Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and Barefoot Wine have completed a very successful week long a national beach clean-up tour. The ‘Barefoot Friendly’ beach litter tour Started at Porthtowan and visited Porthcawl, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cromer and Tynemouth. In all over 400 people helped during the week’s clean up and over a tonne of litter was removed from the 7 beaches visited!

Andy Cummins, Campaign Officer at SAS, said “We have to say a huge WELL DONE!!! to all the volunteers, over a tonne is a huge amount of litter. We made a very visual difference at the beaches we visited which was great to see. Each beach clean was followed by a delicious, free BBQ on the beach for all volunteers and for those that wanted to stay on afterwards, volunteers, friends and family enjoyed an evening of fun surf quizzes and free Barefoot wine at local watering holes. We hope to be back on tour next year, but you don’t have to wait for us. After your surf/sail/paddle, why not thank the sea by picking up one piece of litter for every good ride you had!”

www.sas.org.uk

Nat hot-footed it up to Herefordshire at the weekend to take part in an ethical fashion show at the Big Chill, showing our suppport in an area of industry we are passionate about. Amongst others were Katherine Hamnett, Beyond Skin, People Tree and Pants to Poverty, as well as The Environmental Justice Foundation - it was awesome to be working alongside such like minded people. As with any UK festival, rain and mud were abundant, although the sun did make a little appearance on the Saturday, allowing for some much needed post show chilling! All in all a great weekend and we look forward to more events to follow…

We had quite a few people drop by a little while ago, snapping up good deals on some of our sample stock at out first ever sample sale. Most of the stuff is over two-thirds off. Quite a few people could not make it last week, so we have decided to extend the sale dates for the whole of August. Swing by anytime - Monday-Friday, 10-5. If you want to come up outside these times, give us a call and we can make arrangements. Look forward to seeing you.

We got a call about two months ago about The Big Chill and an eco-fashion show that the organisers wanted us to take part in. Time has flown and Nat leaves tomorrow armed with some of our kit to showcase what it is we have been up to. This is a first for us and The Big Chill have teamed up with Sunrise Festival to host this unique ethical fashion show. As well as drawing attention to the unsustainability and disposability of many aspects of fashion, the show will also be raising awareness of the situation in Tibet and many of models will be Tibetan. We are keeping our eye out for some high altitude product testers!

Hoping the rain will hold off and if you are going there this weekend make sure you swing by and say hello…

This’ll definitely be worth going to. Chris Hines will be talking on his experiences as an eco campaigner next Tuesday (5th August) at the Blue Bar in Porthtowan - all proceeds go to Water Aid. Chris has long led the environmental charge and is a co-founder of SAS, was sustainability officer at Eden and has recently been awarded an MBE. Always good to talk stuff through when he drops in here for a cup of tea. Get yourself along to hear what he has to say on where we are in the battle.

The Red Bull Big Wave Africa Event took place earlier this week at the infamous Dungeons. We were stoked to get a call from Carlos on Monday night talking us through it all and telling us he had come second! Awesome result in an event that saw beautiful (yet heavy) 15-20ft swells, broken ribs, concussions and one dislocated shoulder. Carlos was loving his Storm Track and Etobicoke in between heats (like to think they brought him luck!). Check the photos and official write up below.

The Red Bull Big Wave Africa 2008 is done and dusted and the official results are now in: South Africa’s Twiggy Baker has won. What an insane contest, the 15 to 20 foot sets and clean conditions a fitting way to celebrate the event’s 10th year. After the prizegiving, conducted in front of a huge and vocal crowd from the Nauticat, quayside in Hout Bay Harbour, the full final results are: Twiggy Baker (RSA) in first, Carlos Burle (BRZ) second, Greg Long (USA) third, James Taylor (RSA) fourth, Anthony Tashnick (USA) fifth and Mark Healy (HI) in sixth.

