Just on way back from a lush, glassy surf with Hugo and Andy from SAS. 2-3ft, super clean and we found a peak all to ourselves. Fun session and not cold at all. Then saw the first Swallow of the summer on the way back. Stoked - it means they’ve made it again and we’re pulling out of winter. Light evenings and warmer times all the way. Bring it on!

Yesterday was the day James Bowthorpe embarked on his ambitious mission to set a new round-the-world cycling record.

The 31-year-old furniture maker from London sets off today on an epic 18,000 mile journey cycling an average of 120 miles a day, on his Santos Travelmaster equipped with a Rohloff Speedhub and belt drive, drive train – the bike is aluminium-framed too, so James has consigned pretty much all the received wisdom on ultra-distance riding to the bin. He wants to complete the task in around 164 days (150 cycling days plus rest days) and beat the 194-day record set by Mark Beaumont.

James’ adventure, sponsored by The Independent, is also designed to raise £1.8 million for research into Parkinson’s Disease. James has spent the past two years volunteering with the “What’s Driving Parkinson’s?” research team at King’s College, London, and one day hopes to become a doctor.

After setting off from home in London James will traverse Europe, passing into Asia at Istanbul, crossing Iran, Pakistan and India, where conditions for cycling get a lot harder.

He will pedal through Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore before heading on to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, cycling from Vancouver to New York before the final straight from Portugal to London.

The ride will be unassisted, but James will have his brother Tom handling logistics from the UK, his girlfriend Nadja handling the media side of things and plenty of contacts along the way to provide him with food, tyres and other equipment.

We were pretty inspired to get behind James, so when he asked for an Etobicoke to keep gear light and his body warm from those chilly nights, we jumped on board - without hesitation.

We’ll keep you all posted via the post, give’em hell James.

Picture: James and Tom Bowthorpe during their cycling trip to the Indian Himalaya, courtesy of Tom Bowthorpe.

Zoe works here getting your stuff out during the day, but when she’s not, she’s out pushing her and her brother’s (Toby) band - Auction for the Promise Club.

Their most recent set was tight and impressively diverse. One moment they were poppy, the next they were channelling the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine or Asobi Seksu.

Zoe White-Chamber’s sweet, tortured melodies soared above walls of reverberating guitars. Her voice is unusual- fragile but commanding, with a touch of Portishead.

They’re on the road tomorrow (Friday, March 27th) for a debut in London’s infamous Monto Water Rats Club, Kings Cross. Doors open at 7, set at 8 and the Finisterre crew will be there, we’d be stoked to see our London contingent out.

Zoe’s Hot

We figured it was about time to catch-up with our Ambasadors, round their happenings up and get a good idea of future plans.

Carlos Burle
He had a fairly quiet season in Hawaii. He waited around for the Eddie Big Wave invitational, but the waves never made it to the required 20ft faces needed to run the event, and so much of his time was spent with family, refining his paddle boarding technique and some tow training. During one tow training session with Maya Gabeira, the safety key had managed to shut-off the engine, whilst a set was looming in the distance. Carlos and Maya were left with an underpowered ski and a 15ft wall to get over. In the end, Carlos went over the falls with the ski and Maya (who was being towed), managed to pull off the the wave, just before the ski went overhead. As usual, Carlos has managed to keep things interesting, stoked all are ok and can’t wait to get some towing done here in the UK, in the near future Carlos.

Photo Courtesy of: Fernando Cazaes

Al Mackinnon:
Scotland has been calling and knowing Al, he’s never been able to keep away from the place for too long. Al decided to keep the shutter skills at home and get some time in the water, camp a bit and get some of those beautiful North Sea swells and seclusion - image is on the desktop Al - loads of love homie.

Ian Battrick
He’s been flying fairly low over the last couple of months. He’s found a little remote island somewhere in the South-pacific, he’s been living in a tent and a steady diet of fish and rice. From time to time he sends us images slotted in some world class wave and not a soul out. How he manages to send us images with not a person around..? A little head-cam he’s been playing around with. Check-out the Finisterre board sticker at the bottom of the image - feels like we were there - can’t wait to see you soon Ian.

One of our product testers James, has spent the last weekend competing in the Wells Fargo Bank cup, where he rapped up two top ten finishes. Apparently our Storm Track has been stepping up to the plate and keeping our boy protected and dry in all conditions - super stoked James.

St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.

Happy St. Paddy’s day to all our boys in Ireland and all friends and customers worldwide.

Tommy and one of our lambs - ‘Ire-style’

Just got out of the sea.

One of the best surfs in ages - not huge - but super clean and glassy as in the afternoon sun. Could even feel a bit of warmth on your face, and great to think there are even warmer times ahead. Perfect wave shape everywhere you looked with the sun shining through the green lips.

To top it all - about 30 minutes before Ernie and I got out - a pod of dolphins came right through the line up. They hung around for a few minutes, caught a few waves right past us all before heading on their way. One pair swum right under me and i could hear their clicking sonar as i dived off my board to get a closer view of the flyby.
Unbelievable stuff. Left the small crew stoked as and looking forward to the summer to come. Bring it on…(TK).

Zoe Chambers is the new lady in charge of customer care. She’s been doing a few things for us over the last few months and it quickly became a wicked little fit. Her experience lies in design and shop management and she’ll be the go-to girl for all customer enquiries, product send outs and exclusive pre-orders.

We’re stoked to have her on board, she brings a wealth of knowledge to the position, not to mention her ‘hobby’ on the side - killer vocals.

Zoe, her brother and percussion man Toby and local sihtar player Perran, have been hitting sound studios hard over the last year and have rustled up - Auction for the Promise Club - a Cornish Rock Indie band.

The music’s rad, she’s got a sick voice and they’ll be playing tonight at their Official Launch Party, at Bunters Bar in Truro. The event will be bringing out Cornwall’s most fashionable, so get your best shoes on and show a little support.

It kicks off at 730, they’ll be on at 930.

Tim Nunn, Chris Nelson and a handful of friends are up in Scotland doing what they do best - quiet, cold water re-con missions. It appears that they’re striking some rich veins in Scotland once again and that the Finisterre gear is keeping the body’s dry and lens’ clear.

Cheers for the shot Tim, we’ll keep her quiet…

We followed his campaign trail, we posted the shots of him body surfing in Hawaii and now we’ve graced the pages of the same media title with Barrack on the cover.

The boys at Men’s Journal had taken a liking to our story, we’ve always been into the editorial integrity and original stories the mag produces and in the end we locked up for a little brand profile.

The response was pretty overwhelming stateside and it seems as if we’ve now got a little contingent in the US, to continue spreading the word.

Simply wanted to thank Adam Spangler for all his support and pushing the piece and James Glave for the brilliant story and words - stoked boys, this place doesn’t work without it.