Just down
the road is a beach with at least three names. An attempt by local
surfers to keep its identity obscure? More likely the product of being somewhere with two languages, and an uneasy relationship with the rest of
France. The local Mairie has a plaque outside, noting that two deputies from this region voted NON to Pétain’s accommodation with the Germans in 1940.
The surfers
here are the usual mish-mash: kids practising aerial 360s in the shorebreak,
older gentlemen on larger boards (more and more, stand-up paddleboards),
everything in between. You couldn’t, in your wildest dreams, say the surf was
busy. I haven’t seen more than 20 people in the water, in conditions that would
have an equivalent British beach looking like a sea of fibreglass.
I’ve been
riding my 6’4” Bear Wombat. It’s a board that has a particular feel to it. The
soundtrack in my mind when I’m riding it is always the late, great Michael
Petersen in Morning of the Earth: all
pivoty, jangly 70s fun. Though obviously there's less hair, less style, less speed, and quite
a lot less heroin involved in my version than MP’s.
In an
attempt to give the board a different soundtrack (Sure Feels Good by Brian Cadd wears thin after a while), I’ve been
experimenting with different fin setups. (Apologies to non-surfers reading
this: just skip to the photo of the food, if you prefer.) The results so far:
1)
Single-fin only: slow, boring, ponderous – some Wagnerian overture, or one of those
mind-numbingly endless guitar solos by Lynyrd Skynrd.
2) Full-size
FCS side fins, but nothing in the middle: unreliable, frivolous, you shouldn’t
like it but you do – it’s got to be Middle Period Kylie, some time around I Just Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. Or maybe the Pussycat Dolls' Don't You (Wish Your Girlfriend Was...).
3) Proper
Mark Richards twin fins: fast, zippy, snappy – no-brainer, it's Acid 8000 by Fatboy Slim.
4) Thruster
setup, made possible by Ade Keane, a well-respected former shaper who got tired of
the toxic fumes of board manufacture. I was telling him how I wanted to try a
thruster setup, but couldn’t because an FCS centre fin wouldn’t work in the
longboard-style finbox. Two days later, a thing of great beauty (albeit to a
very specialized audience), shown left, turned up on my doorstep: a handcrafted fin. Merci beaucoup, Ade. I haven’t tried
this fin combo in good waves yet, but I have high hopes the opening chords of The Ace Of Spades will start to play as
I paddle for the first wave.
Meantime, yet more beauty. Yes, my Glamorous Companion – but also, look at that fish supper! Without going into detail, it tasted as good as it looked – apart from the cockles. Why do they always have to put in a bum note like that? An Islamic stitch?
