just got an email in from Ian this morning, on one of his backside encounters with the reef - wouldn’t even dream of it…
“From one session, at lowtide first wave…..made the first barrel……got drilled backdooring and not making the second one, quite heavy impact on chest, and aqua massaged off the reef….came up coughing blood for ten mins or so. Watched waves barreling down the reef for ten mins and 3 people in….. had to get back in”.
“bit of blood and sweat product testing for you boys, thought nunns first pic here might make you laugh ha.”
***IMPORTANT TO MENTION HERE, CHECK OUT BLOOD ON CHIN, IN FIRST PHOTO***
All of us gathered around the computer to flip through them Ian - super chuffed hombre
We’ve kept you guys in the loop over the last 3 weeks with Tim and Ian’s Indian Ocean escapade, much of it in the spirit of exploring new islands and waves, but when the sun breaks for night, so to does the surfing. During this time, Tim would load up on mossie repellent, a coke to keep the eyes open and just watch storms pass over. Catching a still of a storm at its peak and a crack of lightning is a whole lot of expertise and a touch of serendipity - difficulty level: off the chart, beauty shot Timmer.
“I love shooting storms, but rarely outside of the tropics do you get totally clear skies and big cumulonimbus rolling in. But The Mentawai Islands are prime locations, the storms build up over the main island Siberut and then peel off into the sea, but around them is just clear sky. I’d tried to shoot three nights in a row but the storms didn’t cooperate, then this beauty came along. It just grew in front of my eyes, I sat for two hours getting bitten by mossies to nail this shot, I actually ended up with about twenty keepers, but this was probably the best.”
Al Mackinnon - 2nd Ambassador, friend, photographer, epicure, loves a good book/good picture. If not in London processing and organizing images from a previous trip and sending away to the world’s top magazines, he’s away - somewhere in Latin America, California, the Hebrides, sleeping in the back of his VW Synchro, just getting lost.
We have fond memories of throwing the Frisbee, bbq’s in the caravan, seeing him in Peru upon a mound of sand trying to catch a once in a life-time shot of some blissful sugar cane fire, him charging at Thurso and the list goes on. He has supplied us with images since the early days, stories and the occasional waltz through the workshop doors only to be embraced by us all.
We don’t see him that much and so what we can get, we’ll take - the odd phone call, image, or story. We just recently heard that his film processor, the famed Robin Bell, was going to be putting out a documentary, we found the trailer, it’s only 2mins and a bit… the point - to see Mack’s image (early in the trailer, keep an eye out), amongst the greatest photographers of the 21st century - is amazing and so this is why we do it, why we put ourselves through months without him, only to see this - so very, very proud!
Lewis and Clark were explorers, frontiers men, skilled drafters and spear headed the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back.
The overall expedition, took over two years, involved 33 hands, it involved the help of the Shoshone Indians, who were skilled at traversing the great rock mountains with horses. The Yankton Sioux, who were experts in moving large loads up river. They reached the edge of the Great Plains, where according to US records, was the largest site of free roaming elk, deer and bison.
Thomas Jefferson hoped that Lewis and Clark would find a water route linking the Columbia and Missouri rivers. This water link would connect the Pacific Ocean with the Mississippi River system, thus giving the new western land access to port markets out of the Gulf of Mexico and to eastern cities along the Ohio River and its minor tributaries.
We’d like to think that Tim Nunn and Ian Battrick are our own Lewis and Clark. They’ve both documented some of the most remote areas in the surfing world, met with locals in these areas and forged brilliant relationships, have slept under the stars for weeks at a time and paddled across large bodies of water with gear to set up camp.
Tim has just returned from a 3 week stint in the Indian Ocean, leaving Ian behind to continue surfing and camping on the edge of a little island. They left with the hope of capturing some beautiful waves and documenting their time amongst nothing more than a bit of nature and loads of sea. The full story is in this months issue of Wavelength, but above all, they returned with more than we could have ever asked for - the cover of Wavelength - with Tim taking the photo and Ian backhand in a picture perfect left hander and although not clear, we’re told that Ian is in one of our Merino T-shirts - stoked.
So, like Lewis and Clark, they left as frontiers men, looking to carve out their own little story and came back with more than we could have ever imagined - so super rad!
We’ve just put together the official trailer, new track and exclusive footage of one of our expeditions, his trip up Everest, the failure of his breathing apparatus and the story. Check the link below and sign up for the full documentary to be released, the end of the month.
We met Neil, Maddie and their dog sniff about 3 years ago. They came into the workshop, quietly asked to look at some product and 4 hours later, we were on the couch, talking about this place, well being, traveling, hounds and a host of other random stuff.
Neil and Maddy are a husband and wife duo, that make you feel better, using wellness chiropractic’s and encourage eating, moving and thinking in a way that gives best gene expression and health to the body.
In any event, things just clicked whilst they were here, like when you meet someone for the first time and the conversation is devoid of any stinky chat - you just slot in. So over the years, they’ve been coming back and picking up product and keeping us up to date with their happenings.
So when they told us about their 600 mile bikey ride from the North of France to Chamonix, to then ascent the highest mountain in the Alps - Mont Blanc all in the name of research to help improve methods of regenerating forest destroyed by commercial logging and slash and burn farming - we threw ourselves behind it.
It was a great little opportunity to put some gear through it paces as well, so they’ll be riding with bits and pieces from our Men’s Merino and Women’s Merino range and some insulations pieces - super stoked.
So they’ll be off in August, along with 7 others and a support team of 4. We’re super stoked to get behind them all - Neil, Maddie and Sniff, have been friends of ours for years and to see them attempt a challenge all in the name of growing more rain forests… is most excellent.