South Africa’s Baker, who hails from Durban, dominated the half hour final with two bomb waves, which he rode resolutely, scoring 8.2 and 9. Like previous winner John Whittle, also of Durban, Baker modestly attributed his victory to luck, saying he was fortunate the winning waves came his way, before he dedicated the win to his late father, who passed away 20 years ago to the day last weekend.

Runner up Burle spent the latter half of the heat chasing Twiggy’s scores, but couldn’t quite find the second big set he required. The same counted for 2003 BWA victor Long, who scored a perfect 10-point tube ride earlier in the day and caught the first wave of the final, taking off deep on a massive wall and riding it high and critical in the pocket, but spent the rest of the time scratching around trying to find a back-up wave.

Carlos on a couple of bombs

winner Tiggy Baker dropping into a killer

This was a chance meeting came through a good friend.

It took place a few weeks back and involved a seriously focused guy (Talan). Talan had a horrific motor cycle accident a few years back that left him paralysed from the mid torso down (level T4 spinal break). He has use of his arms, but everything below the chest area ceased to work.

He spent six months on his back in hospital, staring at the ceiling and trying to comprehend what had happened and how things would be going forward. Prior to his accident, he had been a PE teacher in the Navy, rugby player and skier. Skiing had been his main passion and he was told that because of the level of his injury, unlike others who had a lower level break, he would be unable to ski again. So he stuck of a photo of a skier on the ceiling above his bed and set his mind on being back on the slopes.

Two years later and after intense rehabilitation, this focus led him back out to the mountains. Two years later and he won the bronze medal at the Noram ski races and is now lining up the 2010 Paralympics - an unbelievable achievement. The journey was not without its ups and downs. He had to have a specially adapted ski for his condition, has since broken his neck (twice) and had to be cut out of a tree after crashing off the piste.

We all met in a small cafe in North Cornwall a few weeks ago with the idea of applying this kind focus to surfing and getting Talan surfing again. There is also added complication is that he has no cough reflex. Round the table was Talan, his girlfriend Anna, a good mate Howy, a local shaper, Chris and myself all trying to work out a plan. The first step was for Chris to work out what sort of board he should make.

In an area of rehabilitation that has up to a 40% suicide rate, the ability for guys like Talan to show what can be done is an awesome thing. The idea is to use surfing and Tallan’s inspiration to get more people in the water. So have a look at these photos - taken yesterday - first crack - it fired us up. (posted by TK)

Tim Nunn, surf mag editor extraordinaire, came by this morning to show us some images from a recent surf trip in Iceland. Apparently the boys scored epic right and left handers, with the occasional beach-break. Mornings were early, frozen wax was chewed in-order to apply to surf boards and sessions were cut short due to a dropping tide and ice bergs.

Keep your eyes out for some of the images and stories, we’ll be leaking a few on the site and monthly newsletters - so keep dem eye lids peeled.

We are touring the country, coming to a beach near you. Porthtowan (Cornwall), Porthcawl (Wales), Bournemouth, Brighton, Cromer and Tynemouth are the beach cleans, BBQs and surf quiz stop offs. All are welcome (U16s need to be accompanied by a responsible adult), and we provide all the gear and some education. You just need to dress for the day’s weather. The beach cleans start at 2pm and finish with a free BBQ at 5 for all volunteers. Then we are retirering to a local watering hole for a fun SAS/surf quiz and free wine from tour sponsors Bare Foot wines, everyone’s welcome and it’s a great chance to kick back and pat yourselfs on the back after a good days activities. To book your place or for more information go to http://www.sas.org.uk/campaign/littertour/

Thanks, Andy

We have been trying to make use of the wind up here at Wheal Kitty for some time. It blows pretty strong whatever the direction and the idea of a wind turbine has been on the cards for some time.

Mart has been working with us this summer - how we met we will save for another day - he is a renewable energy student at Falmouth Uni. In his spare time has been hatching a plan to get Finisterre using some of this wind and has started building a wind turbine…

We’ll be bringing you the highs and lows of a wind turbine engineer over the coming months….

So here is stage 1… the basic ingredients > D.I.Y. Wind turbine.