Loads of love you guys and if you need a hound sitter, we’ll look after Sniff for you!
It’s started - the Finisterre summer sale - already had quite a few people dropping by to grab a bargain. There’s up to 50% off some stuff - clearing old lines as well as some new stock in. Feel free to swing by - 9-5 Mon-Fri and weekends by arrangement. Any questions, please give Sarah a call 01872 554 481 - can also send stuff out…
For thousands of years the waves breaking on the limestone slabs of Crab Island and Doolin point have been peeling off & spitting tubes.
It is only since the early 1970’s that they’ve been ridden by surfers. Since then they have become, along with the Bundoran reefs, the most surfed spots in the country.
They have been on the “must surf” list of any travelling surfers coming to Ireland, from Kevin Naughton’s arrival in the 70’s, to the McNulty brothers virgin surf on their ancestral turf in the 80’s, to Anthony Walsh’s extended stay last winter.
The scenery in the area is spectacular, with the massive cliffs of Moher looming to the south and the geographical uniqueness of the limestone karst region of the Burren to the north. Add in the Aran island chain only a few miles to the northwest and it all comes together to make this spot the iconic postcard surfspot of Ireland.
While being overshadowed in the media lately due to the discovery of heavy spots such as Aileen’s and Riley’s, Crab Island is still a more important surf spot to most of the surfers of Ireland. This is because of the frequency of which it breaks and the fact that it is within the capabilities of all competent surfers. It is the spot most likely to deliver the ’ride of a lifetime’ for 90% of Irish surfers.
Unfortunately that may not remain the case…
There is a ferry operation running from a small pier in the lagoon behind crab island to the nearby Aran islands. This runs during the summer months when the lagoon is not getting churned by big winter swells. These ferries now require a larger pier in deeper water in order to meet an EU regulation on commercial passenger ferries. However the design that Clare Co. Council has decided on is likely to damage both waves of Crab Island and Doolin point from backwash. It will also introduce a safety hazard by forcing surfers to now paddle across the ferry’s paths to get to the lineups. It is also likely to get damaged by winter storms due to its exposed location out the point. (The existing pier is located at the back of the lagoon). Reading the plans drawn up shows that the effect on the surf spots has not been taken into consideration at all by the council. They have, to date, not given any response to repeated and sustained requests from local surfers for a meeting on the issue.
Local surfers in the area are trying to convince the council that a ‘win-win’ situation can easily be arrived at. A design where the ferries have a pier that meets their requirements and does not damage the waves with backwash. Simply moving the pier back towards the existing one by about 50m and dredging a little deeper inside the pier should achieve this. It would also have the added effect of lessening the amount of damage done to the pier by the massive winter swells that pound this stretch of coast. Local surfers need to convince the council of how well regarded these surf spots are, both by Irish and international surfers. As part of that we would like you to sign the petition listed below. It will only take 10 seconds. The West Coast Surf Club in Ireland will present this petition as part of a submission to Clare Co. Council before the closing date of objections on 5 August. Please, have your voice heard. Let’s keep this wave so that its peeling tubes are there for you when you visit Ireland.
Link this petition to any facebook\myspace\blogs you may have and mail to your surfing friends.
(Anyone wishing to, can view the current plans on http://www.clarecoco.ie/planning/planning-applications/search-planning-applications/FileRefDetails.aspx?file_number=108006&LASiteID=0
We would also encourage people to send in their own formal objections to this. This can be done for free (no charge for submissions as it’s not a private planning application) by posting a letter to “Planning Section, Clare County Council, New Road, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland”, quoting “Planning application details ref: 108006 (Clare County Council)”. You must also include your name and address.)
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Aerial photo of the breaks on a small swell at high tide. Crab Island is in the foreground and Doolin point on the right of picture. The existing pier can be seen tucked in at the back of the lagoon. The new pier would start at the top of the point and extend out into the channel almost half way to crab island.
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The jump-in spot for paddling across to Crab or out to Doolin point (out of picture to the left). This jump in spot would be covered by the new pier forcing surfers to paddle out from the shore side of the pier and across the path of berthing ferries.
Shot by Al Mack off the shoulder - top to bottom hole
We like recycling bikes and old Brooks saddles and Monocle and Ernest Gonzales and Bike Polo and surf adventures and people of the sea and people who grow veg and cowboys and Sherpas and the list goes on.
James Bowden likes bikes and surf boards, and books and camping and Finisterre gear. We knew him from a while back, he was wearing some gear and then ventured off into the unknown - world of self publishing. The result, a rad newspaper, with rad images and rad stories, about camping and ferries and some Russian Beat Poetry.
We like his stories, what he’s doing - he’s cool indeed.
Bourgeois Bicycle budgets
Bikes: 2 x Raliegh Chiltern (circa 1990) 3 speed heavy steel beasts - £40 each, broken, from old cycle hire place in Barnstaple. £60 on parts to get them back to speed (and safe) Brooks saddles and grips kindly donated by Andrea at Brooks.
Trailers: 2 x Carry Freedom Y-Frame (large) £150 Modified with custom surfboard racks welded and bolted by max the steel man £40, B&Q garden mesh £5, zip ties £1, bungee cords £3, rack pads stolen from mikeys car, straps stolen from tim’s garage.
Camping gear: already owned or borrowed or stolen or picked up along the way.
Ferry (Plymouth-Roscoff) : £46
Camping fees: £0 (all the campsites were shut anyway)
So there you go, the Bourgeois Bicycle Caravan were cheapskates and you can be one too.
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